Peter Obi accuses Tinubu of ‘overfeeding’ Nigerians with wrong statistics

The 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has accused President Bola Tinubu of “overfeeding” Nigerians with wrong statistics to hide the country’s economic woes.

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In a post on his X handle on Monday, Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, recalled how Mr Tinubu, during his presidential campaign in 2022, mocked him for his frequent reference to statistics on developmental issues.

The former Anambra governor, in the X post, claimed that Mr Tinubu has resorted to use of “wrong statistics” to defend his administration, citing the recent rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“President Tinubu is now overfeeding Nigerians with wrong statistics from wrong unemployment figures, wrong inflation figures, and now GDP rebasing, all to put a positive spin on our deteriorating economic and household conditions,” Mr Obi claimed.

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The former governor further said, within Mr Tinubu’s two years in office, Nigeria has been classified as one of the “hungriest nations” in the world.

“Governance is not rocket science, it’s not a gamble, like I have always reiterated, it requires sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity and compassion,” he stated.

Bayo Onanuga, Mr Tinubu’s spokesperson, could not be reached on the telephone despite repeated attempts.

The presidential spokesperson was yet to respond to an SMS and a WhatsApp message seeking his comments.

What data say about Mr Obi’s claim

Data obtained by PREMIUM TIMES indicate that Nigeria faces significant hunger challenges, according to the 2024 Global Hunger Index.

The country is ranked 110th out of 127 countries in the index.

With a score of 28.8, the level of hunger in Nigeria is considered “serious” in the index.

Mr Obi was a presidential candidate of the LP during the 2023 presidential election, which was won by Mr Tinubu of the APC.

READ ALSO: Tinubu’s cabinet to face Northern Nigeria scrutiny over electoral promises

The 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar came second in the election.

Atiku and Mr Obi, who came third in the poll, unsuccessfully challenged Mr Tinubu’s election in various courts including Nigeria’s Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics last week said Nigeria’s GDP stood at N372.8 trillion in 2024, after the base year for calculating the figure was shifted to 2019.

The figure represents $243 billion, based on the exchange rate of N1,530/$1.