Why Peter Obi Does Not Have the Right to Criticize Tinubu — Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said Labour Party presidential candidate in the last general election, Peter Obi, lacks the moral standing to criticize President Bola Tinubu, citing Obi’s own record as governor of Anambra State.

Speaking through a statement issued on Sunday, Sanwo-Olu faulted Obi’s recent comments during a lecture at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, where he accused the current administration’s policies of worsening poverty in Nigeria. The Lagos governor argued that Obi’s tenure in Anambra was marked by a sharp rise in poverty, making his attacks on Tinubu’s economic policies hypocritical.

“Under Peter Obi as a two-term Anambra Governor, poverty in Anambra increased. It did not reduce,” Sanwo-Olu said. “Before he assumed office in 2007, the poverty rate was 41.4%. Just two years later, it jumped to 53.7%.”

He contrasted this with Tinubu’s record, claiming that as Lagos governor between 1999 and 2007, Tinubu expanded access to education, created thousands of jobs, and lifted millions out of poverty.

“President Tinubu built over 200 schools and provided student loans to more than 200,000 undergraduates — achievements Peter Obi cannot match,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Sanwo-Olu also criticized Obi for what he described as “de-marketing” Nigeria abroad.

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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.

Challenging Obi’s claims of economic mismanagement under Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu added, “Being that that is the case, who should criticise who?”