“Every Naira Should Have a Clear Purpose”: The Obi Offshore File

When Peter Obi launched his campaign in August, he set a standard for everyone who wants to govern Nigeria.

“Every candidate must be willing to present their credentials, defend their records, and subject their vision to open scrutiny.”Peter Obi, Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, August 2026

In the same remarks he offered a line that could stand for his whole brand: “Every Naira should have a clear purpose, and major public investments should have measurable outcomes.” For more than a decade Obi has sold himself as the prudent one, the governor who saved and the businessman who knows what things cost. He takes that pitch into the presidential election of 16 January 2027.

So take him at his word. Here is the record, and here are his answers.

Each matter carries a status. Documented means a primary record exists, not that a crime occurred. Alleged means a claim no court has tested. Disputed means contested facts nobody has settled. Denied means rejected on record. Unresolved means a review with no public outcome. In court means exactly that.

“Not even one share”

In January 2019, as the Peoples Democratic Party’s vice-presidential candidate, Obi was asked at a televised town hall in Abuja about state money he had invested as governor. His answer was emphatic.

“Personally, I have no investment; not even one Naira. Go to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) today, if you will see Peter Obi as owner of one share; it doesn’t exist.”Peter Obi, The Candidates town hall, Abuja, January 2019

That may well have been true of Nigeria’s company registry. But by his own later account, most of his assets were not held in Nigeria at all. They sat in the British Virgin Islands.

What the Pandora Papers found

On 4 October 2021 Premium Times, the Nigerian partner in the Pandora Papers project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, published its findings on Obi. They were drawn from 11.9 million files leaked from offshore service providers. The reporters put written questions to him and interviewed him in person before publication.

• The BVI companyDocumentedGabriella Investments Limited, named after his daughter, was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on 17 November 2010, more than four years into his governorship. A Monaco firm, Acces International, arranged it, and nominee directors sat on the board. The leaked records place ultimate control with Obi. He told Premium Times it is the holding company for most of his assets.
• The trustDocumentedIn February 2017 the company was renamed PMGG Investments, from the initials of Peter, Margaret, Gabriella and Gregory. Its sole shareholder is The Gabriella Settlement, a trust registered in the BVI, with a New Zealand trust company as sole trustee.
• The London directorshipDocumentedDisputedThe UK Companies House register lists “OBI, Gregory Peter Onwubuasi” as a director of Next International (UK) Limited from 16 May 1996 until 16 May 2008. Premium Times identified the entry as Obi, and he did not dispute it. He had been sworn in as governor on 17 March 2006. The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act requires a public officer to stop directing any private business other than farming.
• The declarationDocumentedDisputedThe Constitution requires public officers to declare all their assets on taking office. Obi admitted he had not declared the offshore companies, or what they hold, to the Code of Conduct Bureau. He said he had not known the law covered assets owned jointly with family. The paper reported that the leaked records show him as the sole beneficial owner.
• The foreign accountsAllegedPremium Times reported that as governor he kept operating foreign accounts, including with Lloyds TSB, which the law forbids a public officer to do. Obi said Lloyds had advised him to create the offshore structure.

His answers

Obi did not hide from the reporters. His answers are on the record, and some reveal more than the documents do.

“I am sure you too will not like to pay inheritance tax if you can avoid it.”Peter Obi to Premium Times reporters, published 4 October 2021

“I don’t declare what is owned with others. If my family owns something I won’t declare it.”Peter Obi to Premium Times reporters, published 4 October 2021

On the London company, he said he had “resigned immediately” by handing his wife a letter, and suggested the change was recorded late. Three days after publication he issued a statement. He said he had broken no law before, during or after his governorship, and that he had acted on the advice of investment experts and lawyers.

“On the allegation that I violated the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act … by not declaring any alleged assets in Companies registered outside the Nigerian Federation, I think that the authors displayed ignorance on this.”Peter Obi, statement, 7 October 2021

What the papers did not say

Fairness requires something that much of the commentary about Obi leaves out.

The Pandora Papers did not accuse Peter Obi of stealing public money. The report did not allege that any of Anambra’s funds went into his offshore companies. Obi made the point himself: the reporting, he said, did not accuse him of diverting public funds, and was about tax avoidance and the non-declaration of assets.

Arranging your affairs to pay less tax is not, in itself, a crime. The charge was narrower and specific to his office. A sitting governor, the report said, had held a private directorship, left offshore holdings out of his declaration and kept foreign accounts, all of which the Code of Conduct forbids.

That distinction matters, but it cuts both ways. A candidate who runs on transparency cannot fully shelter behind the fact that the charge against him was only opacity.

Then the file went quiet

• 12 October 2021The Code of Conduct Bureau wrote to Premium Times seeking information so that it could “investigate and where possible prosecute those found guilty at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.”
• 17 October 2021Premium Times reported that the EFCC had asked Obi to appear for questioning on 27 October. Through his media aide, Obi said he had received no invitation and would honour one when he did.
• 4 November 2021The Bureau’s chairman, Prof. Mohammed Isah, said the Nigerians named in the Pandora Papers were being investigated and would be prosecuted if found guilty.

No outcome has ever been published.

No charge against Obi before the Code of Conduct Tribunal has been made public. Neither agency has said whether its inquiry was closed, completed or dropped. We found no statement from either on his case after 2021.

The London company no longer exists. Companies House records show it was dissolved by compulsory strike-off on 7 September 2021, less than a month before the Pandora Papers report appeared.

The governor’s money

Obi’s reputation for prudence rests above all on his eight years running Anambra. Two numbers from that period are still in dispute.

• The N75 billion handoverDisputedObi’s camp says he left his successor, Willie Obiano, N75 billion. In November 2015 the state government’s secretary, Solo Chukwulobelu, briefed reporters on the handover note. SaharaReporters reported that it showed N9 billion in cash, with the balance in a Eurobond, equity and long-term investments, some unfinished. In 2017 Obi’s adviser Valentine Obienyem replied with bank names and account numbers. He listed more than N35 billion in cash and $156 million held across three banks.
• The brewery stakeDocumentedDisputedIn 2012 the Obi administration put N1,955,535,247, about $12.6 million at the time, into a SABMiller brewery in Onitsha. In June 2022 the state finance commissioner said that stake was now 407,321,264 International Breweries shares, worth about $5.4 million. Obi had told Arise TV in 2018 that the investment was “worth almost $100 m today.” At the 2019 town hall he said: “I put in $30million of state money there, it’s now worth $100million.”

His camp’s response came in a June 2022 letter signed by Obienyem. It said the $100 million claim was “not circulated by Obi’s Media, but probably by one of the youths, not under our control.” The published excerpts do not mention the interviews in which Obi used a figure close to $100 million himself.

To be fair, in naira the stake was worth slightly more in 2022 than was put in; most of the dollar loss is the naira’s fall. But the state’s figures never came near $100 million.

2026: the fifth party

Obi governed Anambra for the All Progressives Grand Alliance, ran for vice president for the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019 and for president for the Labour Party in 2023, then joined the African Democratic Congress. On 3 May 2026 he left the ADC, citing “internal divisions, legal disputes, external influence, and an increasingly hostile political environment.” He is now the Nigeria Democratic Congress’s presidential candidate, with Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate.

The President’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, called him “a politician made of jelly.” That is a partisan jibe. The harder criticism came from Obi’s own 2023 running mate.

“Here’s my former leader, my boss who I believe in, saying wherever there is a quarrel, he will walk away. So, if there is a quarrel in Nigeria, you will walk away?”Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, May 2026

The ten million naira allegation

AllegedDeniedIn court

In June the file gained a new entry, and it came from Obi’s own former camp.

On 8 June, on Channels Television, Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman for Obi’s 2023 campaign and now an ADC chieftain, alleged that Obi and the NDC’s South-east caucus “demanded a N10 million bribe from House of Representatives aspirants” for party tickets. He named one aspirant, Obunike Ohaegbu, as his source. The next day Ohaegbu went on the same channel.

“I am telling you that Peter Obi never told me to pay N10 million.”Obunike Ohaegbu, NDC aspirant, Channels Television, 9 June 2026

Obi demanded a retraction, an apology and N5 billion. Okonkwo replied that “it will be a shame to Peter Obi and his lawyers if they do not take this case to court.” On 25 June Obi sued for N8 billion at the Anambra State High Court in Onitsha. On 30 June, after attempts at personal service failed, the court allowed the papers to be served by substituted means. Okonkwo calls the suit “frivolous and vexatious.”

Obi has turned the suit into a campaign argument. “I want Kenneth Okonkwo to bring out all the ‘hidden things’ that he has on me,” he said in July. “If I am not qualified after his revelation, then I’ll stop running for the election.”

“We must not allow the next set of our leaders to have a record that is doubtful.”Peter Obi, interview with Rufai Oseni, June 2026

Here the record is clear about what it does not show. The only named source has denied the allegation. SaharaReporters says Okonkwo later released WhatsApp chats he says support him, but no court has examined them, and the case has not been heard. The allegation is unproven, and it is Obi who has asked a judge to test it. That is to his credit.

The party that may not be one

In courtUnresolved

Then there is the question of whether Obi’s party legally exists.

In December 2025 the Federal High Court in Lokoja ordered INEC to register the NDC. On 26 June 2026 the same court, under Justice Isah Dashen, set that judgment aside. The Peace Movement Party had argued that it should have been joined in the suit. The judge restored the position before December 2025 and ordered the case to start afresh. The PMP’s counsel said the NDC’s recognition and any place on the ballot “must be withdrawn pending the final determination of the substantive suit.”

The NDC says it was never deregistered and has appealed to the Court of Appeal. Senior Advocates quoted by ThisDay argued that only that court could set the judgment aside. Obi called the ruling “a serious setback for our democracy.” On 8 September a judge in Abuja ordered INEC to use the NDC’s modified logo, but that ruling concerns the logo, not the Lokoja order. We have found no report that the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Four months before the election, the candidate of prudence is running for a party whose legal standing is still before the courts.

What would actually settle it

Unlike most files in this series, much of this one could be closed by the candidate himself.

Obi could publish his asset declarations and say what PMGG Investments and The Gabriella Settlement hold. The Code of Conduct Bureau could say what became of the investigation it announced in 2021. Anambra could publish a reconciled account of the 2014 handover. Okonkwo could put his evidence before the court, and the Court of Appeal could rule. We could find no public record that any of these things has happened.

On the Pandora Papers, Obi’s defence has not changed in five years: he took advice, he broke no law, and nobody accused him of taking public money. The last part is true. The first two are claims the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal have never publicly tested. Until they do, or until Obi opens the books himself, the candidate who asks every rival to defend their record still has offshore holdings he did not declare while in office.

In depthThe Atiku Money File: six matters on the public record Analysis“No Sacred Cows”: The $40 Million File Comes Back for Atiku

Sources

• Premium Times / ICIJ, republished by The ICIR, “Pandora Papers: Inside Peter Obi’s secret businesses – and how he broke the law,” 4 October 2021 · icirnigeria.org
• The ICIR, “Pandora Papers: I didn’t break any law – Peter Obi,” 7 October 2021 · icirnigeria.org
• The ICIR / Premium Times, “Pandora Papers: Code of Conduct Bureau set to probe Peter Obi, Bello-Koko, others,” 21 October 2021 · icirnigeria.org
• SaharaReporters (reporting Premium Times), “Pandora Papers: EFCC invites ex-vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for questioning,” 17 October 2021 · saharareporters.com
• Legit.ng, “Pandora Papers: prominent former governor speaks on EFCC invitation,” 23 October 2021 · legit.ng
• P.M. News, “Pandora Papers: Code of Conduct Bureau probes Oyetola, Peter Obi, others,” 4 November 2021 · pmnewsnigeria.com
• UK Companies House, Next International (UK) Limited, company no. 03199858, officers · find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
• UK Companies House, Next International (UK) Limited, filing history · find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
• SaharaReporters, “Peter Obi questioned on why he invested $30m state funds in company where his family owns shares,” 30 January 2019 · saharareporters.com
• SaharaReporters, “Why Governor Obiano took on Peter Obi over disputed N75 billion handover,” 12 December 2015 · saharareporters.com
• Vanguard, “Tell Anambrarians how you spent N75bn I left behind, Obi tells Obiano,” September 2017 · vanguardngr.com
• SaharaReporters (citing a statement obtained by TheCable), “Peter Obi administration’s $12.24m investment for Anambra in International Breweries now worth $5.4m,” 21 June 2022 · saharareporters.com
• SaharaReporters, “Despite video evidence, Peter Obi denies saying $20m investment made for Anambra now worth $100m,” 24 June 2022 · saharareporters.com
• Premium Times, “Presidency mocks Peter Obi for leaving ADC,” 3 May 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Premium Times, “Ex-running mate attacks Peter Obi for defections,” 5 May 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Premium Times, “Peter Obi threatens N5bn lawsuit against Kenneth Okonkwo,” 10 June 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Premium Times, “Kenneth Okonkwo reacts to Peter Obi’s N5bn lawsuit threat,” 10 June 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Premium Times, “Peter Obi finally files N8bn lawsuit against Kenneth Okonkwo over defamation,” 25 June 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• SaharaReporters, “Peter Obi defends lawsuit against former loyalist Kenneth Okonkwo, says ‘I want him to expose me in court’,” June 2026 · saharareporters.com
• Vanguard, “Court grants Peter Obi leave to serve Kenneth Okonkwo by substituted means,” 1 July 2026 · vanguardngr.com
• Pulse Nigeria, “Bring every dirty secret you claim to have — Obi tells Okonkwo,” 10 July 2026 · pulse.ng
• TheNigeriaLawyer, “‘Peter Obi is lying both legally and factually’ — Kenneth Okonkwo,” 31 July 2026 · thenigerialawyer.com
• Premium Times, “Peter Obi speaks on court ruling voiding NDC’s registration,” 26 June 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• ThisDay, “NDC appeals deregistration ruling, senior lawyers raise jurisdiction questions,” 27 June 2026 · thisdaylive.com
• Daily Trust, “2027: Will Obi, Kwankwaso be on the ballot?,” 27 June 2026 · dailytrust.com
• Premium Times, “NDC appeals court ruling nullifying its registration, uploads Peter Obi’s name on INEC’s portal,” 30 June 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Premium Times, “Peter Obi speaks on Tinubu, Atiku’s academic records at 2027 campaign flag-off,” 24 August 2026 · premiumtimesng.com
• Vanguard, “Court orders INEC to use NDC logo – Dickson,” 10 September 2026 · vanguardngr.com
• Voice of Nigeria, “INEC issues revised timetable for 2027 general election,” 27 February 2026 · von.gov.ng

The Pandora Papers reporting did not allege that Peter Obi stole or diverted public funds. No court or tribunal has found that he breached the Code of Conduct, and he has consistently said he broke no law. No agency has published the outcome of any investigation into him. The N10 million allegation is unproven: Obi denies it, its only named source has denied it, and it is the subject of a defamation suit that has not been heard. The NDC’s registration remains before the courts.