Kenneth Okonkwo: APC will pick LP’s 2027 presidential candidate if Abure remains chairman

Kenneth Okonkwo says the All Progressives Congress (APC) will choose the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2027 if Julius Abure continues as national chair.

Okonkwo served as LP’s presidential campaign spokesperson in the 2023 elections.

BACKGROUND

In February, Oluchi Oparah, national treasurer of the party, accused Abure of misappropriating N3.5 billion.

Abure refuted the claim and threatened to sue Oparah, but party members demanded the removal of the national chair.

In April 2023, the federal capital territory (FCT) high court issued an order restraining Abure from parading himself as the national chair of the LP.

While ruling on an ex parte application, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, also restrained Farouk Ibrahim, national secretary; Clement Ojukwu, national organising secretary; and Oparah, treasurer; from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

On September 4, Nenadi Usman, a former senator representing Kaduna south, was appointed to chair a 29-member caretaker committee after Alex Otti, governor of Abia, convened a stakeholders meeting of the party in Umuahia.

Peter Obi, LP’s 2023 presidential candidate, and Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate, were among the top party members that attended the meeting.

On Tuesday, Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge at a federal high court in Abuja, validated the Abure-led leadership of the party and the March 2024 Nnewi convention that produced the LP’s executives.

Nwite also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Abure as the legitimate chairman of the party.

Shortly afterwards, Usman said the panel would appeal the court verdict.

‘ABURE WAS NOT ELECTED’

Speaking on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, on Thursday, Okonkwo said Abure “admitted” that he was not elected by members of LP.

“Well, first of all, I said this before and I’m saying it again, I have no business with any Abure-led Labour Party. So, that is settled,” Okonkwo said.

“At any point in time it is decided that Abure is the chairman of the Labour Party, that ends it for me (and) for the Labour Party.

“Because we set out saying we would destroy the structure of criminality and that agenda has not been removed.

“It’s important to note that before Abure went to court, INEC has rejected him. The elected members rejected him, members of Labour Party did not vote for him.

“By his own admission, you can recall that Abure said he came out unopposed. Abure said everybody in that NWC came out unopposed. So that’s an admission that no single member of Labour Party voted for them.

“So you cannot sit down in your house or the backyard of any place and call yourself any name and you expect people to agree.”

Okonkwo said an administration without election will lack popular participation and legitimacy.

‘TRANSACTIONAL POLITICS’

Okonkwo described Abure’s leadership approach as “transactional politics”.

The actor-turned-lawyer said the LP, as presently constituted, is now a “housemaid” to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“In a nation like Nigeria, where the ruling party is looking for any way to make sure they compromise the opposition, you do not have the leisure of time,” he said.

“I can tell you that Labour Party as presently constituted is now a housemaid to APC. The 2027 presidential candidate of the Labour Party will be decided on the table of APC.

“We know their moves. They are meeting the people now who help people to win cases in court.

“Because if nobody from your party is supporting you, then who are you now trying to become a chairman to?”

Okonkwo recounted how Abure withdrew the tickets earlier reserved for Obi and Otti ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Remember, when Abure went to Nnewi to do the illegal election, in my own view (because) the supreme court has not ruled. He said the ticket is reserved for Peter Obi,” he said.

“I said in this programme back then that this is bribery; that he wants to use it to make Peter Obi to close his eyes on the illegality they’re doing.

“When their tenure ended, it was not even Peter Obi that said their tenure has ended. It was INEC, and they were disgraced out.

“That comes to the culpability of INEC; if INEC said their tenure has ended, why did they not accept the caretaker committee?

“Now, when Peter Obi went to Umuahia to do the right thing, what did Abure say? No, the ticket is no longer reserved.

“What does that tell you? These are transactional politicians who have no policy, who have no principle, but what they are doing there is to trade.

“He said, Otti, we don’t have ticket for you. Who do you think they are reserving the ticket for? Let me give you a poser.

“The deputy speaker of the national assembly told Otti, look, I would not sit down as a man of the ruling party and allow the opposition to govern Abia state.

“And then there is an Abure that is saying that ticket is no longer reserved for you and they are winning cases in court.

“The witch cried in the night and the baby died in the day. What do you think is happening? It’s not an indictment, he said it openly but I can see the nexus.

“Every ticket in the Labour Party is reserved for APC people and I have told you about the nexus. It’s not by accident.”