Nigeria, June 11 -- 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 acc...