‘A vote for Obi is a vote for Tinubu' — Kenneth Okonkwo explains why

• The former Labour Party ally criticised Obi's political strategy and questioned his willingness to compete within coalition structures.

• Okonkwo also claimed Senator Victor Umeh believed Obi's best path to power was through a northern alliance as a vice-presidential candidate.

Kenneth Okonkwo has sent a message to Peter Obi supporters heading into 2027, claiming that a vote for Obi is a vote for Tinubu.

The actor-turned-politician made the argument during a YouTube session with Symfoni TV on Wednesday, laying out what he considers the unavoidable arithmetic of a divided opposition.

His logic is straightforward. With multiple candidates splitting votes that would otherwise consolidate against the incumbent, Tinubu benefits regardless of whether those votes go to APC directly.

"Either you're working for Tinubu directly, in other words, you're in APC, or you're working for Tinubu indirectly because when you divide the votes of the coalition and the opposition, you're still making Tinubu better placed to win," he said.

It is an argument political analysts have made consistently in the lead-up to 2027 that without a united opposition front, the incumbent holds a structural advantage that individual candidacies cannot overcome.

Okonkwo went further than vote-splitting theory, directing specific criticism at the Labour Party's 2023 presidential candidate. He claimed Obi exited the ADC a week before the party's primary activities closed, and framed the move as an unwillingness to face internal competition.

"You can't compete in primaries. You want to be the president of a challenged country and you're running away from challenges," he said.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview was Okonkwo's account of a conversation he says he had with Anambra South Senator Victor Umeh.

According to Okonkwo, Umeh told him directly that the South-East's best path to the presidency ran through a political alliance with northern leaders and that Obi's role in that arrangement should be as a running mate, not the principal candidate.

"Victor Umeh made it clear and spoke to me directly that the only chance the Igbo people have is to align with the North and for our brother Peter Obi to be a vice president," Okonkwo claimed.

When he asked Umeh whether Obi had been informed, Okonkwo said the senator confirmed he had, but that Obi had refused to accept it. "Peter Obi is very stubborn. If you tell him anything, he would not believe but would continue to try," Okonkwo quoted Umeh as saying.

Neither Peter Obi nor Victor Umeh has publicly responded to the claims.

Okonkwo closed with a direct warning to opposition voters. "Let me tell you the truth. In 2027, anybody voting any vote whatsoever for Peter Obi, you're voting for Tinubu, and don't say that I didn't tell you."

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