Osuntokun also said he is not surprised that LP is heading towards extinction, adding that the party “exists only on paper.”
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former DG of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Osuntokun, has said the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would have participated as an independent candidate in the last general election had Nigerian law permitted it.
He made this known on Friday during an interview on Arise Television News.
According to him, the former Anambra governor was a product of the Obidient movement and not the Labour Party.
Osuntokun went on to argue that Obi “breathed life into” LP, insisting that he would have run for the position of the president without affiliating himself to any party.
He also said he is not surprised that the Labour Party is heading towards extinction, because like many other political parties in Nigeria, it “exists only on paper”.
The former DG further suggested that the powers that be have succeeded in using some individuals to destabilise the party.
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While discussing about LP during the chat, Osuntokun said, “We know a party as such is heading towards extinction. But it’s not peculiar or unexpected. Many parties exist only on paper; the Labour Party was one of them before Peter Obi breathed life into it.”
He added, “Though they have something that works for them, they have a nuisance value.
“If any other party, for instance the party in power wants to destabilise any other party, they’re there to be used and they’ve been doing that.
“It’s a pity that the Nigerian constitution does not permit independent candidacy. If the constitution permitted independent candidacy, that is what Obi would have done.”
Peter Obi is a member of the newly formed Coalition movement aiming to wrestle power from President Bola Tinubu and the ruling APC in 2027.
He recently declared that he is still a member of the LP but would work with the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
