The former spokesperson of the Labour Party presidential campaign organisation, Kenneth Okonkwo, has reacted to insinuations that he betrayed Peter Obi, who represented the party at the 2023 presidential election.
In June 2024, Mr Okonkwo resigned from the LP, expressing his frustration that the party failed to inspire leadership that could solve Nigeria’s challenges.
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He also accused the party’s presidential candidate of failing to solve its leadership crisis after the 2023 general election, which he lost to Bola Tinubu, currently serving as Nigeria’s president.
In the wake of Mr Okonkwo’s exit from the party, Mr Obi described his former spokesperson as a beloved brother and a trusted ally, cautioning against referring to him as a mole.
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“Barr. Kenneth Okonkwo has stood by me through thick and thin, and his loyalty and commitment cannot be overstated or diminished,” he said.
Departure
However, in a recent interview on Symfoni TV, Okonkwo shed light on the events that led to his departure from the party and the role Mr Obi allegedly played in his electoral defeat.
Responding to Mr Obi’s insinuations in a recent interview that he betrayed the former, Mr Okonkwo, a legal practitioner, expressed his profound sense of betrayal, stating that nobody can betray any politician who knows what he’s doing.
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“If anybody betrayed the other, I can say emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me,” he said, referring to what he perceives as a breach of trust and loyalty.
Political suicide
The former spokesperson described Mr Obi’s recent assertion that he was betrayed as untrue and alleges that the former presidential candidate is betraying himself.
“And let me tell you the gospel truth, nobody is murdering Obi’s political career. Obi is committing political suicide. And I mean it.
“I pleaded with every member of the Labour Party that nobody should campaign or endorse any candidate who is not a member of the Labour Party. The same Obi endorsed candidates of other political parties publicly,” he said.
On the contrary, he said he faced obstacles when he (Okonkwo) took some Labour Party candidates to the national headquarters, begging them to be endorsed.
“So the issue here is when he’s trying to make that insinuation, when I was telling him that these people were going to sell him out, that if he follows them, I will not follow him. He said I was behaving rascally.
“What is he saying today? This is Obi saying the government is using these people against him,” the veteran actor said.
Politician of convenience
Okonkwo said he refused to leave the Labour Party when it became clear that he could not solve the Party’s problems.
“If you’re a leader in a party, you have options. The first one is if you see that these people are criminals, you leave the party if you can’t solve the problem as a leader so that your followers will not be confused and so that you don’t get so close to the time of the next election that you would have nothing to do about it.
“Now, you did not leave. You remained with them. Why? Because you’re in cahoots with these people in private and publicly want to paint another image. No,
you’re just being a politician of convenience. Not a politician of conviction,” Okonkwo said.
He further insinuated that the Labour Party is not viable enough to hold a good presidential campaign.
Okonkwo said, “I told him that whatever happened to the Labour Party has affected his political career. Because anytime you’re stepping into a coalition, the destiny of your political future is no longer in your hands. You have to subordinate your interests to the interests of the alliance. The Labour Party is not viable as a party to have a good presidential campaign, so his political destiny lies now in the coalition, or he will not make any impact whatsoever in 2027.
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