The spokesperson for the Labour Party presidential campaign in the 2023 general election, Kenneth Okonkwo, has resigned from the party.
Okonkwo primarily blamed the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the ongoing crisis within the party for his decision.
The filmmaker-turned-politician also criticized the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), stating that both parties are leading Nigeria nowhere.
He accused the combined leadership of both parties of crippling Nigeria, noting that the country is now economically down.
In a letter on Sunday, Okonkwo stated that the APC has left the people with no other option than to protest for their survival, as they “can see no hope for the future.”
He emphasized that only a solid political party with a strong grassroots base can wrestle “power from these kakistocrats and kleptocrats.”
Okonkwo noted that “We also need a decisive leader who will be selfless enough, in boldness and bravery, to secure our victory, when the people vote for such leader, because these corrupt and incompetent leaders are not willing to conduct free and fair elections and will always grab, take power from any weak and indecIsive candidate, and run away with it. ”
The politician, who is also a lawyer, described the judiciary as “electoral bandits who steal electoral victories at gunpoint in the public glare of everyone.”
Okonkwo stated that he is searching for a leader with integrity, charisma, and bravery to mobilize the people and sustain victory if Nigeria votes for such a person. He emphasized that “the time for calm down is over.”
He alleged that the 2023 election was stolen despite all their labor and suffering to achieve victory adding that “It is obvious that the judiciary will not give us democracy because of abuse of the judicial process. The people must take their destiny in their hands.”
“However, the person must be willing to be in the forefront of such endeavour. The suffering Nigerians are going through now from the people they didn’t vote for, but who snatched power, cannot be allowed to continue. These people will still remain in power come 2027 unless a decisive leader emerges to stop them with the votes of the people.
“What is happening in Labour Party today has inspired in me a determination to chart a new course for my political journey. After the 2023 general election, Nigerians, including me, had high hopes for the Labour Party.
“I believe that Peter Obi will seize the momentum and build a solid party of integrity that will have the solid base that we need to overthrow these kakistocracy and kleptocrats.
“He just needed to give the right directives and everyone will fall in line.
“I received my first shock when he publicly declared that he didn’t promise Nigerians to build a strong Labour Party, but to solve Nigeria’s problems.
“I was like, does it mean HE Peter Obi is not aware that without a solid party base, we are heading to nowhere politically? However, I continued in his defence believing he will still privately bring the needed solution to LP problems. to no avail.
“PO also publicly demanded that the Abure led National Working Committee must organise an all inclusive convention that will guarantee the participation of all members of the Labour Party in the choice of their leaders.
“This didn’t happen, and surprisingly, PO refused to disassociate himself from the shenanigans and criminal activities of the former NWC as their time had expired.
“Every member of the Labour Party is confused today as to the future of the Labour Party because of lack of leadership from PO over the party, and unfortunately, when they look up to me to tell them about PO’s standpoint, I sincerely have nothing to tell them because I don’t know myself. I cannot continue to speak on behalf of a leader that I do not know his stand on issues of great importance. I simply don’t know how to manipulate facts.
“I am shocked that PO could not openly support the noble efforts of the Labour Unions who founded the Labour Party as a base to fight for the welfare of workers to the extent that some of them are openly saying that PO is now the problem of LP.
“The Labour Unions now have the unfortunate situation where they are fighting criminals who want to hijack their party when an ordinary statement from PO would have brought the solution. I cannot continue with this ambivalence forever.
“I am of course in full support of the Labour Unions and other stakeholders who are now compelled to fight for the soul of LP without the support of PO.
“However, the consequence is that I no longer have the confidence that PO has what it takes to build a party that can win these kakistocrats and kleptocrats, and above all, he has proved that even if the people vote for him, he doesn’t have what it takes to secure the mandate.
“I don’t intend to embark on such a campaign as we did in 2023, projecting a person who cannot sustain the victory even if he wins.
“It’s in this regard that I have decided to continue my political journey into the great Nigeria of our vision without Peter Obi. “
