Vice President Kashim Shettima has criticised former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi over his economic arguments, accusing the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate of relying on what he described as misleading statistics and unsuitable economic solutions for Nigeria.
Shettima made the remarks on Wednesday during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Describing Obi as a friend, the Vice President questioned his frequent comparisons between Nigeria and Bangladesh, arguing that policies adopted by one country could not automatically produce similar results in another.
Shettima used a clothing-size analogy to challenge Obi’s approach to comparing the two countries.
“He seems convinced that a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit Nigeria’s size 52 frame,” he said.
According to the Vice President, economic policies must reflect a country’s population, institutions, political environment and economic structure rather than rely on models developed elsewhere.
He argued that Nigeria’s circumstances required solutions designed around its specific challenges, adding that comparisons with other countries should take their differences into account.
“Governance is an art that demands mastery of context, whether social, economic, political or institutional,” Shettima said.
He further maintained that Nigeria’s large population and distinct economic realities made it inappropriate to adopt foreign economic prescriptions without considering local conditions.
“A country of over 250 million people cannot be governed through borrowed statistics and economic prescriptions detached from its peculiarities,” he added.
Shettima also challenged Obi’s assertion that he won the 2023 presidential election, describing the claim as unsupported by evidence. He characterised the assertion as a “delusion of grandeur” and criticised what he portrayed as an attempt to present old political ideas as a new direction for the country.
Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the Labour Party platform, has repeatedly criticised the Tinubu administration’s economic management, including its borrowing policies.
In February, the former Anambra governor argued that Nigeria’s fundamental problem was the management of public funds rather than borrowing itself.
Obi challenged the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in court after finishing third behind President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and upheld Tinubu’s election in October 2023.
Obi is seeking the presidency again in the January 16, 2027 general election under the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, according to the information provided in the report.
Meanwhile, the APC is scheduled to begin its 2027 presidential campaign in Kaduna on October 24.
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