Nigeria, Aug. 27 -- Donald Duke's recent account of Nigeria's Paris Club debt deal bears little relation to the public record. In an interview published by SYMFONI TV on 22 August 2026, he accused Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of taking "vain glory" for the relief. "It wasn't her," he said. "It was President Obasanjo." He reduced her work to presidential "runs" and told her not to take credit.

The Early Campaign and Its Limits

Duke's recollection ends conveniently where his own part becomes secondary. He remembers accompanying President Olusegun Obasanjo to debt negotiations during the early campaign and Tony Blair's support; from there, he leaps to the final relief, leaving the impression that the intervening work was incidental. Six consequenti...