The leadership of Labour Party (LP) has confirmed that they are part of the new coalition of concerned political parties that was launched this week.
A group of seven opposition political parties on Wednesday formed a new coalition in a bid to strengthen democracy in the country.
The movement tagged the Coalition of 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 (SDP).
The name of Labour Party, another major opposition party, was conspicuously missing in the list of members.
The coalition comprised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peoples Allied Movement, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
When contacted, the LP leadership denied withdrawing from the coalition.
In an exclusive phone chat with The PUNCH, the National Secretary of the party, Umar Farouk, 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.
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the threat of the new coalition formed by major opposition parties, saying they are not threatened by the move.
National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, disclosed that while members of the new coalition were free to exercise their democratic rights, the ruling party was not losing sleep over the development.
