The vice presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has dismissed the remark by Vice President Kashim Shettima that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is “the master of bogus statistics and incoherent economic prescriptions”.
NEWSNGR reports that Shettima, while speaking at the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja on Wednesday, accused the opposition presidential hopeful of relying exclusively on foreign economic models without considering Nigeria’s peculiar challenges.
Although he referred to Obi as his ‘very good friend’, Shettima questioned the former governor’s frequent comparisons between Nigeria and countries such as Bangladesh.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Thursday, Kwankwaso said Peter Obi’s figures are always correct because he often cross-checks them, but people sometimes make mistakes.
He maintained that Peter Obi is conversant with statistics not only in Nigeria but worldwide.
He said, “I always listen to him (Peter Obi), like all others, I take time to check the statistics. As far as I am concerned, most of the figures he was saying were correct and the only thing, of course as human beings you are bound to make mistakes or a slip of tongue as they call it.
“But for Shettima to come and make that statement, I don’t think he is correct. So, I am happy that our presidential candidate is somebody who is conversant with statistics, not only in this country but all over the world, in Europe, Asia, everywhere and I think that is a good one.”
