(Minister of Works, Dave Umahi. Photo by Premuim times)
The Minister of Works has declared that the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, cannot defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
According to the minister, nobody is afraid of Obi, whom he described as playing what he termed “Artificial Intelligence (AI) politics.”
He went further to boast that he himself would defeat Obi at the polls, let alone President Tinubu doing so.
Speaking during an interview on a television programme on Tuesday, the minister also alleged that Obi had failed during his time as Governor of Anambra State, claiming that Obi ought to have resigned given his failures in the health sector as well as in the construction of roads, airports, and similar infrastructure.
He stated that Obi engaged in “AI politics” and that nobody feared him, alleging that as governor, Obi invested public funds in a bank while owing contractors, and that the education sector under his administration was built around select special centres.
He further claimed that Obi could not stand up to him, let alone President Tinubu.
In related remarks, the minister had previously accused Obi of consistently attacking his integrity and personality.
Speaking on Wednesday at the launch of the construction of the Akwanga-Jos superhighway, he said Obi was ignorant of governance matters, accusing the former Anambra State governor of trivialising governance by photographing a bad portion of a road and sharing it on social media purely to score cheap political points.
The minister subsequently challenged Obi to a public debate.