Peter Obi challenges other 2023 presidential candidates on statistics

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has challenged other party flag bearers who condemn his statistics on Nigeria to present their own argument.

Obi threw the challenge while he and the national leadership of his party received Valentine Ozigbo, a business mogul, who was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2021 Anambra governorship election.

The former governor of Anambra state accused other presidential candidates of poking holes in his theories without presenting their side of the argument.

Obi argued that data and information are important during political campaigns and in governance.

He said: “Nigeria’s total export in 2021 was N18.9trillion. When people fault my figures, I tell them and other candidates to present theirs.

“Brazil is among the five biggest producers of food globally. They have developed agriculture, they are feeding themselves and exporting.

“People asked me how do we get the naira strong against the dollar. My answer remains moving Nigeria from consumption to production.

“What will give dollars is production, Nigeria is not a producing country. It is not natural resources or space that will generate money, it is the production capacity of the people.”

He also spoke on the security challenges plaguing the country, revealing that he had companies in Kano and regularly visited the locations.

“I used to drive to Kano, all over the country. But today, you really cannot do that because of the level of insecurity.

“We want to change that; we want to stop politics of sharing money, stealing and sending children to schools abroad,” he added.