The Labour Party (LP), which recently held their convention in Anambra State, where their chairman Julius Abure was re-elected as the chairman of the party, has faced a lot of controversies in recent times, particularly on the subject of the owners of the party and matters that surround the leadership of the party and their conduct over matters that concern the party.
Kenneth Okonkwo, a lawyer and former spokesperson for the LP Presidential Campaign Council, indicated during an exclusive interview on Arise Television that "nobody owns a body corporate. Once you register a political party, just like ordinarily limited liability companies, the party has a life of its own.
A screenshot of Kenneth Okonkwo from a video clip released by Arise Television on their official X handle (formerly known as Twitter)
He added that "in Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, any association that is not open to the membership of every citizen of Nigeria cannot be called a political party. So, the citizens of Nigeria who are members of the Labour Party are the ones who govern the party through their management.
He reiterated his point that "nobody owns any political party as it has its own life, but they may be the founders, just like you have the founders of the PDP and the APC. Some of them, whose names are even there, may have even relocated to another party, and that does not make the party dead or anything.
Click the link below to watch the full details. Start from 01:01 to 02:20.