The Labour Party has confirmed that it is part of the new coalition formed by a group of seven opposition political parties on Wednesday.
Recall that the Coalition called Concerned Political Parties was formed in Abuja at a meeting attended by leaders of the political parties at the National Secretariat of the Social Democratic Party.
However, the name of Labour Party, another major opposition party, was conspicuously missing in the list of members.
The coalition comprised the Peoples Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress, Social Democratic Party, Peoples Allied Movement, New Nigeria Peoples Party, Young Progressives Party, and Zenith Labour Party.
When contacted, the LP leadership denied withdrawing from the coalition
The National Secretary of the party, Umar Farouk in an interview with newsmen, explained that the National Working Committee of the LP was duly informed about the formation of the coalition.
He said, “They (coalition) wrote and informed us. In fact, we shortlisted people to represent the party at the session yesterday (Thursday); unfortunately, those who were supposed to be there did not go. But we are together with them. The LP is part and parcel of the coalition.”
Sharing his sentiment, the chief spokesman of the LP, Yunusa Tanko, stated that the mission of the coalition was basically to defend the tenets of democracy and ensure that the country did not fall into a one-party state.
“The LP has been speaking basically with the PDP, NNPP and trying to see how we can speak as one to save democracy in which all of us are stakeholders,” he said.
