The Labour Party has dismissed the defection of its 2023 Lagos State governorship candidate, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, to the African Democratic Congress, characterizing the move as immature and politically premature.
The party said Rhodes-Vivour should have “hurried slowly,” emphasizing that political wisdom comes with patience and experience.
Rhodes-Vivour had announced his switch to the ADC last week, citing alignment with the coalition’s vision for Nigeria.
During his official unveiling on Saturday, he stated, “I am happy to become part of this family. I’m looking forward to the union and governance that this party will bring to Nigerians. My prayer is that God will grant our leaders and the party’s structure the wisdom to come together and define a new path for our beloved country.”
However, in a pointed response on Sunday, the LP’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tony Akeni, said the party found the defection inconsequential and responded only due to media inquiries.
He suggested that Rhodes-Vivour’s political leap was premature and lacked the strategic patience required in Nigeria’s evolving political landscape.
Akeni stated, “The Labour Party is compelled to make this statement of our position on the highly publicised defection of Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, our party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State during the 2023 elections.
“It is a settled consensus of the leadership of the Labour Party that a single opposition political party, including the LP, facing elections against Tinubu’s APC tyranny in 2027 may come short of victory. This is for apparent and well-known reasons.
“Our party’s view is therefore that a rainbow coalition of multi-party colours, carrying along Nigeria’s ballot population, driven by a common unifying electorate mobilisation, is what Nigerians need to sack APC and President Tinubu’s dictatorship out of power in 2027 and rescue our country from the APC’s apparent goal of one-party state capture.
“This is the patriotic manual that our party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, is working with, and we as Labour Party are one with him in it.”
The party hinted at what it described as “hidden hands” of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) behind recent political movements, aimed at weakening credible opposition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Akeni further outlined LP’s broader strategy, calling for a united opposition and a grand coalition that transcends party lines to challenge President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“In our party’s well-considered proposition, a time will come that a confluence of all the progressive opposition political forces will emerge to take certain critical decisions. These include who the coalition shall field on the 2027 presidential ticket.
“Another result of the above strategy will be the grand coalition adopting the most viable and potential ballot-winning governorship candidate in each state of the federation, irrespective of political party platform or flag.
“Thus, in the process, the practice and beauty of multi-party democracy, which the current APC tyranny under President Tinubu is determined to stamp out and destroy, will be restored.
“This is the wisdom guiding our 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, not to declare defection to or outrightly enlist membership of ADC, PDP, or any other political platform than the only one he can truly call his own, the Labour Party. Rhodes-Vivour should have followed the footsteps of his master relieving.
“By jumping the gun and hastily jumping boats, Rhodes-Vivour has shown, the Labour Party’s viewpoint, that he is still to learn some imperative essentials in his young political journey. Politicians who genuinely mean to serve their people should learn to hurry slowly.”
The Labour Party’s message was clear: experience and strategic patience are indispensable in politics—and in their view, Rhodes-Vivour still has lessons to learn.
