- NDC Vice Presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso pushed back against Vice President Kashim Shettima's attack on Peter Obi's grasp of economic data
- Shettima made the remark at the APC Presidential Campaign Council inauguration in Abuja on Wednesday
- Kwankwaso said he regularly cross-checks figures cited by Obi and has found most of them to be accurate
Rabiu Kwankwaso, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has rejected Vice President Kashim Shettima's characterisation of NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi as "the master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions."
Shettima made the comment on Wednesday, October 154, during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja.
Source: Twitter
Kwankwaso responded the following day during an appearance on Channels Television's Politics Today on Thursday, October 15, insisting that Obi has a firm command of both local and global economic data.
The former Kano State governor said he personally verifies many of the figures Obi cites in public, and that the overwhelming majority have checked out. He conceded that occasional slips of the tongue were not unusual for any speaker but argued this fell far short of the pattern Shettima had described.
The former Kano governor noted:
"For him (Shettima) to come and make that statement, I don't think he is correct. So, I am happy that our presidential candidate is conversant with statistics, not only in this country but all over the world, in Europe, Asia, everywhere, and I think that is a good one."
NDC vs APC rivalry heats up
The exchange marks an early sign of the sharpening rivalry between the NDC and the ruling APC ahead of the 2027 general elections. Peter Obi was ratified as the NDC's presidential candidate on May 29, 2026, after leaving the African Democratic Congress earlier that month.
Shettima's remarks at the APC campaign council launch set the tone for what is shaping up to be a combative election season, with senior figures on both sides already trading pointed assessments of each other's candidates.
See the video of Kwankwaso on YouTube here:
Source: Legit.ng
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