Peter Obi Says 'Nigeria is Finished' in Birthday Message to First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, Condemns National Library Fund Request
By: Olufemi Orunsola
As prominent Nigerians across political divides continue to celebrate Nigerian first lady on her 65th birthday, Peter Obi has joined to wish her a happy birthday but surprisingly, seized the occasion to lament the state of the country, saying, "We are finished.”
In a post by the former Anambra Governor and opposition figure on his X (formerly Twitter) handle sighted by OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News on Sunday, Peter Obi wrote, “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, Obi surprisingly changed the gear from the courteous celebration notes to a criticism gear as he further wrote, “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.”
He ventilated the opinion that "It is shocking that, in our present circumstances, 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.”
He then asks the rhetorical question, "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?”
While admiting that the Nigerian first lady was right that education is the most enduring legacy a nation can give its people, Obi said the contrast between that truth and the government’s spending priorities is “shocking and tragic.”
The opposition politician then concludes that "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,” he declared. “Until then, the lament remains true—we are finished.”
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