‘You want to compare my brain with that of Peter Obi? He Ran Away From Erosion’ Tinubu mocks Peter Obi

• Tinubu mocks Peter Obi at a reception in Akwa Ibom, saying the former Anambra governor “ran away from erosion” and questioning his bid for the presidency.

President Bola Tinubu questioned Peter Obi’s record as Anambra State governor and his fitness to lead Nigeria during a reception in Akwa Ibom State ahead of the January 16, 2027, presidential election.

Speaking at the event held in his honour, Tinubu accused Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), of failing to tackle erosion in Anambra. He contrasted Obi’s record with his own efforts to protect the Lagos coastline.

“You want to compare my brain with that of Peter Obi? He ran away from erosion in Anambra and now wants to be president, president of where?” Tinubu said.

“He (Peter Obi) is in one party they call NDC who is running for president. He ran away from erosion in Anambra State. He couldn’t confront erosion. I, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, confronted the Atlantic Ocean. I tamed it for you,” he said.

Tinubu also cited Obi’s departure from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), questioning what the decision said about his leadership.

“If a man that was, at one time, a baby of PDP became a father of PDP, and it is so. And because of a little inconvenience, he ran away from that party and formed a dangerous camp in another party. Is that a leadership trait? Is that a leadership character? And he wants you to vote for him? It’s not for a banana. No,” he said.

The president praised Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno for tackling erosion in his state. “They lack the leadership, character and traits,” Tinubu added.

Tinubu also defended his decision to remove the petrol subsidy, arguing that it was necessary to protect the naira. He said 27 of Nigeria’s 36 state governments were struggling to meet salary obligations when he took office.

“When I took over, 27 governors of 36 of this country were unable to pay salary obligations, not to talk of pension and gratuity. By now, if we didn’t take a decision the day I took over, we would use wheelbarrow to move our naira because it would have become valueless,” Tinubu stated.

He said his administration’s policies were aimed at reducing poverty and ruled out a return to the subsidy.

“When we use it, we use it to break the circle of poverty and ignorance. We will break that circle. Nigeria will never go back to subsidy,” he declared.

Eno, who hosted the reception, pledged that Akwa Ibom would deliver two million votes for Tinubu if the Federal Government delivered the long-awaited Ibom Deep Seaport.