By TAIYE AGBAJE

The Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) Legal Advocates for Ethics & Integrity (LAGEI) has asked Kenneth Okonkwo, a lawyer, to retract the allegations made against the party’s 2027 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Convener of the group, Mr Maxwell Opara, at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, also demanded a public apology from Okonkwo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okonkwo, was alleged to have accused Obi of demanding for a N10 million bribe from each aspirants, contesting for the House of Representatives from the South-East.

Okonkwo was also alleged to have claimed that there were documentary evidence of the payments, and that Obi personally compiled the party’s list of candidates from a hotel room.

Reacting, Opara who challenged Okonkwo to produce the evidence or retract and apologise to Obi, or the ex-actor would be dragged to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for appropriate sanction.

He described the allegations by Okonkwo, a member of the African Democratic Party (ADC), as “false.”

“The NDC Lawyers Group is constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of safeguarding and restoring the integrity, credibility, and good name of our great party, the NDC, and its Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.

“Our attention has been drawn to repeated attacks by one Kenneth Okonkwo of another political party, who has chosen to level unfounded criminal allegations against our Presidential Candidate.

“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,” he said.

Opara said he condemned ‘the pattern of attack in the strongest terms.”

According to him, these allegations are baseless, malicious and designed to distract the Nigerian people from issue-based politics.

“We therefore demand as follows:

Kenneth Okonkwo should immediately retract all defamatory and criminal allegations against Mr Peter Obi and tender an unreserved public apology within 48 hours of this release.

“He must stop hiding under the cover of the Igbo ethnic nationality as a shield for reckless and baseless political attacks.

“The Igbo people, and Nigerians generally, deserve better than to be used as an excuse for political rascality.

“He should redirect his energy to his own political party by telling Nigerians what his candidate intends to do for the country, rather than fixate on Mr Peter Obi,” he said.

The convener said the LAGEI, the legal wing of NDC, would not watch idly while the reputation of its 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 to protect the integrity of our party and candidate.

“Politics must be about ideas, not insults. Enough is enough,” he said. (NAN)

•PHOTO: The Convener, Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) Legal Advocates for Ethics & Integrity (LAGEI), Mr Maxwell Opara, with his colleagues during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja

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