By: OSIFO, Osa Washington, Esq. Ph.D.
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” – Abraham Lincoln.
The mask of pretentious empathy fell off in Manchester.
There are moments when a politician, desperate to sound like a messiah before a foreign audience, forgets he is on record. For Peter Obi, that moment came not in the dusty streets of Onitsha or the chaos of Lagos traffic, but under the bright lights of Manchester, United Kingdom.
It was Sunday, 19th October 2026. Before him sat the best of Nigeria — nurses who had just finished 12-hour shifts in NHS hospitals, students who convert naira to pounds at black market rates, drivers who brave the English winter to send something home. These are the people whose $19.5 billion in annual remittances, according to the World Bank 2023 report, keep Nigeria’s economy breathing – more than Foreign Direct Investment, more than foreign aid.
Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), looked at them and said, with chilling clarity, as reported by Vanguard, Punch and Metro Daily:
“You have people at home in Nigeria today who are begging you for money. Tell them no!”
His logic? That if you stop sending money, your mother, your brother, your cousin will finally feel enough pain to reject the government and vote for him – the man who knows their problems.
This was not a slip. It was a worldview. A belief that the suffering of a mother needing money for her child’s hospital bill in Onitsha is a useful political tool to blackmail her into voting for him.
This reckless statement is not isolated. It fits a troubling historical chronology of character flaw and trust deficiency.
When the backlash came, his Media Office on 20th October quickly recanted, saying: “Nothing could be further from the truth… He never asked you to abandon your families. His remarks were twisted. We encourage Nigerians in diaspora to continue supporting their families.”
This is the classic Obi method that Nigerians have known since 2006: Say the extreme in private, then cry misinterpretation in public.
But, Manchester was not an accident. It was a revelation. Because to understand Manchester, you must understand Anambra. The same philosophy governed both places: Save money, starve people, claim sainthood.
1.THE ANAMBRA RECORD: THE MYTH OF SAVINGS – WHERE SAINTLINESS WAS INVENTED.
Peter Obi loves his favourite sermon, which he repeated again in Manchester and elsewhere: “I’m not saying I’m a saint, but I saved money. I’ve not seen one governor who has saved 10 per cent of what I saved.”
Fact: As Governor of Anambra State, 17th March 2006 – 17th March 2014, with interruptions by court battles, he claims to have saved over N75 billion and $155 million. His friend, former Diamond Bank CEO Alex Otti, confirmed he helped structure $155m into Eurobonds at 9% interest.
But what did Anambra get?
– Doctors embarked on a 13-month strike (2011-2012) over poor conditions while savings sat in banks earning interest.
– Anambra State University was underfunded, with accreditation issues.
– Erosion was swallowing communities in Nanka, Oko, and Agulu. Yet the savings remained untouched.
– He left office and the succeeding administration of Willie Obiano accused his government of leaving behind unpaid pensions and questionable investments in a company (Next International) where he had personal interest. Obi has denied this, but the questions have never been fully answered in public with audited transparency.
Today, the government of Prof. Charles Soludo has opened the books: $123.77 million in hidden loans for malaria control, education, erosion management; N363 million in unpaid salary arrears; and a disputed N2.13 billion ecological fund claim which First Bank records show was an IGR account, not an ecological fund.
Soludo’s Commissioner summed it up: “Governance is about people’s welfare, not saving in banks for interest while people suffer.”
A leader who saves money while his people bleed is not prudent. He is politically calculating. A leader who saves $155m while his people bleed is not prudent. He is calculating. That is the Anambra doctrine that reappeared in Manchester.
2.THE OFFSHORE GHOSTS AND THE FIDELITY QUESTION -WHERE TRUST EVAPORATES.
If Anambra was about saving, the Pandora Papers of October 2021 were about hiding.
The global investigation by Premium Times revealed:
Gabriella Investments Ltd (BVI), named after his daughter, incorporated in 2010 while he was Governor, later restructured in 2017 as PMGG Investments under The Gabriella Settlement Trust.
Next International (UK) Ltd, where he remained director 14 months into his governorship, in clear violation of Code of Conduct Bureau rules that forbids a sitting governor from being a company director.
Obi’s defence on Arise TV was telling: “Trust companies are legitimate… It was never used to launder money… If you find $15m there, confiscate everything.”
I contend that, legality is not morality. Why would a man preaching frugality set up shell companies in tax havens while in office? Why would the same man be linked in September 2026 to a proxy acquisition of 1.14bn Fidelity Bank shares crossed on 18th July 2025 via AMCON, ahead of 2027? Fidelity Bank denied any 5% majority holder, but the question persists: Why does his name hover around every bank control battle every election season?
3.THE LABOUR TO NDC DEFECTION AND PARTY-HOPPING OPPORTUNISM – A MAN WITHOUT A HOME.
This is perhaps the most revealing.
Born 19th July 1961 in Onitsha, B.A Philosophy, University of Nigeria Nsukka, 1984, Obi built a business empire – Chairman of Next International Nigeria Ltd, youngest Chairman of Fidelity Bank PLC, Chairman of Guardian Express Bank, Future View Securities, Chams, Data Corp and Card Centre.
He entered politics in 2003 under APGA, lost to Chris Ngige, but after three years of fierce litigation, the Court of Appeal declared him winner on 15th March 2006. He was sworn in on 17th March 2006.
His government did not last seven months. On 2nd November 2006, he was impeached by the Anambra House of Assembly for alleged gross misconduct – for warehousing state funds in Fidelity Bank where he had vested interest, and replaced by his Deputy, Dame Virginia Etiaba, the first female Governor in Nigeria. He was reinstated by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu on 9th February 2007.
He ruled until 17th March 2014.
APGA in 2002, then PDP, then APGA again, then PDP again in 2014 when Goodluck Jonathan made him Chairman of SEC and adviser, then PDP Vice Presidential candidate in 2019 with Atiku Abubakar, then Labour Party in 2022 where he built a cult-like Obidient movement and polled 6.1 million votes in the 2023 presidential election (INEC official result), then NDC on 30th May 2026.
Five parties in 20 years. A man who built a cult-like Obidient movement in Labour Party in 2022-2023 abandoned that platform in 2025 to join the obscure Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Why? Because Labour Party had internal crisis he could not control. It shows a man who sees parties as special purpose vehicles, not ideological homes.
Add the leaked “Yes Daddy” audio of April 2023 with Bishop David Oyedepo – “This is a religious war” – which he never convincingly disowned.
A man who cannot stay in a party cannot keep a nation together. How can such a man be trusted with Nigeria? He sees parties as Special Purpose Vehicles for ambition, not ideological homes.
4.THE MANCHESTER DOCTRINE: ECONOMIC ILLITERACY AND RECKLESS POPULISM.
And so we return to where we started. Manchester was not a slip. It was the fullest expression of Obi’s worldview.
Telling diaspora to cut off remittances is economically suicidal. According to CBN, remittances are more than double our FDI. In 2023, they were 35% larger than Foreign Direct Investment. According to CBN, diaspora remittances are more than double our FDI. In 2023, they were 35% larger than Foreign Direct Investment.
If families in Lagos, Kano and Aba obeyed Obi’s “Tell them no,” what would happen?
A mother in Awka will not buy drugs for her child. A student in Ekpoma will drop out. A small shop in Aba, funded by monthly £200 from London, will collapse. Churches that survive on diaspora tithes will close. Immediate spike in out-of-school children. Collapse of small businesses funded by diaspora. Health emergencies with no safety net.
You do not cure bad governance by starving the victim. You cure it by policy. In Manchester, Obi offered no policy – no exchange rate plan, no power plan, no security plan, no education plan. Just “Let’s start with this one that is less corrupt” and “vote for less corrupt one”.
That is the core flaw: Simplistic moralising instead of complex governance. Weaponizing a family’s hunger for a vote is not strategy. It is cruelty. It is what Soludo warned about: Saintliness without humanity. This is the core of Obi’s personality flaw: simplistic moralising instead of complex governance.
5.THE MISSING PIECE: WHO WE ARE – OUR HUMANITY, OUR UBUNTU, OUR SOUL AS A PEOPLE.
And here, Sir, is where Peter Obi’s gravest insult lies – an insult far deeper than economics.
In Manchester, Peter Obi attempted to portray Nigerians at home as lazy, unproductive beggars, who deliberately rely on foreign tips for survival while seriously lacking entrepreneurial spirit.
This is not who we are. This does not define us as a people. This is a lie against our identity.
Our relatives abroad are not fools either. They do not send money because we beg. They send because of who we are.
We are our brothers’ keepers. We are born to care. We have deep family ties and connection. We are humanity personified. We live for each other, whether at home or in the diaspora.
The Edo (Benin) call it Akugbe Oretin – Unity of friends, togetherness as one family. It means: – Unity is Strength.
The Igbo call it Igwebuike – strength in unity. The Yoruba live it as Ajoje – we eat together. The Hausa know it as Zumunci – deep brotherhood. All of Africa calls it Ubuntu – I am because we are.
That is Africa. We share our joy as well as our burdens. We are a family. We don’t feel comfortable eating when our parents and siblings are hungry. A son in Peckham cannot sleep knowing his father in Benin has no medicine. A daughter in Toronto cannot celebrate her birthday while her younger brother in Enugu has no school fees. This is not dependency. This is our humanity. This is our strength.
We honour and celebrate this bond. That is who we are. We live for each other.
When Peter Obi says “Tell them no,” he is not just attacking an economic lifeline. He is attacking our culture. He is asking us to abandon our Akugbe Oretin. He is asking a people who built a civilization on communal love – from the great Kingdom of Benin to today – to become individualistic strangers to each other. He is asking us to lose our soul to gain his vote.
No, we will not. Our identity as a people will not be eroded. We are not beggars. We are a productive, resilient, entrepreneurial people – the most hardworking on earth – who in the face of loads of care have chosen to hold each other up, not tear each other down.
Obi’s doctrine fails because it does not understand this spirit. You cannot weaponize hunger against a people whose greatest wealth is love for one another.
CONCLUSION: A RISK NIGERIA CANNOT AFFORD – FROM ANAMBRA SAVINGS TO DIASPORA STARVATION.
Nigerians abroad are not ATMs to be switched on and off for political leverage. They are patriots. They are the reason many homes still have light, many children still go to school, many businesses still breathe. They deserve respect- not the belated respect of a Media Office that only remembered their sacrifice after the backlash when it said “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
A man who will tell you to let your brother go hungry until he votes correctly will tell you to let the nation go hungry to protect his image as a saint. A man who will weaponize a family’s hunger for a vote will weaponize the nation’s treasury for his image of sainthood.
We need a president who knows problems and solves them, not one who tells you to let your brother go hungry until he votes correctly. Nigeria does not need a saint who saves money while people die. Nigeria needs a leader who spends money wisely while people live.
We need a president who knows problems and solves them. Nigerians must reject this politics of emotional blackmail. From Anambra savings to Manchester starvation, the pattern is consistent.
And that is why this Manchester gamble, this Manchester doctrine, must be rejected – with our votes, with our remittances, and with our moral clarity.
“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” – Plato.
“When power is in the hands of the people, the people are the real rulers.” – Inspired by the same spirit.
OSIFO, Osa Washington, Esq.
LL.B; B.L; LL.M, MPA; Ph.D Comparative Politics And Development Studies); Ph.D (Law in view)
Lawyer | Political Scientist | Public Administrator | Policy Analyst
Date: October 22, 2026.
