The Democratic Front (TDF) has described attempts by the Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Obi, to downplay World Bank’s economic outlook for Nigeria as ridiculous.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Danjuma Muhammad and Secretary Wale Adedayo, the group noted that it was absurd that the candidate is always quick to dismiss any positive review on the Nigerian economy.
The statement read: “We condemn in the strongest terms, the display of intellectual absurdity by the NDC presidential candidate in refuting the recent World Bank economic growth outlook for Nigeria, with a pedestrian opinion emanating from an ungrounded baseline.
“His exaggerated reference to hardship and poverty in the country are not validly based on facts, but a politically motivated gambit that is contrary to the indicators of economic improvement and other factors the world bank takes into consideration for its projections.
“We consider it spurious and misleading for a presidential candidate to dispute the World Bank economic outlook because it does not tally with his position.
“The irony is that the same person is always quick to drum up any report by the Bank with negative statistics to score political points.
“But he now chose to ignore the display of confidence by the World Bank, in its decision to invest $500m in Nigeria, as part of efforts to to unlock a $5.79 billion private financing, in his unwarranted rejection of the bank’s economic projection for 2027
“All of these show that the NDC presidential candidate lacks the needed knowledge to manage a national economy, which is an irreducible minimum requirement for a Nigerian President.
“We believe that basic economic knowledge should have informed the NDC presidential candidate that no bank, (commercial or development) would put its money in an economy that is static or bleeding.
“For us, Peter Obi’s repeated tirades and exaggerated claims of hardship and poverty are not valid because President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken bold steps to reduce the level of poverty in the country.
“The recent release of N758 billion for the payment of the pension backlog will go a long way to lift the affected pensioners out of poverty. And this is in addition to a plethora of social measures and interventions like NELFUND, CREDICORP, SMEDAN Loans, Renewed Hope Housing etc, which are currently mitigating poverty in Nigeria.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard Obi’s rhetoric and bare-face distortion of facts in the public space. His recent altercation with the Anambra State government over a public debt which he denied, his inability to explain the whereabouts of N2.13 billion ecological fund he admitted receiving from the federal government days before the expiration of his tenure as Governor.
“Also, the recent BBC interview where he again claimed to have won the 2023 presidential election, but admitted that he lacked evidence to back his stance, strips him of integrity and credibility.”
The group added that there are enough reasons for Nigerians to reject him at the polls.
