Tinubu can’t appreciate facts, figures, says Obi-Datti

The media aides of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, have explained why his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, dreads facts and figures used by opponents in place of rhetorics.

Head, Obi-Datti Media Office, Diran Onifade, said this in response to aspersions cast on the use of statistics by Peter Obi, by Tinubu and the APC Campaign, in Abuja, on Sunday.

Onifade explained that Obi’s resort to the use of statistics was to demystify campaign rhetorics.

This, he noted, has made the APC candidate who is ill-equipped to comprehend neither arithmetic nor statistics jittery.

Onifade said, “Tinubu had said at a rally of rented crowds in Gbaramatu Delta State that Peter Obi of the Labour Party lied with figures.

“A contestant who cannot pronounce or spell ‘m.u.l.t.i.p.l.i.c.a.t.i.o.n’ and wants to argue about numbers, arithmetic, and statistics says a lot about how low we have climbed in this country.”

The LP Campaign further stated that its candidate was brimming with practicable ideas and he was demystifying electioneering rhetorics by employing simple facts and figures in his campaigns.

“Providing the numbers shows Peter Obi’s preparedness for the high office of the President if and when hired by Nigerian voters come 2023,” the media office said.

The Obi-Datti Media Office further stated that it was aware of the inability of some runners in the presidential race to cope with Peter Obi’s speed and deep knowledge of issues.

It said, “This has resulted in a grand design to distract his focus from the issue-driven campaigns, which are resonating very well with Nigerians who are ready and committed to taking back their country from forces that have held it down over the years.”

Responding to APC on the use of figures to convey facts, the LP added that it is risky seeming to dine with the devil without the proverbial long spoon or to run with the robber and confusing passers-by about the identity of the real thief.

Onifade further said, “Our candidate has said repeatedly that his assertions were verifiable and dared anybody with contrary facts and figures to come up.

“Analysts, media houses, and opponents have formed fact-checking units in their organisations ostensibly to contradict Peter Obi’s facts and figures, but they are yet to succeed.”

To buttress its point, the LP campaign cited a recent Arise TV town hall meeting in Abuja where a team of fact-checkers was raised to hook Obi, but they ended up apologising to him.

He said, “The acceptable mantra is always if you can’t beat them join them, but in Nigerian politics, the reverse is the case: if you can’t beat them pull them down.

“That is what Obi’s opponents who cannot cope with his deep know-how about the economy are doing.”