The Director-General of the presidential campaign committee of the Labour Party, LP, Akin Osuntokun, has said he has “abandoned” his political ambition to vie for senatorial position in the 2023 elections.
He made this revelation on Wednesday while granting a television interview.
The Informant247 observes that Osuntokun, who was appointed the campaign DG of the LP on Tuesday, is also shortlisted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, candidate for Ekiti central senatorial district.
Osuntokun revealed that his position as the face of campaign of the LP is a “higher calling” compared to contesting for senatorial position.
While speaking on his senatorial ambition, he said: “I have abandoned it.”
He added that: “The campaign office has issued a press release in that respect. What law have I breached in accepting the appointment? What law has the presidential candidate who appointed me beached in appointing me? I can’t help anybody who wants to pursue notoriety as a way of life.”
“The man who is doing this is supposedly the national publicity secretary of the Labour Party. Ask him: why would a national publicity secretary of a party do that to his own party?
“So, it’s a redundant question at any rate. It’s of no consequence at all, whether legally, constitutionally — very frivolous. There is no moral burden at all.
“It’s a higher order of priority. Joining the Obi campaign is a higher national priority than any other aspiration. As a citizen of this country, who has a realistic appreciation of what we need to move Nigeria forward, you can’t compare an aspiration to be in the senate to the position that I have occupied.
“All these kinds of platitudes are unnecessary. In Nigeria today, there is no way I can define my political and moral priorities better than the path I have followed.
”I have no moral burden. I am stepping to a higher sacrificial position. I don’t need to publicly declare it. [Ekiti ZLP senatorial candidacy] is a redundant position. I have the perfect freedom to decide what to do at any minute, so long as I have not breached any legal position. The step I am taking is of greater moral consequence for Nigeria.”