By 247ureports.com
Vice President Kashim Shettima has attacked Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi, describing him as the “master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions” and dismissing his claim to have won the 2023 presidential election as a “delusion of grandeur.”
Shettima spoke on Wednesday at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Addressing Obi as “my very good friend,” he took aim at the former Anambra governor’s frequent comparisons between Nigeria and other countries, particularly Bangladesh. “He seems convinced that a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit Nigeria’s size 52 frame,” Shettima said. He argued that “what succeeds in Bangladesh cannot simply be transplanted to Nigeria without accounting for the differences in our population, economic structures, institutions and national circumstances,” adding that a country of over 250 million people cannot be governed through borrowed statistics and economic prescriptions detached from its peculiarities. One version of the remarks adds: “A change of ideological wardrobe cannot balance a national budget.”
On the 2023 election, Shettima said: “I respect Peter Obi, but he has gone beyond his mastery of philosophy to make bogus claims about winning the 2023 presidential election without any evidence to buttress his assertion. This is called delusion of grandeur.” He framed the contest as one against “the politics of yesterday dressed as tomorrow’s deliverance.” The text circulating online uses the word “bourgeois” in place of “bogus,” but most reports of the speech carry “bogus,” and 247ureports.com has followed that.
The jibe over evidence follows Obi’s own admission to an international broadcaster that he has no evidence for his claim to have won, even as he insisted he did. Obi lost the Presidential Election Petition Court and Supreme Court challenges in 2023, and has since faced criticism from commentators and former allies, some of whom have asked him to substantiate the assertion. His supporters say the declared results did not reflect the true wishes of voters. 247ureports.com had not located a response from Obi or the NDC to Shettima’s remarks at the time of this report.
The council inaugurated at the event has President Bola Tinubu as chairman and Shettima as vice-chairman, with former Zamfara governor Abdulaziz Yari as director-general. The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for January 16, 2027.
