APC PCC: Obi Has Nowhere to Hide over His Anambra Record, Advises Him to Quit

• Presidential hopeful’s camp tackles Alake over 37 miners’ deaths in Niger Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) says the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has nowhere to hide after an alleged facade of falsehood built around him was torn to shreds by the current state government in Anambra. PCC spokesman, Mr. Dele Alake, in a statement, said in the past four years, Obi and his supporters packaged his tenure as Anambra governor as one defined by exceptional fiscal prudence, including the claim that he left Anambra without a debt burden. He stressed that Obi himself was presented as a squeaky-clean politician, but it has all emerged as a well-packaged lie. Alake claimed, “The facade of falsehood built around Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, has now been torn to shreds, with Obi’s persona deconstructed after disclosures by the Anambra State Government, which responded to Obi’s challenge to verify his record.” He said according to the Anambra State government, the former governor spent about USD 4.05 billion, or N5.4 trillion, over his eight years in office and contracted $123.77 million in external loans. Alake said the state also revealed that, as of when Obi left office on March 17, 2014, there were eight different external borrowings for malaria, erosion control, education, and healthcare, and that subsequent administrations, including Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s, continued to service the debt. Alake alleged, “Borrowing is not injudicious if used for development. But for a man who prides himself on being austere and has frequently claimed he left the state with a clean bill of health, the revelations confirmed what has long been held: Obi is an irredeemable liar, a mediocre governor, unfit for leadership anywhere. “Even more confounding is that despite these borrowings, Obi has nothing to show for his stewardship across Anambra’s sectors. He failed to pay workers’ salaries in some ministries. Water Corporation staff were among those who protested over unpaid salaries.” Alake recalled that in a memo to Obi, dated April 25, 2006, Chuks Ileogbunam, Obi’s Chief of Staff, pleaded with the governor to pay the Water Corporation workers’ N15 million monthly salary to avoid protests at the governor’s office over unpaid salaries. He said at that time, Obi was then spending his second month in office. Alake stated regarding Ileogunam’s plea in the memo, “Since it is your excellency’s unchanging desire to achieve a better future for our children and children’s children, please, Sir, bear in mind that officials of the Water Corporation also have children who are looking to your compassionate leadership. “The President listens with compassion to your appeals on behalf of the children of Anambra. I am 200 per cent sure that you will hearken to the cries of the children whose parents work for the Water Corporation and end their ordeal.” Alake emphasised that just as Obi promised to quit the presidential race if it was proven that he left a debt burden for Anambra State, the letter revealed that Obi had similarly promised Anambra people during his campaign that he would resign as governor “if there is any case where workers are not paid as and when due.” The spokesman said of course, he never meant to, saying he only deceived people into voting for him, stressing that when he left office in 2014, he left his successors with heavier arrears to clear. He added, “ We advise Obi to purge himself of his lies and seek the forgiveness of the Anambra people instead of galloping around platforms, parroting inanities. “What should even be more concerning for Obi’s followers is Obi’s recent solidarity visit to someone facing an EFCC trial for unexplained wealth and monumental corruption. “Indeed, if Peter Obi has any honour, he must resign from the 2027 presidential race forthwith, in keeping with his promise to end his run if it is proven that his administration left behind liabilities in Anambra.” Obi’s Camp Tackles Alake over 37 Deaths The Peter Obi Media Office faulted the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, for engaging in political exchanges over Peter Obi’s record as Anambra State governor while questions remained unanswered over the death of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State. The media office, in a statement by its spokesman, Idris Zekeri Jnr, described Alake’s comments on Obi’s administration in Anambra as a distraction from the tragedy in the solid minerals sector. The statement followed remarks by Alake, who, while speaking in his capacity as a spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, said Obi had “nowhere to hide” over what he described as the former governor’s poor record in Anambra State. The Obi Media Office said the minister should, instead, concentrate on providing answers to questions surrounding the deaths of the 37 detainees, whose circumstances had triggered public outrage, protests, and calls for an independent investigation. It stated, “Instead of fixing the catastrophic failures in Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, providing answers to these questions: Who authorised the operation? “What safeguards were in place? Who failed? And who will be held accountable? A minister overseeing a sector at the centre of such a tragic episode is busy trying to create a distraction.”