Oshiomhole mocks Obi's one-term pledge at APC rally in Calabar
- Adams Oshiomhole told an APC rally in Calabar that Peter Obi's one-term promise is not a serious plan.
- He said Obi could not fix Anambra in eight years and asked how four years would be enough.
- Oshiomhole also attacked Atiku Abubakar and praised Tinubu's policies on oil revenue and student loans.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole has poured cold water on Peter Obi's promise to serve only one term if elected president, telling a crowd in Calabar that the pledge does not add up.
Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North, spoke on Monday at an All Progressives Congress (APC) rally in the Cross River State capital. Vice-President Kashim Shettima and other party leaders were at the event.
Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), said in May that he would step down after four years if voted in. He made the promise in a television interview, saying he wanted a single term for stability and would not stay "a day longer than four years, even with a gun to my head."
Oshiomhole turned that promise against him. He argued that if Obi could not turn Anambra State around in eight years as governor, four years in Abuja would not be enough either. He described the one-term offer as "chop and chop democracy" — his phrase for politics built around sharing spoils rather than service.
Atiku and Tinubu
The former Edo governor also took aim at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, saying he spends most of his time in Dubai and returns home only around elections. He told the crowd that when Atiku loses the February election, he will go back to Dubai.
Oshiomhole then praised President Bola Tinubu as the strongest of the candidates, saying Tinubu has taken tough decisions past governments avoided.
He pointed to Cross River being recognised as an oil-producing state, saying the change would permanently raise the money coming to the state. He also cited the student loan scheme, putting the number of beneficiaries in Cross River at 12,503, and said it would ease the cost of university for parents.
On infrastructure, he said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, once completed, would open up Cross River and other states along the route.
He further argued that scrapping the multiple exchange rate system had closed the gap between the rate available to well-connected people and the one ordinary Nigerians get. "Today, the rate of exchange in Calabar is the same rate in my village that is not even on the map," he said.
The rally is part of the APC's push ahead of the February presidential election, with the party using its big names to sell Tinubu's record to voters in the south-south.
What happens next: Campaigning is expected to intensify across the states as the parties trade words over the economy, security and education. Voters go to the polls in February.
