Obi At Lagos Summit Doubles Down On Strategy Mocked By Soludo

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, has brushed aside Governor Charles Soludo’s criticism of his style of governance which prioritizes frugality over wasteful spending as a way of cutting down the cost of governance.

Obi, while speaking at the 6th Alumni Conference of the Lagos Business School, said he is never afraid to move alone in a certain direction if he’s convinced about his decision.

The LP presidential candidate was responding to Governor Soludo who in a lengthy article on Monday criticized him for “saving money in the bank account” whereas poverty was escalating during his (Obi’s) tenure as Anambra governor.

Soludo, who before the emerging governor of Anambra had commended Obi’s administration, shocked many when he recently criticized some of the latter’s policies, including investments he made on behalf of the Anambra State Government during his tenure.

Obi’s supporters had in response chastised Soludo, prompting the governor to write a 4,038-word article that further criticized the LP presidential candidate.

Soludo in the article said while “prudence in public resource management is desirable,” people “will however differ as to whether saving money in the bank account is a KPI (key performance indicator) for a government where poverty is escalating except where its institutions for absorption are weak or where the government has no robust/big agenda for transformation.”

But speaking at the LBS Alumni Conference in Lagos, Obi maintained that there’s huge waste in the way the government runs its business, stressing that the “cost of governance in Nigeria is not acceptable.”

I am glad to be back to the Lagos Business School. I am deeply grateful for the kind invitation extended to me to speak at the 2022 Lagos Business School (LBS) Alumni Conference. I have been asked to speak on the theme: “Creating an Enabling Environment for Business Nigeria". pic.twitter.com/xxHVeiiu8E

— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) November 15, 2022

“When I became the Head of Service, I had one of the best Heads of Service you would have. A daughter of a respected judge in this country, well educated, a lawyer, and a first-class product, and she would always come to my office and said ‘biko, Peter’ nobody is happy with you, everybody is not happy because it seems you’re cutting everything.

“However, six months after I started using the same money to pay off the backlog of old pensions and gratuities. The cost of governance in Nigeria is not acceptable, the waste is huge. Because there is so many duplications and you’d find out that the entire system needs an overhaul, make it more functional, train people more, be able to bring technology for efficiency and effectiveness,” he said.

Obi added, “If there’s anything anybody can say they’ve seen me practice or do, it is the cost of governance. As I governor, I shut down the Anambra State liaison office in Lagos, I shut down the governor’s office in Abuja and I shut down our presidential lodge and I said listen, ‘the governor of Anambra doesn’t live in Lagos or Abuja, why are you going to have a house there?’.

“Everybody knows what we did when it comes to the cost of governance, including removing the office of the first lady. I am very sorry about that but they didn’t vote for my wife.”

I REMAIN PRAYERFUL FOR SOLUDO – OBI

Regarding investments he made on behalf of the Anambra State Government which Governor Soludo claimed is “next to nothing” today, Obi “when you spread your investments, some will go up (and) some will come down, but overall the company (SABMiller Nigeria) is still there, it still doing well and is still part of a global chain

“I needed to explain it not because I’m defending (myself against) comments by my brother (Soludo)…my brother is my brother, we remain close and I remain prayerful for him.”

Continuing, the LP candidate said he expects Soludo as a professor to address problems that he “a trader” was unable to fix as Anambra governor.

“For other things which I didn’t succeed, God has given him the opportunity to do it and succeed. In governance you don’t finish, so you stop for other people to continue from there. I don’t look back, he’s the governor of my state, he’s my senior brother, he’s even more intelligent (because) he’s a professor and I’m a trader, so he will be able to do things better than I have done it.

“I have done my little own as a trader, now the professor is there, he will do his own as a professor, the schools I didn’t roof he will roof them, that’s how governance goes.”