Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election and a leading opposition figure ahead of the 2027 presidential election, has called on President Bola Tinubu to step aside, arguing that Nigeria needs new leadership with the capacity and energy to tackle the country’s deepening economic and security challenges.
Obi made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he criticised the performance of the Tinubu administration and argued that the president’s current capacity was insufficient to address the country’s mounting problems.
Drawing a distinction between Tinubu’s time as governor of Lagos State and his performance as president, Obi said the man who governed Lagos was no longer the same leader currently occupying the presidency. “The Bola Tinubu that was governor is not the one that is president today. He’s tired. He should be allowed to retire in peace and then go home,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor accused Tinubu of leading Nigeria in the wrong direction and said the country required a different kind of leadership to reverse its worsening fortunes. “As it is right now, Bola Tinubu is leading us nowhere. We will turn it so he can see it. That’s why maybe I’m calling for his retirement. The man should just step aside. Yes, he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job,” Obi said.
He also expressed concern over what he described as the country’s worsening poverty, hunger and insecurity, arguing that the 2027 election should focus on the challenges confronting ordinary Nigerians rather than political calculations. Referring to a World Bank poverty projection, Obi said, “The World Bank has just said that 79 per cent of Nigerians are going to face poverty. In a country of 230 million people, that’s over 180 million. That should be the issue we should be discussing.”
Obi said the country should also be paying greater attention to its growing number of out-of-school children, inadequate healthcare and alleged mismanagement of public resources. “They should be talking about the issue of out-of-school children, talking about the issue of health, and all these monies that are missing here and there that would have been invested properly. Nobody is discussing it,” he said.
On food insecurity and insecurity, Obi said the 2027 presidential election should be about finding solutions to problems affecting Nigerians. “This election in 2027 should be about issues that affect ordinary Nigerians. The World Food Programme has just said 35 million Nigerians are going to face hunger. Nigerians are being kidnapped. Let’s talk about Nigeria,” he said.
Responding to comments by United States President Donald Trump commending Tinubu’s efforts to address insecurity, Obi acknowledged the recognition but insisted that the situation required far more decisive action. “Thank you to Donald Trump. Thank you to President Trump. But we need to do more, far more than what we are doing,” he said, adding that “with the crisis we are facing, his best is not enough. We need to do more.”
Obi, who said recent mass abductions in Zamfara State demonstrated the severity of the security crisis, argued that Nigeria could not defeat insecurity without tackling poverty and investing heavily in education. He said his motivation for seeking the presidency was not personal ambition but a desire to see the country work, declaring, “I’m not desperate to be Nigerian president. I’m desperate to see Nigeria work.” He added that he would support any leader capable of delivering good governance, saying, “If it’s working, I’ll support whatever makes it work.”
