Barely 24 hours after former Governor of Anambra State and Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, announced his departure to Egypt to study the country’s education, power, planning and finance achievements, Nigerians have continued to react.
He announced the three-day trip to the North African nation via his verified Twitter account which has continued to attract commendations as well as criticisms from friends and foes on the social media platform.
The tweet has moved to the top of the trends table in the country.
While many of the supporters of the LP presidential candidate hailed his trip to Egypt as one of his “deliberate efforts to see Nigeria working,” others described his move as yet another unnecessary move ahead of the 2023 poll.
Mr Obi’s trip to Egypt came on the heels of the grid collapse leading to power outages in some cities amidst the biting effects of fuel scarcity in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.
With the hashtag #WeCan’tContinueLikeThis, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, said Mr Obi’s move is a sign of unseriousness and a display of misplaced priority ahead of the 2023 poll.
“Heard @PeterObi travelled to Egypt to learn how to fix Education/Power problems, this is exactly the problem with unprepared candidates. It is 9 months to the election & a two-term gov. & former VP candidate wants to go learn something from Egypt in 3 days? Wow! #WeCantContinueLikeThis,” Mr Sowore took a swipe at his fellow contender in a tweet.
Another user with a name, Retson Tedheke, argued that the former Anambra governor’s trip to Egypt is totally unnecessary since another company, Siemens, has started in Nigeria.
“How Can You Go To Egypt to Observe What Siemens is Already Doing in Nigeria. Even if You want to Form Activities, You Should Know that Siemens has Already Started Working in The Nigeria Power Sector Under President Muhammadu Buhari Na. Haba Bros!,” he lamented in his tweet.
His comments were, however, countered by many more who challenged him to show proof that Siemens has started power deals in the country.
More Twitter users questioned why Mr Obi is not in Ekiti campaigning for the LP governorship candidate while one of the forerunners in the race, Bola Tinubu of APC, is in the state canvassing votes.
“I’m a Peter Obi supporter, but he should be more bothered about local politics for now than visiting Egypt or anywhere. We need him to win first before he can implement all the knowledge he is gaining. If he did not win all this knowledge might be of no use,” Asiwaju of Enugu, @_Temibee, argued.
“Peter Obi is just too strategic God.“While some people went to Germany for a medical checkup and others are busy with local politics, my President is going to Egypt to study how they doubled their power generation in 10 years and how they built 10k factories in 7yrs,” Jack, @Jack_ng01, defended the former Anambra governor.
Discussion around Mr Obi’s trip to Egypt has been the number one trend on the giant social media platform, Nigeria Twitter, for more than six hours.
