Peter Obi Vows to Press Ahead With Lawsuit Against Kenneth Okonkwo

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has declared his intention to proceed with a defamation lawsuit against actor and politician Kenneth Okonkwo following allegations of corruption during the party’s primary elections.

Obi made his reaction in an exclusive interview with Nevon Media.

On the demand letter against Okonkwo, he said, “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any crim!nal allegations against me, they should bring it to court.”

It can be recalled that Okonkwo had appeared on Channels Television’s “Sunrise Daily,” where he claimed that House of Representatives aspirants were coerced into paying a N10 million bribe under Obi’s watch to secure tickets.

This led to a N5 billion defamation warning from Obi’s legal team. In response, Okonkwo released what he termed documentary evidence on social media, including chat logs with an NDC aspirant, Obunike Ohaegbu.

Okonkwo claimed that the aspirant privately described the former governor as the leader of the extortion scheme, stating, “Peter Obi is the head, stomach, and feet of the criminal gang.” Okonkwo further alleged that Obi handpicked candidates who did not win or participate in the primaries at a hotel in Abuja.

Questioning the legality of the process, Okonkwo wrote, “Please tell me, if a person said that Peter Obi was writing list of aspirants in John Wood Hotel, Abuja, who didn’t win election in NDC, to become candidates for NDC, what else is criminality? He even stated clearly that Peter Obi wrote Senator Victor Umeh’s name as a candidate when he lost.”

He also asserted that when the national secretariat was questioned about the extra financial demands, “the party named Peter Obi and the caucus leaders who were assembled by Peter Obi.”