By Paul Uwadima
In what can only be described as a desperate and ill-advised political maneuver, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State recently launched an unprovoked and unconvincing attack on the former governor of Anambra State and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi. His lengthy diatribe, disguised as a “factually based” critique, not only failed to shield him from the crumbling walls of his own political fortunes but also exposed a familiar, worn-out strategy increasingly deployed by embattled politicians seeking favor from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: attack Peter Obi publicly to win political points.
Sanwo-Olu’s personal statement, targeting Obi’s Johns Hopkins University lecture on poverty and leadership, reeks of desperation rather than patriotism. The irony is profound: a governor battling internal threats to his political survival, a governor rumored to be under the radar of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), now postures as the self-appointed defender-in-chief of President Tinubu. This farcical attempt to rehabilitate his battered standing within the inner circle of power reveals more about Sanwo-Olu’s anxiety than it does about Peter Obi’s commentary.
The context behind Sanwo-Olu’s aggression cannot be ignored. Not too long ago, the Tinubu political machinery accused him of financially backing Peter Obi’s presidential run — a damning allegation Obi swiftly denied. More significantly, Aisha Achimugu, a close associate of Sanwo-Olu, is currently evading arrest by the EFCC in connection to corruption charges. Sanwo-Olu’s name has been whispered in similar circles, with strong rumors suggesting that the EFCC is merely awaiting the end of his tenure in 2027 to pounce.
If Sanwo-Olu believes that attacking Peter Obi will insulate him from these swirling allegations, he is grossly mistaken. History and current realities have shown that President Tinubu rewards loyalty but is ruthless in cutting off political liabilities. Sanwo-Olu has already seen the first signs of this cold shoulder when Tinubu orchestrated the humiliating reinstatement of Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly — a stark rebuke of Sanwo-Olu’s authority. Since then, Sanwo-Olu’s lips had remained sealed, his political relevance shrinking steadily, until now — when he deemed it wise to attack Obi, perhaps as a last gasp to regain relevance.
The Nigerian public is not fooled. Sanwo-Olu’s move fits into an all-too-familiar script: criticize Peter Obi loudly and you might earn a few minutes of favor in Tinubu’s court. We have seen this tired tactic with figures like Reno Omokri and Daniel Bwala, both of whom have found in Peter Obi an easy punching bag in their struggle for political survival or access. But the ploy is as transparent as it is pathetic.
Moreover, Sanwo-Olu’s attempt to discredit Obi falls flat when scrutinized. In a nation where poverty levels have reached unprecedented heights under successive administrations — including Tinubu’s current government — Obi’s international advocacy for better leadership and economic management is not just appropriate; it is urgently needed. Rather than defend indefensible failures, Sanwo-Olu should have taken Obi’s remarks as an opportunity for introspection and reform.
It is disingenuous for Sanwo-Olu to claim that Tinubu’s administration is actively lifting Nigerians out of poverty when empirical evidence shows the opposite. Inflation is at record levels, unemployment is worsening, the naira is in free fall, and millions are falling deeper into destitution daily. To claim that “over half a billion dollars” has been provided in credit facilities without addressing the deteriorating living standards of ordinary Nigerians is not just misleading — it is an insult to the suffering masses.
Sanwo-Olu’s attack also exposes a worrying misunderstanding of patriotism. True patriotism does not mean lying about your country’s failures to a global audience. It means acknowledging those failures, accepting responsibility, and working towards solutions. Peter Obi’s call for better governance, investments in health, education, and pulling Nigerians out of poverty, aligns with the true essence of patriotism. Glossing over Nigeria’s grim realities for political optics, as Sanwo-Olu advocates, is not patriotism — it is cowardice.
Furthermore, it is laughable for Sanwo-Olu to point fingers at Obi over Anambra’s poverty statistics from over a decade ago while ignoring the failures that stare him and his political masters in the face today. It is instructive to note that Lagos, often touted as Nigeria’s “success story,” remains a city of two extremes: dazzling wealth for a few and abject poverty for millions. If Tinubu’s and Sanwo-Olu’s leadership models were truly effective, Lagos would not be home to some of the largest slums in Africa despite its enormous internally generated revenue.
Sanwo-Olu’s political decline is evident to all who care to look. His once unshakable grip on Lagos politics is slipping, his alliances are weakening, and his political godfather seems increasingly indifferent to his plight. Attacking Peter Obi will not reverse these realities. If anything, it will further erode the little credibility Sanwo-Olu still possesses.
In the end, Nigerians deserve better than tired political theater. They deserve leaders who will focus on solving real problems, not those who waste precious time manufacturing enemies and scapegoats. If Sanwo-Olu truly wishes to remain relevant, he should channel his energies into governance and clearing his name, not chasing after imaginary political redemption through puerile attacks on Peter Obi.
The real issues confronting Nigeria — poverty, insecurity, unemployment, collapsing education and healthcare systems — require genuine leadership, not sycophancy. The current generation of Nigerians is too informed, too connected, and too emboldened to fall for the same old tricks.
Governor Sanwo-Olu must realize that his loyalty to President Tinubu cannot be proven through slander and cheap political attacks. It must be proven by the tangible improvement in the lives of the people he governs. Anything short of that is mere political pantomime — and the Nigerian people are no longer buying tickets to that show.
In the final analysis, Sanwo-Olu’s attack on Peter Obi will not save him from his looming political irrelevance. Nor will it save him from the consequences of whatever investigations await him after 2027. It is said that when the gods want to destroy a man, they first make him mad. In Sanwo-Olu’s case, the madness seems to have manifested in his ill-advised attempt to seek validation by tearing down those who dare to speak truth to power.
History will remember where each leader stood in these challenging times — with the people, or against them.
Uwadima, a journalist, writes from Abuja.