Why Obi lost presidential election to Tinubu –– ex-federal Commissioner

Razaq Abubakre, an emeritus professor and former federal commissioner, says LP presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi couldn’t have beaten President-elect Sen. Bola Tinubu at the last presidential election.

Abubakre, also a former Vice Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University Ilorin, spoke to the correspondent in Abuja on Friday.

The technocrat alleged that Obi’s lackluster performance as former governor of Anambra State worked against him.

Abubakre said that Obi’s inability to build leaders, unlike Tinubu, who has inspired several leaders nationally and internationally, was part of his undoing.

He further stated that the allegation against Obi in some sections of the media, where he was accused of practicing tribal jingoism during his governorship tenure against non-Igbo-speaking people, was part of his albatross.

“Some of his activities, performance, and attitude, in synchrony with those of some of his followers, the “obidients”, reveal their latent parts.

“His use of religion in contradistinction to Asiwaju’s Muslim-Muslim ticket gave him a transient false national spread.

“His alleged impropriety with state funds, as confirmed during an interview with Kadria Ahmed that he invested state funds in his family business, is also part of his undoing,” Abubakre alleged.

He recalled the simile employed by Rabiu Kwankwaso, NNPP presidential candidate, during his speech at Chatham House, London, that Obi’s electoral fortune was like the foam of Andrews Liver Salt that comes with power and disappears almost immediately.

“This is quite apposite to describe his eventual performance, especially during the elections of state governors and House of Assemblies." Unfortunately, desperation is not good manners,” Abubakre said.

He said he could not endorse the permutation that if all the other contestants whose origin was PDP, such as Atiku, Obi, and Kwankwaso, had joined forces, PDP would have probably won the presidency.

“This is underlying the divine intervention favouring Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ab initio.

“The pattern of voting could have changed." For example, the bulk of votes that Obi received from the south-east, parts of the south-south, and pockets of the north-central could not have gone to Atiku.

“Some of it would have also been cast for Tinubu based on his merit and record of performance,” Abubakre asserted.

He said the internal evidence of this claim is the undiminishing successes and superiority of the APC in all the elections, such as the national assembly, gubernatorial elections, and state assemblies, despite the global economic challenges.

“In sum, Peter Obi just came as a spoiler with his mountainous social media following,” Abubakre alleged.

He said Tinubu’s superiority lies in his excellent performance record as governor of Lagos State; his cosmopolitan outlook spread nationally and with global ramifications.

“It is instructive to note that Tinubu’s emergence is divine and critical when the nation needs a true unifier, a performer par excellence, and a strategic leader focused on nation-building for sustainable and inclusive growth,” Abubakre said.

Abubakre was a Federal Commissioner for the Public Complaints Commission for Osun State between 2012 and 2018 and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ilorin from 2001 to 2003.