Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has alleged that Nigerian universities are being pressured to cancel lectures whenever he is scheduled to speak.
In a post on X on Saturday, Obi said the repeated cancellations point to a troubling pattern targeting his engagements on campuses.
He cited a recent incident at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), where he was billed to deliver a keynote lecture before proceeding to Ibadan for an opposition summit.
According to him, the invitation had been extended months earlier and preparations concluded, but the event was later called off by the university.
“While such occurrences may be dismissed in isolation, it is important to state clearly that this has now happened more than ten times,” he said.
“This is no longer incidental; it points to a troubling pattern that should concern all well-meaning Nigerians.”
UNN FRAKA
Obi said the development is not limited to one institution, recalling that a planned lecture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), organised in honour of former vice-chancellor, the late Professor Frank Ndili, was also cancelled on the scheduled date.
He argued that the trend raises concerns about the shrinking space for intellectual engagement in the country.
“Universities are meant to be centres of learning, open dialogue, and the free exchange of ideas,” he said.
Obi contrasted the situation with his recent engagements abroad, where he said he has freely interacted with students and scholars in institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania and Imperial College.
He said such institutions continue to promote openness, critical thinking and shared learning — values he believes Nigerian universities should uphold.
“We must ask ourselves: what kind of nation are we building if spaces meant for intellectual engagement are gradually shrinking?” he said.
Obi called on stakeholders to protect academic spaces and ensure that universities remain platforms for knowledge exchange and debate.
“Nigeria must work towards becoming a place where ideas thrive, where knowledge is shared without fear, and where our institutions uphold the principles they were established to protect,” he added.
