According to Sahara Reporters, Veteran actor and former Labour Party spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused former presidential candidate Peter Obi of committing “political suicide” by backing a faction of the Labour Party (LP) embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis.
In an interview with Symfoni TV, Okonkwo said Obi’s decision to support the faction he once discredited as “agents of the government” is a betrayal of the movement that championed his 2023 presidential campaign. “Nobody is murdering Obi’s political career. Obi is committing political suicide,” he declared.
Okonkwo, who left the Labour Party in July 2024, claimed to have warned Obi both privately and publicly about the dangers of remaining neutral during the party’s internal conflicts. He lamented that instead of acting decisively, Obi legitimised individuals who, in his earlier statements, were accused of trying to destabilise the party.
“I warned him privately. I warned him publicly. And in disobedience to all those warnings, he now went ahead to support the very people that he discredited,” he said.
Dismissing accusations of betrayal, Okonkwo stated that it was Obi who betrayed him and the ideals of the movement. “Nobody drafted me into it. I followed the movement on my own accord,” he emphasized, recalling the “organic” support Obi enjoyed during the 2023 elections.
He criticised Obi’s indecisiveness in handling the party’s crisis, accusing him of enabling chaos. “A leader must take a decision. Obi will never make a decision. He will sit on the fence. And when you are on the fence, you are supporting evil.”
