Tensions flared online Thursday as Peter Obi and Omoyele Sowore, both presidential candidates in Nigeria’s last general election, exchanged barbed messages without naming each other directly. Despite the lack of direct mentions, the tone, history, and timing of the posts made the targets unmistakably clear.
According to a report by Premium Times, the back-and-forth began when Peter Obi labeled Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, as a “blackmailer” and “self-proclaimed blackmailer-in-chief.” The accusation followed a Sahara Reporters article alleging that Obi’s recent encounter with President Bola Tinubu at a Vatican event was tied to a request on behalf of Fidelity Bank—an institution he once chaired.
Obi responded on X (formerly Twitter), rejecting the claim outright:
“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,” Obi posted.
He clarified that he only had a brief, impromptu greeting with Tinubu at the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Basilica during the inauguration Mass for Pope Leo XIV and that no private meeting took place.
Roughly two hours later, Sowore fired back on X, calling Obi the “Money Launderer-In-Chief” and referencing previous Premium Times investigative reporting from the global Pandora Papers collaboration. That report linked Obi to offshore accounts and alleged that he violated Nigerian business disclosure laws.
Sowore wrote:
“I heard the ‘Money Launderer-In-Chief’ at Pandora Papers and packaged fraud has fabricated another story this morning about the reason his elder brothers bounced him during his ill-fated visit to Rome.”
Article updated 2 weeks ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
