Osuntokun: I’ve abandoned senatorial race — LP campaign DG a higher calling

Akin Osuntokun, director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, says he has “abandoned” his ambition to contest for a seat on the senate in the 2023 elections.

He spoke on Wednesday in an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.

Osuntokun was announced as the LP campaign DG on Tuesday, taking over from Doyin Okupe, who had resigned from his position after he was convicted for breaching the Money Laundering Act.

However, he is also listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for Ekiti central senatorial district.

Speaking on the development, the former managing director of NAN, said his position as the LP campaign DG is a “higher calling” compared to running for senate.

When asked if he had dropped his senatorial ambition, he said: “I have abandoned it.”

“The campaign office has issued a press release in that respect. What law have I breached in accepting the appointment? What law has the presidential candidate who appointed me beached in appointing me?” he asked.

“I can’t help anybody who wants to pursue notoriety as a way of life. The man who is doing this is supposedly the national publicity secretary of the Labour Party. Ask him: why would a national publicity secretary of a party do that to his own party?

“So, it’s a redundant question at any rate. It’s of no consequence at all, whether legally or constitutionally — very frivolous. There is no moral burden at all.

“It is a higher order of priority. Joining the Obi campaign is a higher national priority than any other aspiration. As a citizen of this country, who has a realistic appreciation of what we need to move Nigeria forward, you can’t compare an aspiration to be in the senate to the position that I have occupied.

“All these kinds of platitudes are unnecessary. In Nigeria today, there is no way I can define my political and moral priorities better than the path I have followed.

“I have no moral burden. I am stepping to a higher sacrificial position. I don’t need to publicly declare it. [Ekiti ZLP senatorial candidacy] is a redundant position. I have the perfect freedom to decide what to do at any minute, so long as I have not breached any legal position. The step I am taking is of greater moral consequence for Nigeria.”