Peter Obi doesn’t believe in ideologies of Labour Party, says Doyin Okupe
Doyin Okupe, former director-general of the Labour Party, LP, presidential campaign organisation during last year’s election has said neither he nor the party’s presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, shared the same ideologies with the Labour Party.
Okupe explained during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, that the party only served as a special purpose vehicle, SPV, for the presidential election.
According to him: “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.”
The former presidential aide disclosed that he resigned from the party as soon as Obi lost the election.
Okupe had resigned his membership of the Labour Party in January 2024, citing ideological differences.
