Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar’s 2027 presidential campaign under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has said he is yet to receive any court documents relating to the ₦8 billion defamation lawsuit filed against him by former presidential candidate Peter Obi.
Speaking during an interview on a television programme, Okonkwo said he first learned about the legal action through social media and had not been officially served with the court processes.
He also reacted to reports that the court had granted Obi’s legal team permission to serve him through substituted means after attempts to deliver the documents personally were unsuccessful.
Questioning the basis for the application, Okonkwo argued that substituted service requires proof that reasonable efforts were made to serve a defendant personally before such permission can be granted.
The lawyer stated that while he had previously received and responded to a pre-action notice sent to his phone, he had not been served with any originating court documents.
According to him, he accepted and replied to the earlier notice despite having grounds to challenge the method of service, but insisted that no official court process has reached him.
Okonkwo dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to intimidate and silence him over comments he made about Obi, maintaining that he stands by every statement he previously made.
The legal action followed allegations made by Okonkwo during a live television interview in which he claimed that Obi and some leaders of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) collected ₦10 million from aspirants seeking House of Representatives tickets and manipulated the party’s candidate selection process.
In response, Obi filed an ₦8 billion defamation suit before the Anambra State High Court in Onitsha, seeking general damages, a public retraction of the allegations, and a perpetual injunction preventing Okonkwo from repeating the claims.
Court documents indicate that Obi’s legal team later obtained approval to serve the suit through substituted means after efforts to effect personal service reportedly failed.
