Days After Rome’s Meeting, Obi Reignites Attack On Tinubu

• Says Nigeria Remains A Relentless Scene Of Corruption
• El-Rufai: Coalition Will Keep Bosun Tijani After Sacking Tinubu

Any hope of a cessation in the scathing attack by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu following a meeting between the duo in Rome a few days ago seems to have been thrown out the window if latest development is anything to go by.

The Matrix Newspaper reports that Obi, in company of former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi had met with Tinubu at The Vatican in Rome during the inauguration of Pope Leo VIV sparking widespread speculation that an alliance might be in the offing,

However, that seems to have been quashed as Obi has resumed his attack on the Tinubu’s administration.

In a post on X on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 titled, ‘Nigeria remains a relentless scene of corruption,’ Obi said that for Nigeria to make progress, it must cease to function as a “crime scene” and be repositioned for genuine development.

He said that the nation’s national resources must be transparently managed and strategically invested in key sectors—health, education, and poverty alleviation—to secure a better future for our people.

Obi stated this in reaction to the claim by a non-governmental organisation, BudgIT, that the 2025 budget was misappropriated.

He said, “This brazen impunity by our leaders is precisely why the country cannot invest adequately in education—hence the existence of nearly 20 million out-of-school children. It is the same corruption that has crippled primary healthcare, resulting in alarming levels of malnourished children.

“We face widespread hunger, yet our leaders neglect agricultural investment due to persistent mismanagement and lack of accountability. The same disregard affects our capacity to fund national security effectively or to support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which are vital to national growth.

“These glaring acts of corruption reinforce my position: Nigeria has been reduced to a crime scene.”

BudgIT had in a statement signed by a Senior Communications Associate, Nancy Odimegwu, on Tuesday, said, “BudgIT, a prominent civic tech organisation promoting transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s public finance, has uncovered 11,122 projects valued as ₦6.93 trillion inserted by the National Assembly into the 2025 Federal Government budget.

"Obi said he was convinced that the figure represented only a fraction of the actual amount misappropriated.

“How else can we explain the distressing revelations by BudgIT, which uncovered a staggering ₦7 trillion in questionable projects inserted into the 2025 national budget? I am convinced that this figure represents only a fraction of the actual amount misappropriated.

“These findings are deeply troubling and confirm my long-held position that we have turned our country into a crime scene. We must urgently and aggressively combat corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness in order to manage our resources effectively and efficiently, and invest in critical areas of development: health, education, and lifting our people out of poverty,” he said.

The former Anambra State governor stated that the figure was greater than the combined allocations to the ministry of health, education, humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, and agriculture.

“To be precise, the Ministry of Education was allocated ₦3.52 trillion. The Ministry of Health received ₦2.48 trillion. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was allocated ₦260 billion, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security received ₦636.08 billion.

“Combined, these four ministries were allocated ₦6.896 trillion—an already inflated amount—yet still less than the ₦7 trillion dubiously inserted into the budget,” Obi said.

“That ₦7 trillion figure is even more than the ₦6.1 trillion allocated to national security—at a time when Nigeria is among the most terrorised nations in the world,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has disclosed plans by the coalition to keep Bosun Tijani as Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, after the coalition has defeated President Tinubu in 2027.

El-Rufai made this known on Wednesday during the second edition of Arewa Tech Fest held in Katsina.

The three-day event was convened by the former governor to bring together startups, investors, tech professionals, policy leaders, and innovators to discuss tech-related innovations, especially in northern Nigeria.

Tijani delivered the keynote address at the event.

“There was a very important meeting of the coalition we’re putting together to ensure that President Tinubu goes back to Lagos,” he said.

“Though we will still keep Bosun Tijani, we will still keep the minister because he is doing good work.

“I had to attend that meeting at 8pm. The Katsina airport does not operate after 8pm, so I could not come until this morning.”

El-Rufai is one of the opposition politicians mobilising to create a coalition of political parties to unseat Tinubu in 2027.

Matrix