Former spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party no longer function as viable political entities, insisting that both now exist merely on paper.
Speaking during a Channels Television breakfast programme on Friday, Okonkwo stated that the two opposition parties had lost political substance, with many of their leaders openly supporting candidates from rival platforms.
“Well, basically, strictly speaking, there is no more any party like PDP or LP.
They are just existing papers because whoever is in PDP is either supporting APC or ADC,” he said.
He argued that a political party ceases to function meaningfully once its leaders abandon the party’s presidential ambitions and begin endorsing candidates from other parties, even years ahead of the next general election.
“That’s what it is. If the leaders of PDP have come out openly to say they are supporting the presidential candidate of another political party, that’s the end of the party, two years before the time of the election. So strictly speaking, there is no party except on paper, and parties are meant to be for the people,” Okonkwo said.
Citing developments in the African Democratic Congress, he contrasted the fading influence of PDP and LP with what he described as a more unified and functional political structure.
According to him, recent changes in the ADC are unprecedented in Nigerian politics.
“You see what happened with ADC is a novel thing. It has not happened before in Nigeria, so I understand why people mistake a whole lot of things. This is the first time in Nigeria, the national executive of a political party, you know, resign and allowed a new executive party to take over on their own,” he explained.
He emphasised that the coalition which gave rise to the ADC’s new leadership was not a merger but a full integration into one political body.
“So a coalition simply means alliance to work together for a purpose, chose the party to use as their party henceforth. So it’s not a merger. The coalition is now dissolved into a political party – it is not now like a coalition that political parties, are going to work together. No, they have now dissolved into a political party,” he added.
Okonkwo’s remarks suggest a shifting landscape in Nigerian opposition politics, where traditional parties may be losing ground to emerging formations.
