The Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has emphasized the need for selfless and exemplary leadership at all levels of government in Nigeria.
He made this statement while dismissing rumours of merger talks between himself, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
Obi, who finished third in the 2023 presidential race, visited former Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, in Minna on New Year’s Day. His visit was seen as part of ongoing consultations with political stakeholders in preparation for the 2027 elections. The meeting, which lasted about 40 minutes, was private, with Obi accompanied only by his aides. While some aides denied any political context to the visit, the discussion was speculated to be related to future political strategies.
In a press statement, Obi also addressed the deteriorating political, economic, and security situation in the country. He criticized the current administration, stating that despite claims of progress, Nigeria’s challenges had worsened over the past 18 months. Obi pointed to Nigeria’s decline in economic indicators, including a shrinking GDP, growing poverty levels, and rising insecurity. He highlighted the fact that Nigeria had fallen from being the largest economy in Africa in 2014 to ranking fourth on the continent today.
Obi said, ”From all indications, Nigeria urgently needs selfless and exemplary leadership across the three arms and tiers of government.
“However, this much-needed exemplary leadership must begin at the very top. Since the ultimate responsibility lies with Mr. President, I will direct my attention to him. Mr. President, present-day Nigeria aligns closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful words: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.
”The political, economic and security situation of our country is worsening daily, despite contrary positions and claims by the government of improvement in different spheres of human endeavour. Our national challenges are visibly worsening. Our nation and its fortunes are in clear reverse.
“The indices are clearly indicative of our decline. Thus, our national indices tell a disconcerting story Nigeria remains one of the poverty capitals of the world, with over 100 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 150 million in multidimensional poverty. The situation has deteriorated significantly over the past 18 months under the current administration.
”As a nation, we have fallen from being the largest economy in Africa, with a GDP of $574 billion and a per capita income of over $3,500 in 2014, to now ranking fourth on the continent. Our current GDP is less than 50% of what it was a decade ago, standing at approximately $200 billion, with a per capita income of barely $1,000.
“Nigeria remains one of the most insecure and least peaceful nations in the world, with countless communities and families displaced from their homes and now living in IDP camps.”
Obi’s statement sparked a response from the ruling All Progressives Congress, which described his remarks as misleading. APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, dismissed Obi’s claims, asserting that the country was experiencing progress under President Bola Tinubu’s leadership. Morka pointed to improvements in the economy, including trade surpluses, increased stock market wealth, and rising foreign direct investments. He further criticized Obi for not having significant achievements during his tenure as Anambra State governor, and for continuing to undermine the administration’s reforms.
Morka accused Obi of attempting to score cheap political points by spreading negative views, despite positive signs of recovery in Nigeria’s economy. He also dismissed Obi’s criticism of corruption, suggesting that the ongoing anti-corruption efforts under the Tinubu administration were making significant progress.
As Nigeria looks ahead to the 2027 election, Obi’s call for collaboration among those who care about the nation’s future and his focus on leadership reform has added to the growing political discourse on the country’s direction.
“Obi’s new year message, in which he claimed that the political, economic and security situation of our dear country is worsening daily, is misleading and appears intended to score cheap political points.
“This claim, at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.
“Despite these and other initial beneficial outcomes of ongoing unprecedented reforms, the administration is doubling its effort to ensuring that the reforms deliver their fullest benefits for the sustainable growth and transformation of our country,” Morka stated.
“It is a thing of irony that Peter Obi, who now arrogates to himself to be omniscient and philosopher’s stone, when it comes to our nation’s challenges, left no record of significant achievement, let alone transformation of any kind, in his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra State.
“Like his co-travellers in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Obi’s obsessive pessimism and endless but futile effort to incite public outrage against the administration is borne out of their realisation that President Tinubu is unwittingly cementing their ultimate political irrelevance by his visionary and full-throttle reform and transformation of the fundamental pillars of our national life,” he added.
