Kenneth Okonkwo Says He Was Misled Defending Peter Obi Over Anambra Debt Claims

ABUJA — African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain Kenneth Okonkwo has said he was misled when he defended former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi against allegations that his administration left behind debts and other financial obligations.

Okonkwo, who served as Obi’s spokesman during the 2023 presidential campaign, said recent disclosures by the Anambra State Government had changed his position on some of the claims he previously made in defence of the former governor.

He made the remarks on Sunday Politics, a programme on Television Continental (TVC), on Sunday.

Okonkwo, who is now the spokesman for the presidential campaign council of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election, said he was willing to change his position when presented with new facts.

“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 left office without outstanding debts, unpaid salaries, pensions or gratuities.

“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.

He said the Anambra State Government had since claimed that Obi’s administration obtained eight loans and left salary arrears at the state-owned water corporation.

“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, who said 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.

The former governor also said his administration did not owe salaries, pensions or contractors when he handed over power. He further claimed that he left N2.1 billion in an ecological fund for the state.

The state government disputed Obi’s claims, saying he 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 revisited 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?” he added.

Explaining how his approach to Obi would change ahead of the 2027 election, Okonkwo said his role in scrutinising the former governor would be different from his position during the previous presidential campaign.

“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 served as governor of Anambra State from March 2006 to March 2014. His first tenure was interrupted by impeachment in November 2006, but he returned to office after a court overturned the impeachment. He handed over power to Willie Obiano on March 17, 2014.