Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has hit out at the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi.
Obi had at Johns Hopkins University, remarked that the bane of Nigeria is bad leadership, a comment the Lagos governor received no pleasure from, and also found as an attack on the country.
Responding to it via a statement he personally signed and entitled: “Factually Addressing Mr. Peter Obi’s Criticism of Nigeria at Johns Hopkins University,” Sanwo-Olu tore into the former Anambra governor.
“But let us examine the messenger, not just the message, and look at the issuer as well as the issues. Mr. Obi talks a good game. But was he able to reduce poverty while he governed Anambra? Perhaps we can let the facts speak for themselves.
“Under Peter Obi as a two term Anambra Governor, poverty in Anambra increased. It did not reduce. Before Peter Obi became Anambra Governor on Thursday, June 14, 2007, the poverty rate in Anambra was 41.4 per cent.
“But after only two years in office, the poverty rate in Anambra jumped to 53.7 per cent. But the interesting thing is that five years after Peter Obi left office, his successor, Willie Obiano, reduced the poverty rate in Anambra from almost 60 per cent to 14.8 per cent.
“As such, I am not sure that Mr. Obi is morally well placed to make the alarming claims he made about Nigeria at Johns Hopkins. Mr. Obi contributed to the increase in poverty in Nigeria. Governor Tinubu, as he then was, was responsible for lifting millions out of poverty. Being that that is the case, who should criticise who?” the statement read in part.
