As electioneering activities gain steam ahead of the Anambra State governorship election scheduled for November, the former Governor of the State, Peter Obi and the incumbent Governor, Willie Obiano have intensified their war of words. Yesterday, Obi challenged the Governor to account for the N75 billion he left behind while leaving office over 4 years ago. Valentine Obienyem, the Special Adviser to the former Governor stated this in a statement released to journalists.
He described Obiano as incompetent and stressed that the governor should tell Anambra people what he has done for them so far instead of peddling falsehood about non-existent N7 billion.
“Now that he has accepted that he did not give the N7 billion to anybody, he should go ahead and tell Anambra people what he used their money to do, bearing in mind that major projects in the state such as roads, Awka and Nnewi malls as well as Onitsha and Agulu Hotels, among others remain abandoned.
“We know the governor has many questions to answer and cannot run away from them through blackmail. For instance, on the issue of the N75 billion Obi left for him, he tried to deny it by saying he met ‘near cash’, we went on and published the banks and account numbers where the money were and the bank certified statement of accounts, but they tactically kept quiet.
“To refresh our minds, Obi left N2,139,951,400 billion in First Bank (Acc no. 2018779464) for Oko erosion; N4,909,576,925.98 billion in Sure-P Diamond account (0026290200); 1,782,568,032 billion in UBEC 1 Diamond account(0023484282); N2,101,864,766 billion UBEC 2 Diamond Account (0031151473); over N4 billion in many MDG accounts one of which was the N3,048,355,196 billion in Fidelity Bank (5030047097); over 35 billion Naira cash (set aside funds added) in all the banks.
“Obi also left $156 million in Fidelity Bank ($56 million); Diamond Bank ($50 million); and Access Bank ($50 million).
“If left as Anambra’s Future Growth Funds as conceived by Obi, the money with interest and accruals would have been about 200 billion Naira, but Gov. Obiano has sold all of them. In fact, it was one of the disagreements about the sale that led Mr. Oseloka Obaze to resign. Obiano should be busy telling us the status of these moneys rather than his current blackmail.
“Now is also the time for Obiano to justify before Anambra people why he takes 1.2 billion Naira as security votes, which is biggest in Nigeria relative to income.”
