(Kenneth Okonkwo. Photo by PresspayNg)
Kenneth Okonkwo, former spokesman for Peter Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign, has said he was misled when he defended the former Anambra governor against claims that he left behind debts.
Okonkwo is an ADC chieftain and now speaks for the campaign council of Atiku Abubakar, the ADC candidate for 2027.
He spoke on Sunday on TVC’s Sunday Politics.
He said new claims by the Anambra State Government changed his position and that he would not stand on his own misunderstanding when he sees the facts.
In 2023, Okonkwo told Nigerians that Obi left no debt and owed no salary, gratuity or pension, and challenged people to go and verify.
He now says the state government has said Obi took eight loans and left salary arrears owed to workers of the state water corporation, so he cannot repeat what he said before.
He also revisited his earlier claim that nobody from Obi’s family could wear a watch like the one reportedly worn by President Bola Tinubu’s son, which was said to cost up to N135 million.
He asked if he could still say that today. He added that in 2023 he campaigned for Obi as the examination in chief, but in 2027 it will be a cross-examination.
His comments come amid a running dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the state’s debts.
It began when Finance Commissioner Izuchukwu Okafor said the state is still paying loans taken by past administrations, including those of Obi and former Governor Willie Obiano.
Obi rejected this and said he left office with no outstanding debts.
He said his government owed no salaries, pensions or contractors and that he left N2.1 billion in an ecological fund.
The state government replied that he left $123.77 million in debt and that it has no proof of the fund.
It also released documents on N363.38 million in salary arrears it says came from the Obi era.
