Vice-President Kashim Shettima has criticised former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, describing him as the “master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions”.
Shettima made the remarks on Wednesday at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Vice-President faulted Obi’s frequent comparisons between Nigeria and other countries, particularly Bangladesh, arguing that the economic realities and circumstances of the two countries were different.
Calling Obi his “very good friend”, Shettima said the former Anambra State governor appeared convinced that policies suitable for Bangladesh could be applied directly to Nigeria.
“He seems convinced that a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit Nigeria’s size 52 frame,” he said.
Shettima argued that effective governance required an understanding of a country’s social, economic, political and institutional realities.
According to him, Nigeria’s population of more than 250 million people makes it inappropriate to adopt foreign statistics and economic prescriptions without considering the country’s peculiar circumstances.
He said, “What succeeds in Bangladesh cannot simply be transplanted to Nigeria without accounting for the differences in our population, economic structures, institutions and national circumstances.”
The Vice-President also accused Obi of making an unsupported claim that he won the 2023 presidential election, describing the assertion as a “delusion of grandeur”.
“Our contest is with the politics of yesterday dressed as tomorrow’s deliverance,” Shettima said.
Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party, finished third behind President Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He challenged Tinubu’s victory in court, but the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and affirmed the President’s election in October 2023.
Obi has repeatedly criticised the Tinubu administration’s economic policies, citing Bangladesh in his arguments on Nigeria’s borrowing and management of public funds.
In February, he maintained that Nigeria’s major problem was the mismanagement of funds rather than borrowing.
The former governor is seeking the presidency again in the January 16, 2027 election on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, the APC is scheduled to flag off its presidential campaign in Kaduna on October 24.
