Peter Obi, LP Candidate, Says He Never Called 70% Of Nigerian Politicians Lunatics

By Charles Igbo

Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, has denied that he described 70 per cent of Nigerian Politicians as Lunatics.

The story had gone viral on Sunday. But Obi, in a statement from his Media Office on Monday, was distanced from such statement.

The statement dismissed its attribution to Obi as the “handiwork of mischief makers who have been trying, over the years, to quote him out of context or twist his statements in a manner to set him against the people.”

The statement reads:

RE: “70% of Nigerian Politicians are Lunatics.”

“The attention of Mr. Peter Obi’s Media Office has been drawn to an article being   circulated, where Mr. Peter Obi was quoted to have said that ‘70% of Nigerian Politicians are Lunatics.’

“Let it be made clear that Obi, not known for violence of speech, did not make the statement. It is the handiwork of mischief makers, who have been trying, over the years, to quote him out of context or twist his statements in a manner to set him against the people.

“Anybody who has listened to Obi, even when he was the governor, would know that he always, when he wants to show that the wrong people have taken over would talk in terms of lunatics taking over the asylum, which plainly means that those that are not supposed to be in a particular place have displaced the rightful people.

“Therefore, the use of ‘Lunatics,’ is always euphemistic. Obi has never and would never use it plainly to designate a given set of people as if to suggest they are mad, as the writer suggested he said about politicians. He cannot so degrade a tribe he belongs to.

Obi assures all class of people of his continued respect.”