Reno Omokri Tackles Peter Obi Over Nigeria’s Escalating Debt Burden

■ Says the presidential hopeful of the NDC who lampooned President Tinubu  as a result of the nation’s rising debt profile lied

By PHC Telegraph

Former Labour Presidential Candidate Peter Obi who is set to openly challenge President Bola Tinubu in the forthcoming general elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress may have lied with statistics, Reno Omokri, an Ambassador Designate has said.

Omokri dismissed Obi’s claim over escalating debts which is generating public interest, saying  that Nigeria’s debt has reduced significantly under the watchful eyes of the incumbent President.

The Ambassador Designate accused Obi of deliberately misleading the nation through the conversion of dollar loans to naira in an to manipulate the mindset of unsuspecting Nigerians.

Obi had earlier heaped the blame for Nigeria’s startling debt profile on the administration of President Tinubu, saying that the incumbent is mortgaging the future of the country through excessive borrowing.

“Peter Obi is displaying dishonesty today by misinforming the Nigerian public about our nation’s total debt! He knows for a fact that Nigeria’s debt has reduced under President Bola Tinubu.

“Nevertheless, he released a statement today, lying to Nigerians that our total debt has increased because of the financial profligacy of the Tinubu administration”, Omokri remarked.

He insisted that Obi is manipulatively quoting “our national debt in Naira, even though these loans were taken in foreign currencies, especially the US Dollar.”

Urging Nigerian citizens to raise their own queries by prompting Google, Grok, or ChatGPT the debt question, the former aide of President Goodluck Jonathan  observed that whereas the value of the foreign loans assessed by governments that have run this country has not changed, the floating of the naira appears to have changed the numbers without charging actual values.

“Yes, the US Dollar is not our legal tender. However, these loans were taken in Dollars and Euros. Peter Obi knows that the Naira was floated. Because of that, the Naira’s value under President Buhari is different from the Naira’s value today under His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“So, to deceive his gullible followers, he keeps citing our debt in Naira, giving the impression that President Tinubu has increased it. For the avoidance of doubt, Nigeria’s total debt when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in on May 29, 2023, was $108.29 billion, as published by the Debt Management Office on Friday, March 31, 2023.

“However, by June 30, 2023, when the Debt Management Office published the updated debt figures for the Buhari administration, our total debt stood at $113 billion. The truth is that, yes, President Buhari left a total debt of ₦87.38 trillion behind when he handed over to President Bola Tinubu, but that ₦87.38 trillion was equivalent to $113 billion, which is less than our total debt today.”

Omokri appealed to Obi to stop being clever by half and be honest in his effort to wrest power by telling  the public.

While reacting to the administration’s celebration of three years in office, Obi alleged that Tinubu has worsened the hardship suffered by Nigerians.

“In celebrating three years of his administration, President Bola Tinubu included, among his achievements, an increase in revenue from N16.8 trillion in 2022 to N35 trillion in 2025. An increase of over 100%”, Obi stated.

“Shockingly, while Nigerians expected a reduction in borrowing with the exponential increase in revenue, the opposite is the case. In just three years, President Bola Tinubu’s government seems to be obsessed with excessive and imprudent borrowing, with our total debt currently about N200 trillion—a deeply disturbing increase of over N100 trillion.

“In addition to the exponential increases in both revenue and debt, it is also important to note that Nigeria has earned far more than the budget revenue targets due to global and regional geoeconomic and political tensions.

“Alarmingly, even with the astronomical increase in both revenue and debt, almost all key socio-economic and governance indicators are worse than in 2023. Multi-dimensional poverty has increased from 87 million people in 2023 to over 140 million people in 2025. Rapidly increasing unemployment and a decline in GDP per capita from $1,597 in 2023 to $1,223 in 2025, and the list goes on”, the presidential hopeful added.