*Says, “He Has Displayed Very Little Knowledge; His Lawyers Should Educate Him”
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A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said that the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Mr Peter Obi, “has displayed very little knowledge” of the law and that “his lawyers should educate him,” describing Obi’s defamation suit against him as “legally illogical,” “ill-fated,” “frivolous and vexatious,” and one that “will come to naught.”
Okonkwo, a lawyer, actor, columnist and public affairs analyst who served as Obi’s spokesperson during the 2023 presidential campaign, spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
Okonkwo’s central legal objection is that the claim, as he understands it, is directed at words he had not yet spoken at the time the process was commenced.
“First of all, what he said is legally illogical. A defamation suit is a suit you bring against somebody for what he has already said, which you are alleging injured your reputation,” Okonkwo stated.
“But look at him saying that he wants to sue Kenneth Okonkwo for what Kenneth Okonkwo said he intends to say. Lie. He had already commenced the suing before I said what I said,” he stated.
“The N5 billion did not commence from the court. It commenced from his pre-action notice. Then the court you’re going to is just to use it to get those things you have already asked for, which the person said no, you’re not qualified for it,” Okonkwo stated.
“Defamation suit is for what you have already said and not what you intend to say. That is why it’s a lie. So if he had gone to court, why didn’t he go to court and just say that I’m suing him for what he intends to say?” he asked.
Okonkwo said his own words are on the public record and can be verified.
“When you are dealing with a Peter Obi, it’s good to put everything you are saying in writing. So just look at a man who wants to be President, lying both legally and factually. So what I said is there on Instagram,” he stated.
Pressed by the presenter, who suggested that the suit might be read as a response to Okonkwo’s statement that it would be “unwise” for Obi to proceed, and that the implication was that Okonkwo possessed information injurious to Obi’s reputation from their time working closely together, Okonkwo rejected the reading and offered his own explanation of motive.
“The defamation suit which he purportedly has brought, which of course is ill-fated, frivolous and vexatious, which will come to naught, is nonsense. Let me tell you his real reason. I’ve said it before. He wants to destroy any rising star from the South East,” Okonkwo stated.
Okonkwo argued that the selectivity of the action proves the point, listing others who have made comparable or harsher statements without facing suit.
“Sowore said he is a packaged fraud. Has he sued him?” he asked.
“Just yesterday, the Minister of Aviation said he lies like the fish drinks water. Has he sued him? When Arabambi talked, he said no, he didn’t have a face, he is faceless, that was why he didn’t sue him,” Okonkwo stated.
He then aligned himself with the Minister’s characterisation.
“The Minister of Aviation has called him a compulsive liar, and unfortunately, I agree with him on that, because he has lied against me openly and has displayed very little knowledge. His lawyers should educate him,” Okonkwo stated.
Turning to the Court of Appeal decision clearing the ADC’s participation in the 2027 elections, Okonkwo said the outcome vindicated a position he had maintained throughout.
“Thank God you were here with me a lot of times when I told you that ADC does not have any legal challenge. I boasted and I said because we know that the only challenge ADC has is APC trying to use some instruments in the judiciary to litigate us out of existence, and we resisted them and they are failing and falling like a pack of cards,” Okonkwo stated.
He characterised the pattern as “lawlessness within the law, where the legal process is manipulated to achieve ulterior and political motives rather than uphold justice.”
On the deregistration judgment set aside by the Court of Appeal, he said: “The Court of Appeal said there was an existing order to stay proceedings, yet the judge proceeded to deliver the flawed judgment. He manufactured his own law. He said they have defected. There is no place in the Constitution where it says that if a member defects you would lose your registration. So he manufactured his own law, manufactured his own evidence, and gave judgment based on his own manufactured evidence.”
He added: “They must enforce that judgment, because obedience to court judgment is sacrosanct where the rule of law prevails. Otherwise you’re saying bye-bye to rule of law.”
The presenter noted for the record that these characterisations were Okonkwo’s own, telling him: “I believe that Nigerians can make up their minds on what it is that they’ve seen, and if indeed they agree that that is a lie. Because as I said, this is how I see it.”
The exchange arises from Obi’s demand for N5 billion in damages from Okonkwo over allegedly defamatory statements, pursued initially by a pre-action notice issued through his counsel.
Okonkwo, who served as spokesperson for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council in 2023, subsequently left the Labour Party and is now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress.
The interview was broadcast on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
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