Obi against sharing of money by governors – Aide

FORMER governor of Anambra State and the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Peter Obi was the foremost governor during their time that supported savings by the Federal Government, the media aide,Vlentine Obienyem, has said. Obienyem disclosed this in a statement issued in reaction to the tape released by the All Peoples Congress (APC), where Obi spoke about savings and lamented that the country could not save because the governors at that time were against savings.

“For APC, it means that Obi also opposes savings and was part of the crisis of inflation presently plaguing the state,” he said. Obienyem who agreed that lack of savings was a contributory factor to inflation, said in the present case that it was more due to lack of proper management of the economy. He insisted that the APC should not be blamed for releasing such a video, because, according to him, while speaking on the matter as shown in APC tape, Obi in the spirit of collective responsibility always accepted it was partly the fault of the governors, without going behind the scene to offer the details to the world, otherwise that would be righteous indignation. Obienyem advised the APC and other Nigerians desirous of knowing what went behind the scene during the great debate on savings to read the book entitled “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines”, written by the former Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“In the said book”, Obienyem wrote: “the former Minister and one of the most renowned economists in the world today, went behind the scenes and told us what happened. In chapter 4, page 61, line 20 , after mentioning the names of governors that opposed savings, she wrote: ‘Others, such as Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State argued for savings but were not supported. Their voices were drowned out, and National Economic Council (NEC) sessions became unpleasant when this topic arose.’ What more evidence do we need on who played what part?” Further, Obienyem said it was the failure to save at the centre that made Obi to return to Anambra where he was in charge and started saving. His words: “This is one of the reasons he saved and was able to leave over N75 billion in the treasury of Anambra State at the end of his tenure. This was unusual, because he achieved that feat without owing any contractor or supplier. Also he neither owed salaries nor borrowed money from any financial institution.”