Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s handling of Nigeria’s economy, accusing his administration of manipulating economic data to conceal the country’s worsening conditions.
In a statement posted on Monday via his official X handle, Obi recalled a campaign remark made by Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election rally in Delta State. At the time, Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer, had reportedly mocked Obi’s consistent reliance on data and statistical analysis during debates and town halls.
In November 2022, while campaigning in Delta State, the then APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, now the President, berated the other presidential candidate — he was ashamed to call his name — saying, ‘Na statistics we go chop? All I want is to put food on the table of Nigerians,’” Obi recounted.
Now, two years into his 4-year tenure, Nigeria is classified as one of the hungriest nations in the world, with millions of citizens not knowing where their next meal will come from,” he stated.
Obi accused the Tinubu administration of “overfeeding Nigerians with wrong statistics,” including questionable unemployment and inflation figures, as well as GDP data. According to him, these figures are being manipulated to present a false sense of economic improvement while real household conditions continue to worsen.
Governance is not rocket science. It’s not a gamble,” Obi added. “Like I’ve always reiterated, it requires sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity, and compassion.”
As is customary, the presidency is expected to respond to Peter Obi’s latest critique of President Tinubu.
