ADC chieftain and Nigerian lawyer Barrister Kenneth Okonkwo has defended his criticism of Peter Obi, insisting he has actually been far gentler on Obi than he was on other presidential candidates during the 2023 election cycle.
Speaking from 15:23 on Channels TV, Okonkwo said, “Anybody who wants to preside over me as president of Nigeria must be interrogated. I have not even said anything against Peter Obi compared to what I said against other presidential candidates in 2023. I have no personal grudges against anybody in my life, but I will always speak the truth to power.”
Okonkwo also alleged that popular “Obi or Nothing” slogan is a cultural affront to Igbo values. “That slogan is an abomination culturally in Igbo land. In Igbo land, there is something we call Somadina. Somadina means: I will not be the only one who thrives. I will not be the only one who succeeds. I will not be the only one who flourishes. And now you are saying ‘Peter Obi or nothing’?”
He reached back into history to illustrate his point, recalling how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe navigated the 1979 elections with far greater political wisdom.
He noted that despite running under the NPP, Azikiwe never pressured his associate Alex Ekwueme to abandon the NPN. When the NPN eventually won, the Igbo still gained the vice presidency, the speakership of the House of Representatives, and several governorship seats all through strategic alignment, and remarkably, just nine years after the Civil War.
Okonkwo argued that the same spirit of pragmatic unity, rather than all-or-nothing loyalty, is what the Southeast needs to adopt ahead of 2027….Read_More…