By Charles Igbo
A former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has clarified a viral Video where he was explaining his encounter with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In the Video, Obi explained how he was grilled about his property in London by the Commission over a petition that he bought the House while he was a Governor. The petition had also alleged that the House cost a whopping One Billion Pounds.
But Obi, always ready with documents, said he showed them his papers which decisively proved he bought the house in 1996, long before he became a Governor, and that the cost was One Million Pounds only, at the time.
However, Obi has decried the trending Video which, he said, gave the impression that he was ridiculing the Commission, and that he had mentioned the names of Presidential aspirants, Atiku Abubakar and Chibuike Amaechi.
He said he never did, and that the Video was deliberately corrupted to knock heads together.
In a statement Obi said: “Listening to the video, one could easily discern the disconnected between the Video and the literary narrative. At no point in the video were the names of Atiku and Amaechi ever mentioned. It is a vain effort to pitch Obi against these people. Such destructive politics should be avoided by all men of goodwill.”
He said he recalled the encounter to “merely demonstrate the importance of rule of law and the obligation of public officers to voluntarily submit to due process when any doubt is raised about their conduct.”
Obi also re-emphasised his respect for the EFCC and other national security agencies “legitimately doing their work.”
The statement reads:
“Please kindly refer to a write-up entitled, “Gang Up Against Obi”, which was circulated alongside a video clip, wherein Mr. Peter Obi recalled his encounter with the EFCC. From the said video, Mr. Obi merely demonstrated the importance of the rule of law and the obligation of public officers to voluntarily submit to due process when any doubt is raised about their conduct.
“Listening to the video, one could easily discern the disconnect between the video and the literary narrative. At no point in the video were the names of Atiku and Amaechi ever mentioned. It is a vain and wicked efforts to pitch Obi against these people. Such distractive politics should be avoided by all men of goodwill.
“Therefore, Mr. Peter Obi reiterates his respect for the EFCC and other national security agencies legitimately doing their work. He frowns at such deliberate efforts aimed at pitching individuals against these organizations and other respected Nigerians he has great respect for.”
Until a couple of days ago, Obi was the People’s Democratic Party’s frontline Presidential aspirant. But he shockingly and suddenly and unexpectedly, resigned from the PDP, and withdrew from the Presidential Primaries of the Party.
He is being awaited to declare under which new party he would run.
