Cletus Obun Mbia, a former lawmaker and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has cast doubt on Peter Obi’s vow to serve only one term if elected in 2027, describing it as an unconvincing political gimmick.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, had recently pledged to serve a single four-year term if elected president, drawing on the examples of leaders such as Nelson Mandela to emphasise the value of purposeful and time-bound leadership.
However, reacting to Obi’s pledge, Mbia, speaking on Tuesday during an interview on Tr
ust TV, dismissed the comparison, arguing that Obi lacks the legacy and depth of leadership demonstrated by the South African icon.“He is busy citing Mandela. What made Mandela take that decision? Mandela fought as a young lawyer all his life for his people, and then the people crowned him and said, ‘Come and lead the country that you created,’” Mbia said.
“Mandela didn’t announce to anybody that he was stepping down or serving one term. He didn’t need to announce anything. A lion does not need to roar to show that it is a lion. You do not fold an umbrella and call it a walking stick. It doesn’t work that way.”
Mbia further criticised Obi’s economic rhetoric, especially the popular mantra of transitioning Nigeria “from consumption to production.
He accused the former governor of lacking any practical track record in industrial development.
“An Obi who has been governor and tells us that we should move from consumption to production has shown no production in his entire business career. He buys and sells. Where’s the production? Where’s his factory?” he queried.
“Is there no land in Anambra, in his village, to build one school? What was produced in the technical schools and the polytechnic that were in Anambra? He said,
‘We became number one in passing WAEC.’ After WAEC, what else? What is the production in WAEC? How does that become education?”
He also criticised Obi’s handling of local government administration during his tenure in Anambra State, accusing him of stifling grassroots democracy.
“In eight years, you didn’t do one local government election until the last year you had in office. That’s when you did elections — to give power to the people who you say you care about,” he stated.
Mbia suggested that Obi’s current campaign is more about personal ambition than genuine service, adding that the APC would address these concerns more robustly when the 2027 election campaigns formally begin.
“When we get to the campaigns, we shall deal with those issues. For now, let us not give him free publicity by analyzing him. Peter is not one of those that we should trust.”
Peter Obi’s single-term promise has become one of the most debated topics in the early build-up to the 2027 presidential race, with supporters praising the pledge as a sign of focused leadership, while critics, such as Mbia, say it is a desperate attempt to gain attention.
Comments
Post a Comment