Buhari Was Not In Charge, I’ll Tackle Corruption If Elected, Obi Says  

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged to tackle corruption and reform the fuel subsidy regime if elected president in the 2027 general elections.

Obi said his approach to fighting corruption would start with him and his family, stressing that those in government must first ensure they are not beneficiaries of corrupt practices.

“If you are not stealing, if you are not involved, your wife and family are not involved, you reduce it by 50 percent,” he said.

The former Anambra State governor stated this in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) African Service, published on Tuesday via X.

He said former President Muhammadu Buhari was unable to fulfil his anti-corruption promise because he did not have sufficient control over his administration.

“He was not in charge. The difference is this: I will be in charge,” Obi said.

On the 2027 election, Obi said the opposition should shift its attention from negotiations over a single presidential candidate to mobilising more Nigerians to participate in the election.

He argued that rather than asking one candidate to withdraw for another, opposition parties should focus on increasing voter turnout.

“In the last elections, Sokoto had over 2 million registered voters. Opposition should be talking about how do we get additional 25 million people to come in and vote. We don’t need to step down,” he said.

Responding to the debate over his position on fuel subsidy removal, Obi said he had not changed his stance, but maintained that corruption was the major problem associated with the policy.

“I have not changed on fuel subsidy. What has changed is that whenever I talk about methodology, people say, ‘Oh, he has changed.’ From day one that I talked about subsidy, I talked about corruption. Corruption is the problem of subsidy,” he said.

Responding to a question on whether he would restore the subsidy if elected, Obi said he would, provided the corruption surrounding its implementation was eliminated.

“Yes, but not with the corruption associated with it. That’s why I said I will remove the corruption and retain the subsidy.”