Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), says his decision to sue Kenneth Okonkwo was partly to create an opportunity for any allegations or information about his character to be publicly scrutinised.
Obi spoke with Rufai Useni of Arise Television in a Podcast, while addressing questions about his legal action against Okonkwo, a former ally and spokesperson of his 2023 presidential campaign.
The former Anambra governor said the dispute would not have escalated if Okonkwo had limited himself to making allegations.
“The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have been there if only Kenneth had stopped at allegations,” Obi said.
According to him, the actor-turned-politician had suggested that he possessed additional information that could be made public in the future.
“What he said was that he has a lot that he will talk about in the future,” Obi said.
“And I’m happy that when I said I’m taking him to court, he said now that he has been taken to court, he will be able to disclose openly all those things he wanted to keep.”
LEADERS SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY
Obi said public officials and aspiring leaders should be subjected to rigorous scrutiny regarding their character, integrity and competence.
“As a leader, this is the time to scrutinise ourselves and avail ourselves for scrutiny by the public,” he said.
“So people can hear all the bad things about us because it is important that our future leaders must be who they say they are in terms of character, integrity, competence and qualification.”
The former governor said allegations against public figures should be openly examined to help strengthen accountability in governance.
“Once he said that, I said, wait a minute, we must go further,” Obi said.
He added that Nigerians should not conceal information that may raise questions about the suitability of anyone seeking public office.
“Everybody should say those things they know that are bad about me or things I did that are wrong,” he said.
“Because it’s good for the system. It’s good for society.”
Obi argued that the conduct of leaders often influences younger generations, making transparency essential.
“Some of the things we’re seeing today that young people are doing are examples they learned from our leaders,” he said.
“This is the time to ensure that those who are coming to lead us must be people of character.”
The NDC presidential candidate further urged anyone with credible information about him to make it public.
“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, or if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is the time to bring it up,” he said.
“We must not allow the next set of leaders to have a record that is doubtful.”
