Beyond the Hype : Why Peter Obi’s Political Momentum Stalled After 2023 – Ondo State Eminent Personality Group
Beyond the Hype : Why Peter Obi’s Political Momentum Stalled After 2023 – Ondo State Eminent Personality Group
Nigeria’s current economic challenges must be understood within a broader global context. Across continents, nations are grappling with inflation, rising living costs, and economic uncertainty. From major Western economies to developing nations, the strain on households is real and widespread.
Nigeria is not insulated from these global pressures, and it is both inaccurate and misleading to attribute complex economic realities to a single political figure or movement.
This moment calls for honest reflection, fact-based analysis, and a shift away from emotionally charged narratives toward constructive national discourse.
Full statement reads:
Press Statement
Ondo State Eminent Personality Group
Obi’s Career ended in 2023
*The Same Story Everywhere: Recession, Reality, and the Obi Myth*
The truth is simple and it is the same all over the world — the world is in recession. From London to Lagos, New York to Nairobi, working families are squeezed by inflation, job losses, and shrinking purchasing power. Nigeria is not an island. What we are experiencing is part of a global economic downturn, not a uniquely Nigerian curse created by one man or one party.
Against that backdrop, the loudest advocates for Peter Obi are not making an economic argument. They are prosecuting an ethnic agenda. Strip away the slogans and what remains is ethnic bigotry dressed up as patriotism. They do not defend a record; they defend a kinsman.
Obi does not have the capacity to rule. Judge him by his actual record as Governor of Anambra State, not by social media graphics. Eight years, yet no signature transformation that placed Anambra ahead of its peers. No industrial revolution. No radical overhaul of education or health that became a national model. He governed, but he did not govern exceptionally. If Anambra was the test case, he failed to prove presidential capacity there.
Obi’s political career ended in 2023 after the last election. The ballot rendered the final verdict. He lost. And the decline continued. At the last gubernatorial election in Anambra State — his own backyard — Obi’s candidate came third. A man who cannot deliver his home state for his party has no claim to deliver a federation of 36 states. Obi is a paper tiger: loud online, weak on the ground.
Those who feel the pain and suffering know the economy better than those quoting revenue data. Hunger is not abstract. Poverty is not a spreadsheet. Unemployment is not a press release. When a mother cannot feed her children, she does not care about GDP rebasing. When a graduate treks miles because there’s no transport fare, he does not clap for foreign reserve statistics. The real economy is what people live, not what technocrats tweet.
So let’s be clear: the world is in recession and Nigeria is part of the world. Ethnic bigotry is not a policy platform. Obi had his chance to show executive capacity as governor and did not demonstrate presidential scale. He lost in 2023, lost Anambra again, and remains a paper tiger. And no amount of data will feed a hungry man.
Banji Alabi Esq
Convener
Ondo State Eminent Personality Group;
