The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has responded to the allegation that he worked for a former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Obi released a document from 1996 to debunk the allegation that he worked for the military leader, who ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998.
Reno Omokri, a critic of Obi, had accused him of working with the former head of state.
“Abacha and Peter Obi, they worked hand-in-hand; Abacha personally selected Peter Obi to head a task force to decongest the ports.
“You know, like all things, I’ve got documentary evidence to back up what I’m saying.
“So, if Peter Obi tries to act like a saint, I mean I will release the documentary evidence. He met with Abacha personally,” he said in a video post on Thursday, July 3.
But the former Anambra State governor released a document to clarified his position.
The document released by Obi titled, ‘Appointment as co-opted members of the task force on ports decongestion,’ was dated April 24, 1996, and signed by the then Minister of State for Finance, Abu Gidado.
Obi said, “In consonance with my established principles of defending everything I am involved in, and in the interest of all men and women of goodwill, especially those committed to the pursuit of truth, I hereby attach the letter which documents my co-opting, along with others, into the Taskforce on the decongestion of the Ports.
“As I stated during my interview at the weekend and consistently maintained in the past, I had never met General Sani Abacha before that encounter.”
He clarified that his role was purely economic and civic, not political.
According to him, the engagement was rather a civic response to inefficiencies plaguing port operations at the time.
Credit: channelstv.com
