Nigeria Is Led by People with Criminal Records and Forged Certificates — Peter Obi

The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticized the current leadership in Nigeria, stating that individuals with criminal records and forged or unverified school certificates are running the country.

Speaking on Arise Television on Tuesday, Obi argued that true democracy does not exist in Nigeria, particularly due to the lack of a vibrant and independent judiciary.

He further claimed that many people, including those at his level in society, face daily harassment because “there is no freedom of speech in Nigeria.”

He continued, “There is no democracy in Nigeria today; Nigeria is not a democratic country. Let’s stop telling ourselves lies. It is not a democratic country. So it’s not for the people.

“You can’t have a democracy without a functional and effective legislator, which you know we don’t have today.

“You can’t have a democracy without, again, an independent judiciary that fights for the common person. I can go on and on.

“In a democracy, it is clear there’s guidelines even you set for people vying for election, like in the Nigerian case, you have to talk about people must be qualified, they must have primary school, secondary school, university, and most attain certain age.

“That is not happening today. People are with unverified, forged certificates all over the place, criminal records and everything, and they are in charge.

“So you cannot say that it is [democracy]. Yes, maybe we are striving to be a democratic country, but where we are today is not. Look at what happened in Rivers that we mentioned, can you call that democracy?”