The war of words between former presidential candidate Peter Obi and his erstwhile ally, Kenneth Okonkwo, escalated on Wednesday as the actor-turned-politician released what he claimed were WhatsApp conversations backing his allegations of financial inducement during the recent Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) primaries.
Okonkwo, a prominent figure in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), shared screenshots of chats purportedly exchanged with an aspirant, Obunike Ohaegbu, insisting they corroborate his earlier claims that aspirants seeking elective offices under the NDC were subjected to hefty financial demands allegedly approved by Obi and some party leaders in the South-East.
The development comes days after Obi’s legal team slammed Okonkwo with a ₦5 billion defamation demand and a request for a public apology over the allegations, which the former Anambra State governor has strongly denied.
In a series of posts on his X account, Okonkwo maintained that the chats support his claim that House of Representatives aspirants were allegedly asked to pay ₦10 million, while Senate aspirants paid ₦20 million during the party’s candidate selection process.
“Obunike Ohaegbu, when I questioned him to prove that Peter Obi was responsible for demanding the ₦10 million from House of Representatives aspirants and ₦20 million from Senate aspirants, he made it clear that when he confronted the party on who authorised the payment, the party named Peter Obi and the caucus leaders who were assembled by Peter Obi,” Okonkwo wrote.
The former presidential campaign spokesperson also published excerpts of messages allegedly sent by Ohaegbu, in which the aspirant questioned the integrity of the party’s primary process in Anambra State.
According to the messages shared by Okonkwo, Ohaegbu expressed concern over the emergence of what he described as a consensus list of candidates despite the absence of consultations or negotiations among aspirants.
The aspirant reportedly argued that participants entered the primaries believing that the outcome of the exercise would determine the party’s candidates for the 2027 elections and warned that any candidate list produced outside the established process would raise serious credibility concerns.
He further maintained that consensus arrangements could only be valid where consultations, negotiations and agreements had taken place among stakeholders.
Defending his decision to publicise the allegations, Okonkwo said he was acting out of civic responsibility and in the public interest.
“As a citizen and a lawyer, I have a duty to disclose every crime against the state that comes within my knowledge. The South-East people have suffered enough. No human being can again take them or any citizen of Nigeria for granted or perpetrate any fraud against them without challenge,” he stated.
The controversy follows a June 9, 2026 letter issued by Obi’s lawyers, led by Chief Alex Ejesieme (SAN), demanding ₦5 billion in damages, an immediate retraction and a public apology over the allegations.
The legal team described Okonkwo’s claims as false, malicious and defamatory, warning that failure to comply within the stipulated period would trigger legal action.
Responding to the threat of litigation, Okonkwo said he had yet to thoroughly examine the legal correspondence and would respond formally after reviewing its contents.
He also hinted that any eventual court proceedings could open the door to the disclosure of additional information from his time as Obi’s spokesperson during the 2023 presidential campaign.
The dispute marks a dramatic deterioration in the relationship between the two politicians, who were once close allies before parting ways following Obi’s defection from the ADC to the NDC.
As of the time of filing this report, neither Obi nor the NDC leadership had issued an official response to the WhatsApp conversations released by Okonkwo, while the authenticity of the messages remains independently unverified.
