Veteran Nollywood actor and former spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has publicly accused Peter Obi, the party’s former presidential candidate, of betraying him and contributing significantly to the internal crisis that has plagued the Labour Party (LP).
In a widely circulated interview with Symfoni that gained traction on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially left the Labour Party in February 2025, disclosed that Peter Obi disregarded his counsel and sided with the faction led by Julius Abure, despite warnings about the faction’s questionable legitimacy and undemocratic conduct.
Okonkwo stated, “Any politician that knows what he’s doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.”
He explained that Obi was misled by certain LP executives who falsely claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had recognized the Abure-led faction. “The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic. If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’”
Despite Okonkwo’s private warnings against aligning with the group he described as “undemocratic” and “agents of the government,” Obi proceeded to publicly endorse the Abure faction. Okonkwo recounted, “I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him. What they did was absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, I told him that if he went back to them, I wouldn’t join him in doing so.”
Following his private admonitions, Okonkwo also informed the Labour Party’s inner circle about Obi’s intentions to reunite with the Abure faction, making it clear that he would not support such a move. “I told them he wanted to go back with the Abure people and if he did, I wouldn’t go back with him because I do not swallow back my words.”
Within 72 hours, Obi reportedly visited the Abure faction’s office and publicly endorsed them. Okonkwo revealed that a leader from the faction sent him a video of Obi’s endorsement to mock his opposition. “It was when INEC dissociated itself from Abure that Obi came out to start acting neutral but I told him he could not be neutral and something had to be done,” Okonkwo added.
The Labour Party has been embroiled in a protracted leadership dispute, with rival factions claiming control of the party’s national structure. The Abure-led faction has been accused of financial mismanagement and anti-democratic practices, allegations that have cast doubt on the party’s reformist image.
Kenneth Okonkwo, a staunch supporter of Peter Obi’s political vision, cited these irregularities and the betrayal by Obi as key reasons for his departure from the party earlier this year.
This latest revelation adds a new dimension to the ongoing crisis within the Labour Party.