Abuja, Tuesday, September 2, 2025 –
The Labour Party (LP) has fired back at political activist Deji Adeyanju, accusing him of running a malicious campaign of blackmail against the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
In a strongly worded statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary (Interim), Prince Tony Akeni and made available to Jungle-Journalist.Com, the Labour Party likened Adeyanju’s conduct to a dangerous addiction.
“Ambition without principle is worse than substance abuse,” Akeni declared, noting that Adeyanju’s “pathologically obsessive attacks” on Obi were rooted in greed and desperation for political relevance.
The statement drew on quotations from philosophers, with Akeni recalling Oscar Wilde’s warning that “ambition is the last refuge of the failure” and George MacDonald’s caution that “ambition is the evil shadow of aspiration.”
Mentored by Bwala and Omokri?
The LP alleged that Adeyanju had found new political mentors in President Bola Tinubu’s allies—Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Media & Public Communications, and Reno Omokri, a vocal critic-turned-supporter.
According to Akeni, Adeyanju has taken to “digging into Omokri’s and Bwala’s bags of lies” as a way to curry favour with Tinubu and position himself for political gain ahead of 2027.
The Obi Meeting Twist
The party also referenced a July 2022 meeting between Obi and Adeyanju, brokered by respected journalist and author Ike Abonyi.
Akeni said that what should have been a private, cordial political discussion was later twisted by Adeyanju into a “garbage fiction.”
He stressed that Abonyi, who moderated the entire meeting, has publicly confirmed that Obi never made any confession linking Anambra State funds to private business investments. Adeyanju, the statement added, has never contradicted Abonyi’s account.
African Tradition vs. Blackmail
The party also dismissed Adeyanju’s claims that Obi attempted to bribe him, explaining that what Adeyanju has repeatedly mischaracterized was in fact a long-standing African custom of offering guests kola nuts or financial support as goodwill.
“To convert such tradition into an arsenal of blackmail is both duplicitous and despicable,” Akeni fumed.
Selective Activism
The Labour Party further accused Adeyanju of hypocrisy, citing his silence during a violent attack on journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) headquarters in Abuja on November 24, 2024.
According to the statement, thugs loyal to Lagos transport boss MC Oluomo stormed the NUJ office with dangerous weapons, disrupting a press conference and assaulting journalists.
“Yet Adeyanju said nothing,” Akeni noted. “But he continues to label the peaceful Obidient movement as unruly and intolerant.”
Conclusion
The statement concluded by dismissing Adeyanju’s accusations as an act of “vaulting ambition” and a desperate bid to earn a place in what it described as Tinubu’s “orchestra of sycophants.”
The Labour Party said it was encouraged by the overwhelming support it continues to receive from Nigerians at home and abroad, insisting that Adeyanju’s “tinder of lies” will not derail Obi’s political vision or the Obidient movement.
Discussion about this post