Actor and politician Kenneth Okonkwo has accused Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, of betrayal.
Okonkwo, who served as the spokesperson for the Obi-Datti presidential campaign council, made the claim in an interview with Symfoni TV.
“If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me,” the actor said.
According to Okonkwo, he had warned Obi against aligning with Julius Abure and his faction, describing them as undemocratic and allegedly being used by the government to destabilise the party.
He claimed that Obi ignored his advice and instead visited Abure’s faction, believing reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had recognised them as the authentic leaders of the party.
“I told him don’t go there. They are just using you to gain credibility. He refused,” Okonkwo said.
The actor added that within 72 hours of Obi’s visit to the factional office, members of the group sent him a video of the visit as a form of mockery.
Describing Obi as a “politician of convenience, not conviction,” Okonkwo accused the former Anambra governor of worsening the crisis within the Labour Party rather than uniting the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
He said the issues contributed to his decision to leave the Labour Party in 2024.
Neither Obi nor the Labour Party has responded to Okonkwo’s claims as of the time of this report.