Former Labour presidential campaign spokesman Kenneth Oconkow has denounced the People’s Democrats (PDP) for the ongoing internal crisis, accusing leaders of being transformed into political subordinates of all progressive parliament (APC) did.
Veteran actor and politician Okonkwo issued a statement on Channels Television's Sunrise Daily Program on Friday, February 7, 2025, saying that the decline in PDP relevance was caused by the willingness of leaders to help APC’s profits. I insisted there was.
A former LP spokesman has identified President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of former Rivers governor Nyesom Wike as a major turning point that has significantly weakened PDP’s opposition position.
In the 2023 election, Wike, a high-ranking member of the PDP, is said to have competed against the party’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, leading to Tinubu’s victory.
Despite being a member of the PDP, he was later rewarded by the Minister of the Federal Capital Region (FCT) Portfolio by an APC-led government.
Okonkwo argued that the role of Wike’s ministers further strengthened the political vulnerability of the PDP as party leaders could no longer function effectively as a true opposition.
He said, “Look what’s going on in the PDP. For example, some people came out as G5s and worked against the interests of the party. You house them, then they I made excuses for that.
“Usually, when you accept something like that, it starts graduating and now wants to take over the party. Their main leader is now Minister of APC, and the rest of the leaders are that leaders. He will be a servant of the party, as he is currently a servant of the APC servant.”
The APC commented on Atik’s recent claim that the APC was bribing the opposition parties to destabilize ahead of the 2027 election, and Okonkou took responsibility for the former vice president.
He argued that the APC should not be accused of “briefing” the opposition party as it is legal for the party to use any means to destroy its enemy.
“Excuses and success are not held hand in hand, so I will never blame what is happening in the ruling or opposition parties. I listened to his Excellency and Atiq Abubakar said the ruling party gave the opposition N50m. I said. I was not ashamed of the ruling party. I was ashamed of the opposition. You are actually indicting the opposition that they are very corrupt. There are no willing recipients. In the case, there are no givers available. It is a legitimate political weapon for any association, party or country to use any means to destabilise the opposition or opponents,” he says. Ta.
He therefore called on the opposition to be held accountable for the failure, adding that Atik’s claims of bribery showed that the opposition was incompetent and corrupt.
“The opposition parties are not meeting the expectations of the people of Nigeria. They should own, take responsibility for their failures, return to themselves and do the right thing. To destabilize the opposition parties is their politics “It’s a profit that will destabilize you. But the opposition parties that allow you to destabilize themselves show that they are incompetent and corrupt.” Okonkou said.
