“I Want Him To Expose Me In Court” – Peter Obi Defends Lawsuit Against Kenneth Okonkwo

The Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has revealed why he sued his former ally and ex-campaign spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, over allegations made against him.

Speaking during a podcast interview with broadcaster Rufai Oseni, Obi said he is looking forward to having the matter settled in court, where Okonkwo can openly present any evidence he claims to have.

The legal action came days after Okonkwo made a series of corruption allegations against Obi and claimed that he had more information he intended to reveal later.

Peter Obi said the lawsuit was not triggered by the initial accusations alone but by Okonkwo’s claim that he possessed additional damaging details.

“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,” Obi said.

“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 criminal allegations against me, they should bring it to court.”

Obi argued that people seeking public office should be open to scrutiny because citizens deserve to know the true character of those who want to lead them.

According to him, leaders must be judged not only by their promises but also by their integrity, competence, qualifications and personal record.

“I think as a leader, this is time to avail ourselves for scrutiny by the public so that people can hear all the bad things about us,” he said.

“Because it is important that our future leaders must be who they say they are in terms of character, integrity, competence, qualifications and everything.”

He insisted that the case is aimed at ensuring every allegation, including any future claims, is addressed openly and transparently.

“So once he said that, I said wait a minute, we must go further. So people can hear,” Obi added.

Obi also dismissed reports of serious divisions within his political movement, saying disagreements are normal in any organisation and that issues that arose have already been resolved.

“Let me assure you that whatever you think is happening in our party is nothing compared to what you see in other parties, and there’s no issue,” he said.

“When you have an organisation, there are at times some disagreements or minor issues which we’ve been talked over, it’s been resolved and everything, and that’s it.”

The presidential candidate further challenged not only Okonkwo but anyone with evidence of wrongdoing against him to speak up.

“Not just Kenneth, everybody should say those things they know that are bad about me or I did that is wrong, because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” he said.

“If you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating, or he didn’t go to primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it out.”

Obi said the country must avoid producing another generation of leaders whose records are surrounded by unanswered questions.

“We must not allow the next set of our leaders to have a record that is doubtful,” he said.

Peter Obi’s comments come as tensions continue to grow between him and Kenneth Okonkwo, who was once one of his strongest supporters during the 2023 presidential election but has since become a vocal critic.

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