A chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Kenneth Okonkwo, has said he did not defect from the All Progressive Congress (APC) but only resigned.
Recall that Nollywood actor cum politician dumped the APC in 2022, citing the party’s adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential election.
Okonkwo stated that his resignation comes from an “interest of equity, justice, fairness and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians”.
A month later, the actor joined the Labour Party (LP) and joined forces with the former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, to help with his presidential ambition.
In a recent interview on Channels Television, Okonkwo denied claims that he defected from the ruling party, stressing that he only resigned and moved to the Labour Party.
The 55-year-old politician said he is not very “comfortable with the word defection” because he resigned from the party.
He said: “First of all, I am usually not comfortable with the word defection. I resigned from APC and I joined another party. You defect when you move from one party to another.
“Let us say you are a member of the National Assembly, and in Nigeria, you must be a member of a political party to hold any office. So there would not be any chance for you to resign, in that circumstance, you can defect. But when you resign and join another party, that is not defection.”
