Evidence of how Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, portrayed Distell Beverages, a brewery with Nigerian registration particulars, as a “foreign investment” requiring billions in state-provided support to finance a planned expansion has been unearthed. The revelation marks another financial scandal which undercut the former Anambra governor’s new-day posturing as a prudent and incorruptible public servant.
In a series of tweets containing credible media reports and statements made by Obi, respected international journalist, Tolu Ogunlesi, told the story of how then-Governor Peter Obi boasted of attracting foreign investment in Distelle Beverages before later announcing his intention to make a 10% investment in the firm to help its expansion with a partnership with another South African firm.
The trending story of the Atani-Ozubulu road project led me to Distell Beverages Nig Ltd, which @PeterObi claimed in 2014 as FDI he brought to Anambra. Also said Anambra State Govt invested 10% of cost. I did a search to find owners of Distell —his SABmiller model all over again! pic.twitter.com/1Q7SKvxu8s
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) April 11, 2023
His justification for pouring state funds into the purported ‘foreign firm’ was that its expansion would benefit the state, as it would result in greater operations and higher taxes and jobs.
However, a background check into the profile of Distell Beverages as registered with the CAC showed that it was, in fact, a firm incorporated in the country in the year 2013 with Peter Obi Margaret listed as one of its Directors.
In other words, contrary to Obi’s claims, Distell Beverages was not a foreign investment sited in Anambra due to any reform of his, but rather a local business with direct links to him. His provision of billions in support to the firm completes the fraud and strengthens a pattern considered to be Obi’s preferred method of diversion: set up firms, cook their books, and underwrite their expenses illegally with state funds.
It was a brazen act of abuse of office and a criminal fraud similar to his alleged actions in the case of SAB Miller, another firm Obi refused to divest from upon his emergence as governor and, instead, used his position as the head of the state to award it millions of dollars in so-called investments.
In the case of SAB Miller, the incumbent governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has faulted the decision of the state government to invest in the firm at the time it did, noting that the said investment has proven a dud, yielding nothing to the state government. He also hinted at the controversy surrounding the firm’s ownership, with paperwork showing that Obi has at least a controlling stake.
By law, elected public officeholders are expected to divest from all private businesses they manage and control before the assumption of office. They are certainly not permitted to conduct business with the same firms, let alone underwrite their expenses using state funds in an elaborate scam disguised as “investment.”
Characteristically, the candidate who was defeated in the last presidential election has remained mum on the allegations, and his online followers, notoriously called ‘Obi-dients’ for their fanatism and oftentimes violent conduct, have responded with insults and abuse, refusing to discuss the presented evidence, including statements made by Obi himself.