Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi’s “sudden ascent” represents a “rare chance” for Nigeria, the Economist of London has said.
The Economist said this in an article published on Monday, titled “Peter Obi, a man who carries his own suitcases, could be Nigeria’s next president.”
In the article, The Economist argued that Nigeria ought to be great, due largely to being blessed with abundant mineral resources and a “young population of go-getters,” but citizens are still poor.
The article reads, “As public campaigning was about to begin in late September, Nigeria was rocked by the release of three polls showing Mr. Obi well ahead of the two candidates representing the main parties that have misruled Nigeria since the restoration of its democracy in 1999.
“In two of the polls Mr. Obi has a lead of more than 15 percentage points over Bola Tinubu, of the incumbent All Progressives Congress (apc), and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (pdp), the main opposition.
“What makes this even more extraordinary is that Mr. Obi is standing for the Labour Party, whose candidate at the previous presidential election in 2019 won just 5,074 votes out of 28m casts.
“Mr. Obi’s sudden ascent represents a rare chance for Nigeria. The country ought to be rich: it has huge reserves of oil, gas, and other minerals, plenty of fertile lands, and a young population of go-getters. Yet Nigerians are poorer today than they were ten years ago and 40% of them survive on less than $1.90 a day.
“The reasons why Nigeria is poor are rotten politics, bad governance, and corruption. Politicians in Nigeria have long stirred up ethnic and religious divisions by promising to direct state resources to members of their group.
“Once in power, they have pursued contorted economic policies such as a fixed exchange rate and massive fuel subsidies. Some policies seem to make sense only as a way of allowing cronies to siphon off cash.”
The article, which also featured comments from the Economist’s interview with the LP presidential candidate, said while there is no guarantee Obi winning the presidency, will address the issue of corruption, “if he were to sustain his lead until the election in February, he would be the first politician in decades to show that a new sort of politics is possible in Nigeria.”
The Economist said Obi’s rising popularity was due, “above all, to perceptions of his character.
“In a country cursed by politicians of extraordinary ego and entourage, his supporters marvel that as governor Mr. Obi queued at airports holding his own luggage. He also slashed the size of his motorcade when he found that 13 of the cars were empty, he says.
“This not only plays well with young voters but also annoys his rivals. Kashim Shettima, Mr. Tinubu’s running-mate, grumbles that Mr. Obi “tends to glamorize poverty” by claiming to own only one watch. (Mr. Shettima, who likes smartwatches, says he “has more than two or three”.)”
The article, however, described the LP presidential candidate as “an unlikely revolutionary.”
The Economist also puts a question mark on Obi and his major contenders in the race for the presidency.
It described Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP as not offering much in terms of developmental change while citing previous allegations linking both candidates to crimes in the US.
In the case of Obi, the Economist cited the Pandora Papers on his alleged refusal to declare his assets
The article also raised concern over the LP presidential candidate’s “disappointingly less keen to emphasize his proposed policies as president,” despite saying he would prioritize addressing insecurity.
The Economist, however, said for Obi to get the required votes across the country, it is still much for him to do particularly in the northern part of the country.
One major hurdle article cited for Obi is “Kano illustrates a second risk to Mr. Obi’s campaign. The Labour Party he represents will not have candidates on dozens of ballots for seats in the Senate and 130 seats in the House of Representatives.”
