Tinubu Misleading Nigerians With False Statistics – Peter Obi

Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has sharply criticized President Bola Tinubu’s management of the Nigerian economy, accusing the administration of manipulating statistics to conceal the nation’s worsening economic conditions.

In a statement posted Monday on X (formerly Twitter), Obi referenced a remark made by Tinubu during the 2022 presidential campaign in Delta State. At the time, Tinubu, then the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, reportedly dismissed Obi’s reliance on data and statistics.

“In November 2022, while campaigning in Delta State, the then APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu — now the President — mocked another candidate, saying, ‘Na statistics we go chop? All I want is to put food on the table of Nigerians,’” Obi recalled.

“Now, two years into his four-year term, Nigeria is ranked among the hungriest nations in the world, with millions unsure of where their next meal will come from,” Obi said, citing recent economic hardship.

He went on to accuse the Tinubu-led government of deploying inaccurate data to give a misleading picture of economic progress. “President Tinubu is now overfeeding Nigerians with wrong statistics — from inaccurate unemployment and inflation figures to the recent GDP rebasing — all in an attempt to put a positive spin on worsening national and household conditions,” he said.

Reaffirming his views on effective leadership, Obi added, “Governance is not rocket science, and it’s not a gamble. As I’ve always said, it demands sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity, and compassion.”