NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi has denied claims that he harbours ill will toward Northern Nigeria, insisting his record of humanitarian work in the region speaks for itself.
Speaking on Channels Television on Sunday, the former Anambra State governor dismissed allegations that he made divisive remarks against Northerners, calling the claim outright false.
“That’s a lie. It never happened,” he said, adding that a presidency under him would not deepen national divisions.
Obi pointed to a string of interventions in the North stretching back years. He recalled travelling to Borno State early in the Boko Haram insurgency to console then-Governor Ali Modu Sheriff after gunmen killed his brother, at a time many avoided the state altogether.
“When people didn’t want to go there, I went to Borno State,” he said.
He also returned to Borno after devastating floods, donating ₦50 million and meeting the state governor and the Shehu of Borno, and toured IDP camps in the state.
According to Obi, his humanitarian visits have taken him across the North’s hardest-hit states, including Katsina, Kebbi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi and Sokoto. He said he has visited Benue up to four times over communities affected by violence and has spent Christmas and New Year periods in IDP camps.
On his record as governor, Obi said his Aide de Camp was a Muslim from Kano, and that all his cooks during his eight years in office were Northerners. His administration also sponsored Muslim residents of Anambra on annual Hajj pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia, he said.
Obi added that he currently supports Almajiri schools in Kano and Bauchi, as well as a school of nursing in Bauchi, pointing to both as proof of his continued commitment to Northern welfare and national unity.
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