Peter Obi speaks on Reports He Owns Fidelity Bank, Meeting Tinubu In Rome Over ₦225 billion debt

Peter Obi has addressed the reports that he owns Fidelity Bank and met President Tinubu in Rome, Italy over the bank’s purported ₦225 billion debt crisis.

The reports was published by Sahara Reporters, a platform owned by Omoyele Sowore, shortly after his trip to Rome, where he and other world leaders went to witness the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV.

The reports claimed that Peter Obi had a meeting with President Tinubu to solicit for help following a purported debt crisis rocking Fidelity Bank, which the platform claimed was owned by Obi.

Addressing the reports, Obi, a former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, said he is not the owner of Fidelity Bank and never had a meeting with Tinubu, rather he went and greeted him just like other people do.

Peter Obi’s full statement read:

“It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective. 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.

“One such individual, whose entire life revolves around blackmail, falsely claimed that I went to Rome to have a private meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding a purported ₦225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank. These claims are not only baseless, malicious, but entirely false.

“Let me categorically state that I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office, 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.

“I was previously in Rome on the 9th of May for the lying in state of Pope Francis. Immediately after the mass and exchanging pleasantries, I went straight from Vatican City to London, and then back to Nigeria.

“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. Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman/Director of 3 banks/Financial institutions, of which Fidelity is one of them. Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake. What this blackmailer seeks is to harm these hard-working Nigerians and cause them needless distress.

“To those peddling these falsehoods, and engaging in blackmail, I offer a simple prayer: 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.