Nigerians have not questioned Peter Obi’s source of wealth – Idam

Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, on Monday, said no Nigerian has seriously questioned the source of the wealth of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, because he is believed to have made his money legitimately.

Idam was reacting to debates online over pictures and videos of Obi’s wife, Margaret Brownson, carrying a Hermès handbag said to be worth £131,938.81.

If converted to Nigerian naira, the bag is worth about N200 million.

The image has generated heated arguments online, with Nigerians venting their anger while calling Obi names.

However, Idam said it was difficult to justify spending such an amount on a handbag by any reasonable standard.

In a statement he signed, the activist lawyer said: “Peter Obi’s wife was recently seen carrying a handbag which, according to reports making the rounds on social media, is worth over N200 million. The story has since set social media on fire.

“Such spending, at a glance, appears to me as vain exhibition and, for want of a better description, extravagant expression at its peak.

“Interestingly, however, Peter Obi has never presented himself as a man who is poor or incapable of sustaining such a lifestyle within his household.

“I remember hearing him say that he has made enough money to last his household for several generations. I have also seen him give millions of naira from his personal resources to orphanages, IDP camps, schools, hospitals and other causes.

“He has done these things with his personal funds, yet I have hardly seen anyone seriously question the source of the money, presumably because he is generally believed to have legitimately accumulated substantial wealth.”

Idam recalled watching interviews in which Obi stated that he would never divorce his wife, irrespective of what she does.

In an interview with the Honest Bunch podcast, the former Anambra State governor explained that even when they travel by air together, his wife flies business class while he remains in economy class.

According to Obi, that is simply how he has chosen to manage his home in order to maintain peace.

The lawyer revealed that Obi has never presented his wife as an example of frugality that Nigerians should emulate.

He said: “I have equally heard him say that if he becomes President, there would be no Office of the First Lady because he did not maintain one while he was Governor of Anambra State.

“I would not know whether his wife’s spending has ever been an uncomfortable issue that he has had to deal with in his own peculiar way. Perhaps this partly explains why he has consistently maintained that his wife would not be involved in governance.

“Ordinarily, this should have concerned me if Mr. Obi were presenting himself as a man whose household must necessarily conform to a particular standard of frugality. But he has never presented his wife as a model of frugality for Nigerians to emulate.

“Neither has he claimed that every member of his household must live according to his personal preferences.

“While these arguments have continued to compete for reconciliation in my head, I have arrived at a rather simple conclusion.”

The human rights lawyer, however, maintained that Obi’s wife reserved the right to spend her husband’s money whichever way she likes, considering that the money was legitimately acquired.

Idam added: “Peter Obi or his wife has the prerogative to spend their legitimately acquired private wealth in whatever manner they choose, provided the money is not public money and the spending does not compromise the interests of Nigerians.

“If Peter Obi’s wealth has not been traced to any public account or established to have been corruptly acquired, I see no reason why he cannot use his private resources to purchase whatever he wishes, whether a N200 million handbag, a car, a house or even a foreign dog.

“We may consider the expenditure extravagant. We may question the wisdom of spending N200 million on a handbag in a country where millions are struggling to survive. We may even find it morally distasteful.

“But extravagance, if made out of personal resources, is not the same thing as corruption.

“The important question, particularly when judging a man who seeks public office, should be whether his wealth was legitimately acquired and whether public resources are being diverted for private use.”

Idam called for an investigation if there is evidence that the handbag was purchased with public funds.

He said Nigerians should demand accountability if Obi and his wife used public funds to maintain their extravagant lifestyle.

“If there is evidence that the handbag was purchased with public funds, by all means, let us investigate it. If there is evidence that public resources were used to sustain an extravagant lifestyle, let us demand accountability.

“But if it was purchased with legitimately acquired private wealth, then the attempt to turn the handbag into evidence of corruption is, in my view, nothing more than a distraction from the issues that should actually concern us.

“Indeed, I am beginning to think that Mr. Obi should rather be commended for maintaining a woman with such an ostentatious taste while personally maintaining a remarkably modest lifestyle.

“A man’s personal frugality does not automatically impose a legal obligation of frugality on his wife.

“Let us not confuse personal taste with corruption, nor private expenditure with public accountability,” he added.