Daniel Otera
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has released an official government document to clarify his involvement in a port decongestion taskforce established under the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
The publication, shared via his verified LinkedIn account on Wednesday, follows growing public scrutiny regarding Obi’s past engagement with the Abacha-led government. Speaking during a recent televised interview, the former Anambra State governor maintained that the interaction was strictly civic in nature and unconnected to politics.
“I never worked for Abacha or any government before my entry into politics,” Obi was quoted as saying in a report by AllAfrica dated 6 July 2025.
He explained that the engagement arose from concerns raised by a group of Nigerian traders and importers, including himself, who were alarmed by the persistent delays at the country’s ports, which were significantly disrupting economic activities at the time.
“Our meeting with him was borne out of collective concern as traders and importers over the prolonged delays in clearing goods at the ports,” Obi said in his LinkedIn statement. “We approached him not as political actors, but as concerned citizens seeking pragmatic solutions to a matter affecting economic activity and livelihoods.”
Obi further revealed that he was co-opted into a federal taskforce established to address port congestion, alongside other business stakeholders. He released an official appointment letter confirming his inclusion in the taskforce, which he described as verifiable proof of the non-political nature of his role.
“In consonance with my established principles of defending everything I am involved in, and in the interest of all men and women of goodwill, especially those committed to the pursuit of truth, I hereby attach the letter which documents my co-opting, along with others, into the Taskforce on the decongestion of the Ports,” he wrote.
He stressed that he had no personal or political relationship with Abacha prior to the taskforce engagement. “As I stated during my interview at the weekend and consistently maintained in the past, I had never met General Sani Abacha before that encounter,” he added.
Obi described the initiative as a civic intervention driven by economic necessity, aimed at restoring efficiency to Nigeria’s import and export systems and reducing business losses linked to port congestion.
During the mid-1990s, Nigeria’s maritime sector was engulfed in a crisis of chronic congestion. Lengthy delays in clearing goods, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and inefficient port operations caused significant business losses, with importers and exporters bearing the brunt of a system crippled by red tape.
According to the World Trade Organization’s 1998 Trade Policy Review of Nigeria, the country lost over ₦8 billion to port-related inefficiencies by the end of 1995. The report noted that prolonged cargo clearance times and logistical gridlock made the ports one of the biggest barriers to trade during the period. [WTO, 1998]
In response, the military government led by General Sani Abacha (1993–1998) initiated a series of emergency reforms. Among them was the formation of a Port Decongestion Taskforce, which included both public sector officials and private business stakeholders. The goal was to streamline operations and alleviate delays affecting economic activities.
While official archives on the taskforce remain limited, shipping industry retrospectives including a 2016 review by ThisDay confirmed that the reform effort under Abacha included port infrastructure upgrades, limited privatisation measures, and efforts to restore operational flow.
Peter Obi, then a businessman and trader, has recently clarified that his role in the taskforce was based on collective pressure from the private sector. In a report by AllAfrica, he stated that traders, frustrated by economic losses, sought engagement with the military regime, which eventually led to the formation of the taskforce.
Obi insisted his involvement was a matter of civic duty, not political affiliation.
“I never worked for Abacha or any government before my entry into politics,” Obi was quoted as saying. “Our meeting with him was borne out of collective concern as traders and importers over the prolonged delays in clearing goods at the ports.”
Further clarification published by the Century Newspaper earlier in 2025 quotes Obi as saying: “One of my petitions on port congestion attracted Abacha’s attention and he co-opted me into an advocate committee for port decongestion that lasted less than four months.”
These accounts help frame Obi’s recent defence of his involvement as consistent with the economic realities of the time, while distancing himself from any formal political alignment with the Abacha regime.
Reaffirming his long-held principles on transparency and public accountability, Obi said placing the information in the public domain was necessary to counter misinformation and preserve public trust.
“This clarification is offered in the interest of truth, to reaffirm that our actions were driven solely by a sense of civic duty and not political ambition,” he stated.
He added, “I don’t expect this copious evidence to bury this Abacha case because the mischief makers have ulterior motives, but it’s being placed in the public space for posterity and in line with my transparency pledge to Nigerians on any issue I am involved in.”
Obi’s decision to release the official document through his personal LinkedIn account reflects a growing trend among Nigerian politicians who are increasingly using private digital platforms to respond to controversies and shape public perception.
According to a recent analysis by BusinessDay, this shift has become particularly prominent since the emergence of the ‘Obidient’ movement, which relied heavily on social media to communicate directly with supporters.
The report observed, “Young Nigerians were able to bypass traditional media outlets and access information directly from the source,” highlighting how platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn are reshaping political communication across the country.
For Obi, the approach aligns with his consistent emphasis on ethical leadership, civic duty, and government transparency principles that continue to shape his public engagement.