Veteran Nollywood actor and politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has described key figures in the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, including Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, as “renegades” who abandoned the coalition movement out of fear of participating in party primaries.
Speaking on Politics Today on Thursday, Okonkwo alleged that political parties zoning their presidential tickets to the South were indirectly working in favour of President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election.
According to him, he had earlier warned Nigerians against supporting any political party that zoned its presidential ticket to the South, claiming such a move would ultimately benefit Tinubu politically.
Okonkwo also dismissed the NDC as a breakaway group from the ADC, describing its members as “mere renegades.”
He further accused Obi and Kwankwaso of abandoning the coalition despite previously presenting it as the only viable platform capable of defeating Tinubu in the next presidential election.
The former Labour Party chieftain also accused the politicians of misleading Nigerians, insisting that their decision to leave the coalition without explanation raised questions about their political sincerity.
Okonkwo said: “I told Nigerians that any party that is telling you that it’s zoning to the South is working for Tinubu. And when they doubted me, immediately the PDP said they had zoned to the South. People came from the PDP and said, ‘Sorry, we are not going to bring out a presidential candidate.’
“And now you said the NDC has zoned to the South. Recall that the NDC, they are mere renegades from the ADC.
“The reason they went there is because they are scared of participating in primary elections. Maybe I was being too lenient. I will say they are political con men.
“Look at it this way, they came into the coalition, I am talking about Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, on their own, and they said the coalition is the best and the only method to send President Bola Tinubu packing, by their own words.
“And on their own, without any reason, they left for the NDC. Is that not being a con man?”