***Obi’s fat on ambition, drunk on political arrogance — PRESIDENCY
***He has reached the end, should prepare for another loss — APC
***None of Tinubu’s challengers has 10% of his qualities — YARI
By Clifford Ndujihe, Henry Umoru Johnbosco Agbakwuru Ayobami Okerinde & Olayinka Ajayi
LAGOS — The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, took the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Mr. Peter Obi to task over his claim that he won the 2023 presidential poll and will only concede in 2027 if the exercise was credible.
Obi, in an interview on Arise News where he unveiled a radical governance blueprint aimed at rescuing the nation from economic drift, infrastructural decay, and systemic insecurity, slammed President Bola Tinubu over handling of N16 trillion fuel savings, describing his fiscal spending as “reckless” and completely out of touch with the agonising realities of everyday Nigerians.
Obi ran the 2023 presidential contest on the platform of the Labour Party, LP, and came third behind Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, according to official results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Answering a question on the 2023 election, the former Anambra State governor maintained that he won the poll, saying those who conducted the poll knew what happened.
His words: “I did, and I will maintain that as long as I live that I won the 2023 election. Those who conducted it know the records; they know why there was a glitch and what happened.”
Obi has reached the end, should prepare for another loss — APC
Picking holes in Obi’s claims, National Chairman of the APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, said there was no way Obi could have won the 2023 election.
His words: “How can he say that he won the 2023 poll? How did he win it? Where is the result? He had no agents in many states of the North. Why didn’t the INEC declare him as winner? He should go and prepare for another imminent loss in 2027.”
On Obi’s questioning of the impact of N16 trillion fuel subsidy savings, Tooki said: “He should ask state governors what they were getting as federal allocation before President Tinubu came and what they are getting now. He should check the last time we had fuel queues in Nigeria. When was the last time we had a strike? He should check if students in tertiary institutions are not receiving their NELFUND loans. Does he want the N16 trillion to be transported to his bedroom?”
Obi’s fat on ambition, drunk on political arrogance — Presidency
In like manner, the Presidency accused Obi of hallucinating and wallowing in a political fantasy land.
Reacting to Obi’s 2023 victory claims, the Presidency, through the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Mr. Sunday Dare said: “Mr. Obi is fat on ambition but drunk on political arrogance.
“Peter Obi wallows freely in a political fantasy land. To still insist he won the presidential election after the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court, delivered a final judgment is clear hallucination.
“Who imbued him with the power to concede or not? He lacks such power. Only the Nigerian people have the power of the votes. And in 2027, they will deliver their votes massively for President Tinubu, leaving no room for the kind of antics Obi is already front-loading.”
None of Tinubu’s challengers has 10% of his qualities — Yari
This was as Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-Deneral (DG) of the APC presidential campaign council, said none of those contesting against President Tinubu in the 2027 election matches him in terms of quality and competence.
The senator representing Zamfara west spoke on Wednesday while addressing members of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, where he canvassed support for Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Addressing the NURTW members, the senator said the other presidential candidates could not match Tinubu.
“That is how politics is. When you put all the aspirants contesting against Bola Tinubu on a scale, I don’t think the scale would even accept them,” said Yari, who spoke in Hausa.
“We all know that none of the aspirants contesting against him are on his level when it comes to merit and quality; we don’t think any of them have even 10 per cent of what Bola Tinubu possesses.”
The senator acknowledged that the presidential candidates had the right to contest but said the APC will work to secure victory in 2027.
No proxy rule, 4 years enough for total reform — Obi
In the hard-hitting interview, Obi, who said he did not reject an offer to serve as running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2027 elections because no such proposal was made, set a sharp contrast to conventional governance in Nigeria.
He declared that his administration would be characterized by direct presidential accountability, promising to take personal responsibility for the success or failure of his cabinet. He emphasized that he would dismantle the culture of running the presidency through influential cliques or undeclared power brokers.
“I will be in charge and I will not run the government by proxy. I will be answerable to the people,” Obi vowed.
Dismissing the familiar political narrative that a single four-year term is insufficient to fix Nigeria’s multi-layered woes, the NDC candidate insisted he would not seek an extra day in office beyond his first mandate. He argued that focus and structural clarity are what the nation lacks, rather than time.
“I will not spend one extra day. Four years is enough to engender change and I did it as Governor of Anambra State,” he said. He added that the key to achieving results within a single term would be the selection of priorities, appointment of qualified and credible officials, and effective teamwork.
On the economic policies of President Tinubu, he mounted a fierce critique of the current administration’s removal of the fuel subsidy. While agreeing that the old subsidy regime was riddled with corruption, he slammed the government for borrowing more money while failing to show any tangible relief from the trillions saved from the policy.
The NDC presidential candidate insisted that the core problem was not necessarily removal of the subsidy itself, but rather the total failure to deploy the resulting savings productively. He noted that the Federal Government itself disclosed that the removal of subsidy generated about N15.8 trillion, a figure he said informed his repeated reference to approximately N16 trillion.
“The subsidy regime in Nigeria was enmeshed with corruption and criminality. I have said clearly that I will remove subsidy and fight corruption and criminality. It is only when you remove it that you will know exactly whether we have a subsidy or not. I believe that if you remove corruption, there might not be subsidy. That’s my belief,” Obi stated.
He further lamented the high cost of living triggered by premium motor spirit pricing, noting that domestic refining should protect citizens from international market shocks. “I believe that the price of petroleum products today is high. We are an oil-producing country, which means that if we can do regular supply of crude to our local refineries, working with them competitively to refine for domestic consumption, the prices can come down.”
Obi explained that global economic leaders use targeted subsidies to stimulate wealth rather than consumption, drawing a direct parallel with Asian economic policies.
“There are things you give subsidies for. I’ll give you an example. This is why I always compare countries. When I do, people say, ‘Oh, it’s another country’. We only go to school to learn. You go to those who have done it well to learn. If you go to Indonesia today, the interest rate is about 15 per cent. But the interest rate to SMEs, small businesses, is between three and five per cent. Maximum of six per cent. That’s subsidy. You’re giving it to where it is productive, not where it’s not productive. We’re going to make sure that we do the right thing that will make the country productive and create wealth, opportunities and employment, a win-win. But what we’re having today is that we’ve impoverished ourselves because we removed subsidy and no gain is seen. Because the money we say we have borrowed, we borrowed more.”
Defending his claims regarding the N16 trillion savings, Obi challenged the presidency to provide a transparent audit of the funds. “It’s actually the government who said that the subsidy they removed produced N15.8 trillion. Can you look at that and show the effect of this?”
He argued that these resources could have been deployed to address critical deficiencies in healthcare and other vital social sectors, citing the nation’s severe lack of oncological infrastructure as an example of misplaced national priorities.
“When I talk about waste, people say, ‘Ah, we have a problem now with the issue of explosion in cancer.’ People are dying of cancer. To do a cancer centre will cost you about N4 billion to N5 billion. We have less than 10 cancer centres. And to add just 25, you need to spend about N100 billion. That’s what our president used to buy a plane. A jet. And we saved N16 trillion,” Obi said.
Speaking on the contentious debate over subsidy restoration, where other opposition front-runners like Atiku Abubakar, have promised to restore the subsidy regime, Obi maintained that his approach would be fundamentally different. He stated that he would not return to the old corrupt framework but would instead redirect those funds into localized agricultural and industrial subsidies that would directly transform the northern region.
“I know the problems in the northern part. I will deal with the issue of poverty the way it has not been dealt with before, and in a non-corrupt way, where they will see it. The North has an asset. Nobody in this country, none of us, none of the areas, can say they have what the North has. I will deal with that asset, and that asset is agriculture. We’ll invest in it. We’ll give the subsidy to it. We will ensure that it will take all those poor people, almajirai, back to education, support them in different areas.”
He promised to resuscitate the collapsed industrial sectors of northern commercial hubs to curb rising unemployment and insecurity. “We will make sure we invest in health, in skills, and support them. I’ll make sure that I bring back all those manufacturing activities that have been lost. Today, if you go to Kano, there are factories that are gone. I will deal with the North in such a way that they will see it. And this fuel you’re talking about, we will moderate the price all over Nigeria. It’s not only affecting them.”
On President Tinubu’s administration so far, Obi noted that government had failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians, describing its leadership and expenditure as reckless. “I think you should ask the people. But if you ask me, they’ve not done well. They’ve been a bit reckless in what they’re doing.”
Asked whether he believed President Tinubu was fully in charge of the day-to-day running of the state, Obi replied: “At times, I believe he’s not in charge. Because if he’s in charge, he will even be explaining to the people. That’s what I’m talking about, which is capacity. I will be in charge. Nobody will talk for Peter. Because I’m the one that’s elected. I’ll be answerable to the people. And for every penny, I’ll be answerable to the people.”
Obi also promised a shift in infrastructural strategy by halting what he described as unnecessary new government construction projects, focusing instead on fixing existing, dilapidated national assets. “We will not build new roads until we fix the existing ones,” he maintained.
On national security, the NDC candidate took a hardline stance against the rising wave of kidnapping and banditry across the country. To break the economic life cycle of organized crime, Obi categorically rejected the payment of ransoms to criminal groups, promising instead to aggressively bolster state tactical intelligence, improve security welfare, and ensure decisive military responses.
Addressing potential post-election outcomes and electoral integrity, Obi reiterated his firm stance that he won the controversial 2023 presidential election. While expressing a willingness to accept the outcome of the upcoming January ballot, he stated that his compliance is strictly dependent on transparency, revealing an independent plan to deploy cutting-edge technology to prevent systemic manipulation.
“I will concede defeat if the process is free, fair and credible,” Obi asserted. He disclosed that his campaign organization is establishing an independent, parallel electoral result transmission network that will ensure polling-unit results are sent in real time directly to a central citizen-led Situation Room, bypassing potential institutional bottlenecks
Obi also highlighted his educational background, listing Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia and Kellogg among institutions he had attended.
“You can look at our qualification in terms of training. I’ve been to the best schools from all over the world, from Oxford to Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia, and Kellogg, and I’ve been everywhere, and every certificate I’m showing you is the way it is. If they find anyone wrong, I will drop from the race,” he said.
He also criticised the lack of youth representation in Nigeria’s presidency, noting that no person born after 1960 had served as president since independence.
“Since 1960, nobody born outside 1960 has been president of Nigeria. This is 66 years of independence; no other country in the world has had this happen to, and they tell youths they’re the leaders of tomorrow,” Obi said.
Asked whether he would step down for Atiku or accept the vice-presidential slot if an alliance was reached, Obi said the discussion had gone beyond individual candidates.
“I’m a candidate, yes. So, my leader, Atiku, is candidate of another party. I am a candidate for another party. So, you are talking about two parties coming together; it is no longer him or me,” Obi said.
Obi said any potential alliance must involve the political parties rather than be reduced to negotiations between individuals.
“All those parties have candidates. So, it is a discussion. It is no longer me, as Peter is talking. It is like a situation where two corporations are trying to come together. It is no longer something the two CEOs go to a drink and say we are going to work together. They need to look at how to bring these two corporations together,” he said.
When told he had previously said he would not accept the vice-presidential position from any candidate, Obi denied rejecting any such offer.
“I don’t know where that was said. I wasn’t even in a position where that was being offered, and I refused,” he said.
Obi was Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election. However, they contested the 2023 election on different party platforms, with Obi running on the LP platform and Atiku on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP platform.
I’ll retain Tinubu’s naira float policy if I’m elected
However, Obi said he would retain the free floating exchange rate policy of theTinubu administration, if elected
A free-floating exchange rate occurs when a government allows the exchange rate to be determined purely by market forces and there is no attempt to ask the central bank to influence the external value of the exchange rate.
Asked to name one policy of the Tinubu administration he would keep if he became president, he said: “Yes. One. It’s floating of the naira. I’m not going to defend it, but I’m going to put productivity to work to make it more valuable to the people,” he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, introduced a “willing buyer, willing seller” model on June 14, 2023, in a major reform that unified the country’s multiple foreign exchange market segments.
The naira depreciated sharply following the reform, with the exchange rate at the investors’ and exporters’ window closing at N770.88 kobo per dollar at the end of June 2023, compared with N460 at the end of December 2022, according to CBN data and currently hovering at N1385 to N1407 per dollar.
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