The Labour Party (LP) has described Doyin Okupe, a former director general of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council, as a political opportunist, whose exit from the party is not “surprising”.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, on Tuesday, berated Okupe for claiming that LP was just a special purpose vehicle to actualise the presidential ambition of Obi.
Okupe had resigned from the party, citing ideological differences for his decision to dump the party.
Speaking on the ideological differences, Ifoh described Okupe as a “political harlot”. He added that the LP remains a leftist party with an unwavering ideological stance.
“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have responded, but because of media attraction, it has been generating since yesterday. Needless to say, after the general election, a few members of the party left, while many others also joined the party. It is within the right of any Nigerian to associate with any political party of their choice.
“In the letter said to have been addressed to our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, which is yet to be received, Okupe cited ideological conflict as the reason he left the PDP; he also addressed the Labour Party pejoratively as a ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’.
“This response wouldn’t have been necessary if Okupe had left quietly or perhaps claimed ‘personal reasons’ for his actions, but by way of him demeaning a party believed to have won the majority of votes by Nigerians but was denied victory by the Nigerian system, it was clearly a mischief carried too far.
“Okupe is aware that the Labour Party is ideologically rooted in the left of the centre and he admitted that he has been a rightist and a Liberal Democrat all his entire life. One wonders what he was looking for in a party that is diametrically opposed to his ideological leaning. What kind of political harlotry was he exhibiting by finding no qualms in jumping from one party to another with such ease?” he said.
Ifoh maintained that the departed member made very little contribution to the success of the LP during the presidential election.
“We must recall that Okupe was forced to abdicate office halfway into the campaign because of the baggage he came with from the other party where he served.
“The courts whipped him into early political menopause, so he really didn’t contribute much to the Labour Party’s success in the 2023 electoral voyage; however, we are glad he acknowledged that we offered him shelter,” he said.
In December 2022, Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, resigned as the campaign DG following his conviction in a money laundering case.
In a sitting of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge, sentenced Okupe to two years imprisonment after he was found guilty of 26 out of a 59-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was, however, given the option to pay a N500,000 fine on each of the counts, totaling N13 million.
He subsequently announced his resignation as campaign DG.