The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has asked Nigerians to vote for him because he has verifiable educational and social antecedents unlike “some people”.

Mr Obi made the statement at a project commissioning event in Rivers state on Thursday, where he was invited by Governor Nyesom Wike. 

“And that is why we want people to follow us. Everybody knows our age, they know where we were born, they know where we lived, they know the school we attended,” Mr Obi said.

Mr Obi was apparently referring to Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose personal records, family history, and educational background remain shrouded in controversy. 

Mr Tinubu is undergoing fierce public scrutiny over allegations of multiple criminal and fraudulent past, including links to a 1990s drug cartel, falsification of age, forgery of educational certificates, perjury and potential identity theft. 

The former Anambra governor further threw jabs at Mr Tinubu when he disparaged his popular slogan “Emilokan,” translated as “it is my turn” from the Yoruba language. Mr Obi said it is not his turn, instead it is “the turn of the Nigerian people to take leadership of their country.”

In further indirect criticisms of Mr Tinubu’s public assertions, Mr Obi said the presidency requires mental and physical strength. “It is not a retirement home,” he said. 

Mr Tinubu, in the face of glaring health inadequacy, has maintained that he does not need physical strength to pilot the affairs of the country. He boasts of his mental and intellectual capacity – a claim that is being generally doubted due to his incoherence and speech slurring at public functions.