RismadarVoice Reporters, February 26, 2026
The Labour Party (LP) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday signalled a major grassroots realignment ahead of the 2027 general elections, unveiling plans to mobilise workers nationwide as polling unit agents to safeguard the party’s votes.
The resolution was reached at a one-day strategic multi-level stakeholders’ summit of the Labour Party held in Abuja, where party leaders and organised labour representatives agreed to deepen membership registration and validation using union structures as the backbone of the party’s grassroots operations.
The renewed strategy is rooted in lessons drawn from the 2023 presidential election and the subsequent legal battle that followed.
LP’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, challenged the outcome of the election won by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Obi, who ran as a political outsider and attracted significant support from young and first-time voters, placed third behind President Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party finished fourth.
Central to the party’s post-election grievances were disputes over the electronic transmission of results and the collection of Form EC8A — the official polling unit result sheet required to substantiate claims in court.
Party leaders have repeatedly argued that inadequate grassroots coordination and the absence of a structured network to retrieve polling unit result sheets weakened their case at the election tribunal.
‘We Have Learnt Hard Lessons’ — Usman
Addressing stakeholders at the summit, Acting National Chairman of the Labour Party, Nenadi Usman, said the party had learnt “hard lessons” and must now build a formidable structure anchored on labour institutions.
“When the LP National Working Committee approached the NLC and the TUC leaderships, we told them that the basics of a political party are being able to successfully register your members right from the grassroots,” she said.
“But without knowing who your members are or where they hail from, you can never plan well.
“We have seen that in the 2023 election, the fact that we did not use these two institutions to anchor the party very firmly at the grassroots led us to the problems we had.”
Usman emphasized the need to register members at the polling unit level through the NLC, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and affiliated unions, arguing that the labour movement provides a ready-made nationwide structure.
“There is no polling unit in this country where you will go that we don’t have either a serving or a retired worker. We are all over the place,” she said.
She stressed that a reliable membership database would enable the party to deploy trained members as polling unit agents during elections and ensure systematic collection of Form EC8A.
“We need to have our people registered in our data and use them as polling unit agents when elections come to avoid talks about a glitch or no glitch during electronic transmission,” she said.
“We should start taking record of that important document, Form EC8A, at every polling unit. We cannot do without that form.”
Reflecting on the 2023 tribunal proceedings, Usman lamented that the party was unable to effectively substantiate its vote claims due to gaps in documentation.
“If we had been called upon in 2023, even without payment, our members would have stood at the polling units, watched our votes being counted, signed and collected all the EC8A forms,” she said.
‘Workers Are No Longer Strangers’ — NLC
Also speaking, Acting Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Stephen Okoro, traced the ideological roots of the Labour Party to the labour movement, describing the renewed collaboration as a restoration of the party’s founding vision.
“We are happy that one of the longest struggles for the party has brought all of us to this new epoch where workers are no longer treated as strangers in their own house,” Okoro said.
He pledged labour’s commitment to the national membership registration and validation exercise.
“We will mobilize workers in their millions, not only as members of the Labour Party, but as the duty bearers of the ideological dictates of the party,” he added.
Unity Key to 2027 — Otti
Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, represented by Deputy Governor Ikechukwu Emetu, said unity and internal cohesion would determine the party’s electoral fortunes in 2027.
“Politics, like governance, thrives on unity of purpose. The strength of any political movement lies not merely in numbers, but in cohesion, clarity of vision, discipline and shared conviction,” he said.
He urged the party to consolidate its structures, strengthen grassroots mobilisation and build strategic alliances ahead of the next general elections.
“Elections are not just won in the election year alone. They are won through consistent engagement, credible governance and sustained connection with the electorate,” he added.
Strategic Recalibration:
The summit underscored what party leaders described as a strategic recalibration — an effort to transform the vast network of Nigerian workers into a disciplined electoral structure capable not only of mobilising votes but also of securing, documenting and defending them at the polling unit level.
With 2027 still months away, Labour Party and organised labour appear determined to convert lessons from 2023 into a more structured and legally fortified campaign machinery.
