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Lackluster Performance and Inability to Build Leaders Worked Against Peter Obi, Says Emeritus Professor

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Peter Obi

In a recent interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Emeritus Professor Razaq Abubakre, a former federal Commissioner and Vice Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University Ilorin, commented on the last presidential election and LP candidate Peter Obi‘s performance.

Abubakre claimed that Obi’s lackluster performance as former Governor of Anambra State was a major factor that worked against him in the presidential election. News About Nigeria reports.

According to Abubakre, Obi’s inability to build leaders, unlike Bola Tinubu, who has inspired several leaders nationally and internationally, was also part of his undoing.

He further stated that the allegation against Obi in some sections of the media, where he was accused of practicing tribal jingoism during his governorship tenure against non-Igbo speaking people, was part of his albatross.

Abubakre also alleged that Obi’s use of religion in contradistinction to Asiwaju’s Muslim-Muslim ticket gave him a transient false national spread.

Additionally, his alleged impropriety with state funds, as confirmed during an interview with Kadria Ahmed that he invested state funds in his family business, was also part of his undoing.

The Emeritus Professor recalled the simile employed by Rabiu Kwankwaso, NNPP presidential candidate, during his speech at the Chatham House, London, that Obi’s electoral fortune was like the foam of Andrews Liver Salt that comes with power and disappears almost immediately.

“This is quite apposite to describe his eventual performance, especially during the elections of state governors and House of Assemblies. Unfortunately, desperation is not a good manner,” Abubakre said.

Abubakre also addressed the possibility of Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso joining forces and winning the presidency, stating that he could not endorse such a permutation.

He argued that the divine intervention favored Bola Ahmed Tinubu ab initio, and the pattern of voting could have changed. He asserted that some of the votes that Obi received from the South-East, parts of South-South, and pockets of North-Central could have also been cast for Tinubu on his merit and record of performance.

Abubakre alleged that Peter Obi came as a spoiler with his mountainous social media following. He said that Tinubu’s superiority lies in his excellent performance record as Governor of Lagos State, his cosmopolitan outlook spread nationally, and with global ramifications.

He noted that Tinubu’s emergence is divine and critical when the nation needs a true unifier, a performer par excellence, and a strategic leader focused on nation-building for sustainable and inclusive growth.

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