The legal wing of the National Democratic Congress, NDC, has threatened to drag former actor and politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, over what it described as repeated and malicious attacks on the party’s 2027 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
The threat was issued by the NDC Legal Advocates for Ethics, led by Dr. Maxwell Opara, following recent allegations made by Okonkwo against Obi and the South-East caucus of the party.
The group accused Okonkwo, who is a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, of conduct unbecoming of a legal practitioner and gave him 48 hours to retract the allegations and tender an unreserved public apology.
The development comes as Obi has also moved to file a ₦5 billion defamation suit against Okonkwo over the claims.
The controversy followed Okonkwo’s appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, where he alleged that Obi and the South-East caucus of the NDC demanded ₦10 million bribes from House of Representatives aspirants in exchange for automatic tickets.
Okonkwo reportedly cited a message and payment receipt allegedly sent to him by one Obunike Ohaegbu, an NDC House of Representatives aspirant for the Nnewi North-South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency in Anambra State.
He alleged that the aspirant was defrauded after paying the sum.
Okonkwo also alleged that Obi, instead of supervising credible primary elections, stayed at Johnwood Hotel, Abuja, and personally compiled a list of preferred candidates for submission to the party.
He further stated that anyone voting for the NDC was endorsing criminality.
However, Obi, through a pre-action letter signed by his lawyer, Alex Ejesieme, SAN, rejected the allegations as false and defamatory.
The letter demanded that Okonkwo withdraw the statements and publish a public apology on Channels Television and across all his social media platforms within seven days.
Obi also demanded ₦5 billion as general, aggravated and exemplary damages for alleged injury to his reputation.
In its own statement, the NDC Lawyers Group said Okonkwo had abandoned issue-based political engagement and allegedly made it his preoccupation to malign Obi.
“Instead of selling the policies and vision of his own party and candidate to Nigerians, Mr. Okonkwo has made it his preoccupation to malign Mr. Peter Obi,” the group stated.
It described the allegations as false and challenged Okonkwo to produce evidence or retract the claims.
“Those allegations are false. We challenge him to bring evidence or retract and apologise. Otherwise, his conduct will be reported to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee,” the group said.
The lawyers also warned Okonkwo against what they described as hiding under Igbo ethnic identity to justify reckless and baseless political attacks.
According to the group, the Igbo people and Nigerians generally deserve better than to be used as cover for political attacks and alleged rascality.
“The NDC Lawyers Group will not watch idly while the reputation of our Presidential Candidate is assaulted for cheap political gain. Failure to comply will leave us with no option but to activate all lawful and legal remedies available,” the statement added.
The group maintained that political disagreements must be conducted within the limits of law, ethics and professional responsibility, especially where the person making the allegations is a legal practitioner.
