THE Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) says Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesman for the Peter Obi’ Presidential Campaign Council during the 2023 election, is on a mission to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Okonkwo, hitherto a prominent Nollywood actor, resigned his membership of the party on Tuesday.
He cited that the internal crisis and ineffectual leadership in the LP left him with no other option.
In 2022, Okonkwo left the APC for LP, citing the former’s adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential poll.
However, speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, on Wednesday, Abayomi Arabambi, the spokesman for the Apapa-led faction of the LP, said the erstwhile Nollywood actor has been colluding with the ruling party.
The factional spokesperson described Okonkwo’s exit as “good riddance”, as the party perfects plans to “unseat the current administration” in 2027.
He added that the party will not tolerate any form of “political rascality” as proactive steps are in place to weed out those whose loyalties lay elsewhere.
“We wish Mr Kenneth Okonkwo well. His resignation is good riddance to bad rubbish. He should not speak about the Labour Party anymore,” Arabambi said.
“There is no leadership crisis in the Labour Party. The party is not going into extinction; it is just a figment of the imaginations of most of our detractors.
“He’s going back to APC. He’s been working with President Tinubu before. He worked with them against Peter Obi and Atiku in 2019.
“We know he’s still going back there. We wish him well. We will meet in the political session in 2027.
“But in 2027, we are not going to have such political rascality in our party. The national chairman is on a reconciliatory mission which is why you see a lot of people being jittery.”
Peter Obi was the LP’s presidential candidate in 2023 but lost to President Bola Tinubu, then-candidate of the APC.
The former Anambra State governor came third in the poll, behind Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Eighteen-Eleven Media