Vice-President Kashim Shettima has launched a scathing attack on former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, accusing him of relying on misleading statistics and economic prescriptions that fail to reflect Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances.
Shettima’s remarks came on Wednesday at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, as the ruling party steps up preparations for the January 16, 2027, presidential election.
Describing Obi as “my very good friend”, the Vice-President questioned the former Labour Party presidential candidate’s frequent comparisons between Nigeria and Bangladesh, arguing that economic policies cannot be transferred from one country to another without considering differences in population, institutions and economic structures.
He illustrated his criticism with a clothing analogy, saying Obi appeared convinced that “a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit Nigeria’s size 52 frame”.
According to Shettima, effective governance requires a clear understanding of a country’s social, economic, political and institutional realities rather than reliance on statistics and policy prescriptions drawn from other nations.
“A country of over 250 million people cannot be governed through borrowed statistics and economic prescriptions detached from its peculiarities,” he said.
The Vice-President’s criticism comes amid renewed political exchanges over the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms and the opposition’s arguments about the management of public finances.
Obi has repeatedly cited Bangladesh in questioning Nigeria’s economic direction, including the Federal Government’s borrowing decisions. In February, he argued that Nigeria’s fundamental problem was the mismanagement of funds rather than borrowing itself.
Shettima, however, accused the former Anambra governor of making what he described as a bogus claim that he won the 2023 presidential election, despite the legal outcome of the contest.
“This is called delusion of grandeur,” the Vice-President said, adding that the APC’s political contest was against “the politics of yesterday dressed as tomorrow’s deliverance”.
Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party and finished third behind President Bola Tinubu and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. He subsequently challenged Tinubu’s victory in court, but the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and affirmed the election result in October 2023.
The former governor is seeking the presidency again in 2027, this time on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Shettima’s comments signal an increasingly combative phase of the ruling party’s campaign, with the APC seeking to challenge the credibility of opposition arguments on economic management even as the opposition continues to scrutinise the administration’s policies.
The APC is scheduled to flag off its presidential campaign in Kaduna on October 24.