Kenneth Okonkwo, former spokesman for Peter Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign, has said he was misled when he defended the former Anambra State governor against claims that he left behind debts and other financial obligations.
Okonkwo, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said recent disclosures by the Anambra State Government had changed his position on some of the claims he made in defence of Obi.
He spoke on Sunday during Television Continental’s (TVC) Sunday Politics.
Okonkwo now speaks for the presidential campaign council of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the ADC’s candidate for the 2027 election.
He said he would change his position when new facts emerged.
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“You know me, I’m a very passionate person in whatever I believe in. Let me tell you because I was misled,” he said.
During the 2023 presidential campaign, Okonkwo had defended Obi against allegations that he left debts, unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities behind after leaving office as governor.
“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 his position changed following claims by the Anambra State Government that the Obi administration took 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.
Okonkwo also revisited his earlier defence of Obi’s family following reports about the alleged cost of a wristwatch said to have been 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 said his approach to scrutinising Obi would change ahead of the 2027 election.
“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.
Okonkwo’s 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 dispute followed comments by the state 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 rejected the claim, maintaining that he left office without outstanding debts. He also said his administration did not owe salaries, pensions or contractors at the time of handover and left N2.1 billion in an ecological fund for the state.
The state government disputed Obi’s position, saying he left $123.77 million in debt and that it had no evidence of the ecological fund.
It subsequently released documents relating to N363.38 million in salary arrears, which it said were inherited from the Obi administration.
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