Obi denies N7bn demand from Obiano, asks gov to explain how N75bn he met was spent

The face-off between former and incumbent governors of Anambra State, Peter Obi and Willie Obiano respectively continues to worsen by the day.

The immediate former governor, Obi has denied demanding for N7 billion from Obiano and said he should rather explain what he did with N75 billion he met in office.

A statement credited to Obiano on Monday, in a bid to give reasons for the lingering face-off between the former governor and his successor, had alleged that Obi once demanded N7 billion from Obiano which he failed to give him.

But in his response, Obi called on Obiano to rather focus on explaining to the people of the state what he did with the N75 billion he handed over to him and what in almost four years, he has done for them instead of making unfounded allegation to hide his gross incompetence.

Obi’s response was contained in a statement released by his special adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem. He said that since Obiano 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.”

The statement read in part, “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 N35 billion 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 N200 billion, 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.”

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