The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has said former Anambra State Governor and Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, declined his invitation to a public debate on their respective records in office.
He insisted that leadership should be judged by verifiable achievements rather than political rhetoric.
In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze, Umahi said the proposed debate was intended to focus on governance, accountability and performance, not partisan politics or personalities.
According to the statement, Obi declined the invitation because he is currently a presidential candidate while Umahi is not.
The minister argued that the debate was never about electoral status, but about allowing Nigerians to assess the governance records of two former governors.
“The challenge was never about electoral status. It was about accountability. It was about inviting two former governors to present their records before Nigerians and allow the public to judge whose leadership produced the greater impact,” the statement said.
Umahi maintained that if governance is measured by performance, political ambition should not prevent an honest comparison of records.
The minister said his invitation was straightforward, and to place the evidence on the table and let Nigerians decide.
Highlighting Umahi’s public service career, the statement said the minister had served in several capacities, including state party chairman, deputy governor, governor of Ebonyi State, chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, co-chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, senator and now Minister of Works overseeing major federal infrastructure projects.
It contrasted this with Obi’s public service experience, stating that his highest elective office was as governor of Anambra State.
The statement also highlighted what it described as Umahi’s infrastructure legacy as governor of Ebonyi State, citing projects including the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, David Umahi Federal Teaching Hospital, Uburu, the Chuba Okadigbo International Airport, multiple flyovers, road networks, markets, hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure.
It further noted that as Minister of Works, Umahi is supervising flagship projects under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, the Calabar-Abuja Super Highway and the rehabilitation of strategic federal roads across the country.
On Obi’s tenure as governor, the statement acknowledged his emphasis on prudent financial management but argued that fiscal discipline should be assessed alongside physical and institutional development.
“Fiscal responsibility is undoubtedly an important aspect of good governance. Equally, however, Nigerians are entitled to examine the physical, institutional and developmental legacies left by every administration and compare them on their merits,” the statement said.
It added that keeping money in the bank while leaving contractors unpaid and failing to complete meaningful, life-impacting projects cannot, by itself, be regarded as an achievement.
The statement also alleged that for most of Obi’s eight-year tenure as governor, Anambra State did not have democratically elected local government chairmen, saying caretaker committees administered the councils until local government elections were conducted shortly before he left office in 2014.
According to Umahi, the proposed debate would have centred on verifiable outcomes such as roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, urban renewal, economic development and other measurable impacts of governance.
(The Whistler)