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.
He also reiterated that the group’s intention was to advocate for better logistics and economic outcomes for Nigerian businesses.
He further expressed skepticism that the release of the document would silence critics whom he referred to as “mischief makers with ulterior motives”.
However, he said that placing the record in the public domain was consistent with his long-standing commitment to transparency and accountability.
“This clarification is offered in the interest of truth, to reaffirm that our actions were driven solely by a sense of civic duty and not political ambition.
“I don’t expect this copious evidence to bury this Abacha case because the mischief makers have ulterior motives, but it’s being placed in the public space for posterity and in line with my transparency pledge to Nigerians on any issue I am involved in,” Obi added.
Trade Control
The 2023 presidential candidate had during his interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday spoken about his relationship with the military government.
“I have never worked for any government before becoming governor. I was a very successful businessman, and everybody knows that. I built my business from scratch,” Obi said.
“As a businessman, I was also part of those who were controlling trade in Lagos then. There was a time during Abacha’s government, and it even happened during Obasanjo’s government. When Abacha took over, all ports closed, so they came out with a policy that caused congestion in our ports, even in the airports, goods were not cleared, goods were not being exported and everything.
“And some of us felt we needed to go and see the head of state then, or at least the Minister of Finance. So, we came to Abuja, a few of us. We had an audience with the minister of finance and the head of state, and we were able to elucidate the problem we were facing.
“The president then directed the finance minister to take some of us who were the leaders to form a committee to decongest all the ports in Nigeria. That’s the only thing I had to do with the port.”
Abacha’s regime was criticised for widespread human rights violations, suppression of dissent, and large-scale looting of public funds.
