Peter Obi, on Monday, berated President Bola Tinubu for providing incorrect statistics on economic improvement to hungry Nigerians, while Nigeria ranks among the hungriest countries in the world.

In a statement on X on Monday, Mr Obi recalled how Mr Tinubu mocked him for using statistics during his campaign.  

“In November 2022, while campaigning in Delta State, the then APC presidential  candidate, Bola Tinubu, now the president, berated the other presidential candidate, he was ashamed to call his name, saying, ‘Na statistics we go chop all I want is to put food on the table of Nigerians.’”

“Now two years into his four-year tenure, Nigeria is classified as one of the hungriest nations in the world with millions of Nigerians not knowing where their next meal will come from,” the former Labour Party presidential candidate added.

Berating Mr Tinubu for forging numbers to make the Nigerian economy appear good, said, “President Tinubu is now overfeeding Nigerians with wrong statistics from wrong unemployment figures, wrong inflation figures, and now GDP debasing, all to put a positive spin on our deteriorating economic and household conditions.

“Governance is not rocket science. It’s not a gamble. Like I have always reiterated, it requires sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity, and compassion.”

Similarly, the African Democratic Congress coalition, which Mr Obi has aligned with, recently censured Mr Tinubu’s government for celebrating the rebased GDP.

In a statement on Tuesday, Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson for the ADC, described the rebased economy as “a cynical public relations stunt disguised as economic progress,” adding that the Tinubu-led government “can’t rebase hunger because Nigerians cannot eat GDP.”

However, Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for the Tinubu-led government, lauded the National Bureau of Statistics report on the rebased economy.