Poverty Rose From 46% to 52% Under Peter Obi as Anambra Governor — Analyst

An analyst, Inyali Peter, Ph.D., has criticised supporters of former Anambra State Governor and former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, arguing that political loyalty should not be confused with patriotism or love for Nigeria.

Peter made the submission while defending his support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and questioning Obi’s record as governor of Anambra State.

In a commentary titled “If Refusing Peter Obi Makes Me Unpatriotic, I’m a Proud One,” the analyst said his recent article, “Pain, Progress Coexisting in Tinubu’s Nigeria,” had attracted criticism from an acquaintance who accused him of being unpatriotic for supporting Tinubu.

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According to him, the disagreement should have focused on policy and governance rather than personal attacks.

Peter argued that Nigerians should assess political leaders based on measurable outcomes rather than slogans or emotional loyalty.

He claimed that poverty in Anambra State rose from 46 per cent to 52 per cent during Obi’s tenure as governor, describing the figure as evidence that Obi’s record should be subjected to the same scrutiny as those of other political leaders.

Peter said Nigeria’s economic challenges require candidates to explain the practical steps they intend to take to address poverty, unemployment, infrastructure deficits and other problems confronting citizens.

He maintained that no political leader is perfect, including Tinubu, but argued that voters should demand clear answers from every candidate before deciding who deserves their support.

Below is the unedited article: 

Yesterday, a friend called to discuss my recent article titled “Pain, Progress Coexisting in Tinubu’s Nigeria,” but rather than engage in substantive intellectual debate, he did what most Obidient members do; he attacked me and called me unpatriotic for supporting President Tinubu instead of his preferred candidate. When I attempted to make us have real debate, he showed no interest. Instead, he launched into a typical Obidient tirade, all heat and no substance.

Now this is my message to him and his likes. Call me unpatriotic. Seriously, go ahead. But what I won’t do is to pretend that loyalty to a political figure is the same thing as love for country. Under Peter Obi’s watch in Anambra, poverty rose from 46% to 52%. That’s not opinion but data. Data, not slogans, should guide who leads a suffering nation like ours.

The problem with Obi’s movement isn’t the vision; moving Nigeria from consumption to production is a sensible goal. The problem is nobody knows how he plans to do it. When he’s in any interview to explain how, he deflects. There’s a chasm between beautiful rhetoric and the grinding work of governance. One requires speeches. The other requires specifics.

He promised 10 megawatts of power in four years, then backtracked in another interview that such is not impossible. He has no strategy. He just makes things up as you go. This is a man that some of his delusional supporters think whoever is not with him is unpatriotic.

Governance isn’t poetry. It’s engineering. You need blueprints, timelines, resource allocation, and the willingness to explain your math before asking millions to trust you. Obi has offered rhetoric instead. Brilliant rhetoric, yes. But rhetoric doesn’t fix roads. Rhetoric doesn’t create jobs. Rhetoric doesn’t reduce the 40 million Nigerians living in poverty.

Under Willie Obiano, the man that took over from Obi, Anambra’s poverty rate dropped to 26%. Whether you agree with his methods or not, the outcome is measurable. He reduced poverty rate by 50% but Obi increased it. But Obi supporters want everybody to accept that he was a better Governor than Obiano.

President Tinubu is not perfect, no leader or human being is. Therefore, the question isn’t whether you support Tinubu or not. It is whether in a country where 40 million people live in poverty, we can actually afford leaders who won’t tell us how they’ll fix things. 

We should all begin to ask every candidate “How?” Not vague philosophies about production versus consumption. Not inspirational tweets. But the actual, detailed, unglamorous blueprint for implementation. If not supporting a candidate because he won’t answer that question makes me unpatriotic, then patriotism has become something I don’t know anymore.

Obi supporters should realize that if they didn’t intimidate us in 2023, they obviously can’t now. Nigeria can’t afford leaders who refuse to show their work. We’re too broken for that luxury.

~Inyali Peter, Ph.D.

Editor’s Note: The poverty figures and other statistical claims in the commentary are attributed to the analyst and should be independently verified against the relevant National Bureau of Statistics or other authoritative datasets before publication as established facts.