The Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party, Ayo Olorunfemi, has urged the 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to ignore all calls to dump the party ahead of 2027 general election.

Olorunfemi, also the LP Candidate in the 2024 Ondo governorship election, made this call on Sunday in Lagos, saying that Obi should rather focus on rebuilding the party.

DAILY POST reports that there have been calls in some quarters  on Obi to dump the party for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

One of those making the calls, Mr Segun Sowunmi, a former PDP governorship candidate in Ogun, said during a television interview on Thursday that Obi’s return to his former party would brighten the chances of the PDP in  2027 .

Sowunmi said that Obi, who left the PDP for the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, owes much of his national political recognition to his time at PDP.

According to Olorunfemi, who noted that though Obi was at liberty under the law to associate with any political party of his choice, said he  needed to be wary of what he called dangerous advances.

“Now that he has contested and he has seen the LP force, if he decides to go to another political party, it will then speak volumes of his intention.

“It will tell whether he truly believed in the ideology of the Labour Party before coming to run, or he just wanted to use the opportunity of the platform.

“So, it will now be left  for Nigerians to decide whether Obi ,who got millions of votes under the Labour Party, can still be voted for under PDP or another party.

“He (Obi) must use his tongue to count his teeth. If I were he , what I will be doing now is working to restore peace in Labour Party and rebuild it

“He should find a way to resolve the issues in the party and remain on the platform. He should remain in the party and restore peace.He should stay and resolve the crises he and others created in LP,” he said.

Olorunfemi, while noting that Obi had the capacity to resolve the crisis in Labour Party, said that some aspirants shelved their ambitions in 2022 to allow Obi use the LP platform to run for president.

He, however, said that if Obi decided to dump the LP, the party would continue to exist as a strong opposition party.

Ignore calls to rejoin PDP – Labour Party chieftain tells Peter Obi