INSIGHT

HOW OBI'S RELENTLESS
MISINFORMATION FORCED
OBIANO TO SPILL THE TRUTH
By Chukwuemeka Okutaoloibe
That Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano finally
decided to set the records straight on the N75bn cash
purportedly le in the coffers of the state by his predecessor
did not come as a surprise to discerning observers. Since Obiano
took over the reins on March 17, 2014 there has been orchestrated
campaign of misinforma on by agents of Mr. Peter Obi aimed at
reinforcing the claim that the ex-governor le huge sums of cash. In
fact when the claims were queried by concerned persons, the Obi
camp modified the narra ve to the effect that it is not all cash a er
all, that the legacy to Ndi Anambra included investments.
On his part, Obiano refused to confront the misinforma on publicly.
In his permuta ons, such engagement is not only meant to distract
him from the onerous task of governance but would run counter to
his investment drive which has seen the
“
state investment por olio increase to
$2.4bn USD. The governor insisted that
it would amount to de-marke ng
Anambra, if on one hand he is
prospec ng poten al investors and on
another hand going public to counter
claims that would show that the state
was actually in deficit should it choose to
meet all financial obliga ons entered
into by the ex-governor who for reasons
best known to him chose to trumpet
savings and ignored liabili es.
To worsen ma ers, Mr. Peter Obi who
chose to fulfill his obliga on to former
President Jonathan by dumping the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for
the Peoples Democra c Party (PDP) to
bolster his chances of making the
federal cabinet list post 2015 elec ons,
d i d n o t f o r e s e e t h e P r e s i d e n t
Muhammadu Buhari's whirlwind
t r i u m p h . U n f o r t u n a t e l y, O b i ' s
permuta ons and the feeble excuse that his former friends in APGA
pushed him out failed. Even the compensa on as board chairman of
the Securi es and Exchange Commission (SEC) was short-lived due
to the new president's clean sweep of board appointments. Thus Mr.
Obi, who is reported to hold a personal grudge against his successor
is said to have promised insiders that he would make life unbearable
for Obiano. It is therefore not surprising that the former governor, a
master of proxy war, started surrep ous funding of misinforma on
campaign executed against the person of Obiano. But in the face of
all these, governor Obiano remained silent choosing to concentrate
on building structures of governance that hitherto never existed in
the state.
Fast forward to the change of guards at the Presidency, the release of
bail-out funds to some states and the revela on that Nigeria is broke.
To paint a realis c picture, the Federal Alloca on due to Anambra
A review of the Obi
handover note shows
that it was not an audited
account signed off by a
cer fied Accountant, but his
own recollec ons. On the
other hand, Obiano is an
Accountant and an Auditor
of interna onal repute who
did not dig dip to discover
obvious discrepancies in the
Obi Handover note.
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State as at September 11, 2014 stood at N4, 251,312,255.01bn but
by September 2015 it had dropped to the sum of N2,
861,307,916,42bn, a difference of N1.4 bn, and indica ons show it is
s ll dropping. Yet the purveyors of falsehood about Anambra
finances went to town that Obiano is able to pay salaries because Obi
le N75bn, when in reality Obi had le the state in debt. It is
instruc ve that ex-governor Peter Obi's hand over note showed cash
balance of N11bn as December 2014 which dropped to N9bn on
handover date of March 17, 2014, yet he was silent on the N106.2bn
from the total N185bn on inherited contracts out of which governor
Obiano has further defrayed N35bn in the spirit and le ers of
Con nuity.
Some have asked why did it take Obiano long to speak? The
appropriate ques on to ask is, why
sustain a lie for eighteen months just to
“
score cheap poli cal point and take an
underserved glory? A review of the Obi
handover note shows that it was not an
audited account signed off by a cer fied
Accountant, but his own recollec ons.
On the other hand, Obiano is an
A c c o u n t a n t a n d a n A u d i t o r o f
interna onal repute who did not dig dip
to discover obvious discrepancies in the
Obi Handover note. But instead of
descending into public spat with his
friend and predecessor, he made efforts
privately to correct the miscalcula ons
but the Obi camp refused to recant,
choosing to sustain the narra ve
because it sounded poli cally correct.
But the mes have changed, prodded by
the frequency of the absurd tales on
Anambra finances and having failed in
private appeal to the former governor to
rein-in his paid hands without success,
Obiano chose to set the records straight
for Ndi Anambra and discerning Nigerians to know the true facts.
It behooves therefore on all to ignore the misinforma on and
embrace the facts. From the records, there was never N75bn cash
anywhere in Anambra government coffers based on former
governor Obi's account, and the current governor has not touched
the N9bn cash he actually le . Most importantly, Obiano inherited a
deficit of N106.2bn based on the contractual exposures which the
former governor incurred up to his very last minute in office. Many
would remember that former governor Obi con nued to award
contracts and flag-off projects on March 17, 2014 shortly before he
stepped-out to hand over. The right thing to do is to praise governor
Obiano for bearing the pains of this grand deceit with equanimity
un l this moment. By con nuing with misinforma on in recorded
interviews and through his cronies and proxies, Obi willfully forced
Obiano's hand and he spoke up strictly for the records.