Kenneth Okonkwo resigns from Labour Party, cites lack of leadership
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former spokesman of Peter Obi Presidential Campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, has announced his resignation from the Labour Party.
In a statement on Tuesday posted on X, Okonkwo said his resignation would take effect on February 25, 2025.
He said his decision to resign was because the party is “non-existent as presently constituted.”
Okonkwo wrote, “In the Constitution of Labour Party, the tenure of the ward, local government, and state party executives is three years (See Article 15(2)(3)(4) of the Labour Party Constitution). Having conducted no congresses at these levels within the constitutionally allowed tenure of the executives, their regimes have effectively expired.
“The former National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, and his former National Working Committee, having conducted no national convention known to law, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the courts having held that the issue of the leadership of a political party is the internal affair of a political party for which the courts do not have the jurisdiction to entertain, there’s no effective leadership of Labour Party at the national level.
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“The Senator Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee, which was duly and legally set up by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Labour Party, after the non-recognition of Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) by INEC, and was given six months to conduct congresses and the convention, was the only viable option towards salvaging the Labour Party.
“Unfortunately, Abure and his colleagues, with the collaboration of outside forces, expectedly, being political jobbers, launched unnecessary legal challenges against this Caretaker Committee that have inhibited it from functioning.”
Okonkwo, also a lawyer, said that if Abure was interested in the emergence of a southern candidate in Labour Party to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, he would cede the position of national chairman to the north.
“Since the party is non-existent as presently constituted, I am constrained to resign my membership of the party to all Nigerians of goodwill who supported us when we needed them most and to pledge my continued loyalty to the Nigerian people in all I will decide to do in my political future,” the actor-turned politician added.
“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well-meaning, and like-minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God.”
