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Obi slams N5billion demand on Okonkwo for calling him a thief, criminal
For calling Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2027 presidential election a thief, at the head of a “criminal enterprise,” Kenneth Okonkwo will have to cough out a whopping N5billion to avoid an impending law suit.
This was one of the conditions the former Governor of Anambra State gave to stop him from stretching the matter further through the courts, where he would seek a bigger penalty and compensation following the damage Okonkwo’s words had done to his name.
The action is coming a day after Okonkwo, who was Obi’s spokesman during the 2023 presidential election when the former governor ran on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), had while appearing as a guest on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television accused him of running a “criminal enterprise.”
Specifically, Okonkwo had alleged that Obi and South-east caucus of the NDC demanded N10 million bribe from House of Representatives aspirants in the party to secure tickets for them, quoting one Obunike Ohaegbu, whom he said, sent a message and a receipt to him to that effect, stating that the former governor led the alleged scam.
Stating that Ohaegbu, an aspirant for the House of Representatives on the platform of Obi’s Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for Nnewi North-South and Ekwusigo Constituency, claimed that after he and others aspirants paid the N10 million bribe, they were asked to go to field for primaries instead of giving them tickets.
Stressing that instead of ensuring credible primaries, Obi, who was directing the entire affairs from Johnwood Hotel Abuja, where he allegedly wrote and submitted a list of the NDC’s candidates for various constituencies, he claimed that anybody who voted for the NDC and Obi in 2027 would be voting for criminality, arguing that the party had been criminally extorting aspirants.
Ohaegbu, himself had on Tuesday, denied making the statements, when he appeared on the same television networ, saying he never made such statements to Okonkwo, saying: “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. I never accused the NDC South-east caucus of bribery and did not say that Obi compiled a list of candidates in Johnwood Hotel.
“What I said is that there was an allegation that the list had been prepared in Johnwood. I didn’t mention names.”
In the letter to Okonkwo, Obi, who refuted the claims, told him that the allegations present him as a bribe collector, fraudster and dishonest political actor who is engaged in criminal conspiracy.
“These are extremely grave, damaging and reckless imputations of bribery, extortion, fraud, financial dishonesty and criminality directed at the character, integrity, reputation and public standing of my person.”
Stressing that Okonkwo made the allegations with clear intent and purpose of exposing him to hatred, contempt and ridicule and damaging his reputation, Obi then demanded Okonkwo’s withdrawal of the defamatory statements and publication of apology on Channels TV as well as across all his social media platforms within seven days.
The letter said: “Take notice that should you fail, refuse or neglect to comply with the above demands within the stipulated period, our client (Peter Obi) shall be left with no option than to seek legal redress against you without further recourse to you.
“Such action shall include, but shall not be limited to, claims for general, aggravated and exemplary damages in the said sum of N5 billion and indeed such a higher sum as the court may deem fit, together with injunctive reliefs, public retraction, apology and the full cost of the proceedings.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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