PETER OBI WILL FACE POST-ELECTION CHALLENGES

Peter Obi

Nigerians have been waking up to one piece of news or another about some of the most popular contenders since the February 25 presidential election.

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party's Presidential candidate, is one among these candidates.

Some of the presidential contenders have been accused of embezzling state monies, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

However, Peter Obi, branded "Mr Clean," is now embroiled in a slew of issues, particularly from members of the opposition camps.

A Pandora Paper investigation in 2021 claimed that Obi used international bank accounts and dummy firms created in tax havens to launder state monies and avoid taxes.

The Pandora Papers are a leak of about 12 million papers that revealed hidden riches and tax evasion by some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful men.

Obi described it as thrilling that he was not accused of any type of corruption in the piece, whether through the diversion of public monies or in any other way during and after his tenure as governor of Anambra State.

He indicated that the claim was based on tax evasion and the failure to declare some jointly owned assets, and that he had never been involved in illegal business endeavors.

However, in recent months, there have been high-profile charges regarding Peter Obi, with supporters urging people to "go and verify."

MON DIARIES presents some of the claims that some of his fans have labeled as "calumny propaganda against Obi, who finished third in the presidential election."

The reported arrest of Peter Obi 

Professor Chinyere Okunna, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Paul University Awka and Peter Obi confidant, described how Peter Obi was held in London by UK immigration officers last week.

Okunna stated that Obi was arrested for alleged impersonating. He was detained and questioned for an extended period of time before being given a detention note directing him to wait for additional interrogation and investigation.

According to Okunna, Obi learned about the stunning news from an Immigration Officer who informed him that his identity had been duplicated.

She did not, however, stress the crucial aspects of Mr Obi's eventual release before returning to the nation.

In response to the development, Adamu Garba, a former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stated that the APC-led federal government aided Peter Obi's release from the jail cell in the United Kingdom.

Along with a faked image of a UK Immigration Officer, Peter Obi, and Abike Dabiri, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Diaspora Commission, Adamu claimed that Peter Obi's travel documents were fraudulent and that Abike rescued him, a claim that was refuted.

Audio of Peter Obi and Bishop Oyedepo

A leaked recording between Peter Obi and Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church in the last week has aroused concerns about the former Anambra Governor playing ethnic and religious politics.

According to the audio clip, Mr Obi allegedly urged Bishop Oyedepo to assist him in canvassing votes from Christians in Nigeria's south-west and north-central regions.

The LP's flag-bearer, addressing him as "daddy," portrayed the recently finished presidential election as a "religious war."

"Daddy, I need you to speak to your people in the South-West and Kwara, the Christians in the South-West and Kwara. This is a religious war," Peter Obi allegedly said.

The leaked recording aroused outrage, but Obi denied it, claiming it was a hoax.

He also requested evidence from detractors and stated that his legal team would take proper legal action.

Accusation of treason by Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, accused Peter Obi of treason for failing to correct a comment attributed to his running mate, Datti Baba Ahmed.

Lai Mohammed reacted by saying that Datti's statement was treasonous and that it was inciting people to riot over the election results.

Obi refuted his accusation, calling it vicious and fake.

He insisted that he had never discussed or encouraged anyone to destabilize the Nigerian state, and that he had never endorsed or preached any anti-Nigerian-state action.

Obi is being accused of bigotry by Chimaroke Nnamani

Former governor Chimaroke Nnamani accused Obi of practicing nasty and hazardous politics after his defeat in the Enugu East Senatorial election.

He claimed that Peter Obi "set the Igbo political trajectory 24 years ago."

However, the LP candidate believes Nnamani mistook him for someone else because he conducted an issue-based campaign.

Putting Nnamani on the spot to demonstrate his racial or religious intolerance.

Obi stated that he was the only candidate who insisted on being considered rather than elected based on ethnic or religious affiliation. based on character, capacity, and compassion.

Dr Tanko Yususa, the Labour Party Presidential Council spokesperson, accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of financing a smear campaign against Peter Obi.

Tanko emphasized that the attack had increased Peter Obi's global popularity.

"Obi is more popular because of how they are raising issues about him. Whatever they are doing is making us more popular, people are seeing that it is a campaign of calumny, a negative campaign that does not hold water.

"For example, they started attacking his political party, trying to remove the Chairman from the party, trying to make sure there is a faction within the party, in an attempt to make sure that they weaken the structure, our candidate and the case we have in court.

"The APC is responsible for this. The other people in charge of the faction have been seen in pictures with Governor Abiodun of Ogun State, that is to show you that they are being sponsored. How did they get a SAN to represent them in a case? Do you know how much it is to get a SAN?

"Everything they are trying to do is to find a way of bringing down the popularity of Peter Obi but the more they try, the more he gets popular," he said.

In addition, famous Nigerian singer and activist Charles Oputa, AKA Charlyboy, stated that the opposition APC will continue to fail in its attempts to damage Peter Obi's reputation.

"Na APC planted those people to take over the LP office. No matter the effort of APC to discredit or soil his integrity they cannot succeed. All these are propaganda and not the real truth.

"All these allegations about Obi have been debunked. We have people digging the truth, even the Oyedepo audio was cloned. They used AI to do it. People are aware that they used AI to manipulate the audio," he stated.