Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Lere Olayinka, has fired back at Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, accusing him of chasing media relevance through needless criticism of the FCT Administration.
Olayinka, in a statement on Thursday, said the FCT Administration under Nyesom Wike is not operating the kind of “mad man advice induced beer parlour development” that, according to him, characterized Obi’s tenure as Governor of Anambra State.
He was reacting to Obi’s recent comments during his visit to LEA Primary School in Kapwa, Abuja, where the former Anambra governor described the poor state of the school as a national disgrace that exposes Nigeria’s lack of commitment to education.
Olayinka, however, defended the FCT Administration, noting that 73 schools are currently being renovated across the six Area Councils of the territory, while 21 have already been completed. “Unlike Obi, who did nothing to uplift the education sector as Governor of Anambra State, the Wike-led FCTA has been building and renovating schools,” he said.
According to him, “102 contracts have been awarded for renovation of schools in the FCT, and as at today, 21 schools have been completely renovated and work is ongoing in others.”
He challenged Obi to list the number of schools he built or rehabilitated during his eight-year administration in Anambra State, adding that Anambra continues to suffer the effects of what he called “eight years of mad man advice induced misgovernance.”
Olayinka also accused the former governor of hoarding state funds in personal bank accounts instead of investing in infrastructure and public welfare. “If as governor of Anambra State he had performed the same magic he has been lying to Nigerians he could perform in four years, Anambra State would have become a reference point in terms of development,” he stated.
Describing Obi as an “Internally Displaced Politician (IDP) looking for a permanent abode in the media space,” the minister’s aide mocked him over his uncertain political future ahead of the 2027 elections.
“It is funny that someone who should be bothered that he does not have a platform to contest the 2027 election has turned himself into a political wanderer. Under which party is Mr. One Shoe contesting the 2027 presidential election?” Olayinka asked.
The statement came amid the ongoing FCT projects commissioning exercise, during which Minister Nyesom Wike had earlier thrown a similar challenge to Obi to compare his eight-year record in Anambra with the FCT’s developmental strides in just two years.
