Former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri has claimed that the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 elections left more debt than any other governor before him in Anambra State.
Omokri in a post on his verified X handle said Obi’s claim during a recent interview that he left $150 million and ₦36 billion in the coffers of Anambra State was dishonest, fallacious, misleading and typical Obi doublespeak.
He described Obi as a manipulator who knew what he was doing when he made the inaccurate statement.
Omokri said: “Please fact-check me: Peter Obi actually left a debt of ₦127 billion that was due immediately after his successor, Governor Willie Obiano, took office.
“This debt mainly consisted of unpaid monies owed to contractors engaged by the Peter Obi administration.
“More of the debt came from approvals Peter Obi made as he was about to leave office. He deliberately timed these contract approvals to be due when he handed over to Mr. Obiano, so he could claim that he left money and Governor Obiano squandered it.
“In his last days in office, Mr. Obi was accused by his successor of employing thousands of new staff for the Anambra State Government at the last minute, without making provision for their salaries. When Mr. Obiano took over, these workers’ wages became due.
“If you take into account the value of the Naira in 2014, when Peter Obi handed over to Governor Willie Obiano, which was approximately ₦150 to $1, the ₦127 billion debt that Mr. Peter Obi left behind was worth around $847 million, far outstripping the so-called money he claimed to have left behind.”
Omokri pointed out that the money Obi claimed to have left behind was not all in cash, adding that much of it was in supposed assets, which were “overvalued” by Obi.
According to him, When the new Obiano government surveyed the quantity, it found it to be grossly exaggerated, with some even being liabilities.
Omokri noted, “For example, Peter Obi invested $12,616,356.43 of Anambra State funds in Intafact Beverages Limited. He claimed that this was part of the assets he left behind. But in actual fact, that brewery became a loss-making business, and the shares held by the Anambra State Government depreciated to about $5.4 million.
“Additionally, much of the actual cash Peter Obi left behind was in Fidelity Bank, where he was one of the largest shareholders and a former Chairman.
“Peter Obi placed an amount equivalent to $20 million in a Fidelity Bank account with account number 5030047097. This money was earning interest for Fidelity Bank, interest that was partly going into his personal pocket. If I am lying, let Peter Obi sue me. I have all the facts.
“Considering this, Peter Obi’s claim that he left money behind for the Anambra State Government is not only false but also almost criminal when you consider that from 1999 to 2023, Peter Obi was the only Anambra State Governor under whom poverty increased.
“Please fact-check me: All the other Governors before him and the Governor immediately after him reduced poverty. But Peter Obi increased poverty in Anambra from 41.4% to 53.7%, while purporting to leave money in a bank where he held significant shares.”