Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has taken a swipe at Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, accusing him of hypocrisy over his comments on poverty under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a detailed statement on Monday, April 28, titled “Factually Addressing Mr. Peter Obi’s Criticism of Nigeria at Johns Hopkins University,” Sanwo-Olu said Obi had no moral standing to criticise Nigeria’s poverty rate given his record as a former governor.
While speaking at Johns Hopkins University, Obi had compared Nigeria’s poverty levels to countries like China and Vietnam, blaming poor leadership for the nation’s woes.
Obi said, “The question then is, what exactly did these countries do to be able to achieve the desired growth and development? That is where political leadership comes in.
“These comparable nations, and, indeed, other progressive nations, unlike Nigeria, have competent leadership with character, capacity and compassion, committed to prioritising investment in critical areas of developmental measures: education, health, and pulling people out of poverty.”
But Sanwo-Olu wasn’t having it, he fired back, arguing that poverty actually worsened under Obi’s leadership in 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%. But after only two years in office, the poverty rate in Anambra jumped to 53.7%,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He pointed out that Obi’s successor, Willie Obiano, later cut the poverty rate significantly, down to 14.8%, suggesting that Obi left things worse than he found them.
“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,” Sanwo-Olu added.
The Lagos governor also accused Obi of harming Nigeria’s image on the international stage.
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“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. But we all owe a duty to market Nigeria on the global stage rather than de-market her. That is what true patriotism is about,” he said.
Since Obi had focused his criticism on poverty under Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu decided to highlight Tinubu’s record, both in Lagos and now as president.
He said, “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.”
Sanwo-Olu praised Tinubu’s achievements, noting that as Lagos State governor, Tinubu built over 200 schools, created student loan programmes, and reduced poverty by more than 46%.
“In less than two years, he has provided over half a billion dollars in credit facilities to small and medium-scale enterprises,” he added.
“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.”
He urged Nigerians to look not just at Obi’s message but at his track record too. “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,” Sanwo-Olu said.
“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?”