ADC National Working Committee member Kenneth Okonkwo has drawn a firm and unambiguous line between the kind of leadership he believes Nigeria requires and what he says Peter Obi demonstrated during and after the 2023 presidential election, arguing that true leaders do not retreat into grievance but position themselves at the front of whatever battle they have chosen to enter.
Okonkwo made the remarks during a wide-ranging interview on Hard Copy, broadcast on Channels Television, on Friday May 8, 2026, the interview covered the state of the ADC following the departure of Obi and his supporters, and Okonkwo used much of his time to explain, in both political and philosophical terms, why he had chosen to distance himself from Obi and what values he believed should guide a credible presidential contender.
He argued that leadership is not a title or a platform but a practice, and that at the moments when courage was most required, Obi had consistently failed to supply it.
He described himself as someone who had been deeply committed to Obi’s cause, serving as what he called an executor of the candidate’s vision during the 2023 campaign, and said that his expectation was that Obi would match that commitment with decisive action when the results were contested.
In his words, Kenneth Okonkwo said, “I left him because he was not decisive. I felt discouraged, demoralized and deceived, because I am someone who follows leaders when they show courage. We follow men of valor, not men of victim mentality. You must lead and you must be in the front of the battle. So when Labour Party died, what else is he doing? He refused to revive Labour Party,” he said.
Okonkwo went on to question why Obi had not taken decisive steps either to rescue the Labour Party from its internal collapse or to build an entirely new political platform from the ground up.
He said these were the options available to a serious leader, and that instead Obi chose neither, preferring to wait for others to create a viable structure and then move in as what Okonkwo repeatedly described as a squatter…See More
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