The Labour Party has strongly criticized activist Deji Adeyanju over what it described as a sustained campaign of blackmail and misrepresentation targeted at its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
In a statement signed by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Prince Tony Akeni, the party said Adeyanju’s attacks stem from “ambition without principle,” which it likened to “a vice worse than substance abuse.”
According to the Labour Party, Adeyanju has allegedly patterned his political strategy after Reno Omokri and Daniel Bwala, former critics of President Bola Tinubu who later aligned with the Presidency. The party claimed Adeyanju’s recent criticisms of Obi are part of his bid to secure relevance and political support ahead of the 2027 elections.
The statement also dismissed Adeyanju’s claim during a television interview that Obi admitted to investing Anambra State funds in his family business while serving as governor. The party described the allegation as “an illogical and fabricated concoction,” stressing that respected journalist and author, Ike Abonyi, who witnessed a private meeting between Obi and Adeyanju in July 2022, has publicly denied that such a confession ever took place.
Akeni further clarified that what Adeyanju may have misconstrued as bribery was, at best, a cultural gesture of goodwill, noting that in many African traditions, it is customary for hosts to extend kola nuts or their monetary equivalent to visitors as a sign of respect—not as inducement for corruption.
The party accused Adeyanju of hypocrisy, citing his silence over violent attacks allegedly carried out by thugs loyal to Lagos transport union leader, MC Oluomo, at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) headquarters in Abuja in November 2024, despite his frequent labeling of the Obidient Movement as intolerant.
“From all over Nigeria and beyond, we are receiving feedback that Nigerians see through Adeyanju’s self-destructive falsehoods. His relentless blackmail of Peter Obi is driven not by principle but by desperate ambition,” the statement concluded.
