Obi quotes verifiable facts, figures - Media team replies Tinubu

The Obi-Datti media team has rubbished claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that the Labour Party flag-bearer, Peter Obi, quotes unverifiable facts and figures.

Media team defends Obi: The team argued that the former Anambra State Governor claims were verifiable, adding that many analysts had been fact-checking them.

What actually happened: Pulse reports that Tinubu, in a video of his rally in Gbaramatu, Delta State, had mocked Obi for quoting statistics, stating that the Labour Party candidate believes running a country is about statistical references.

Even though he refrained from outrightly calling his name, the APC candidate implied that Obi was a man not wanted by Nigerians because “he lies with arithmetic that no mathematician can solve.”

Tinubu's word: “To mention his name is a disgrace to me. He gives out wrong arithmetic and wrong statistics on the economy. That is not what Nigerians want. Nigerians need honesty, they need the man who knows the road to take, and that man is me.”

Media team fires back: The Obi-Datti Media Office responded to the criticism via a statement on Sunday, November 27, 2022.

The team said it noted the attempts by Tinubu and his party to cast aspersions on the informed use of statistics by his Obi, declaring that the APC candidate could not stand Obi’s statistics.

The Obi-Datti Media Office further stated that the Labor Party candidate had demonstrated his fresh and practicable ideas and demystified electioneering rhetorics by driving his message home with facts and figures in his campaigns.

The statement read party: “Providing the numbers shows Obi’s preparedness for the high office of the President if and when hired by Nigerian voters come 2023.

“This has resulted in a grand design to distract his focus from the issue-driven campaigns which are resonating very well with Nigerians who are ready and committed to taking back their country from forces that have held it down over the years.

“Our candidate has said repeatedly that his assertions were verifiable and dared anybody with contrary facts and figures to come up. Analysts, media houses, and opponents have formed fact-checking units in their organisations ostensibly to contradict Obi’s facts and figures.

“The acceptable mantra is always if you can’t beat them join them, but in Nigerian politics, the reverse is the case: if you can’t beat them pull them down. That is what Obi’s opponents who cannot cope with his deep know-how about the economy are doing,” the team said, alleging that “the fact that the APC man has questionable bio-data has left the electorate guessing his real age and health status.”