A fresh crisis has hit the Labour Party over the recent announcement of a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Mr Akin Oshuntokun as the Director General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council.
Investigations have revealed that Oshuntokun, who only last Tuesday succeeded Dr Doyin Okupe as DG, is also the Senatorial candidate of the Zenith Labour Party for the February 2023 National Assembly elections for the Ekiti Central Senatorial District.
The new LP presidential campaign DG, it was learnt, was recently cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission to contest the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat on the ZLP platform. His name is also contained in a recently released lists of candidates for the National Assembly elections by INEC.
Consequently, Oshintokun is listed by INEC for the National Assembly elections as ZLP senatorial candidate the same day the LP presidential candidate, Obi will be facing the electorate.
But in a swift reaction to the development, Labour Party Publicity Secretary, Comrade Abayomi Oluwafemi Arabambi, argued that this was a very costly mistake for the party because the newly appointed campaign DG would have a divided loyalty.
Arambambi, therefore, declared Oshintokun’s appointment as Peter Obi’s Campaign Director General as “very wrong,” advising the ZLP Ekiti Central Senatorial candidate to honourably resign from the position of LP campaign DG immediately.
The party’s spokesman explained that the Zenith Labour Party and the Labour Party, which Obi is the presidential candidate, have different ideologies and cannot have Oshintokun as campaign DG even if ZLP has no presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
According to Arabambi, “In my capacity as the National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, I am opposing the announcement of Akin Osuntokun as the DG Labour Party campaign organization because at present he is the Senatorial candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), EKITI STATE in the February 25th 2023 National Assembly election.
“The National Chairman, Bar Julius ABURE, by this act has compromised the victory of Labour Party and this political rascality will not stand.”
Both Oshintokun and the LP National Chairman could not be reached for their reactions and comments on the development.
As of press time, calls put across to their phones were not answered.
Below is the INEC lists of candidates containing Oshuntokun’s name (on page 57) as ZLP senatorial candidate for Ekiti Central:
