The Presidency has criticised the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, over his repeated comments on poverty and economic hardship in the country.
Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, made the remarks in a post shared on his X account on Friday.
Presidency questions Obi’s record
Ajayi argued that Obi often speaks about poverty as though he has a simple solution to Nigeria’s economic challenges. He also claimed that poverty remained high in Anambra State throughout Obi’s eight-year tenure as governor.
“With the way Mr Peter Obi talks about poverty every day and makes it a sing-song, one would think he banished poverty in Anambra State for the eight years he was governor,” Ajayi wrote.
He further alleged that poverty increased during Obi’s administration.
“The paradox is that poverty rate ballooned under him in Anambra and went all-time higher than under any previous governor of the state.”
Tinubu aide dismisses Obi’s criticism
Ajayi also criticised Obi’s repeated comments about poverty in Nigeria. According to him, the former governor speaks as though he possesses a unique solution that can eliminate poverty if elected president.
“He talks about poverty every single day as if he has one magic wand that will make poverty disappear in Nigeria. Let’s make him President and see poverty disappear and everyone becomes a millionaire.”
Obi raises concern over poverty and hunger
Ajayi’s comments followed Obi’s recent remarks about the rising level of poverty and hunger across the country. According to Obi, Nigerians can already see the impact of the worsening economic situation in their daily lives. He said people do not need reports from international organisations to understand the severity of the problem.
“Every day poverty is increasing. Every day hunger is increasing. You don’t even need World Bank reports to know this because you can see it in the villages,” Obi said.
The former Labour Party presidential candidate also expressed concern over reports that millions of Nigerians are facing acute hunger.
“They are saying that about 70 million Nigerians are facing acute hunger. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue like this? No. That is not possible.”
Read also: Peter Obi is desperate, he can’t fix Nigeria in four years — Oshiomhole
