Labour Party submits interim leadership list to INEC

Sunday, November 30, 2025 -The Labour Party (LP) faction led by Senator Nenadi Usman has formally submitted a 34-member Interim National Working Committee (INWC) list to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), escalating the leadership tussle within the party.

The list, jointly signed by Senator Nenadi Usman and interim National Secretary Darlington Nwokocha, was addressed to INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan and stamped as received by the commission on Friday, November 28, 2025. Usman signed as Interim National Chairman, while Nwokocha signed as Interim National Secretary.

In the cover letter, the Usman-led group cited provisions of the Labour Party constitution and the July 18, 2025 National Executive Council (NEC) resolution as the source of their authority, noting that the NEC empowered them to constitute the party’s interim national leadership. They asked INEC to recognise the submitted names as the “legitimate and authentic Interim National Working Committee leadership of the Labour Party.”

Usman wrote, “We are pleased to forward herewith the names and designations of the reconstituted members of the Interim National Leadership in line with the LP constitution and the statutory NEC resolutions of July 18, 2025, already forwarded to the commission in the party’s correspondence and acknowledged by the commission on July 21, 2025.”

She added that the NEC had authorised the interim leadership to “constitute the full body of the interim national leadership in accordance with Article 13 of the Labour Party constitution.” Usman then urged INEC to “take legal and official notice” of the names submitted.

The faction also stressed that the new 34-member list “superseded” an earlier abridged list submitted in August and the list recently forwarded to INEC by the rival faction led by Julius Abure.

The submission came just one day after Abure convened his own NEC meeting, attended by INEC officials and former vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed, where he reaffirmed himself as the party’s national chairman.

Usman and Nwokocha’s faction enjoys backing from key figures in the party, including Abia State Governor Alex Otti and 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, as well as other stakeholders.

The newly submitted list includes high-ranking positions such as Deputy National Chairman (TUC) Mohammed Misau, Deputy National Chairman (Female) Mrs. Nike Oriola, and Deputy National Chairman (NLC) Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, among others.

With both factions submitting competing leadership lists to INEC, the Labour Party’s internal crisis appears far from over, leaving the commission to navigate yet another complex political dispute.