Kenneth Okonkwo: Obi’s one-term pledge strategy to woo north — it was my idea

Kenneth Okonkwo, a former chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), says Peter Obi’s promise to serve only one term if elected president in 2027 is a political strategy aimed at appealing to northern voters.

Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the LP, made the pledge in June.

Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Friday, Okonkwo, who served as spokesperson for Obi during the 2023 elections, said the one-term proposal was originally his idea.

He explained that the model was designed to allay fears of dominance from either side of the political divide.

“Ironically, this issue of one-term presidency, I was the one who propounded it as theory, saying any party that is serious to fight an incumbent must have to say whoever that’s going to contest must have to do one term, so no side would feel cheated,” he said.

“So I brought the theory as a way for any opposition party to inspire Nigerians to know that each side will not lose when they make any choice, whether north or south.”

The lawyer added that the pledge was first made by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar before Obi “keyed into it”, after realising it was crucial to gaining northern support.

“If you’re a southerner and you don’t agree to do one term, the northerners would say you want to do another eight years that would offend the system,” he said.

“If you’re a northerner and you don’t agree to do one term, the southerners would say you want to cut us short early in time.”

Okonkwo said the strategy was intended to balance regional interests while presenting the opposition as credible challengers to the incumbent.

“So it’s purely a political strategy to say, ‘Look, I am not going to cut the eight years. I’m not going to shortchange you. So if I am elected, I will just do only four years to complete the eight years of the south.’ That’s just the whole idea about it,” he added.

In June, Okonkwo said Obi betrayed him by not “managing the crisis” that had rocked the LP, warning that the former Anambra governor “is committing political suicide”.

Okonkwo left the LP in July 2024.

A month before he left the party, Okonkwo described the LP as “a secret society led by a group of clowns”.