African Democratic Congress chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said he was misled when he previously defended former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi against claims that his administration left behind debts and other financial obligations.
Okonkwo, who served as Obi’s spokesman during the 2023 presidential campaign, said he could no longer maintain some of the claims he made at the time following fresh disclosures by the Anambra State Government.
He spoke on TVC’s Sunday Politics programme on Sunday.
Okonkwo, who is now spokesman for the presidential campaign council of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, 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 telling Nigerians during the 2023 election campaign that Obi did not leave behind 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,” he said.
However, Okonkwo said the Anambra State Government had since claimed that the Obi administration obtained eight loans and left salary arrears owed to workers of 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 a 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 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 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 N2.1bn in an ecological fund for the state.
The state government, however, disputed the claims, saying Obi left $123.77m in debt when he left office.
It also said it had no evidence of the ecological fund cited by the former governor.
