Umahi Faults Obi, Says Deceit Cannot Win Presidency in 2027

Minister of Works Dave Umahi on Tuesday criticised NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi’s call for President Tinubu to resign, describing Obi’s political strategy as one built on deceit that would ultimately fail to deliver the presidency in 2027.

Umahi said Obi’s pattern of comparing Nigeria to the United Kingdom, particularly in the wake of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation, reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of how presidential democracies operate and exposed Obi as someone more interested in scoring political points than engaging seriously with governance realities. He said Nigeria’s constitutional architecture bore no resemblance to the Westminster parliamentary system and that Obi knew this perfectly well.

Umahi Defends Tinubu’s Economic Record

The minister said the Tinubu administration’s achievements across infrastructure, economic reform, and security deserved honest assessment rather than politically motivated attacks dressed up as principled commentary. He pointed specifically to road infrastructure projects under his own ministry, including the Trans Saharan Superhighway revival and the completion of the OSEX carriageway in Abuja, as evidence of a government that was delivering on its promises.

Umahi also dismissed Obi’s suggestion that the Tinubu administration had failed in fighting corruption, saying the record number of EFCC prosecutions in 2026, including the cases of former ministers and former governors, demonstrated a stronger anti-corruption commitment than any previous administration. He said governance required patience and sustained effort rather than the quick fixes that opposition politicians demanded during election season.

Political War of Words Intensifies

However, Obi’s camp rejected Umahi’s characterisation, saying the minister was defending an administration that could not adequately explain why Nigerian schoolchildren remained in captivity for seven weeks, why the Plateau State massacre went unanswered, and why the cost of living continued to crush ordinary families. Furthermore, the PRP and Labour Party also issued statements supporting Obi’s broader governance critique while stopping short of endorsing the specific resignation demand. Notably, Fayose separately blamed the PDP for its poor showing in the Ekiti election, laying responsibility on Governor Makinde’s handling of the Oyo abduction crisis. Consequently, the Nigerian political space is entering a period of intense pre-2027 positioning in which every governance failure and every government achievement is being actively contested.