President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has criticized Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi over his repeated remarks on rising poverty in Nigeria, arguing that Obi failed to significantly reduce poverty during his tenure as governor of Anambra State.
In a post shared on X on Friday, Ajayi accused Obi of making poverty a recurring theme in his public engagements while suggesting he had not delivered better outcomes when he was in office.
According to Ajayi, poverty levels in Anambra State increased during Obi’s eight-year administration, claiming they were higher than under previous governors.
“With the way Mr. Peter Obi talks about poverty every day and makes it a sing-song, one would think he banished poverty in Anambra State for the eight years he was governor,” Ajayi wrote.
“The paradox is that the poverty rate ballooned under him in Anambra and went all-time higher than any previous governors of the state.
“He talks about poverty every single day as if he has one magic wand that will make poverty disappear in Nigeria. Let’s make him President and see poverty disappears and everyone becomes a millionaire.”
Ajayi’s remarks came in response to Obi’s recent comments expressing concern over Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions.
Speaking on the state of the economy, Obi said poverty and hunger had reached alarming levels across the country, stressing that the situation was evident even without relying on international reports.
“Every day poverty is increasing. Every day hunger is increasing. You don’t even need World Bank reports to know this because you can see it in the villages,” Obi said.
“They are saying that about 70 million Nigerians are facing acute hunger. What are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue like this? No. That is not possible.”
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