- Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate clears the air on Rome visit, Fidelity Bank ownership, and calls out coordinated falsehoods.
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential flagbearer of the Labour Party, has issued a clear and direct response to what he describes as an ongoing campaign of blackmail aimed at discrediting him. In a statement released Thursday, Obi expressed deep concern about the deliberate spread of false narratives, particularly surrounding his recent trip to Rome.
“It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective,” he stated. “Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been twisted into yet another blackmail campaign by merchants paid ostensibly to propagate anything negative against me.”
One of the most widely circulated claims alleges that Obi secretly met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Rome to discuss a ₦225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank.
Obi dismissed the allegation outright, describing it as “baseless, malicious, and entirely false.” According to him, the only interaction he had with President Tinubu occurred briefly at Saint Peter’s Basilica during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV.
“I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office—except for about a one-minute greeting at the Basilica, where I was seated behind and had to respectfully greet him and other dignitaries present.”
He further clarified that his visit to the Vatican was primarily to attend the lying in state of Pope Francis on May 9. After the Mass, he traveled directly from Vatican City to London, and then returned to Nigeria—refuting the claim of a hidden political agenda.
“I Do Not Own Fidelity Bank”
Another angle of the smear campaign, according to Obi, involves claims that he owns Fidelity Bank.
“For the record, I do not own Fidelity Bank,” Obi stated. “Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman or Director of three banks and financial institutions, Fidelity being one of them. The bank has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake.”
Obi said these unfounded claims are designed to incite fear among shareholders and hard-working Nigerians.
He also described the main instigator of these allegations as the “self-proclaimed blackmailer-in-chief,” warning that such tactics only deepen public mistrust and breed division.
A Prayer for the Blackmailers
Closing his statement with a note of grace, Obi said:
“May God grant you the virtues of gratitude and understanding—to know that we came here with nothing and will go with nothing, and that you cannot profit from your evil ways.”
He ended with a familiar rallying cry that has become synonymous with his political movement:
“A new Nigeria is POssible.”
