‘I won't retract my words,’ Kenneth Okonkwo replies Peter Obi's N5bn lawsuit threat

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, has insisted that he will not retract his alleged defamatory remarks against the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi.

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PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, had threatened to file a N5 billion lawsuit against Mr Okonkwo if he failed to withdraw his allegations against the NDC candidate, pay N5 billion as compensation, and tender a public apology within seven days.

The former governor had, in his pre-action letter to Mr Okonkwo on 9 June, claimed the ADC chieftain defamed him by alleging that he defrauded House of Representatives aspirants of N10 million each and went ahead to write a list of candidates for various federal constituencies in the South-east.

Mr Okonkwo had served as a spokesperson to Mr Obi when both were members of the Labour Party.

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‘I stand by my words’

In his reply through a letter to Mr Obi dated 16 June and signed by his lawyer V. I. Uma, Mr Okonkwo maintained that he stood by his words because he spoke out after receiving briefs from NDC aspirants who were allegedly defrauded and extorted by the NDC South-east caucus led by Mr Obi.

“Our Client (Mr Okonkwo) denies that he defamed your client (Mr Obi) in any manner whatsoever and expressly asserts that his position on the issues he expressed reflects the true position of the matters so reflected.

“Our Client (Mr Okonkwo) stands by the truth of all he declared on Channels TV. The whole idea of his speaking on Channels TV, which information he received from the aspirants, NDC, and other Nigerians, is to expose transactional politics, ticket racketeering, extortion of aspirants, misleading representations, pretence, undue influence and coercive pressure,” the letter reads in part.

Mr Okonkwo, who posted the letter on his X handle on Wednesday night, repeatedly attributed nearly all his comments on the Channels TV programme to a House of Representatives aspirant in Anambra State, Obunike Ohaegbu, and a few other NDC aspirants in the South-east.

Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Ohaegbu had, while appearing on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily last week, said he never made such statements to Mr Okonkwo.

“I am telling you that Peter Obi never told me to pay N10 million. I never told Kenneth Okonkwo that Peter Obi, in any way, told me to pay N10 million,” he said.

Mr Ohaegbu further said he never accused the NDC South-east caucus of bribery and did not say that Mr Obi compiled a list of candidates in a hotel.

The House of Representatives aspirant in a recent interview stressed that he and Mr Obi were in fact “victims” of what Mr Okonkwo was alleging.

‘Disclosure of my personal phone number distasteful’

Mr Okonkwo also described as “distasteful” the disclosure of his personal telephone number in the pre-action letter to him from Mr Obi, which the NDC candidate and his lawyers chose to publish on social media without first serving him personally.

“This conduct constitutes a data breach against our Client and is an affront to our Client’s (Mr Okonkwo) right to privacy.

“It is our Client’s belief that this despicable act was intentionally deployed as a strategy to send a message to the numerous followers of your Client (Mr Okonkwo) to illegally vulgar-abuse him in his line, throughout the entire media, track and target him for physical and psychological abuse, assault and eventually murder him,” Mr Okonkwo said in the reply.

The ADC chieftain claimed that he has suffered “tremendous attacks on his person” since his telephone number was published and “incurred serious damages” as a result, arguing that the telephone number ought to have been encrypted, shaded, obscured or erased.

“Take notice that appropriate remedies at the appropriate time will be sought and obtained for this intentional and malicious attempt at the life and welfare of our Client (Mr Okonkwo),” the letter read in part.