Former presidential aide Reno Omokri has accused Labour Party’s 2023 presidential flagbearer, Peter Obi, of spreading falsehoods about Nigeria’s debt profile, claiming such rhetoric is discouraging foreign investors from doing business in the country.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Omokri said Obi’s statements were not only misleading but were also harmful to Nigeria’s economic prospects.
“That is not true. He doesn’t rile me up. I rile him up,” Omokri stated during the interview. “The reason why I came here is because I’m a patriot. Peter Obi lied. You know, foreign direct investors are watching your programme, who are making investment decisions not to come to Nigeria. There are foreign investors in Nigeria that are making investment decisions to leave Nigeria because of the lie he told.
“One of the lies he told is that President Tinubu has borrowed more than the administrations of Yar’Adua, Jonathan, Buhari. That is a blatant lie.”
Citing data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Omokri argued that President Bola Tinubu has actually reduced the country’s external debt burden since taking over from Muhammadu Buhari.
“I have here with me data from the Debt Management Office, and Nigerians who are watching can go to DMO.com and search Debt Management Office, Nigeria State of Indebtedness 2015,” he said.
“As of 2015, Nigeria was owing a total of $63 billion. When Buhari was leaving office, Nigeria was owing $113 billion. Today, from the DMO, our debt has gone from $113 billion to $97 billion, meaning that Tinubu has reduced our debt by over $14 billion.
“We should be appreciating this man. Yet Peter Obi came here and lied to the Nigerian people. He took the debts and translated them into naira to make it look like the debts have increased.”
