Obi vs Tinubu: APC Fires Back At Peter Obi Over Criticism Of Tinubu’s Economic Policies

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has launched a scathing response to Peter Obi’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies.

bIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) reports that, the release, however fails to address the specific concerns raised by Obi, instead opting for personal attacks and boasts about the administration’s achievements.

Obi had criticized Tinubu’s economic policies, citing the depreciation of the Nigerian naira, from approximately N400 to over $1,500 per US dollar, and the rise in prices of essential commodities like rice and fuel.

However, the APC release dismisses Obi’s criticisms as “opportunistic sensationalization” and “wholesale condemnation.”

APC, in its release also claims that the Tinubu administration has made significant progress in various sectors, including the economy, which is “rebounding steadily” with a 3.6 percent economic growth forecasted for the current fiscal year. However, these claims are not supported by verifiable evidence or data.

Furthermore, the release’s personal attacks on Obi, questioning his capacity to govern and highlighting his alleged failures as governor of Anambra State, detract from the substance of the debate.

APC, in a statement signed by Felix Morka, Esq., its National Publicity Secretary, said, “during an interview on Prime Time on Arise Television on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, sauntered down his path-beaten tunnel accusing President Bola Tinubu of poor performance in implementing economic policy reform, claiming he would have done better.

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“To be honest, it was painful to watch Mr Obi as he laboured in vain to cobble together any sensible critical economic argument in the face of stark and undeniable record of progress of the administration’s economic reforms. Even Mr Obi’s trademark opportunistic sensationalization of transient difficulties that Nigerians have endured in patriotic support of the President’s bold and transformative economic plan availed no respite, as he floundered on national television, framing himself as a portrait of frustration and political desperation.

“Mr Obi’s favourite retort, “I would have done better as president”, must be a symptom of a protracted bout of election failure-induced hangover from which he has not awakened to the reality that he is not the president. Like an unlicensed back seat driver that thinks himself to be a race car driver, Mr Obi needs to tame his bloated and deluded imagination.

“Opposition politics is not about denying the administration’s many successes. It is about critiquing what may be wrong but affirming what is right. It is not about wholesale condemnation that is only intended to mislead and score cheap political gains. The steady progress of the Tinubu-administration across sectors is undeniable and evident for all Nigerians to see.

“It is hysterical that Mr Obi, who was governor of a failed and forgotten administration in Anambra state of only 21 local government areas would so brazenly boast of his capacity to govern Africa’s largest democracy. Obi bequeathed a sordid legacy of economic stagnation, infrastructural decay, ecological disaster, and religious polarization.

“Both as former Governor of Lagos state and now as President, Tinubu is a dogged achiever, bold and unwavering in tackling and transforming difficult challenges into opportunities. As he did for Lagos, President Tinubu is now doing for Nigeria with the economy rebounding steadily, posting productivity-enhanced trade surpluses in successive quarters, with a 3.6 percent economic growth forecasted for the current fiscal year; with a fast expanding foreign reserve; with revamped and operational local refineries; with food inflation on the decline; with a successful harmonization of multiple exchanges rates that now supports increased foreign direct investments and flow of remittances into the economy; and with a reasonably stable forex market.

“The administration also has posted in its success column the cleared $7billion forex backlog, and Ways and Means debt of over $30billion; with reduced debt serving ratio from 98 per cent to about 64 percent; with increased oil production in excess of 1.8 mbpd, surpassing the Organisation of Petroluem Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 1.5mbpd for the first time in many years; with a repositioned stock exchange market that is now one of the most profitable in the world; with a vastly expanding Agricultural, Mine and Steel, Manufacturing, Creative and several other sub-sectors of the economy, in a push to increase the non-oil contribution to GDP; and with the Chatham House only recently adjudging the nation’s economy as the most competitive it has been in 25 years.

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“Whereas global institutions and experts are applauding the unfolding silent economic revolution ably led by President Tinubu, Obi and his co-opposition drummers of empty partisan barrels continue to deny President Tinubu’s superlative and incomparable near midterm successes and achievements.

“President Tinubu remains undistracted and focused on securing good governance and improved economic conditions for all Nigerians”, the statementadded.