‘I was misled,’ Kenneth Okonkwo makes U-turn on Obi’s debt record
ABUJA — A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, has said he was misled when he defended former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi against claims that his administration left debts and other financial obligations behind.
Okonkwo, who was Obi’s spokesman during the 2023 presidential campaign, said he could no longer repeat some of the claims he made in defence of the former governor after recent disclosures by the Anambra State Government.
He made the disclosure on Sunday Politics, a programme on Television Continental (TVC), on Sunday.
Okonkwo, who is now spokesman for the presidential campaign council of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election, said he was prepared to change his position whenever fresh facts emerged.
“You know me, I’m a very passionate person in whatever I believe in. Let me tell you because I was misled,” he said.
He recalled that during the 2023 election campaign, he had told Nigerians that Obi did not leave any debt or unpaid salaries, pensions or gratuities when he left office.
“There was a time I told Nigerians that Peter Obi was not owing anything, did not leave any debt, he was not owing any salary. No gratuity. No pension. And I said, go and verify.
“I’m not a man that stands on my own misunderstanding. When I see the facts, I agree.”
Okonkwo said the Anambra State Government had subsequently claimed that Obi’s administration obtained eight loans and that workers at the state-owned water corporation were owed salaries and arrears.
“The fact is Anambra State Government said he borrowed eight loans. The fact is that Anambra State said that at the water corporation, he was owing workers there, all the salaries, all the arrears. I cannot say the same thing that I said about Peter Obi in 2023,” he said.
The comments come amid an ongoing dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the state’s debt profile and financial obligations allegedly inherited from previous administrations.
The controversy followed a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, that Anambra was still servicing loans obtained by previous administrations, including those of Obi and former Governor Willie Obiano.
Obi subsequently rejected the claim, maintaining that he left office without outstanding debts.
He also said his administration did not owe salaries, pensions or contractors when he handed over power and that he left N2.1 billion in an ecological fund for the state.
The state government, however, disputed the claims, saying Obi left $123.77 million in debt when he left office. It also said it had no evidence of the ecological fund cited by the former governor.
The government later released documents relating to N363.38 million in salary arrears which it said were inherited from the Obi administration.
Okonkwo also referred to his previous defence of Obi’s family against claims concerning the cost of a wristwatch allegedly worn by a son of President Bola Tinubu.
“There was a time they figured out that Tinubu’s son was wearing a watch worth up to N135 million,” he said.
“I ran out on television and I said nobody from Peter Obi’s family can ever wear such a thing when people are dying in poverty. I stuck my reputation on it. Can I still say that today?”
Explaining the change in his approach, Okonkwo said his role in scrutinising Obi would be different in the 2027 election.
“That’s why I said in 2023, I campaigned for them as the examination in chief. In 2027, it’s going to be a cross-examination,” he said.
Obi was governor of Anambra State from March 2006 to March 2014, although his first tenure was interrupted by impeachment in November 2006. He returned to office after a court overturned the impeachment and handed over to Obiano on March 17, 2014.
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