Peter Obi Sunday Politics interview on Channels Television delivered one of the opposition leader’s sharpest verdicts yet on President Bola Tinubu’s government, with Obi urging the president to step aside before the 2027 election.
Speaking to host Seun Okinbaloye, the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate said the man who once ran Lagos State well is not the same person now leading the country. He is tired, Obi said, and should be allowed to retire in peace and go home.
The Peter Obi Sunday Politics interview came as campaigning for 2027 gathers pace. Obi argued that Tinubu’s administration lacks the energy needed to confront Nigeria’s economic and security problems, and that the country is moving in the wrong direction under current leadership.
He leaned heavily on fresh figures from the World Bank to make his case. Citing the institution’s newly approved Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria, Obi said 79 per cent of Nigerians are near poor or vulnerable to falling back into poverty, a figure he translated into roughly 180 million people out of a population of 230 million.
That should be the issue dominating national debate, he said during the Peter Obi Sunday Politics interview, rather than out-of-school children, failing healthcare, or the missing public funds that could have gone into fixing both.
Obi also pointed to the World Food Programme’s warning that nearly 35 million Nigerians face severe hunger during the 2026 lean season, the highest figure the agency has recorded in the country. Nigerians are being kidnapped, he said, insisting that this election should be about the issues that affect ordinary people rather than political theatre.
On insecurity, Obi drew a direct line to poverty. Mass poverty and criminality feed each other, he argued, and lifting people out of poverty is the surest way to bring down crime. He called for massive investment in education, saying it should sit alongside any serious security strategy.
Asked about praise for Tinubu’s security record from former United States president Donald Trump, Obi acknowledged the comment but said Nigeria’s response to insecurity remains inadequate. He promised a more hands-on approach if elected, saying he would personally take responsibility for protecting citizens and would do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
The Peter Obi Sunday Politics interview also touched on his own political motives. Responding to a question about whether failing to win the presidency in 2027 would end his political career, Obi rejected the idea that he is chasing office for its own sake. He is not desperate to become president, he said, but desperate to see Nigeria work, adding that he would support anyone capable of delivering that outcome.
He used the platform to push back on claims by former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who had questioned his ability to unite the country. Obi insisted his record shows a long-standing commitment to national cohesion, and said he knows what it takes to unite Nigeria and intends to prove it.
On the north specifically, Obi promised change, saying he understands the region’s challenges and would work with northern leaders to secure the unity, security and prosperity they want. Nobody, he added, is better placed to drive that process than he is.
Throughout interview, the NDC candidate returned repeatedly to a production-led economy as the fix for Nigeria’s structural weaknesses, arguing that a nation that imports finished goods while exporting raw materials cannot sustain a strong currency or lift its people out of poverty.
The Peter Obi Sunday Politics interview added to a week of pointed exchanges between Nigeria’s leading 2027 contenders, with Obi’s comments on Tinubu’s fitness for office likely to dominate political conversation in the days ahead.
