Close allies of Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have fired back at veteran actor and former campaign spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, over allegations of betrayal.
Naijaonpoint reports that Okonkwo, in a viral podcast interview released on Saturday, accused Obi of abandoning him after the 2023 elections and siding with a faction of the Labour Party (LP) led by Julius Abure, despite repeated warnings.
In the podcast, Okonkwo said, “Any politician that knows what he is doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.”
He claimed that he had warned Obi against the Abure-led faction of the LP, citing a lack of internal democracy and alleged deceit regarding the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) recognition of the group.
Okonkwo alleged, “The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them, and Obi surreptitiously went back to them. I told him, ‘Sir, even if INEC has accepted them, you should not go back to a group that has proven undemocratic.”
He also claimed that Obi publicly endorsed the faction 72 hours after their conversation, and that party insiders mocked him with video evidence of the endorsement.
Responding via 𝕏 (formerly Twitter), a former spokesperson for the Obi-Datti Campaign Team, Nana Sani Kazaure, dismissed Okonkwo’s claims and questioned his integrity.
She said, “Since when did one’s refusal to shed the blood of Nigerians on the streets become betrayal? Did former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan betray Nigerians too when he said the blood of Nigerians worth more than his political ambition?
“Given Mr Okonkwo’s association with PO in the past few years, who can truly be called a traitor in the circumstances?”
Kazaure said she had no doubt that every day, in public and in private, Okonkwo would be confronted by the “overwhelming feelings of the people over his recent direction, vituperation, and battles daily with his conscience.”
She added, “Anyways, Mr Okonkwo, your opinion is entirely yours, just as your persistent scathing focus on Peter Obi is only representative of your current political refuge. As we say in local parlance, kindly please face your front and Anlay-lay from here.”
The National Coordinator of the Obidients Movement Worldwide, Yunusa Tanko, also responded, dismissing Okonkwo’s claims as an attempt to derail Obi’s momentum.
“Obi is coming. No distractions. No conspiracy. No misrepresentation can stop the moving train. A new Nigeria is possible,” Tanko wrote.
The National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Peter Ameh, and a staunch Obi supporter, suggested that Okonkwo’s criticism is part of a wider political agenda.
“These scathing attacks are not merely coincidental. There is more to them than appears on the surface,” Ameh wrote.