“Yar’Adua Is Still Alive” – Obi Fumbles While Explaining His Record as Governor

Peter Obi appeared to make a verbal slip during a recent interview when he said that late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was still alive.

Obi committed the blunder while recalling how he tackled insecurity during his time as governor of Anambra State.

He made the explanation in an interview with Afia TV.

Obi was explaining how his administration confronted kidnappers and criminal gangs operating in forests across the state when he mixed up the names of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Yar’Adua.

According to him, kidnapping was once a major security challenge in parts of Anambra, but his administration took decisive action to flush out criminals from their hideouts.

“They tell you that somebody kidnapped somebody in Anambra, in Enugu. He went to the bush. Which bush? Go to Onisha and see where they call Akpaka Forest. That was where I had a problem in Onitsha. It’s the best safe state now when I became governor. Obasanjo is still alive. Yar’Adua is still alive,” Obi said.

He went on to explain that he sought the support of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo to clear criminal camps in the forest.

“I went to Obasanjo. I said, ‘Listen, sir. There’s a forest here that is giving me a problem, and I want everybody in that forest to leave.’ I got all of them out of that forest in Anambra State. I cannot have that forest still in Anambra State, ” he added.

The former Anambra governor also claimed that the state became a “burial ground” for notorious kidnappers and criminals, mentioning figures such as Osisikankwu, Ugwuekeleonwu and OfeAkwu as examples of those his administration confronted.

Obi used the interview to criticise President Bola Tinubu’s handling of insecurity, particularly over the abduction of schoolchildren in Oyo State. He argued that the Federal Government should respond more quickly to such incidents and questioned why arrested criminal suspects are not publicly displayed.

“For 50 days the President did not call the Oyo Governor. Me? I will be there in two days. Is the bush not in Nigeria? Everybody in that bush will come out. Everybody! And it’s time to start parading the people they arrest, why are they always hiding them?” Obi said.

The latest interview comes days after Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, dismissed Obi’s chances in the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Keyamo predicted that President Bola Tinubu would comfortably defeat both Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

“I’m looking around. Between you and me, where will Obi’s votes come from? I can’t see it,” Keyamo said.

He also described the 2027 presidential contest as “a coronation, not an election,” insisting that his confidence was based on what he called “demographic calculations.”

During the same interview, Keyamo renewed his criticism of Obi over claims that he was harassed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. The minister insisted that CCTV footage showed airport officials merely enforced parking regulations and denied that Obi was targeted because he is an opposition leader.

“Then I saw the man was lying. He lies like a fish drinking water. He lies. He lies for fun,” Keyamo said.

The minister had earlier asked Obi to apologise to airport workers and pay a ₦25,000 parking fine, warning that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) could take further action if the matter remained unresolved.