Labour ties itself up in knots once more amid attempts to explain itself... as it now emerges leader Ivana Bacik repeated false story about Galway Mayor's arrival in Ireland after her husband's murder

By BRIAN MAHON and CRAIG HUGHES Published: 23:32, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 23:32, 1 July 2026 LABOUR leader Ivana Bacik falsely told party members that their newly elected Mayor of Galway Helen Ogbu came to Ireland in 2006 after the assassination of her husband, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal. An investigation by the Mail can reveal that incorrect information about Ms Ogbu’s backstory was repeatedly shared by Ms Bacik, Labour TDs and Ms Ogbu during the by-election campaign – with the party now attempting to remove what they posted online. The party criticised the Mail on Monday night in advance of our revelation that Ms Ogbu’s personal website falsely claimed she moved to Ireland in 2006 ‘after’ the assassination of her husband. On her official website she stated: ‘In 2006, my family and I moved to Ireland, seeking safety and a fresh start after the tragic loss of my husband.’ However, Ms Ogbu’s husband was murdered in Nigeria in 2010, not 2006, and she came to Ireland in 2005, not 2006. Her website was taken down on Saturday, with the party claiming the Mail’s pursuit of the story was ‘intimidatory and unacceptable’ and that the error was simply caused by a ‘typo’. A news report from an African broadcaster posted by Ms Ogbu on her YouTube accounts states: ‘She fled to Ireland in 2005 after her husband was murdered.’ The earliest archived version of Ms Ogbu’s website claims she came to Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s death. Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik emails party members telling them about Ms Ogbu’s ‘extraordinary’ life story in which she ‘came to Ireland in 2006 following the assassination’ of her husband. Labour Party newsletter claims Ms Ogbu came to Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s death. Local media outlet Galway Live reports that Ms Ogbu ‘fled Africa after her husband, a politician, was assassinated for his commitment to democracy’. The Sunday Times interview with Ms Ogbu accurately states her husband died after she moved to Ireland. Labour TD for Dublin South-West Ciarán Ahern erroneously claims in a campaign video on social media, shared by Ms Ogbu and the party, that she came to Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s death. Local media outlet Galway Beo reports during by-election that Ms Ogbu’s husband was murdered in 2006. Ms Ogbu tells RTÉs Today With David McCullagh that her husband died after she moved to Ireland. African news channel IGBO Area TV, which features interviews with Ms Bacik and Ms Ogbu, states ‘she moved to Ireland in 2006 after her husband… was murdered’. The Mail contacts the Labour Party and Ms Ogbu about the discrepancy in her backstory on her website. Ms Ogbu’s website is taken down. Labour claims the error on Ms Ogbu’s website was a ‘typo’ which was corrected after the party became aware of it, saying the Mail had acted inappropriately in pursuing the story.  The Labour Party tells the Mail that Ms Ogbu actually came to Ireland in 2005, not 2006 as had been previously stated. The Mail reveals the discrepancy in Ms Ogbu’s website and the party’s attempts to rebuff our questioning. Labour Party TD for Wexford George Lawlor claims that a volunteer ‘party activist’ erroneously placed the incorrect information on Ms Ogbu’s website. The Labour Party edits newsletter that falsely claimed Ms Ogbu came to Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s death to accurately state he was killed subsequent to her arrival in Ireland. Ms Ogbu contradicts Mr Lawlor’s version of events in an interview on Galway Bay FM by saying the inaccuracy was down to a ‘human error’ and ‘incompetence’ by a private company which set up the website, which she claimed she was unable to edit. Ms Ogbu said that the party first noticed the error ‘last year’ and had been unable to change it. In a separate statement to the Mail, they said the mistake was caused by an ‘editing error’ during an update of the website and that Ms Ogbu only ‘recently became aware of the mistake’. However, the earliest archived version of the site from May 2025 states she came to Ireland ‘after’ her husband’s death. On Tuesday, Labour Party TD George Lawlor blamed a ‘party volunteer’ for the ‘inaccuracy’ on the website. Mr Lawlor told a Mail reporter that it was ‘not their finest hour’ and while he acknowledged there was an ‘error’ on the website, he said it was not a falsehood. In an interview on Galway Bay FM yesterday morning, Ms Ogbu contradicted both the party’s earlier statement and Mr Lawlor’s version of events by saying the matter was down to a ‘human error’ and ‘incompetence’ by the company who set up the website which she was unable to edit. Ms Ogbu said that the Labour Party first noticed the error ‘last year’ and had been unable to change it. However, the Mail can now reveal that on January 27, following Ms Ogbu’s selection to contest the by-election in Galway West for the party, Ms Bacik told Labour members in an email that Ms Ogbu came to Ireland after her husband’s death. ‘Helen’s life story is extraordinary. Born and raised in Nigeria, she came to Ireland in 2006 and raised her own family here in the face of extreme challenges, following the assassination in Nigeria of her beloved husband, Sunny Orji-Ogbu,’ she wrote. A Labour Party newsletter circulated days after Ms Ogbu’s selection also erroneously stated she moved to Ireland ‘after the tragic loss of her husband’. However, the party altered the text of the online newsletter on Monday night to say Ms Ogbu’s husband ‘subsequently’ died after she came to Ireland. The falsehood about Ms Ogbu’s backstory was also amplified in a social media video by Labour TD Dublin South-West Ciarán Ahern during the by-election campaign. In a video posted on April 11, which was shared by Labour and Ms Ogbu, Mr Ahern claimed Ms Ogbu came to Ireland with her family ‘after’ her husband’s murder. ‘In 2006, she and her family moved to Ireland seeking refuge after the tragic loss of her husband, Sunny Orji-Ogbu – murdered for his political activity in Nigeria,’ he wrote. In a statement to the Mail last night which directly contradicted what Ms Ogbu said earlier that day, a spokeswoman for the Labour Party said that they take ‘full responsibility’ for the errors. ‘We regret that a mistake was inadvertently made on the website and, as soon as it came to our attention, sought to correct it. The party accepts full responsibility for this typo,’ she said. ‘As the examples listed in your query show, this error was subsequently repeated in external and internal communications. Helen Ogbu did not make this incorrect claim. ‘Her account of her husband’s murder has at all times been consistent and truthful. The spokeswoman added that Ms Ogbu had accurately outlined the story of her arrival in Ireland in an interview with the City Tribune in March 2024. ‘The chronology of Helen Ogbu’s arrival in Ireland in 2005 and the subsequent murder of her husband in 2010 has been publicly documented in interviews with Helen over many years. This was, and remains a family tragedy,’ she wrote. Several local media interviews with Ms Ogbu containing the false information have been left online. An article in Galway Beo during the by-election on May 18 erroneously states that Ms Ogbu’s husband was murdered in 2006. In February 2025, Ms Ogbu shared a news report on her own YouTube account from a Nigerian news channel which reported: ‘The 51-year-old fled to Ireland in 2005 after her husband was murdered.’ A report from Igbo Area TV, another Nigerian news channel last week also reported that ‘in 2006’ Ms Ogbu ‘left’ Nigeria ‘after her husband’ was ‘murdered for his political work’. The Irish Daily Mail asked the Labour Party why they allowed these articles to remain online and did not seek to have them amended with the accurate information. However, the party’s spokeswoman did not directly answer our questions. In two national media interviews, with The Sunday Times on April 4 and RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh on June 22, Ms Ogbu accurately stated that her husband was killed after she arrived in Ireland. Ms Ogbu was elected as Mayor of Galway on June 19, having first been elected as a councillor in the 2024 local elections. She polled strongly in the by-election in Galway West where she finished third after eventual winner Seán Kyne and Noel Thomas, having received 5,462 first preference votes. Ms Ogbu has been the subject of intense criticism online from far right and racists agitators online. During the Galway West by-election, a spokesman for the party said they had assigned one staff member to review and delete racist comments. The party said 40% of the work of the staff member is ‘blocking racist abuse and commentary on Meta platforms’. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.