Former presidential campaign spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Kenneth Okonkwo, says Nigeria needs new set of political leaders in 2027.
He spoke on Tuesday in an interview on Arise Television.
Okonkwo stated that the ruling and opposition parties have failed Nigerians, noting that President Bola Tinubu, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, LP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 polls, must stay off to give room for fresh ideas come 2027.
The lawyer added that leaders of the opposition parties have not been able to inspire their members to call for judicial and electoral reforms in the country.
He mentioned that opposition parties will only be wasting their time to run in the 2027 election due to what he referred to as “desecration” of the judiciary and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former LP spokesperson also said that opposition parties should not be considering forming a merger one year after the election.
“We need new faces. I completely agree that we need new faces, 100 percent and that is why I have said that Atiku, Peter Obi, and Tinubu should step aside,” Okonkwo said.
“The reason is because the ruling party has failed, the opposition has failed. Are you aware that we have more opposition members as representatives than the ruling party?
“The opposition leadership has not been able to show leadership to inspire their members to make sure that this perfection that is happening to our electoral and judicial processes is corrected.
“I am not saying merger is not important; I am saying that you don’t just finish an election, and the next thing you start talking about is the next election.
“You consolidate and form an alliance to work together as an opposition.”
Okonkwo then said that the members of the opposition parties in the national assembly have refused to eliminate the excesses of the ruling party.