Tanko Counters SDP’s Adebayo, Says Obi Remains In Labour Party 

The Interim National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Yunusa Tanko, on Monday, Peter Obi, is a member of the party till further developments.

Tanko, a campaigner for the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), said the former Anambra State governor has not joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

“As far as I am concerned, His Excellency, Peter Obi, is a member of the Labour Party. It remains so until when there is any other thing that may come up,” Tanko said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.

The LP chieftain was reacting to a claim by SDP’s 2023 flag bearer Adewole Adebayo who said Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have begun talks to join SDP.

Before Adewole, SDP’s National Secretary, Olu Agunloye had also said Obi’s men were lobbying his party ahead of the next poll.

Tanko further added that the leaders of the Labour Party would make some positions clear to Nigerians in the coming days, especially in line with the Supreme Court judgment sacking Julius Abure as LP national chairman.

“As I speak to you right now, there is going to be a meeting possibly within the week by the leaders of the party to make fundamental positions clear to everyone, and in line with the position of the Supreme Court ruling and that of course will put the whole matter to rest,” he stated.

Ahead of the 2027 polls, talks about an inter-party alliance reached a climax on Thursday, March 20, 2025, when opposition arrowhead Atiku, alongside Obi, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, amongst others, announced a coalition to oust incumbent Bola tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.

The coalition is banking on the numerical strength of the votes recorded by Atiku and Obi in the last poll. In 2023, Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party’s Obi came second and third respectively with combined votes of over 12 million, more than four million above the total votes recorded by tinubu who was declared the winner by electoral umpire INEC.

With a litany of court cases arising from intra-party squabbles and protracted leadership crises rocking the PDP and the LP, as well as alleged maltreatment of some APC members, politicians in the three parties seem to have made the SDP a darling.