Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has said he never sought an audience with President Bola Tinubu over a purported N225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank.
Recall that the images of Mr Obi, former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, and Mr Tinubu attending the pope installation mass in Rome had gone viral.
The images sparked reaction across social media platforms, including a report by an online platform alleging that Mr Obi sought an audience with the president over the bank’s purported crisis.
However, in a post on his X handle on Thursday, Mr Obi said the brief meeting with the president at the arena of Saint Peter’s Basilica Rome, has nothing to do with the claims contained in the online report.
He added that aside from the meeting in Rome, he had not met the president since he assumed office.
The statement read: “It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective.
“Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been twisted into yet another blackmail campaign by merchants paid ostensibly to propagate anything negative against Obi.
“One such individual, whose entire life revolves around blackmail, falsely claimed that I went to Rome to have a private meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding a purported N225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank. These claims are not only baseless, malicious but entirely false.
“Let me categorically state that I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office, except about 1 minute meeting at the arena of Saint Peter’s Basilica Rome during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV, where I was seated behind, and had to respectfully greet him, and other dignitaries present.
“I was previously in Rome on the 9th of May for the lying in state of Pope Francis. Immediately after the mass and exchanging pleasantries, I went straight from Vatican City to London, and then back to Nigeria,” Mr Obi said.
He said that the self-proclaimed ‘blackmailer-in-chief’ and others who thrive on spreading pain and falsehoods have also claimed that he owns Fidelity Bank.
Speaking further, the former Anambra State governor said: “Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman/Director of three banks/Financial institutions, of which Fidelity is one of them.
“Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake. What this blackmailer seeks is to harm these hard-working Nigerians and cause them needless distress.
“To those peddling these falsehoods and engaging in blackmail, I offer a simple prayer: May God grant you the virtues of gratitude and understanding to know that we came here with nothing and will go with nothing, that they cannot profit from their evil ways.”
