- As Pressure Mount On Him To Ignore Labour
By Desmond Ukandu (Group Politics Editor)
Renowned legal luminary and a pioneer founder of the opposition Labour Party (LP), Chief Mike Okoye, is set to rejoin the party which he founded in 1988 alongside former leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), late Pascal Bafyau, Senator Adams Oshiomole and Chief Dan Nwanyanwu.
Barrister Okoye, according to priviledged information available to NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper on New Year day, is very likely to replace Mr Peter Obi who officially resigned from the party on December 31th, 2025 and joined another opposition party, African Democratic Congress (ADC).
NEWSLEADER also reliably learnt that ahead of the 2027 general elections, Mike Okoye, barring any change of mind, will remain the aspirant to beat in the Presidential Primary of Labour Party during their National Convention this year. Okoye, top insiders in the party disclosed, is currently holding secret talks with the apex leadership of the party on the possibility of his emergence as Labour Party's presidential candidate to replace Peter Obi in the fierce election battle to shove out President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from power in 2027.
Even as Okoye is said to be holding political talks with the Labour Party, it was however gathered that intense pressure is on the Anambra state-born politician to discontinue whatever political engagements with Labour Party and pitch tenth with another yet undisclosed opposition political party.
Barrister Mike Okoye is a Lagos based civil right activist and foremost constitutional lawyer who is among the early generation of human right combatants who fought the military government for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria. He, along with President Bola Tinubu and other prominent politicians, formed the corp of pro-democracy leaders in the 90s under the aegis of NADECO (National Democratic Coalition), involved in the struggle for the actualization of June 12, 1993 Presidential election said to have been won by late billionaire businessman, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola.
Okoye, in early 1988, reportedly teamed up with the then labour leaders, namely: Comrades Pascal Bafyau, Adams Oshiomole, Dan Nwanyanwu, among others, to form the present Labour Party which was formally recognized by the Nigeria's Electoral body during the General Sani Abacha regime in 1996.
An experienced politician who hails from Umueri town in the North Senatorial District of Anambra state, South East, Nigeria, Okoye was a governorship candidate of the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra state in November 2010 but eventually lost to Mr Peter Obi in a fierce gubernatorial battle at the Supreme Court in an election petition case.
The author of the book 'Towards a Better Nigeria', has handled several controversial cases since the military era up to the Supreme Court. As a young attorney, Okoye, in his quest for human right and stout defence of press freedom, stood boldly against the might of the military government when the defunct Newbreed Magazine published by late journalist, Chief Chris Maduaburochukwu Okolie, was banned from circulation, on account of their stories against the government.
He has equally contributed significantly to the development of the legal profession in Nigeria. NNL.
