Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate in the last general elections, has denied recent claims that he held a secret meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome over an alleged N225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank.
In a statement on Thursday, Obi described the allegations as “baseless, malicious, and entirely false,” calling out what he termed an orchestrated campaign of blackmail targeting him.
“It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective,” he said. “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.”
Refuting a viral claim that he met Tinubu privately in Rome to discuss a Fidelity Bank-related crisis, Obi clarified that the only time he encountered the president was in a brief moment of courtesy during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV at Saint Peter’s Basilica.
“I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office,” Obi stated. “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.”
Obi further explained that he had earlier visited Rome on May 9 to attend the lying in state of the late Pope Francis and departed for London immediately after the Mass, before returning to Nigeria.
He also addressed longstanding claims that he owns Fidelity Bank, calling them completely unfounded and harmful to ordinary Nigerians who are shareholders in the financial institution.
“The self-proclaimed ‘blackmailer-in-chief’ and others who thrive on spreading pain and falsehoods have also claimed that I own Fidelity Bank. For the record, I do not,” Obi said. “Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake.”
Obi noted that while he had served as chairman or director at three banks, including Fidelity Bank, during his career, he had never held ownership over any.
“What this blackmailer seeks is to harm these hard-working Nigerians and cause them needless distress,” he added.
Obi offered prayers for his detractors, stating, “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.”
