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Nollywood Actor Okonkwo Joins Labour Party After Leaving APC

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Nollywood Actor Okonkwo Joins Labour Party After Leaving APC

A top Nollywood actor Kenneth Okonkwo has joined the Labour Party ( LP) after leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Okonkwo’s exit from APC was precipitated by Bola Ahmed Tinubu choosing Shettima Kashim as his running mate in what has since been termed as a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

Okonkwo, was among the first to announce his resignation from the party, which he fought strenuously to enthrone into power, immediately after Tinubu’s announcement of Shettima, for handing the APC over to “octogenarians” to run. He said that the ticket had hit hard at the very foundation of the nation’s ethos.

Though he said he had not joined any political party yet, the versatile actor, made famous by the Living in Bondage film that changed Nigeria’s movie industry after it broke in 1993, said he had become Obisentric, referring to the Obi movement that is currently making wave across the country.

Hear him: “A Northern brother of mine from Kano State, when he learnt I was coming to this programme, told me that I must be Obicentric. This is a Northern Muslim talking. Anybody that is telling you that a Northern Muslim will not support a Christian is false statement.

“That is the problem of bringing octogenarians to manage your party and manage the affairs of government. I’m Obicentric, but I’ve not joined any political party, because that is the ticket that has actually provided for me that stability, that youthful energy that we need to change the system of Nigeria.”

Dismissing the contention that the Obi movement was a social media buzz, Okonkwo, a lawyer and a businessman, while speaking on Arise TV, argued that it was the same social media that the APC used to bring Buhari to power in 2015, as could be attested by the political activities of that time.

READ ALSO: Court Jails Baba Ijesha 16 Years For Sexual Assault

“Do you remember the time the APC was campaigning in 2015? They were the originators of internet sensation. So, why are they crying if it’s not making any impact? When I read Business Administration, they told me that the strategy of marketing starts with drawing attention. We call it the AIDA Principle – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. So, stimulating the attention of the people is the first thing you do when you want to market a product. They (Obi Movement) are doing it very well and that is why those people are rattled.”

Okonkwo who revealed how he warned the Igbo that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would be their greatest political undoing, said the prediction had since come to past, as their loyalty to the party in the last two decades had left them with nothing.

“The PDP has been the greatest fraud to the South East and that’s one of the reasons why I left the party. I told my people that PDP was going to ruin them politically and PDP has done just that. They have been sheepishly following PDP since 1999, giving them 95 per cent of their votes, whether it is a Fulani Muslim, or Christian from South South, it was PDP, all through. Now PDP after 24 years did not even consider them qualified, not for the presidency, not for the vice presidency. And in the ticket of the presidency for which they sacrificed all, they got nothing,” he said.

Dismissing the emergence of Delta State Governor, an Igbo, as the running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, he said it did not compensate, because the governor represented the South South, while the issue at stake was that of the South East as a zone.

“Ifeanyi Okowa is not from the South East. When you’re talking about zoning, you’re talking about geographical expression. It would accord to justice for him to take what comes to the South South in the name of Igbo and then come back to take what comes to the South East in the name of Igbo.

“There are Yoruba in North Central, in Kwara State. Would you want them to take the position that is meant for the South West? So, Okowa is Igbo, I have no doubt about that, I love him and respect him for that. When it comes to geopolitical balancing, he’s South South.”

 

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BREAKING: PDP Crisis Worsens As Chairman Ayu Steps Aside, Deputy Takes Over

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BREAKING: I Won't Resign, Wike, Others Were Children When We Formed PDP - Ayu
Ayu

As an indication of a worsening crisis in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) , its National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu on Tuesday stepped aside.

Ayu was replaced by the Deputy National Chairman, (North) Umar Iliya Damagum.

Damagum will assume office as the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, pending the determination of the case in court.

A High Court in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, had restrained embattled Ayu from parading himself as chairman of the party pending the determination of the substantive suit which has been adjourned to April 17, 2023 for hearing.

A member of the PDP from Benue, Terhide Utaan, who is the plaintiff before Justice W. I Kpochi, obtained the order restraining Ayu from parading himself as national chairman of the party.

Addressing journalists in Makurdi after obtaining the court order, the plaintiff said following the suspension of Ayu by his Igyorov Ward Exco on Sunday, it was wrong for him to keep up with the office of national chairman and further disunite the party.

Ayu was suspended late last week for anti-party activities in the wake of the party’s loss in the presidential election.

But in a Monday statement by his media aide Simon Imobo-Tswam, the former lawmaker argued that only the ward lacked the powers to suspend him.

Ayu’s political rival in the PDP and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike on Monday, said he was elated that a Benue State ward exco passed a vote of no confidence in him.

“I am not from Benue State, but I am happy, and now that Benue State has done it, we would now come out and say we are in support of it,” he said.

Prior to this development, there had been intense calls for Ayu to step aside for a Southerner to take over as the Chairman of the party.

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BREAKING: Obi Speaks On Joining Tinubu’s Unity Government

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VIDEO: What Peter Obi Said In Port Harcourt About Other Presidential Candidates
Peter Obi

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has given insight into what his position will be if he is invited to join Bola Tinubu’s Government of National Unity.

Tinubu, the president-elect and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been taken to court by Obi over the outcome of the February 25 election.

The camp of the APC candidate had hinted that the former Lagos Governor would form an all-inclusive government to carry all his opponents along in his government.

While featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Obi was asked what he would do if he was called upon to be a member of Tinubu’s Government of National Unity.

In his response, Obi said he was still challenging the process of the election and the declaration.

According to him, the process of the election should be put right first before anyone could talk of the Government of National Unity.

“The first thing I want to see is that the process is right. The process through which you achieve anything is far more fundamental than what you do thereafter. Let us go back first, I am challenging the process and the declaration.

“Until we get it right, then we can talk about a government of national unity. Otherwise, we would go and sit down and say that those who stopped a train and kidnapped people can call us to discuss peace when they have people in captivity. Until things are done rightly, we will be encouraging what we don’t need to encourage,” he said.

When he was asked whether or not he would accept the outcome if it is not in his favour, Obi said he would be shocked if the court upholds Tinubu’s election.

His words: “Issues about the election will be sorted out in court. I will be shocked if this country goes on with that situation. It will then stand that it is a corporate criminalised country. We can’t allow it. We need to start unbundling this criminality.

“When people were talking about structure, it is this fraud and criminality that we witnessed that they were talking about, and we want to unbundle it for the sake of our children.”

The former Anambra State governor said he believes the judiciary would do the right thing.

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LP Chieftain Flays Return Of 1999 PDP as Ibori, Henchmen Seek Political Relevance In Delta APC

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BREAKING: FG Returned £4.2m Ibori Loot To Delta Govt – Accountant General
James Ibori

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State is gradually taking on the colouration of 1999 PDP with all of former Governor James Ibori’s ‘boys’ now leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in droves and finding a new home in APC to swell its ranks ahead of the guber elections on Saturday, March 18, 2023, according to a chieftain of Labour Party (LP), Chief Delly Ajufo.

Ajufo described the development as “a gathering of vultures to consume the soul of Delta State,” noting that Ibori, who has suffered a pariah status under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s 8-year administration, now has a chance to reclaim his “godfather or grand commander” position over his godson, guber candidate of APC and Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

According to him, Ibori looks to resume his godfather position as Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State, a position that slipped out of his hands since his stint in the UK prison.

Ajufo said Deltans needed to be wary of Senator Omo-Agege’s governorship bid, and see it as a backdoor for Ibori to re-take control of the management of the state’s resources in a manner likely to be worse than the 1999 – 2007 era when he was governor. He warned that Deltans could not have forgotten how Ibori raped the fortunes of the state in his eight-year administration by corruptly enriching himself and his cronies (including Sen. Omo-Agege) that earned him a UK prison sentence. He described the APC as PDP-2 trying to upstage Okowa’s PDP-1 from power, saying Deltans should reward both of them with electoral defeat since both parties have run the country (APC – 8 years) and Delta State (PDP – 24 years) badly.

He argued that none of them deserves to occupy the seat of power in Asaba come May 29, 2023.

The Labour Party chieftain also said the gathering of Ibori’s political family under APC is dark and ominous for the state, and urged the electorate to reject both ‘PDAPC’ at the polls on Saturday, and vote for Labour Party (LP) as the only political breath of fresh air that Delta people need now.

“We must sever our links with the people from both parties that have collectively ruined the fortunes of this oil-rich state by running it aground since 1999,” he noted.

Ajulo added that Ibori trying to reclaim his faded godfather position, using APC as his new launch pad was tantamount to vultures gathering to feast on the carcass of a dying animal, a situation that Deltans should not wait to see but to halt it in its tracks outright.

“This is a gathering of vultures and it does not augur well for our beloved Delta State,” said Ajufo.

“Ibori wants to use the APC backdoor to reclaim his faded godfather status since all his allies are dumping PDP in droves and moving over to APC. The signs are not good for Deltans who have been pauperised for so many years in spite of the huge oil wealth that comes to the state monthly. I urge Deltans to see through the evil that’s about to befall them if they elect Ovie Omo-Agege. Of course, PDP is dead, going by February 25, 2023 election. There is no need to bother about it. Deltans will bury whatever remains of it in the guber elections.

“The nightmare we must all now resist is APC taking over. Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege was SSG and Commissioner under Ibori’s eight-year reign of wasted resources in Delta from 1999 – 2007. A vote for Omo-Agege is a vote for the return of Ibori into Delta’s mainstream, with his baggage of corruption and mismanagement of state resources. Delta is tired of another Tinubu returning to pillage the coffers of the state for his selfish interests. We cannot afford to ‘carry last’ on this matter.”

The chief urged Deltans to do for Labour Party what they did on February 25 when they massively voted for Labour Party and Peter Obi, saying they should do the same for the party’s governorship candidate, Deacon Ken Pela and all House of Assembly candidates. He called on all women to look the way of Labour Party’s candidate, Dcn Ken Pela for the governorship election, adding, “We also call on women to rally their own fellow woman, an educationist and erudite scholar, Prof. Nwabogo-Umukoro, to represent and champion women’s causes in government at the highest decision-making level.”

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