Peter Obi vows anti-corruption drive in Nigeria race

Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi said the country should fight corruption and cut the cost of government to help ease its cost-of-living crisis as campaigning begins for January elections.

Obi, a former governor from southeastern Nigeria, spoke in Abuja on Tuesday evening. He said fighting waste and corruption would create room for spending on health, education and lifting people out of poverty.

“You unite the country, secure the country, and put your resources in these critical areas. And you will see the difference,” Obi said.

Obi also tied security to poverty, saying that pulling people out of poverty would reduce criminality. He called for more manufacturing jobs. World Bank figures cited in the item show manufacturing's share of Nigerian GDP fell from 21 percent in 1994 to eight percent in 2025.

Nigeria faces a long economic slump and security threats including jihadists, gangs, separatists, and clashes between farmers and herders over land. The IMF says 63 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line.

President Bola Tinubu, 74, is running for re-election. His All Progressives Congress controls 31 of Nigeria's 36 governorships, while Obi's Nigeria Democratic Congress has a smaller party structure.

Tinubu has said his economic reforms, including scrapping a costly petrol subsidy, averted a larger crisis. Atiku Abubakar, another main opposition challenger, has called for restoring the subsidy through a policy targeting domestic refineries rather than directly cutting pump prices. Obi said fighting corruption in the oil sector could reduce prices without bringing the subsidy back.

Obi said he agreed with Tinubu on creating state police. He also said an incident in which his convoy was blocked earlier on Tuesday in Benue state did not bode well for “free, fair and credible” polls.