The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has described the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Peter Obi as a politician with a penchant for cooking up figures and twisting facts.
This according to BMO was clear from the series of half truths the former Anambra state governor reeled out during the Vice Presidential candidates’ debate organised by the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja
It said in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke that Obi did not disappoint Nigerians who have been following his political trajectory since he left the Government House in Awka.
The group said “From the outset, it was clear that Obi was out to impress his gullible political base but he did not reckon with the fact that majority of Nigerians cannot be easily be fooled at a time information can easily be cross checked
“Perhaps his biggest lie on the night that was easily debunked by knowledgeable Nigerians was his claim of two million vehicles on Nigerian roads. Even without the benefit of data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), an average car part dealer in Gudu, Abuja or Idumota, Lagos knew he was lying.
“An NBS fact sheet that has for sometime been in the public domain shows that the country has a total vehicle population of about 11.5 million as at the third quarter of 2017 so where did Obi gets his own data?
BMO added that it was gratifying to note that one of Nigeria’s influential online publications, The Cable did a quick fact check of what Obi and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said at the debate
“Some of the lies couched as facts by the PDP chieftain according to the online newspaper include his claim that Nigeria has fallen on the global competitive index from 124 to 127
“The true position from the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) report is that the country rose on the index by 10 places
“Peter Obi also argued that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for 2015 was $21 billion while it fell to $12 billion in 2017. Again he lied just as he did with his claim that African trade is less than 9 percent
“Data from AfrieximBank indicate that intra-Africa trade is around 15 percent while Brooking Institution puts it at 18 percent
“These are just some of the lies that the man PDP elements dressed up as an economic expert attempted to force down the throats of Nigerians as facts and figures”
The group however hailed Professor Osinbajo for sticking with facts on issues including how the President Muhammadu Buhari administration crashed the price of a bag of fertilisers to between N5,500 and N6,500 from a figure ranging from N10,000 to N13,000in the past
BMO added that any discerning Nigerian should know by now that PDP is bent on hoodwinking eligible voters with half truths and false narratives in line with its much-maligned Dubai strategy of lies and propaganda.
