Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has hit the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, over his criticism of the poverty index under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement yesterday entitled, “Factually Addressing Mr. Peter Obi’s Criticism of Nigeria at Johns Hopkins University,” Sanwo-Olu said Obi is not morally well placed to make “alarming claims” on the poverty rate.
Speaking at Johns Hopkins University, Obi compared Nigeria’s poverty level with that of China and Vietnam.
“The question then is, what exactly did these countries do to achieve the desired growth and development?”
“That is where political leadership comes in. These comparable nations, and other progressive nations, unlike Nigeria, have competent leadership with character, capacity and compassion, committed to prioritising investment in critical developmental measures: education, health, and pulling people out of poverty,” Obi said.
But Sanwo-Olu slammed Obi, saying poverty worsened under his watch as the governor of Anambra State.
“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,” he said.
Peter Obi was the governor of Anambra State from March 17, 2006, to November 3, 2006, when he was impeached. He was reinstated on February 9, 2007 and continued his tenure until 2010.
Sanwo Olu’s revelation will come as a surprise to many. Obi is believed to have left a legacy as a prudent governor who paid off accumulated pensions and gratuities, raised education in an educationally backwards state to an enviable position in the country, and left tens of billions of Naira in unspent funds and investments for his successor, unlike other governors who left huge debts.
But Sanwo Olu insists that Obi contributed to the increase in poverty in Nigeria, while Tinubu, as Lagos governor, was responsible for lifting millions out of poverty.
“I also find Mr. Obi’s pattern of behaviour disturbing. When prominent Nigerians go overseas, they ought to project Nigeria positively. They do not have to do that for the government. However, we all owe a duty to market Nigeria globally rather than de-market her.
That is what true patriotism is about.
“Because Mr. Obi focused on poverty and said that the current administration’s policies are making Nigerians poorer, I will concentrate on that.
“Any leader can fight poverty generationally by promoting education, improving healthcare, providing credit, and granting access to land.
“Now, I find it somewhat ironic that a man like Mr. Obi, who did not build a single school or a stand-alone hospital throughout his eight-year tenure as governor of Anambra or sustainably provide credit facilities, would criticise the government of Nigeria, which is actively doing that.
“I say this because the President of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is my predecessor, and as governor of Lagos and now president of Nigeria, has built over 200 schools and provided student loans to more than 200,000 undergraduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions.
“In less than two years, he has provided over half a billion dollars in credit facilities to small and medium-scale enterprises.”
According to Sanwo Olu, while Tinubu was governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, he reduced poverty by more than 46 per cent.
“There is every reason to believe that, based on what he did as governor of Lagos, he will repeat the same feat at the federal level. After all, the best predictor of the future is the past.
“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 whom?” he asked.
