Veteran actor-cum politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has claimed that the Julius Abure-led executive officer the Labour Party deceived the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.


Okonkwo alleged that Abure and his executives lied to Obi that they were recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, making the Ex-Anambra governor to go back to working with them.

He lamented that despite informing Obi that the Abure’s executive is an agent working for President Bola Tinubu’s government, he (Obi) still endorsed them publicly.


The former LP Presidential Campaign Council spokesman disclosed this in an interview with Symfoni TV released on Saturday.

He said: “The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic.

“If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’


“I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him.

“And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.”

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has announced that it will officially launch its campaign on Tuesday, June 17, ahead of the July 12 local government elections.


The event is scheduled to take place at the party’s State Secretariat in Ogba.

The announcement was made in a statement issued by the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary, Mogaji Oluseye Oladejo, and made available to the press.


According to the statement, the campaign launch will feature the formal presentation of candidates and the symbolic handover of party flags.

The campaign has been decentralized across the three senatorial districts; Lagos East, Lagos Central, and Lagos West, with Lagos West further subdivided due to its size.

Party leaders, as well as elected and appointed officials from the federal, state, and local levels, are expected to attend the flag-off ceremony.


“The flag-off ceremony will be witnessed by party chieftains, elected and appointed officials of the party across the three tiers of government.

The party disclosed that local organizing committees, LOCs, have been established in each local government to drive grassroots mobilization and ensure widespread outreach throughout the state.

The APC had previously concluded its primaries, during which its Chairmanship, Vice Chairmanship, and Councilorship candidates emerged across the 20 Local Government Areas, LGAs, 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, and 377 wards in the state.

The Nigerian Senate is considering a legislative proposal that would increase the number of Supreme Court Justices from the current 21 to 30 in a bid to tackle the mounting backlog of cases and improve the efficiency of the apex court.

Senator Osita Izunaso (Imo West), who is sponsoring the bill, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday to mark his two years in the 10th National Assembly.

He argued that the current number of justices is inadequate, despite the recent appointment of 11 justices in 2023 that finally filled the constitutional quota for the first time in Nigeria’s history.

“Even with the full complement of 21 justices, the Supreme Court is overwhelmed. The volume of cases reaching the court daily is alarming. Some litigants are being given hearing dates as far ahead as 2027 and 2028,” Izunaso stated.

According to him, the proposed legislation would enable the apex court to form more panels to expedite the adjudication process.

“Supreme Court justices typically sit in panels of five, or seven for constitutional matters. If we have 30 justices, it allows the formation of at least five panels simultaneously. That way, more cases can be handled at a faster pace,” he said.

Apex court not for settling village land disputes


Izunaso’s proposal however goes beyond just increasing the number of judges.

The senator is also advocating a major reform in the type of cases the Supreme Court entertains, calling for an end to what he described as the “judicial congestion caused by trivial matters.”

He questioned the rationale behind allowing cases such as land disputes, tenancy disagreements, and divorce battles to reach the highest court in the land.

“Why should a land matter in my village end up in the Supreme Court?” he asked.

“Many of these issues should start from the Customary Court and end at the High Court.”

The people at those levels understand the context better. The apex court should be reserved for cases of national or constitutional importance, things like terrorism, homicide, and grand corruption.”

“Do you know that even tenancy disputes, like ‘pay me my rent’ or ‘my landlord kicked me out’, go all the way to the Supreme Court? This is clogging the system and delaying justice for more critical matters.”

The lawmaker recalled a personal legal experience where a case involving deceased parties was only scheduled for hearing three years after resolution had been reached among their descendants.

“The case was fixed for 2026, even though the matter had already been settled. That’s an indictment of our system,” he lamented.

While some legal reform advocates have suggested the establishment of regional Supreme Courts, Izunaso firmly rejected the idea.

He insists Nigeria should maintain a single national Supreme Court, but drastically reduce the volume of cases that reach it.

“A unitary Supreme Court preserves the sanctity and unity of our judicial system. What we need is better filtration at lower level, not more Supreme Courts,” he said.

On a separate note, Senator Izunaso praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for conferring a posthumous national honour on the late Professor Humphrey Nwosu, former Chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission, who oversaw the June 12, 1993, presidential election widely regarded as the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history.

Nwosu was posthumously awarded the Commander of the Order of the Niger during the June 12 Democracy Day celebrations.

Describing the honour as a “bold and commendable step,” Izunaso recalled how he and others had long advocated for national recognition for the late electoral umpire.

“I think the president has done the right thing. In fact, I urge him to go a step further by naming the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission after Professor Nwosu,” he said.

“I was among those who sponsored a motion in the Senate for his recognition. Even when that motion failed, we stood our ground. Today, we feel vindicated