Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives congress lead the south in the race to Aso Rock. However, both men have also not seen eye-to-eye in their political escapades...
In the bid to improve political conversations around both candidates, Pulse brings you 3 things they both have in common.
Both Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu are capitalists
A capitalist politician is someone who supports the principles of capitalism, which is an economic and political system in which the means of production are privately owned and controlled for the purpose of generating profit. This often involves advocating for free market policies, such as lower taxes and minimal government regulation of business.
There are several indications that both Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi are staunch capitalists. In Peter Obi's manifesto, he promises to invest in MSME(s)'s ideas, and give grants. Investing in MSMEs is often seen as a way to support economic growth and development, as these businesses are typically the backbone of many local economies. They also provide important opportunities for entrepreneurship and job creation.
Meanwhile, Tinubu promised to create six new regional economic development agencies which will establish sub-regional industrial hubs to exploit each zone’s competitive advantage and optimise their potential for industrial growth, and job creation.
Both Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu are ex-governors
One of the rather obvious similarities both Obi and Tinubu share is the fact that at some point in their political careers, they have been elected state governors.
Tinubu served as the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, during which he initiated reforms that improved the efficiency of the civil service and improved infrastructure.
While Peter Obi served as governor of Anambra from March to November 2006, February to May 2007, and from June 2007 to March 2014.
He was the first Governor in Nigeria to legally challenge his wrongful impeachment and was reinstated by the Courts.
He was the first Governor in Nigeria to seek the interpretation of tenures of Governors when INEC allowed elections to take place in Anambra State when his tenure had not expired; the election already concluded was cancelled and he was allowed to complete his tenure.
Both Peter Obi and Tinubu have recorded Financial/corruption scandals
Peter Obi is widely regarded in Nigeria as an advocate of good governance, openness, and transparency; however, in 2021 Pandora Papers threw open Obi's secret businesses. According to the investigative piece, Obi had set up discret companies with in his daughter's name, abroad.
It was revealed that Obi first approached Acces International, a secrecy enabler in Monaco, France, to help him incorporate an offshore entity in one of the world’s most notorious tax havens noted for providing conduits for wealthy and privileged corrupt political elites to hide stolen cash.
According to the newspaper, Obi also paid Acces International to provide nominee directors for the company — these directors are residents of tax havens paid to sit on boards of companies to hide the identities of real owners of offshore firms.
Acces International officials, who reportedly took briefs from Obi and or his representatives, headed to the British Virgin Island where they contracted a local registered agent – Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee Trust (BVI) Limited (Alcogal) — to set up Gabriella Investments Limited for the former governor.
Also, in 2009, arms and foreign currency were found in Peter Obi's official cars that were going for repairs in Lagos which carried the said N250 million.
To him, the brouhaha over the interception of the said money was a grand political conspiracy to smear his image in what was a straightforward contractual and business transaction. It was gathered that the money in question had since been returned to the contractor who is already procuring the vehicles the money was meant for.
Bola Tinubu is the scandal magnet for the season. The Jagaban scandal story is indeed many divergent; ranging from forgery, perjury, fakery, false claims, age controversy, shady background, abuse of office, undefined sources of wealth, illegal conversion of state assets, peculation of public funds, unbridled bulimic tendencies and primitive accumulation to landlordism tendencies by one who in the past had stridently spoken against corruption and who parades himself as a politician on the progressive bent.
No doubt, Tinubu’s health status which he failed to disclose to the public and which makes him frequent overseas for treat is scandalous. It is said that he has obvious signs of senility as his steps are wobbly and his speeches uncoordinated. His few public outings since his emergence as the APC presidential candidate have been a total fiasco apparently making his team bar him from public appearance except that which will be organized or managed by his team.