Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has denied describing the Supreme Court ruling on Rivers State as “reckless.” The controversy started when multiple media outlets reported that Obi made the remark while reacting to the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly members as valid members of the house.
Obi claimed his initial statement was about the attitude of political elites amidst deepening poverty, not a direct comment on the Supreme Court ruling. However, many Nigerians remain unconvinced, taking to social media to criticize the former Anambra Governor. Some shared screenshots of Obi’s original statement, accusing him of dishonesty and attempting to distance himself from his words.
In his original statement, Obi said, “The reckless Judiciary pronouncement on Rivers State that is capable of threatening democracy plus the embarrassing scandal from the National Assembly all combine to give a gloomy picture of our democratic journey.” Despite this, Obi maintained he never described the Supreme Court ruling as “reckless,” stating, “Even if a ruling of the apex court is not agreeable to me, I cannot describe it as reckless.”
The backlash on social media has been intense, with many calling out Obi for allegedly being dishonest. One commentator wrote, “This is you calling the judgement of the Supreme Court on Rivers reckless. I don’t know what you are trying to defend here when evidence abound.” Another wrote, “Stop lying, you truly called the court judgments ‘Reckless’!”
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say fantastic blog!