A frontline presidential aspirant, Mr Peter Obi, has reacted to the request made by the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu on the occasion of her birthday celebration.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu recently requested that anyone
wishing to celebrate her with gifts or newspaper adverts should rather channel
such gesture to the completion of the National Library in Abuja
This request did not go down with Peter Obi, a former
Governor of Anambra State, who pointed out that Nigeria does not need to wait
for birthday gifts before completing its National Library.
Obi, who was the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in
2023, lamented that millions of dollars are being wasted on trips, jets and yachts
while a nation like Nigeria will now wait for Remi Tinubu’s well-wishers to
make contributions for her birthday before completing a national asset.
In a post titled ‘We Are Finished’ on X, Obi, who wished the
First Lady more years on earth, slammed the President’s wife for knowing that
education is key, but still prioritizes vanity, describing the situation as
both shocking and tragic.
“We are finished! 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,” he wrote.
“However, 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.
“I recall that, as Governor of Anambra State, I too urged
that money meant for adverts be channelled into meaningful causes— computers
for schools and classroom blocks. Such gestures were never meant to replace the
government’s duty but to complement it. The state still bore the responsibility
of providing those essentials.
“That is why 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.
“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.
“Mrs Tinubu was right: education is the most enduring legacy
a nation can give its people. Yet to know this truth and still prioritise
vanity is both shocking and tragic.
“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,” he wrote.
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