Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has criticised Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the last election, over comments he made about Nigeria during a recent appearance at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Obi, who spoke at the prestigious institution on April 24, 2025, reportedly made several critical remarks about Nigeria and its current state under the administration of President Bola Tinubu. However, Sanwo-Olu described Obi’s comments as “disparaging” and questioned the former governor’s moral standing to critique the Nigerian government.
“When prominent Nigerians go overseas, they ought to project Nigeria positively. They do not have to do that for the government. But we all owe a duty to market Nigeria on the global stage rather than de-market her. That is what true patriotism is about,” Sanwo-Olu stated.
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Responding specifically to Obi’s focus on poverty and economic hardship, Sanwo-Olu argued that the current administration was taking concrete steps to address these challenges, contrasting Obi’s record in Anambra State with that of Tinubu’s achievements both as Lagos State governor and now as Nigeria’s president.
“I find it somewhat ironic that a man like Mr. Obi, who did not build a single school or a standalone hospital throughout his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra or sustainably provide credit facilities, would criticise the Government of Nigeria, which is actively doing that,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The Lagos governor pointed out that Tinubu has so far built over 200 schools, provided student loans to over 200,000 undergraduates, and disbursed more than half a billion dollars in credit facilities to small and medium enterprises within less than two years in office. He also recalled that Tinubu had reduced poverty by more than 46% during his time as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007.
“There is every reason to believe that, based on what he did as Governor of Lagos, he will repeat the same feat at the federal level. After all, the best predictor of the future is the past,” Sanwo-Olu added.
Sanwo-Olu further challenged Obi’s performance during his time as governor, citing figures to back his claims.
According to him, “Under Peter Obi as a two-term Anambra Governor, poverty in Anambra increased. It did not reduce. Before Peter Obi became Anambra Governor on Thursday, June 14, 2007, the poverty rate in Anambra was 41.4%. But after only two years in office, the poverty rate in Anambra jumped to 53.7%.”
The governor noted that it was only after Obi left office that poverty levels dropped significantly under his successor, Willie Obiano, who reduced the rate to 14.8%.
“As such, I am not sure that Mr. Obi is morally well placed to make the alarming claims he made about Nigeria at Johns Hopkins,” Sanwo-Olu concluded. “Mr. Obi contributed to the increase in poverty in Nigeria. Governor Tinubu, as he then was, was responsible for lifting millions out of poverty. Being that that is the case, who should criticise who?”
