By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has disclosed why he rejected a hotel recommended for him to stay during a recent visit to Washington DC, USA.

Speaking at the Africa Leader’s Executive Speaker Series co-sponsored by Africa United for Peace at the African Christian Fellowship Center in Washington recently, Obi said he googled hotels and found another one close by for $100 less and chose that hotel.

The popular ex-Governor who was the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 said that as he celebrated his 60th birthday with disabled persons in Nigeria recently, one of them asked him for assistance with her business. He asked her how much she needed and she replied “N6,000.”

Obi said if only N6,000 would improve her business, he won’t be happy sleeping in a hotel of $280 per night.

In his opening remarks to the gathering of African Christians in Diaspora, Obi said that he was not in the fellowship to ask God to do more for Nigeria, insisting “God has already done a lot for Nigeria – we should do more ourselves.”

He narrated how his American professor had challenged him to help develop public wealth instead of his personal wealth and how that ultimately led him into public life.

The topic, “AFRICA PEACE & DEVELOPMENT SERIES: From London to Africa – my journey from Diaspora to governance: a conversation with HE Gov Peter Obi”, attracted many questions on how the Diaspora could help Africa.

Obi stated that the Diaspora was partly to blame for dismal governance seen across Africa because when good hands leave the continent, a vacuum is created for bad hands to fill.

He disclosed that even as Governor when he traveled abroad the Nigerian Embassy recommended an expensive hotel for him which he rejected for a cheaper one. He was told it wasn’t befitting to his status but he queried, “how will those I am meeting with know where I slept and what difference would it make even if they know? You can’t be coming to look for development assistance while looking extravagant!”

Incidentally, Obi who was the wealthiest individual to hold governorship in his time, also attended the lavish birthday of Obi Cubana but refused to hold a similar luxurious birthday for his own 60th birthday, choosing rather to help the less fortunate.

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