Obi Criticises Tinubu’s Economic Record, Says Nigerians Are “Overfed with Wrong Statistics”

2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of failing to deliver on promises made during the 2023 presidential campaign and misleading Nigerians with manipulated economic data.

In a statement released on Monday, Obi recalled a 2022 campaign rally in Delta State where then-candidate Tinubu dismissed his data-driven approach to governance.

“Na statistics we go chop?” Tinubu had asked, emphasising that his goal was to “put food on the table of Nigerians.”

“Now, two years into his four-year tenure, Nigeria is classified as one of the hungriest nations in the world,” Obi stated, citing rising food insecurity and worsening living conditions. “Millions of Nigerians do not know where their next meal will come from.”

Obi accused the Tinubu administration of “overfeeding Nigerians with wrong statistics” and manipulating key economic indicators, including unemployment rates, inflation data, and the recent GDP rebasing exercise, to paint an overly optimistic picture of the nation’s economic health.

“Governance is not rocket science, it’s not a gamble,” Obi said. “It requires sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity, and compassion.”

Reaffirming his political mantra, he concluded the statement with a call for reform: “A new Nigeria is POssible.”

Meanwhile, President Tinubu’s administration has not yet responded to Obi’s comments.