Abia State Governor Alex Otti has said he stands by a statement he made in 2020 about how former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi managed $155 million while in office.
Otti said his earlier comments were made to demonstrate that public officials could be prudent in managing government resources.
The governor spoke during an interview with Arise Television on Friday, September 25, 2026, while responding to questions about the statement, which was published on June 8, 2020.
According to Otti, the statement was not a recent comment directed at Obi but an account of an event that occurred several years ago.
“They are referring to what I wrote in 2020. I think that was June 8, 2020. I was using it to prove that it’s still possible for people to be prudent in government,” Otti said.
He explained that his comments were based on his experience with Obi at the time, particularly concerning the management of funds in naira and the decision to convert the money into dollars.
Otti said that, as the chief executive officer of a bank at the time, he had advised Obi about the risks associated with keeping the funds in naira.
He explained that the naira was losing value and suggested that the money could be converted into dollars as a way of preserving its value.
According to the governor, the funds were subsequently converted.
“It’s an account of what happened. And I had said that as the CEO of the bank at that time, he was going to leave the money in naira, and when he came to me and I said no, this naira you want to keep, naira will keep losing value,” Otti said.
“So you probably want to convert it to dollars, and it was converted.”
Otti maintained that his statement was based on what he said happened and was not a new position on the matter.
The Abia governor also said he had not made further comments on the issue since the 2020 statement, despite renewed attention to his earlier remarks.
“So it’s a statement of fact, and it’s something that happened several years, six years ago. So I haven’t spoken again, and so that’s what they are referring to,” he said.
The controversy centres on claims about the management of public funds during Obi’s tenure as governor of Anambra State.
Otti’s latest comments come amid renewed political discussions involving Obi and other opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Obi, who served as Anambra governor from 2006 to 2013, has remained a prominent figure in Nigeria’s opposition politics following his 2023 presidential bid.
Otti, meanwhile, has also become an important figure in discussions around the opposition landscape ahead of the next election.
The governor has recently addressed questions about the political activities of opposition figures in Abia State, including Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
However, in his latest interview, Otti focused specifically on the origin of his comments about the $155 million and insisted that they should be understood in the context in which they were made in 2020.
His explanation also highlighted the economic circumstances surrounding the naira at the time and the concern over the loss of value of funds held in the local currency.
The governor’s account suggests that his recommendation was based on his assessment of currency depreciation and the need to preserve the value of the funds.
Otti did not indicate that he had recently revisited the matter with Obi or made a new allegation against the former Anambra governor.
Instead, he said the statement being circulated was an old account and that he had not spoken about the issue again since making the remarks six years ago.
The renewed attention to the comments comes as political alignments continue to develop ahead of the 2027 elections, with several opposition politicians holding discussions over possible cooperation and political strategies.
For Otti, however, the focus of his explanation was on clarifying why he made the 2020 statement and why he continues to stand by what he wrote at the time.
He said his intention had been to show that public officials could exercise caution and responsibility in handling government resources.
The governor’s latest remarks therefore place the controversy within the context of his earlier argument about prudent financial management rather than presenting it as a new accusation against Obi.
Otti’s position is that the statement reflected his recollection of events surrounding the handling of the funds and the decision to convert them from naira to dollars.
He maintained that the comments were made six years ago and that the renewed discussion should be viewed against that background.
