The Former spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has described Peter Obi’s recent promise to serve only one term if elected president in 2027 as a calculated political strategy aimed at winning support from northern voters.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Okonkwo said Obi was aware that failure to make such a commitment could cost him votes in the North.
“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.
“So, it was even Atiku Abubakar that first of all said he was going to do one term, then Peter Obi now keyed into it because he knows that if he, as a younger person, does not make that promise, he loses the entire North,” he said.
Okonkwo insisted that the idea was to reassure both regions that power rotation would not be distorted.
“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.’ So that’s just the whole idea about it,” he stated.
He stated that any party intent on unseating an incumbent must come to a consensus that its presidential candidate will commit to a single term, ensuring that no faction feels wronged.
The lawyer said, “I was the one who propounded it (one-term presidency) as a theory, saying that any party that is serious about fighting an incumbent must have to say that whoever is going to contest should have to do one term so that no side will feel cheated.
“So if you are a southerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the northerners will say you want to do another eight years, which will offend the system. If you are a northerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the southerners will say that means you want to cut us short early.”
Okonkwo, who joined the Labour Party after leaving the All Progressives Congress, was one of Obi’s most visible campaign spokesmen during the 2023 elections.
However, he recently announced his exit from the party, citing internal crises and accusing Obi of poor leadership in handling disputes within the LP.
Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, recently confirmed that he will run again in 2027.
Speaking during a live session on X Spaces, the former Anambra governor said he was prepared to serve a single four-year term if elected and promised to stabilise Nigeria within his first two years in office.
He also dismissed speculation about a joint ticket with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar but admitted being open to coalition talks, provided they were focused on tackling insecurity, reviving the economy and reducing poverty.
