After attending the launch of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s autobiography, A Journey in Service, Mr. Peter Obi made some comments which demonstrated that his grasp on reality is slipping.
In a statement, Mr. Obi said, inter alia, that “In the case of Nigeria, we are worse off than we were during IBB’s era.”
I take strong exception to Peter Obi’s claims that Nigeria is worse off today than it was during the Babangida regime. It is understandable that Peter Obi is desperate to be President in 2027 and is thus licking boots and kissing behinds left, right, and centre, hoping for some anointing and endorsement from past leaders. However, facts remain sacred, and I will traverse the relevant facts to demonstrate that Peter Obi lied unequivocally.
When General Ibrahim Babangida stepped aside on Thursday, August 26, 1993, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product was $56.7 billion. Only two weeks ago, the World Bank affirmed that Nigeria is still Africa’s largest economy, with a GDP of just shy of $400 billion. This means that our economy is seven times larger than it was under General Babangida.
Also, in 1993, Nigeria had a per capita income of $552, whereas our PCI today is $2460. Our average annual inflation rate was 57.17% in 1993. Today, it is less than half that, at 24.48%.
Furthermore, Nigeria had an average life expectancy of 45.79 years in 1993, which has risen significantly to 54 years in 2024. Our maternal and infant mortality rates have also dropped since 1993, even as access to primary healthcare in Nigeria has increased by over 20% since 1993.
So, one wonders where Peter Obi got the idea that Nigeria is worse today than in 1993 under General Babangida. Perhaps he got the advice from a “madman” at Upper Iweka.
Perhaps Peter Obi is referring solely to Anambra State while he was Governor. If he is, then he is correct.
Please fact-check me: Before Peter Obi was sworn in as Governor of Anambra, poverty in that state was 41.4%. However, under Mr. Obi, it grew to 53.7%, partly because Peter Obi refused to use the state’s allocations to build infrastructure, preferring to deposit them in his bank to yield interest that went into his pockets.
In his eight years as Governor, Mr. Obi did not initiate, start, complete, or commission even one nursery, primary, secondary school, or university.
But Obi used Anambra state funds to build beer breweries his family has interests in.
As such, Peter Obi lacks the moral authority or economic capacity to even begin to make such fallacious claims about Nigeria.
This is in no way a criticism of General Ibrahim Babangida, who achieved many developmental strides in Nigeria, such as the Third Mainland Bridge, which is the second longest bridge in Africa, the introduction of the Federal Road Safety Corp, the completion of the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria, and the establishment of the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria.
However, government is a continuum, and Nigeria has not remained static since 1993. For Peter Obi to grandstand and insult the intelligence of thinking Nigerians by making such a hollow and easily debunkable claim shows that this second-class lower philosophy graduate who never built a school while he was Governor obviously needs to be schooled on how the economy works.
Also, Mr. Obi claimed that “Unlike Nigeria, where electoral outcomes often fail to reflect the people’s will, Ghana has witnessed instances where ruling party candidates conceded defeat, respecting democracy in its truest form.”
Both statements by Mr. Obi are again self-servingly fallacious. Mr. Obi came third in the Presidential election. He was not cheated. He lost fair and square.
Secondly, ruling party candidates have lost elections in Nigeria and conceded defeat at the federal and state levels.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso lost the Kano gubernatorial election in 2003 and conceded. Twelve years later, President Jonathan conceded to General Buhari while votes were still being counted.
But Mr. Obi’s desperation for power has so blinded him that he chose to ignore these facts and unpatriotically praise Ghana while undermining Nigeria.
Perhaps since President Tinubu and General Babangida are both Muslims, this is part of the “religious war” that Peter Obi planned in his leaked ‘Yes Daddy’ audio.
Reno Omokri
