A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, has stated that former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is afraid of competitive primary elections.
Speaking during an appearance on Arise News, he stated that Obi’s departure from the ADC was not driven by ideological disagreement or an internal crisis.
Okonkwo said Obi quit the party because of what he described as a longstanding fear of open electoral contests.
“Peter Obi is afraid of free and fair primary elections. He gave reasons for the challenges, but his main reason is that he does not want to face the primary election,” he said.
According to him, Obi has historically avoided competitive primaries throughout his political career and has instead relied on negotiations and political arrangements.
“He has never been in one, and he will not be in one until he finishes his political career,” Okonkwo stated.
Meanwhile, Okonkwo has slammed the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, over the remark that the opposition coalition is dead.
NewsWatch Nigeria reports that Akpabio made the comment during plenary on Tuesday when he read a letter announcing the defection of Abia South senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Reacting to the defection, Akpabio said, “I think ADC is dead. How many times are you defecting? A month? Three times? But let us compile all the list so it doesn’t look like a daily ritual.
“Compile the names of those defecting from all the political parties and their party destinations. If you are moving from ADC, you write all of you. If you are entering NDC, you write all of you. If you are going to Accord, you write as well.”
In response to the statement, Okonkwo, during an interview on ARISE Television on Wednesday, declared that the National Assembly under Akpabio is dead.
He said, “I will react to him simply, the only dead institution in Nigeria is the National Assembly that is supervised by the dead Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
“You can imagine a man who is over citing the president who has three budget running at the same time and he does not have the light in him to talk about the sufferings of Nigerians, yet what he knows how to talk is to talk about the ADC. The only thing dead is the National Assembly under Akpabio.”
