The Labour Party (LP) on Sunday criticized its former Lagos governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, over his sudden defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing the move as “hasty and ill-advised.”
Rhodes-Vivour, who ran on the LP platform in the 2023 governorship election in Lagos, formally announced his switch to the ADC at an event on Saturday.
In his declaration speech, he said, “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.”
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He described the coalition as a “rescue mission,” adding, “This is a coalition that is meant to rescue Nigeria. I have said since after the 2023 elections that we cannot afford to divide the opposition going into the next election. We must come together, united through a robust coalition that will stand a chance in 2027 to deliver this country.”
The LP dismissed Rhodes-Vivour’s decision as “premature.”
In a statement, Tony Akeni, the party’s interim National Publicity Secretary, said Rhodes-Vivour’s action showed he had “jumped the gun” and failed to learn from the political approach of Peter Obi.
Akeni stated, “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 Bola Tinubu’s dictatorship out of power in 2027.”
Akeni added, “This is the patriotic manual that our party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, is working with, and we as the Labour Party are one with him in it. Without defecting, the understanding involves Labour Party and PO meeting and engaging in broad-based multi-party liaison with all well-meaning opposition political parties.”
Akeni noted that it was already a “settled consensus” within the party that no single opposition party could dislodge the APC alone.
He concluded, “Rhodes Vivour should have followed the footsteps of his master. That is what the Labour Party had expected him to do if he were reading well the signs on the wall. By jumping the gun and hastily jumping boats, Vivour has shown, from our 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. As a political party, the Labour Party wishes him well.”
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