Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has denied allegations linking him to a covert meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome and a purported ₦225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank.

Obi was responding to a report suggesting that his May 9 trip to Rome was not ceremonial but rather a political manoeuvre intended to secure the financial future of Fidelity Bank.

The report, published by Sahara Reporters, claimed Obi was in Rome to meet President Tinubu privately in a bid to address Fidelity Bank’s mounting liabilities, allegedly approaching ₦225 billion, as awarded in various court judgements.

“Peter Obi’s visit to Rome was to meet President Tinubu to help intervene and prevent the bankruptcy of Fidelity Bank over the issue,” one of the sources told Sahara Reporters.

“Prior to visiting Rome to meet President Tinubu, Peter Obi had met Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Ooni of Ife, former Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose and eventually former Ekiti Governor Kayode Fayemi, who accompanied him to Rome to solve the problem.”

The Presidency, the report said, refused to hold a closed-door session with Obi, insisting that any interaction with the President must take place in public view.

Reacting to this, Obi, in a tweet on Thursday, described the allegations as a “blackmail campaign” noting that negative propaganda against him had become the “ biggest business” for blackmailers.

“It’s obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective. Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been twisted into yet another blackmail campaign by merchants paid ostensibly to propagate anything negative against Obi,” Obi wrote.

Obi then rejected the assertion that he met Tinubu in private or travelled on behalf of the bank, noting that “these claims are not only baseless, malicious, but entirely false.”

“Let me categorically state that I have never sought an audience with, nor met, President Tinubu since he assumed office, except about 1 minute meeting at the arena of Saint Peter’s Basilica Rome during the inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV, where I was seated behind, and had to respectfully greet him, and other dignitaries present.”

According to Obi, “I was previously in Rome on the 9th of May for the lying in state of Pope Francis. Immediately after the mass and exchanging pleasantries, I went straight from Vatican City to London, and then back to Nigeria.”

The Guardian report that it appears that Obi’s statement regarding his visit to Rome on May 9, 2025, to attend the lying-in-state of Pope Francis is inaccurate, as the lying-in-state ceremony took place on April 23, 2025, not May 9. The funeral for Pope Francis was scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2025 .

The consequent conclave, which began on 7 May, elected Robert Francis Prevost as Francis’s successor, taking the papal name Leo XIV, and was inaugurated on 18 May.

Obi also refuted claims that he owns Fidelity Bank, noting that while he had served as Chairman and Director of three Financial institutions, of which Fidelity is one of them but has never held majority shares in the bank.

“The self-proclaimed “blackmailer-in-chief” and others who thrive on spreading pain and falsehoods have also claimed that I own Fidelity Bank. For the record, I do not. Throughout my career, I have served as Chairman/Director of 3 banks/Financial institutions, of which Fidelity is one of them. Fidelity has over 500,000 shareholders, none of whom hold a majority stake. What this blackmailer seeks is to harm these hard-working Nigerians and cause them needless distress.”

The former Anambra State governor concluded with a prayer for those peddling these falsehoods and engaging in blackmail, saying, “I offer a simple prayer: May God grant you the virtues of gratitude and understanding to know that we came here with nothing and will go with nothing, that they cannot profit from their evil ways.”