Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has described First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s birthday message as a “reflection of Nigeria’s misplaced priorities.”
In a statement on Sunday, Obi joined “millions of Nigerians in wishing the First Lady well” and prayed for her continued health and happiness.
Obi said, “I join millions of Nigerians in wishing Her Excellency, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, a happy birthday. May God Almighty, who has been with her all these years, grant her many more healthy, fruitful, and happy years.”
However, he expressed shock at her request for well-wishers to donate money for the completion of the National Library instead of spending it on cakes or newspaper adverts.
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Obi stated, “I was struck by irony reading her request: that instead of cakes or newspaper adverts, well-wishers should donate toward completing the National Library in Abuja. On the surface, it is noble and selfless. But beneath it lies an indictment of our nation.”
The former Anambra State governor said that while he once encouraged people to channel funds into meaningful causes, such efforts should only “complement government’s responsibility, not replace it.”
He found it “shocking” that, while “billions are easily found for jets, yachts, unused mansions, endless trips abroad, and other frivolities,” the nation “must rely on birthday donations to complete its own National Library.”
Obi described the abandonment of the National Library as a symbol of “leadership failure.”
He stressed, “What kind of country must beg for charity to build the very temple of knowledge? What kind of leaders waste trillions on luxury and vanity, while the National Library – our intellectual furnace – remains abandoned in the capital? Serious nations treat libraries as sacred; but here we reduce them to afterthoughts, begging bowls, or birthday tokens.”
He concluded by noting that Nigeria’s rise will depend on “investment in education and knowledge.”
He added, “If Nigeria will rise, it will not be on the wings of jets or the splendour of mansions, but on the strength of minds formed in classrooms and nourished in libraries. Until then, the lament remains true—we are finished.”
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