Opposition is growing against the emergence of Callistus Okafor as the factional National Chairman of Nigeria’s Labour Party, adding yet another layer to the party’s deepening leadership crisis.
In separate statements, Labour Party National Secretary Umar Farouk and Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Political Commission, disavowed Okafor’s claim to leadership, further isolating him from the party’s official structures.
For weeks, tensions have centred around a bitter dispute between the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee and a caretaker committee headed by former minister Nenadi Usman. But last Friday, Okafor—once a deputy national chairman of the Labour Party—seized the moment, declaring himself the rightful leader at a press conference in Abuja.
Despite his bold claim, party insiders and the NLC appear unified in rejecting Okafor’s leadership bid, dismissing it as an unwelcome distraction from the party’s pressing political agenda.
