Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has denied reports of a secret meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome over an alleged ₦225 billion Fidelity Bank debt, calling it a blackmail campaign

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has vehemently denied recent reports claiming he travelled to Rome to meet President Bola Tinubu regarding an alleged ₦225 billion debt linked to Fidelity Bank.

Also read: Peter Obi’s Rome visit linked to ₦225bln Fidelity Bank debt, not religious pilgrimage

Obi described the report as part of a deliberate blackmail campaign aimed at tarnishing his reputation.

In a statement released on Thursday, Obi asserted, “It is clear that the biggest business for blackmailers now is to speak about Peter Obi from every negative angle.

Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been distorted into yet another blackmail campaign by paid merchants intent on spreading falsehoods against me.”

Recent media reports had suggested that Obi secretly met with President Tinubu in Rome to seek intervention in a purported financial scandal involving Fidelity Bank, where Obi once served as a board member.

However, the former Governor of Anambra State categorically denied ever requesting or holding a private meeting with the President concerning any bank matter.

It is clear that the biggest business for blackmailers now is to speak about Peter Obi from every negative angle.

Obi clarified his interactions with the President: “I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office, except for a brief, respectful greeting during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where I was seated behind him alongside other dignitaries.”

Furthermore, Obi addressed persistent misconceptions about his relationship with Fidelity Bank, explicitly stating that he does not own the bank.

“The self-proclaimed ‘blackmailer-in-chief’ and others who profit from spreading pain and falsehoods have claimed that I own Fidelity Bank. For the record, I do not.

Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman or Director of three banks and financial institutions, one of which is Fidelity.

Also read: Tinubu attends Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration, meets Peter Obi, other politicians

Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake. What these blackmailers seek is to harm hardworking Nigerians and cause unnecessary distress,” he added.