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.
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