Peter Obi hit back to Gov Sanwo-Olu, said that the truth was not ‘Demarketing Nigeria’

Former Governor of the State Anambra and Presidential Candidate for Labor Party in the 2023 General Election, Bpk. Peter Obi, on Thursday, responded to criticism from the Governor of the State Lagos Babajide Sanwo-Olu and other queues, insisting that talking about the truth about the Nigerian economic trajectory.

Obi, the new -new speaking at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, gave a real analysis of Nigeria’s economic decline over the past 25 years. Drawing comparison with China, Indonesia and Vietnam, he regretted that Nigeria now has more people who live in poverty than those combined by three Asian countries.

“Seventy -five percent of Nigerians live in a bad rural area,” Obi said in a follow -up speech during Pa Edwin Clark Memorial Lecture in Abuja. “This new UNICEF reports that Nigeria has more than two million malnutrition children, the second highest globally. Does this international organization also affix Nigeria?”

His statement at Johns Hopkins had triggered a reaction from the Governor of Sanwo-Olu, who described them as “unattractive” and “disturbing,” accusing Obi to project Nigeria negatively on the world stage.

“When the leading Nigerians go abroad, they must project Nigeria positively,” Sanwo-Olu said in a statement. “They don’t have to do that for the government. But we all owe the task to market Nigeria rather than hosting it. That’s about true patriotism.”

But Obi stood firmly.

For him, patriotism is not the same as rejection. “When is the truth?” He asked, questioning whether uncomfortable statistics should be swept under the rug on behalf of National Pride.

The tone of his voice was excited, the message was immediately. During the commemoration lecture, he not only maintained his remarks, he expanded the conversation, questioning the silence of activists and civil society groups who had vocal challenging the Goodluck Jonathan government.

“I am happy that former President Jonathan is here,” Obi said, referring to a meeting in Abuja. “But I can tell you that our past labor has become a song. They are sacrificed without results.”

He continued: “We were in this country when people protested Jonathan because it increased fuel from N87 to N120. Now fuel is more than N600, and the dollar has jumped from N180 to N1,500. Where do the protesters now? Are they dead?”

The underlying current in Obi’s comments is not only differences of political opinion, but in -depth frustration with what he sees as a collective apathetic and selective anger. He implies that the Nigerians have become too fast to harmonize with power and are too reluctant to face uncomfortable truth, especially when the truth expresses the fragility of leadership and the current socio-economic system.

“This gives a collective stockholm syndrome,” Obi commented on a previous social media post, highlighting what he considered as a national tendency to sympathize at the sacrifice of victims.

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