Valentine Ozigbo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Anambra State, believes Peter Obi did not handle the Labour Party leadership crisis well.
The Anambra politician, who is believed to be Obi’s close ally, recently dumped the Labour Party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Ozigbo said he’s totally disenchanted with how the party has evolved after the 2023 election.
Ozigbo said there’s nothing uncivilised about his relationship with the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, but when prodded to speak on what went wrong between him and Obi, he said the ex-governor of Anambra State failed to lead the party when he expected him to make moves to resolve the legal battle and leadership crisis rocking the party.
“I had a problem with Labor Party, and by extension, I would expect Peter Obi to take certain preemptive steps to deal with some of these issues in Labor Party, which, for maybe, he has his reasons not to have handled the way I would have expected, but I don’t want to be part of what I can consider now a failing enterprise. I had to move on,” he said.
Ozigbo further denied leaving the LP because Obi did not protect his interests, adding that his defection to the APC was triggered by the party’s lack of proper leadership.
“I would expect Labor Party to be better handled, better led, than what I’m seeing,” he stated.
Despite his disappointment with how Obi handled the LP crisis, Ozigbo maintained he had a civilised relationship with him, adding that both of them were now focused on their political goals.
He said, “Peter Obi is in Labor Party having his competition around coalition, talking about 2027. Valentine Ozigbo is in APC talking about 2025. We have different objectives right now, and that’s why I had to take my own path.”
