2027: A Check on the Qualifications of Key Presidential Contenders 

2027: A Check on the Qualifications of Key Presidential Contenders

By Reno Omokri

Yesterday, Sunday, December 28, 2025, Mr Peter Obi, speaking during an X space, said he has more experience to be President than the sitting President. His exact words were as follows:

“I know how to turn Nigeria around. I built my business from scratch and have more experience than any candidate, including the sitting President.”

I am afraid I would have to respectfully disagree, and will do so based on factual evidence.

Let’s start with education. Of all those who have indicated a desire to contest the Presidency in 2027, whether by body language or open admission, Peter Obi is the least educationally qualified.

The incumbent, President Bola Tinubu, has a First Class (Cum Laude) degree in Accounting from Chicago State University. I went there myself on Monday, September 19, 2022, to verify that he was admitted, attended, and graduated from that institution.

Waziri Atiku Abubakar has a Master’s in International Relations from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Sharda University in India.

Meanwhile, Peter Obi has a Second Class degree in Philosophy from the University of Nigeria.

As an objective person, ask yourself who is better qualified educationally among the quartet?

Now, let’s look at experience and record in government.

All four of the persons mentioned above have been in government in an executive capacity.

Both the President and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso built nursery, primary, and secondary schools while they were Governors.

Some of the schools that the President initiated, started, completed, and commissioned while he was a Governor were:

The Abibatu Mogaji Millennium Secondary School, Agege.

The Bola Ige Millennium Secondary School, Ajeromi.

The Babs Fafunwa Millennium Secondary School, Ojodu.

The Millennium Senior Secondary School, Egbeda.

Additionally, as Governor of Lagos, President Tinubu built Independent Power Stations (some of which were completed by his successor), including:

The Alausa Independent Power Plant (10.4 Mw), the Akute Independent Power Plant (12.55Mw), the Lagos Island 1&2 Independent Power Plant (10Mw), the Mainland Independent Power Plant (8.8Mw), the Lekki Peninsula Integrated Power Project (6Mw), and the Island IPP located in Marina (10MW).

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso also built the Kano State Independent Power Projects in two phases: the Tiga and Challawa Gorge dams.

However, in the eight years that he governed Anambra State, Peter Obi did not build even a single nursery, primary, secondary school, or university. He also did not build any Independent Power Project.

And the result was that, while Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as Governor of Lagos, reduced poverty in Lagos State, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso achieved great strides in poverty alleviation, Peter Obi did the opposite.

Please fact-check me: The poverty rate in Anambra was 41.4% in 2003, before Obi took office, and rose to 53.7% by 2009, during his governorship, a 29.7% increase.

Next, we touch on corruption.

Of all the potential candidates, only Peter Obi has a subsisting credible corruption dossier attached to his name.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Peter Obi corruptly ferried money out of Nigeria and stashed it in secret accounts.

Mr Obi has not sued the ICIJ, nor has he discharged himself from the veracity of the indictment.

Now, my question to Nigerians is this: how can a man with the lowest educational qualifications, the absolute worst record in office as Governor among the contenders, and a sword of corruption above his head now turn around to claim that he is more experienced than any other aspirant?

How can a man who increased poverty in a small state like Anambra State say he is better qualified than a President Tinubu who has delivered an average of above 3% annual GDP growth and added $67 billion to our economy in just two years, moving Nigeria’s GDP from ₦269.29 trillion on May 29, 2023, when Asiwaju became President, to ₦372.8 trillion today?

There are Local Council Development Area Chairmen in Lagos who have better records in office than Peter Obi. It is an insult for Obi to even compare himself to President Tinubu!

Please let us be factual. That is the only way we can progress as a country, when we are led by objective, rational thoughts, rather than by sentiments.