*Says 2027 Must Be About Hunger, Kidnapping and Out-of-School Children
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The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Mr Peter Gregory Obi, has renewed his call for the resignation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declaring that the President lacks the capacity to address Nigeria’s challenges, that he is “tired,” and that he “should be allowed to retire in peace and go home.”
Obi spoke during an extensive interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, covering the economy, insecurity, electricity, coalition politics, party defections, the NDC’s registration case, the accusations of ethnic jingoism levelled against him, and his commitment to a single four-year term.
Asked whether he still trusted the President, Obi drew a distinction between the Tinubu of Lagos and the Tinubu of Aso Rock.
“The Bola Tinubu that was governor is not the one that is president today. He’s tired. He should be allowed to retire in peace, and then go home,” Obi stated.
“As it is right now, Bola Tinubu is leading us nowhere. That’s why maybe I’m calling for his retirement. He doesn’t listen. The man should just step aside,” he stated.
Pressed directly on whether the President has the capacity for the job, Obi answered without qualification: “Yes, he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job.”
Obi repeatedly redirected the conversation from personality politics to what he described as the real emergency facing Nigerians.
“The World Bank has just said that 79 per cent of Nigerians are going to face poverty. In a country of 230 million people, that’s over 180 million. That should be the issue we should be discussing,” Obi stated.
“They should be talking about the issue of out-of-school children, talking about the issue of health, and all these monies that are missing here and there that would have been invested properly. Nobody is discussing it,” he added.
He returned to the theme when asked how it feels to have his name repeatedly invoked by other politicians on national television.
“Calling me names doesn’t make me feel anything. But they abandon issues we are supposed to discuss. This election in 2027 should be about issues that affect the ordinary Nigerian. The World Food Programme has just said 35 million Nigerians are going to face hunger. Nigerians are being kidnapped. Let’s talk about Nigeria,” Obi stated.
Asked whether his political life ends if he does not become president in 2027, Obi rejected the premise.
“I’ve always said I’m not desperate to be Nigeria’s president. I’m desperate to see Nigeria work. So if it’s working, I support whatever makes it work. It doesn’t matter if Peter Obi is the president or not. So far as Nigeria is good, I’m fine with it,” he stated.
He restated the vision that has defined his political messaging: “I want to see a country where a child of nobody can be somebody without knowing anybody. Where we can pull people out of poverty, where young ones will have opportunity to live, get a job, be entrepreneurial, participate in what young people do all over the world.”
“I don’t even need to hold any post. I’m contesting because I believe that I will fix it. I will unite the country and be able to show an example of what is possible,” Obi stated.
Reflecting on reaching elder statesman age, he said: “Since I was 50 I said what I want to do is to help impact humanity. But I have regrets that not much has improved in my country, considering that every year we head south, where more and more people are being impoverished, more children are out of school. So you feel pain. But I’m going to increase my effort. My joy will be to create a Nigeria that is united and peaceful and where people are happy to say we are Nigerians.”
Obi reaffirmed his commitment to a single term, rejecting the argument by governance experts that four years is insufficient because the first budget is inherited, the second is a struggle, the third is spent learning the terrain and the fourth is spent leaving.
“I said and I repeat again, I will serve for four years capital. If you want, capital four years, not a day more,” Obi stated.
He argued that direction can be changed far faster than critics assume: “You can change and start driving this vehicle called Nigeria in the wrong direction in six months. We are headed in the wrong direction now.”
Confronted with US President Donald Trump’s letter praising President Tinubu’s performance against insurgency and terrorism, Obi was courteous but unmoved.
“Thank you to Donald Trump. Thank you to the President. But we need to do more, far more than what we are doing. I’ve heard people, and Donald Trump is now confirming it, say he has done his best. But for the crisis we are facing, his best is not enough,” Obi stated.
He cited recent incidents: “On Wednesday, 40 people were abducted in Zamfara and the entire community, everybody is packing to run away. On Thursday, 50. So we are in a crisis situation that requires added capacity.”
Asked what he would do differently on insecurity, Obi emphasised presidential presence and commitment over disclosed tactics.
“I will be far more committed in dealing with that issue and I’ll be at the forefront. I’ll be the driver. I will visit there. I will go there. I’ll deal with it. Everybody will see it,” he stated.
Asked for three specific measures, he declined to detail security strategy publicly: “First, I will not disclose it in the open, but I’ll be far more committed. We will ensure that our security architecture is properly staffed and supported, and we ensure that we work with all our partners and we will do it with much more commitment. Whatever is possible to secure the country, we will do.”
On root causes, he identified poverty and education: “A combination of so many things. Poverty. You can’t create mass poverty and think you can deal with this. The more you reduce poverty, the more you reduce criminality. You need to invest in education massively.”
Challenged that presidential security restrictions would prevent the kind of field presence he described, Obi pushed back: “I’m moving around now without being in office. I went to the villages.”
Asked for a realistic timeline rather than a political promise on electricity, Obi gave an answer notable for what it refused to promise.
“Twenty-four hours within four years is impossible, because if you want to build a power plant, it will take you about four years to build a power plant. If you want to improve our transmission lines, it will take you a number of years,” Obi stated.
“But within four years we will be able to generate not less than 10,000, transmit and distribute that, and we’re going to do it by a variety of means, embedded power, as they’re doing everywhere all over the world,” he stated.
He pointed to the Geometric Power model in Aba as the template: “You need to replicate that in different areas where you have a problem with poor generation to drive the industries. Imagine doing that in about four, five locations.”
He also flagged the debt overhang: “Today we are owing power generating companies trillions of naira. Government has approved to pay them. Government hasn’t paid them.”
He then drew a broader point about political accountability: “When you promised and said in four years if I don’t give you reliable 24-hour electricity, don’t vote for me, and the man who promised is now bringing people to explain to us, this is what I’m saying. Our politics must change. If we vote Peter Obi and something is going wrong, even before it gets to that stage, I’ll come and explain it. I’ll tell people what is going wrong.”
Responding to accusations that he has labelled or tagged northerners, Obi called the charge a fabrication and produced a detailed rebuttal.
“That’s a lie. It never happened. My ADC is from Kano and is a Muslim. Most governors choose their ADC as the closest person from their own place. Mine was a Muslim, still a Muslim. So how can you have a Muslim as the closest person to you?” Obi stated.
He continued: “Commissioners that served me in the eight years I was in office were Muslims from the north. Before I became governor, my two closest staff from the bank were from Kano. All the people I have, even military friends, were all from the north.”
He also cited his record on pilgrimages: “As governor I was paying for Christians to go on pilgrimage and I was paying for Muslims living in Anambra to go to Hajj. I’m sure that while he was governor in his state, he never paid for any Christian to go on pilgrimage. I was paying for Hajj.”
He listed current private commitments: “I’m supporting four almajiri schools in Kaduna and Bauchi, and I’m supporting a school of medicine in Bauchi, a Muslim school, and I can go on and on.”
“You see, these are things they’ve done in the past to keep Nigeria divided,” Obi stated.
On the claim by Alimodu Sheriff that he cannot win the north even with Kwankwaso as running mate, Obi responded: “That is what they’ve been able to say to keep us divided. That’s what they always say to ensure that the people continue to live in this confusion, this mess that we’re in today.”
He added: “I have an idea what is happening in the north and nobody can drive that process today in Nigeria better than me. I will work with them and I’ll ensure that unity, that security, that prosperity they desire, I will commence it.”
Asked whether Nigeria needs a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation process to address the unhealed wounds of 1966 and the civil war, Obi answered that healing would be demonstrated rather than announced.
“My presidency will heal and unite Nigeria,” he stated. Asked whether he would set up a committee, he replied: “No, it’s not a question of a committee. The actions of the presidency will show what we’re going to do.”
Asked what keeps him awake at night about the NDC’s legal problems over its logo and identity, Obi was dismissive of the threat.
“This is not a problem. It’s something that has been dealt with. Even that has been dealt with in the previous judgment before their registration. But unfortunately, because people are thriving in this confused system, they want to bring it back. You cannot bring it back,” he stated.
He noted the character of the challenge: “This is even now being challenged by a non-political party, an association. Why do we like confusion?”
Asked why NDC members should believe he will stay committed to the party when he has moved before, Obi framed his movements as responses to a broken system rather than personal disloyalty.
“If everything is conducive, if there’s no problem, why would anybody leave? If they put this building on fire now, we will leave to where it is safe. Simple. That’s what is happening,” he stated.
He then made a commitment about opposition politics under his presidency: “As president I will encourage the opposition parties. What is happening in ADC now, happening in NDC, happening in Labour, will never happen if I’m president of Nigeria. Anybody that tries to do it, even judiciary giving us rulings, you will see what will happen. We must build institutions and those institutions must allow fairness, because I want a strong opposition. I want to hear the ideas of the opposition. I want to invite them to a meeting when we discuss Nigeria.”
“If I’m in office and face the crisis we are facing in the north today, I’m going to invite all opposition leaders to the north. We will go there, sit down with the stakeholders and find a solution to this,” Obi stated.
“We cannot be doing things because we think somebody is opposition. We are only competing during the elections. After elections, I’m in charge. I will invite everybody,” he added.
He offered his Anambra record as evidence: “As governor of Anambra State, it was the most peaceful eight years of Anambra State. Thirteen members of my House of Assembly were PDP. Three senators from Anambra were PDP. Eleven House of Representatives members under me were PDP. I worked with them. Go and ask all of them.”
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