Nenadi Usman-Led LP Faction Submits 34-Member Interim Leadership List To INEC, Escalating Party Crisis

The Labour Party (LP) faction led by Senator Nenadi Usman has formally submitted a 34-member Interim National Working Committee (INWC) list to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), intensifying the leadership tussle within the party.

The list, jointly signed by Senator Nenadi Usman and Interim National Secretary Darlington Nwokocha, was addressed to INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan and stamped as received by the commission on Friday, November 28, 2025. Usman signed as Interim National Chairman, while Nwokocha signed as Interim National Secretary.

In the cover letter, the Usman-led group cited provisions of the Labour Party constitution and the July 18, 2025 National Executive Council (NEC) resolution as the source of their authority, noting that the NEC empowered them to constitute the party’s interim national leadership. They requested that INEC recognize the submitted names as the “legitimate and authentic Interim National Working Committee leadership of the Labour Party.”

Usman wrote, “We are pleased to forward herewith the names and designations of the reconstituted members of the Interim National Leadership in line with the LP constitution and the statutory NEC resolutions of July 18, 2025, already forwarded to the commission in the party’s correspondence and acknowledged by the commission on July 21, 2025.”

She added that the NEC had authorized the interim leadership to “constitute the full body of the interim national leadership in accordance with Article 13 of the Labour Party constitution.” Usman then urged INEC to “take legal and official notice” of the names submitted.

The faction also emphasized that the new 34-member list “supersedes” an earlier abridged list submitted in August and the list recently forwarded to INEC by the rival faction led by Julius Abure.

The submission came just one day after Abure convened his own NEC meeting, attended by INEC officials and former vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed, where he reaffirmed himself as the party’s national chairman.

Usman and Nwokocha’s faction enjoys backing from key figures in the party, including Abia State Governor Alex Otti and 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, as well as other stakeholders.

The newly submitted list includes high-ranking positions such as Deputy National Chairman (TUC) Mohammed Misau, Deputy National Chairman (Female) Mrs. Nike Oriola, and Deputy National Chairman (NLC) Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, among others.