Kenneth Okonkwo, a former chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), has accused Peter Obi, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, of betrayal and political mismanagement.
In an interview with Symfoni TV, Okonkwo said Obi failed to take control of the leadership crisis that has rocked the LP since the 2023 elections.
He alleged that Obi aligned himself with the Julius Abure-led faction, which Okonkwo claims has been fraternising with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him, Obi repeatedly ignored calls to distance himself from Abure’s camp, further fuelling division within the party.
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He also criticised Obi’s leadership style, describing him as lacking the qualities of a team player and an effective political manager.
You work for your money, Okonkwo pointed to incidents where Obi allegedly endorsed candidates from outside the Labour Party during elections, a move that alienated core loyalists and weakened party cohesion.
Reflecting on the early momentum of the LP, Okonkwo said the 2023 campaign began as a genuine, organic movement driven by widespread public dissatisfaction.
“Every Nigerian wanted change,” he said. “Nobody drafted me into it. I followed the movement of my own accord. When I was chosen to be a spokesperson, I honoured it. Everybody knew what I did and the contributions I made.”
He noted that after the elections, the logical next step would have been to start preparing for 2027 by consolidating the party structure, but he believes Obi failed to do so.
He described Obi as “a politician of convenience, not a politician of conviction,” adding, “Nobody is murdering Obi’s political career. Obi is committing political suicide. And I mean it.”
Okonkwo dismissed suggestions that he betrayed Obi by quitting the LP, saying, “Any politician who knows what he is doing cannot be betrayed by anybody.
“If there is anybody who betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.”
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He left the party in July 2024, declaring that he no longer had confidence in Obi’s ability to build a party capable of winning elections. According to him, Obi has “proved that even if the people vote for him, he doesn’t have what it takes to secure the mandate.”
Just a month before his exit, Okonkwo had described the Labour Party as “a secret society led by a group of clowns.”
