ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)Veteran Nollywood actor and former spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has alleged that Peter Obi betrayed him in the midst of deepening internal disputes within the Labour Party.
In a widely circulated interview with Symfoni that began trending on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially left the party in February 2025, claimed that Obi disregarded his counsel and threw his support behind the embattled Julius Abure-led faction, despite earlier warnings.
According to Okonkwo, Obi was misinformed by Labour Party officials who allegedly told him that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had recognised the Abure faction.
He said, “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.”
Okonkwo further alleged that members loyal to Abure “lied to Obi” about INEC’s recognition. He said he had advised Obi against associating with individuals he described as lacking in democratic values.
“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 these warnings, Okonkwo said Obi went on to endorse the group publicly.
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“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.
Okonkwo said he also informed key members of Obi’s inner circle about the situation and reiterated his stance.
“Thereafter, I called all the people that were in the inner circle and told them the same thing about what Obi was trying to do. 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.
And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.”
He added that it was only after INEC publicly distanced itself from Abure that Obi adopted a neutral posture.
“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,” he said.
The Labour Party has been caught in a protracted leadership crisis, with rival factions staking claims to the national structure.
The Abure-led group has faced accusations of financial impropriety and undemocratic conduct criticisms that, according to Okonkwo, prompted his exit from the party.