Nigeria: It’s Insulting to Compare Peter Obi With Lee Kuan Yew

Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, has described as insulting a social media post comparing Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee Kuan Yew served as Singapore’s Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990.

He is widely regarded as the architect of Singapore’s transformation from a modest trading port into a global economic powerhouse.

He is credited with pursuing effective policies in industrialisation, infrastructure, and anti-corruption which revolutionised governance and policies in the country.

A Peter Obi supporter on X identified as Alex Onyia made the post praising his leadership style and likened him to the late Asian statesman.

In the viral tweet, Onyia wrote: “Peter Obi is like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Leaders like him come once in a generation.”

But in a post, on Tuesday, Onanuga, dismissed the comparison as misguided and offensive.

“How can anyone in his right senses compare Peter Obi with the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew? You have insulted Nigerians”, he wrote.

He further criticised Obi’s tenure as governor of Anambra State, claiming it lacked the developmental vision associated with Lee’s leadership.

“Peter Obi was not an exemplary governor. He didn’t build a classroom, as has been said irrefutably. He left Awka, the capital, worse than he met it,” he alleged.

Onanuga accused the poster of misrepresenting history and urged him to delete the “egregious joke.”