Labour defends Ogbu over ‘typo’ in asylum timeline

The Labour Party has defended Mayor of Galway Helen Ogbu after what it described as a “typo” on her webpage in relation to the timeline of her seeking asylum in Ireland.

Last night, the party issued a statement responding to a media query about a discrepancy in the detail between her moving from Nigeria to Ireland in 2006 and the death of her husband in Nigeria in 2010.

Ms Ogbu was the Labour candidate in the recent Galway West bye-election.

On the webpage, it stated that had she arrived in Ireland in 2006 following the assassination of her husband.

Sunny Orji-Ogbu was murdered in Nigeria in 2010, four years after the date stated online.

The webpage was taken down following a query by a media outlet last Friday.

Labour TD George Lawlor, who was Ms Ogbu’s director of elections for the bye-election, said the discrepancy was a “typo” made by a volunteer and activist, and not by the party.

He said that he did not believe the mistake was a falsehood, but accepted that it was an inaccuracy.

“The typo, I presume, was in the word ‘after’. Helen Ogbu has been very upfront about everything that she has endured,” Mr Lawlor said.

“What should be explained is that Helen Ogbu moved to Ireland because her husband was under serious threat, that serious threat came to pass with his assassination.

“Helen Ogbu arrived in Ireland because her husband’s life was under threat. She came to Ireland. Her husband was subsequently assassinated, that’s the situation.

“What more proof do we need that was an issue with the safety of Helen?”

Labour added in a statement that Ms Ogbu has been subjected to “significant racist abuse and harassment on an ongoing basis”.

The party also said that she was subjected to an “intimidatory and unacceptable” form of “doorstepping” by a media outlet.

Ms Ogbu was elected Mayor of Galway earlier this year, becoming the first African woman to hold the position.

She was elected to Galway City Council in 2024.

In the bye-election, she finished third, securing 11.4% of first preference votes and close to 13,000 votes overall.