An unidentified Ghanaian pastor has argued that Peter Obi’s record as governor of Anambra State should set him apart from the other major contenders.
In a sermon, the pastor compared Obi with Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC), respectively.
“Today in Nigeria, three men are standing for election. One of them, when you check his record, he left office just governor, just like a regional minister,” the pastor said.
“He left 75 billion in the coffers for the next man. Have you ever heard it in any way in Africa before?”
Obi’s Claim
The pastor was referring to the claim by Obi that he left about N75 billion in cash and investments for his successor, Willie Obiano, when he handed over power in March 2014.
Obi has repeatedly explained that the figure represented a combination of cash, foreign-currency holdings and investments rather than N75 billion in physical cash.
The Anambra State Government has however said it inherited only about ₦9 billion in cash and ₦26 billion in near-cash assets from Obi’s administration, while also inheriting liabilities associated with contracts valued at about ₦185 billion. Obi’s representatives rejected the government’s characterization and maintained that the former governor left more than ₦75 billion in cash and investments.
Continuing, the Ghanaian pastor said “Yet you won’t vote for such a man,” he said. “You are voting for people who don’t know what they are talking about. Wickedness.”
He went further, saying that Nigerians who considered political records objectively would not need to conduct an election.
“When you listen to his record, listen to his record, if everybody is normal in Nigeria, they shouldn’t even do election,” he said.
“They should go and pick the man like this and put him there. But no.”
The pastor also accused Nigerian voters of continuing to support politicians despite what he described as poor records.
“Those that have record of stealing and stealing and stealing, they are the ones that the masses are [following],” he said. “It is unfortunate. And it is because there is no light.”
The pastor also rejected the suggestion that political leaders necessarily had a better understanding of public affairs than religious leaders stating “And you say that Masa shouldn’t talk.
“The politicians, do they sit down and ask, do they even understand concept than a man of God?” he noted.
