The Ignorant Betrayal: Why No One Will Ever Trust Kenneth Okonkwo Again -By Isaac Asabor

Kenneth Okonkwo has done something far more damaging than picking a fight with Peter Obi. He has ignorantly slaughtered the one currency that matters in politics and public life: trust.

Not just the trust people already reposed in him. But the trust anyone might ever have reposed in him in the future. And he has done it with the carelessness of a man who does not understand what he has just thrown away.

The background is now familiar. Peter Obi, through his lawyers, threatened a N5 billion defamation lawsuit against Okonkwo over allegations that Obi defrauded House of Representatives aspirants of N10 million each. Okonkwo’s response was not to rely on evidence, his weak WhatsApp chats and bank receipt to a party account have already drawn ridicule, but to threaten something far more sinister.

In his own words on X: “Let me sound this note of warning, the lawyers must take responsibility for any information I may have to divulge, which I acquired as a spokesperson, but which by my conscience I have not shared with anyone.”

Let that sink in. He is openly threatening to divulge confidential information he acquired while working as Peter Obi’s spokesperson. Information he admits he has kept secret only by the grace of his conscience. And he is now dangling that information as a weapon because Obi dared to sue him for defamation.

What Okonkwo does not seem to understand, ignorantly, tragically, is that he has just announced to the world that he cannot be trusted. Not by Peter Obi. Not by any future principal. Not by any political party. Not by any colleague. Not by anyone.

Think carefully about what he has done. He was a spokesperson. That role is built entirely on confidentiality. A principal shares strategy, private thoughts, campaign weaknesses, internal disagreements, and unguarded opinions with their spokesperson. Even as a lawyer, which he is, a measured level of trust is needed between him and his client. None of that is meant for public consumption. It is shared on an implicit pact: you speak for me, you protect me, and what passes between us stays between us. Okonkwo has just torn up that pact for everyone to see.

Now ask yourself: which politician, in their right mind, would ever hire Kenneth Okonkwo again? Which candidate would invite him into their inner circle? Which party would trust him with sensitive information? Which leader would speak candidly in his presence? The answer is none. Absolutely none.

Because every potential principal will remember this moment. They will remember that Okonkwo, when sued for defamation, did not simply defend himself in court. He reached for confidential information as a threat. He essentially said: “Come after me, and I will burn the house we once shared.”

That is not the mark of a principled man. It is the mark of an ignorant one, ignorant of the fact that trust, once broken in such a public and deliberate manner, does not heal. It dies. And it takes every future opportunity with it.

Okonkwo may believe he is being clever. He may think that threatening to divulge secrets gives him leverage. He may imagine that Obi will back down, or that the public will applaud his toughness. But he is gravely mistaken. Nigerians are watching. And what they see is a man who cannot be trusted with a secret, a man who turns confidential conversations into bargaining chips, a man who confuses revenge with righteousness.

Even if he has a genuine grievance against Obi, his method of expressing it has ensured his own political extinction. No party will embrace him fully. No candidate will confide in him deeply. No coalition will risk including him. He has become radioactive, not because of what he knows, but because of what he has shown he is willing to do with what he knows.

And here is the deepest irony: Okonkwo is a trained lawyer. He understands the concept of privilege, of confidentiality, of fiduciary duty. But he has chosen to ignore all of that in a fit of pique. That is not just ignorance of ethics. It is ignorance of self-interest.

He has killed the trust people reposed in him. And more tragically, he has murdered the trust anyone might ever have reposed in him in the future. For a man who once dreamed of political relevance, that is not a threat. It is an epitaph.

Kenneth Okonkwo will never be trusted again. And sadly for him, he seems to be the last person to know it.