Peter Odili, My Schoolmate, Not Course-mate, Says Obi

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi on Saturday cleared the air over his comment in Rivers State concerning Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers State.

Obi, a two-term governor of Anambra State, had on Thursday, during the commissioning of a project in Port Harcourt, Rivers State through an invitation by the incumbent governor of the state, Nyesom Wike said that Peter Odili was his schoolmate at Christ the King College (CKC), Onitsha.

The LP presidential comment had since generated a lot of confusion as many had said that Obi lied about his age.

But setting the records straight, Obi in a post made through his official facebook handle wrote on Saturday “My remarks when I visited Port Harcourt have been wrongly interpreted by some people.

“The former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili and I, are among other prominent Nigerians that schooled in Christ the King College (CKC) Onitsha, and we remain alumni of the school.

“I did not say that former Governor Odili was my classmate, rather I said that he was a great footballer in my school, and we all cherished and had good memories of his football exploits when we got into the school.

“I was in CKC from 1973 to 1978 and Dr. Peter Odili had graduated before I got into the school.

“He was such a fabulous footballer whose image still loomed large even in our time, especially considering the fact that my Primary School was very close to CKC.

“The Primary School that I attended, Santa Maria School/Holy Trinity School, were both owned by the same Catholic Church that owned Christ the King College (CKC), Onitsha.

“In fact, both Primary Schools were feeder schools to CKC, and a large number of pupils who passed through the schools ended up in CKC for secondary education.”