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The presidential candidate of the Labor Party in Nigeria’s last elections, Peter Obi, has offered a response to the claims from social media critics that he did not build a single new school when he was Governor of Anambra State.
The Eastern Updates reports that a popular social media personality, Reno Omokri, had last week hit out at Obi, challenging the former Anambra State Governor and his followers to show a single school he started and finished in his eight years as governor.
Reno promised to reward handsomely, anyone that could show a school built by Obi.
And responding to this during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Obi said those who said that failed to avail themselves of his manifesto.
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He said that when he came to Anambra State, education was in shambles, schools were closed and the state was number 26 in the country but by the time he left, Anambra was number one in the state.
“I improved the quality, physical and mental well-being of the people, schools, had the basic things they needed and the people shone like stars and that was my manifesto.
“Building new schools when the old ones are moribund is just like building coastal lines when internal roads are impassable.”
Meanwhile, Omokri on Wednesday alleged that the real reason Anambra State became number one in NECO exams under the administration of Peter Obi was the high rate of exam malpractices.
In his tweet on X, Omokri argued that Anambra did not become number one in NECO exams because Peter Obi invested in education.
“Rather, the state, under Peter Obi, had become notorious as the headquarters for exam fraud in Nigeria. That was why when Peter Obi’s tenure ended in March 2014, his successor, Willie Obiano, closed down 486 exam malpractice centres in July 2014, that had been established and were flourishing under Peter Obi around the state. That was Peter’s legacy in education.
“And that is why Anambra gradually lost its top position in NECO after Obi’s tenure. Because succeeding governors refused to continue along those lines. For example, last year, Adamawa even outperformed Anambra,” he said.
Omokri added that “The secret was not any investment Obi was making in the education sector, because the truth is that Peter Obi was more focused on building beer breweries for Anambra than schools. The secret was the exam magic malpractice centres.”
Obi had in a press conference to explain the reason he did not build a single school in his eight years as governor because it was not in his manifesto.
