Obi never believed in Labour Party – Doyin Okupe

Mr Doyin Okupe, former Director General of the defunct Labour Party presidential campaign council, has said Mr Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate never believed in the ideologies of the party.

According to Okupe, Obi only saw Labour Party as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the presidential poll.

The former presidential aide said this when he appeared on Arise Television Morning Show.

Okupe who resigned his membership of the Labour Party in January, on the grounds of ideological differences said his membership of the party ended the moment Obi lost the election.

He said, “The LP for us — for Peter Obi and I — and those in the leadership of the movement… The party was a special purpose vehicle (SPV). I have never been a labour person, I have never operated on the left before but we needed a platform and this was the only platform readily available to us.

“We thought that if we won the election… there are no fast and hard rules about ideologies. You can always find a shade between the left and the right. You can always move to the centre.

“We were hoping and praying that if we won, we would find a way to come to some consensus with the labour.

“Peter Obi is not a labour person. He is not a leftist person, he is a trader, he is a businessman just like me. I am a liberal democrat, I believe in liberal democracy, I believe in free enterprise.

“I am not a social worker. As far as I’m concerned, my membership of labour expired the moment we lost that election.”