Nigeria needs solutions to inflation and insecurity, not political drama – Obi camp
The Peter Obi Media Office has accused political operatives aligned with the ruling establishment of deliberately diverting public attention from Nigeria’s worsening economic and security challenges by focusing on what it described as trivial controversies arising from Obi’s recent television interview.
In a statement on Wednesday signed by its spokesman, Idris Zekeri Jnr, the media office said it was “compelled to react” after observing “with growing concern the persistent attempts by paid political operatives, propaganda machinery, and elements aligned with the ruling establishment to divert national attention away from the pressing socio-economic challenges confronting Nigeria today.”
According to the statement, Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), had used the interview to highlight “the structural defects in our governance, the crippling economic hardship, and concrete steps toward national revival.”
The media office, however, said the response from the ruling class had been a “predictable reflex” marked by “a desperate scramble to weaponise minor slips, cherry-pick narratives, and elevate non-issues over critical national debate.”
It argued that while millions of Nigerians were struggling with rising prices and insecurity, political actors were choosing to focus on distractions.
“While millions of Nigerian families continue to suffer under the weight of hyperinflation, food insecurity, skyrocketing energy costs, widespread unemployment, and unrelenting insecurity, the political elite and their mouthpieces are fixated on peddling trivialities,” the statement said.
“This is not an accident; it is a calculated political strategy designed to keep the public emotionally agitated and intellectually distracted from demanding real accountability.”
The Obi camp insisted that the country’s real problem was governance rather than political rhetoric.
“Nigeria is in a crisis of governance, not a battle of soundbites,” it said.
“The debate that Nigeria desperately needs today is not about political drama or deliberate semantic distortions; it is about how to rescue a failing economy, restore the purchasing power of the naira, secure innocent lives, and transit our nation from a consumption-driven economy to a productive powerhouse.”
The statement also said the movement would not participate in what it called manufactured controversies.
“We reject the rules of engagement set by the ruling class,” it declared.
“The Obi-Kwankwaso Movement and the millions of patriotic Nigerians who stand with us will not be dragged into the gutter of trivial controversies created by those who have failed the nation.”
“We refuse to allow those responsible for the country’s current plight to set the agenda for public discourse.”
Addressing the media and the public, particularly young Nigerians, the statement urged citizens to resist what it termed propaganda and diversionary tactics.
“Do not yield to the diversionary tactics of propaganda,” it said.
“Whenever the handlers of this administration attempt to turn a national conversation into a circus of irrelevancies, ask them the hard questions.”
The media office then listed the questions it believes should dominate national discourse: “Where is the plan to lower food inflation? How do we secure our farms and highways? What is being done to rescue millions falling below the poverty line?”
Reaffirming Obi’s political commitment, the statement said: “Peter Obi remains unwavering in his commitment to a new Nigeria built on competence, character, transparency, and actionable solutions.”
“No amount of coordinated distraction or smear will deter him from speaking truth to power and standing firmly with the Nigerian people.”
The statement concluded with a call for Nigerians to remain focused on substantive national issues.
