Peter Obi to Mbaka: I’m stingy to avoid wasting state funds

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has lashed out at the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka, for saying he is a stingy man and cannot be Nigeria’s President.

Mbaka, a Catholic priest, had said this during a prayer service at his church in Enugu on Wednesday.

The cleric said Obi was a man without a generous spirit, saying “a gum-holder” would not be accepted as a president of the country.

The comment has since been generating reactions from Nigerians.

However, Obi, while reacting via a letter addressed to Mbaka, a copy of which was made available to The Star on Thursday, said he has donated money to almost all the major secondary schools and universities in Nigeria including hospitals.

The presidential candidate noted that he never announced the donations to the general public because he saw it as charity work.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, stressed that he was proud of being called a stingy man “if stinginess means to save money and avoid wasting state funds”.

He added that the money shared by politicians is state funds, noting that he is not desperate to be the president of Nigeria.

Obi stated: “Dear Father Ejike Mbaka. I, Peter Obi is still yet to know how I’ve offended you in person and as a priest you are.

“You are my brother as an Igbo man and we even go to the same church, the Catholic.

“How do you define stinginess in your own dictionary. So, because I don’t share money, means I’m stingy?

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“Do you know that those money politicians are sharing, they are state funds. It is not their personal money.

“Why must I spend extravagantly with money that is not my own just to proof that I’m not stingy?

“I have donated money to almost all the major secondary schools and universities in Nigeria including hospitals.

“I never made noisy about it because I see it as a charity work! So, you expect me to start singing about it?”

The presidential candidate continued: “Mbaka, if stinginess means to save money and avoid wasting state funds, then, I’m proudly stingy.

“But, you’ve to tell me where else I’ve wronged you so that I will apologize and we move on.

“It seems you bear grudges on me and you must free yourself because you preach forgiveness to your members.

“Hear it again, I am not desperate to be the president of Nigeria. That is why I will never use a kobo to influence anyone!!!”

The Star