Peter Obi hits back at Gov Sanwo-Olu, says telling the truth is not ‘demarketing Nigeria’

Former Anambra State Governor and Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, on Thursday, responded to criticism from Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and other detractors, insisting that speaking the truth about Nigeria’s troubling economic trajectory should not be misconstrued as an act of “demarketing” the country.

Obi, who recently spoke at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, delivered a stark analysis of Nigeria’s economic decline over the past 25 years. Drawing comparisons with China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, he lamented that Nigeria now has more people living in poverty than the three Asian nations combined.

“Seventy-five percent of Nigerians living in rural areas are poor,” Obi noted in a follow-up address during the Pa Edwin Clark Memorial Lecture in Abuja. “UNICEF recently reported that Nigeria has over two million malnourished children, the second highest globally. Are these international organizations also demarketing Nigeria?”

His remarks at Johns Hopkins had triggered backlash from Governor Sanwo-Olu, who described them as “unflattering” and “troubling,” accusing Obi of projecting Nigeria negatively on the world stage.

“When prominent Nigerians go overseas, they ought to project Nigeria positively,” Sanwo-Olu said in a statement. “They do not have to do that for the government. But we all owe a duty to market Nigeria rather than demarket her. That is what true patriotism is about.”

But Obi is standing firm.

For him, patriotism does not equate to denial. “When is truth demarketing?” he asked, questioning whether uncomfortable statistics should be swept under the rug in the name of national pride.

His tone was passionate, his message direct. During the memorial lecture, he did not just defend his remarks, he broadened the conversation, questioning the silence of activists and civil society groups that once vocally challenged the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

“I’m happy that former President Jonathan is here,” Obi said, referencing the gathering in Abuja. “But I can tell you that the labour of our heroes past has become a song. They sacrificed for nothing.”

He continued: “We were in this country when people were protesting against Jonathan for increasing fuel from N87 to N120. Now fuel is over N600, and the dollar has jumped from N180 to N1,500. Where are the protesters now? Have they died?”

The underlying current in Obi’s comments is not just political dissent, but a profound frustration with what he sees as collective apathy and selective outrage. He implied that Nigerians have become too quick to align with power and too reluctant to confront uncomfortable truths, especially when those truths expose the fragility of the nation’s current leadership and socio-economic systems.

“It’s giving collective Stockholm syndrome,” Obi had remarked in a social media post earlier, highlighting what he perceives as a national tendency to sympathize with oppressors at the expense of victims.

The post Peter Obi hits back at Gov Sanwo-Olu, says telling the truth is not ‘demarketing Nigeria’ appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.