2023 Election: Labour Party Was Rigged Out of Four Million Votes- Abure Alleges

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, on Wednesday alleged that the party was rigged out of votes in the 2023 presidential election, claiming that its tally was reduced from about 10 million to six million votes.

Abure made the allegation at a rally held at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, where the Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, declared his interest in contesting the presidency in 2027.

Abure said, “On the night Peter Obi defected, I received a telephone call from our vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed. He said he is not leaving the party because it was the platform upon which he, along with the former candidate, received 10 million votes from Nigerians, which was reduced to six million votes. We all know what happened.”

Speaking further, Abure argued that the party remained intact despite the defection of its 2023 presidential candidate, Obi, to the African Democratic Congress.

He particularly commended the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, and Baba-Ahmed for remaining in the party despite speculations that they might defect following Obi’s exit.

He said, “Only recently, the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, told the world that he joined the party before Peter Obi did — and that is true. Otti also said he was not going to defect with Peter Obi.”

Abure disclosed that Baba-Ahmed personally suggested a meeting of party leaders and members to reaffirm unity within the party.

“In fact, he asked me to organise an event where members can come together. He first suggested that we meet at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel with a few senior members and that he would foot the bill. But I suggested that we hold the event here at the party secretariat and invite our members, artisans and ordinary people who truly own the party, and he agreed. That is why we are having this gathering here today.

“The Labour Party is intact; we will not let Nigerians down. We will remain together and provide a genuine alternative for Nigerians,” Abure said.

It would be recalled that in the 2023 presidential election results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the All Progressives Congress scored 8,794,726 votes; the Peoples Democratic Party polled 6,984,520 votes; the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533 votes, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party recorded 1,496,687 votes.