I Never Worked In Any Govt Before Becoming Governor – Peter Obi

Opposition figure Peter Obi says he never worked with any government before becoming the governor of Anambra State in 2006.

He said this while clarifying the rumour that he served under the regime of former military dictator Sani Abacha. Obi was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election said that he was a successful businessman before venturing into politics.

He narrated how, as an entrepreneur, he and other businessmen met with Abacha over port congestion, and they were later co-opted into a committee to decongest the port.

I have never worked for any government before becoming governor. I was a very successful businessman, and everybody knows that. I built my business from scratch, Obi said.

As a businessman, I was also part of those who were controlling trade in Lagos then. There was a time during Abacha’s government, and it even happened during Obasanjo’s government. When Abacha took over, all ports closed, so they came out with a policy that caused congestion in our ports, even in the airports, goods were not cleared, goods were not being exported and everything.

And some of us felt we needed to go and see the head of state then, or at least the Minister of Finance. So, we came to Abuja, a few of us. We had an audience with the minister of finance and the head of state, and we were able to elucidate the problem we were facing.

The president then directed the finance minister to take some of us who were the leaders to form a committee to decongest all the ports in Nigeria. That’s the only thing I had to do with the port.