Kwankwaso faults Shettima over attack on Obi, says most figures were correct

Former Kano State Governor and vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has faulted Vice-President Kashim Shettima over his criticism of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, describing the remarks as inappropriate.

Kwankwaso said most of the statistics cited by Obi were correct, arguing that occasional mistakes or slips of the tongue should not be used to discredit his knowledge of economic and development issues.

Shettima had criticised Obi on Wednesday, describing him as the “master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions” while questioning his claim that he won the 2023 presidential election.

The Vice-President also faulted Obi’s approach to economic policy, arguing that adopting foreign models without considering Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances could produce undesirable outcomes.

However, Kwankwaso, who spoke during an interview on Channels Television on Thursday, disagreed with Shettima’s assessment of Obi’s competence.

“What else would you expect him to say?” Kwankwaso asked, reacting to the Vice-President’s remarks.

He said he regularly listened to Obi’s presentations and took time to examine the statistics he presented, adding that his assessment was that most of the figures were accurate.

“As far as I’m concerned, most of the figures he was reeling out were correct,” he said.

Kwankwaso acknowledged that Obi, like other public figures, could make mistakes but maintained that such errors did not justify the nature of Shettima’s criticism.

He described the Vice-President’s remarks as inappropriate, insisting that a possible slip of the tongue should not be confused with a lack of understanding of economic and development statistics.

The NDC vice-presidential candidate also praised Obi’s knowledge of development statistics, describing his familiarity with economic data from Nigeria and other parts of the world as an important quality for a presidential candidate.

According to him, Obi’s understanding of statistics extends beyond Nigeria to other regions, including Europe and Asia.

Kwankwaso expressed satisfaction with the expertise of his party’s presidential candidate, maintaining that a strong grasp of development data was an asset in addressing the country’s economic and social challenges.

The exchange comes amid growing political debate over economic policy, the credibility of public statistics and the positions of political leaders ahead of the 2027 general election.