2027: Atiku, Tinubu, Obi Should Step Aside From Contesting, Okonkwo Insists

Wednesday February 12, 2025 | TheNewsDESK

A former member of the Labour Party (LP) Kenneth Okonkwo has asked President Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to step aside from vying for the presidential seat in the next election.

Okonkwo was a spokesman of the LP presidential campaign team in the 2023 general election, working alongside Obi who flew the party’s flag in that poll.

But two years down the line, the Nollywood actor-turned-politician has backtracked from his support for Obi, asking the LP chieftain, Atiku and Tinubu to step aside for other candidates in Nigeria’s next round of elections.

When asked on Channels Television’s Politics Today if he still wants the trio to give way for other candidates in the next general election, he said, “I said it and I maintain it because in Nigeria, people will not give you their mandate and you treat it with levity.

“You must do everything decisively to secure it. Unfortunately, nature has bestowed on us the duty that in Nigeria, you will not only win an election, but you have to fight for your mandate,” Okonkwo said on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

The former LP chieftain said though he worked with Obi in the 2023 election, that is now in the past.

“I still maintain that. Whatever happened in 2023 should stay in 2023, ” the actor said, ruling out backing the former Anambra State governor in the next round of general polls in Nigeria.

Okonkwo was a key member of the Labour Party – the party that took the political space by storm in the last election. Obi came third in that exercise, garnering over six million votes with the majority of his support base being youths.

However, Okonkwo resigned from the party on Tuesday, citing internal rambles in the Labour Party.

The former member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ruled out returning to the ruling party.

“I resigned [to leave APC] on principle,” Okonkwo insisted but gave only one condition to return to the party.

“Let me tell you, I will be the first person to admit if the APC changes today and is doing well for Nigeria,” he said, accusing the ruling party of failing to address the country’s challenges.