Mr. Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has ‘attacked’ the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi for criticising the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu.
Obi, in his new year message on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over the economic challenges of Nigeria, noting that the country remains one of the poverty capitals of the world.
He urged President Tinubu to reduce the cost of governance and called for transparency in the fight against corruption. Obi also enjoined the President to visit the various states of the country for a better understanding of the economic and security challenges therein.
He highlighted other critical challenges facing the country, including inflation, noting that the newly approved ₦70,000 minimum wage cannot purchase a bag of rice or half a bag of beans.
Reacting to the criticism in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Omokri stated that Obi has no moral authority to accuse President Tinubu of inflicting poverty on the citizens, claiming that Obi doubled poverty as Governor of Anambra State.
He wrote: “Mr. Obi’s recent blunder in which he urged the President to travel to the states to see the poverty level faced by Nigerians is just another pointer to the fact that the only New Year resolution Mr. Obi appears to have made is to continue being the brand ambassador for Gbajue, fake statistics, and propaganda.
“First of all, Peter Obi did not mention the Governors or local government chairmen. This is even as federal allocation to states has doubled under Tinubu, and local governments now receive allocations directly after Tinubu wins them autonomy.
“He went straight for the jugular and directly attacked the President. However, other than addressing the inflation rate, which the President has promised to do in his New Year speech, and stabilising monetary policy, which is ongoing, most of the work involved in lifting people out of poverty is at the state level.
“But Obi is fixated with President Tinubu because he wants what the President has-power and the ability to wield it well. And it is not a surprise that Peter Obi does not know this. Because, whereas as Governor of Lagos, poverty was reduced under Asiwaju Tinubu, it actually increased under Obi as Governor.”
According to him, poverty rate was at 41.4% before Obi became the Governor of Anambra State, however, it increased to 53.7% partly because he 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 refineries that his family has interests in. Therefore, Mr. Obi is the wrong person to advise about fighting poverty. Obi is the problem. President Tinubu is the solution.
“If not that they are blinded by ethnicity, Obidients have more than enough reasons not to take Mr. Obi seriously anymore. Because Mr. Obi is apparently blind to the progress happening in Nigeria. Before President Tinubu assumed office, no single refinery in Nigeria worked, and Nigeria depended on imports for our refined petroleum needs.
“But within eighteen months of President Tinubu’s leadership, Nigeria had three major refineries working, including the Dangote, Port Harcourt, and Warri Refineries. We are now a net exporter of Premium Motor Spirits, even as this is the first Yuletide season when Nigerians enjoyed both fuel availability and fuel price reduction,” he remarked.
He explained that the President’s foreign travels are aimed at bringing investments to Nigeria, emphasising that it is working as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased by 28% under the current administration.
He opined that the goal of Obi and other oppositions is to unite and defeat the APC, and not to uplift more Nigerians out of poverty, end insecurity, reduce out-of-school children, boost local manufacturing amongst others. This, he said, is the reason Rabiu Kwankwaso rejected ‘their so-called merger’.
He further described Obi and other oppositions as “desperate politicians whose only agenda is power at any cost, even at the price of “religious war” against Muslims.”
