Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us

A prominent presidential hopeful, Mr. Peter Obi, has responded to a recent appeal made by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady, during her birthday celebration.

Senator Tinubu had urged that instead of presenting her with gifts or placing congratulatory newspaper adverts, well-wishers should redirect such gestures toward the ongoing construction of the National Library in Abuja.

However, Peter Obi, a former Anambra State governor, expressed dissatisfaction with the idea, arguing that the country should not have to rely on birthday donations to complete a major national project like the National Library.

Obi, who represented the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, criticized the nation’s spending priorities, highlighting the contrast between extravagant expenditures on luxury items like private jets and yachts and the apparent inability to fund essential public infrastructure.

EPL: Bruno Fernandes reacts to Man Utd’s 2-1 win against Chelsea

In a post titled ‘We Are Finished’ shared on X, Obi extended birthday wishes to the First Lady but condemned the situation. He accused her of being aware of the importance of education yet placing greater value on superficial matters. Obi described the entire development as both alarming and deeply unfortunate.

“We are finished! I join millions of Nigerians in wishing Her Excellency, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, a happy birthday. May God Almighty, who has been with her all these years, grant her many more healthy, fruitful, and happy years,” he wrote.

“However, I was struck by irony reading her request: that instead of cakes or newspaper adverts, well-wishers should donate toward completing the National Library in Abuja. On the surface, it is noble and selfless. But beneath it lies an indictment of our nation.

“I recall that, as Governor of Anambra State, I too urged that money meant for adverts be channelled into meaningful causes— computers for schools and classroom blocks. Such gestures were never meant to replace the government’s duty but to complement it. The state still bore the responsibility of providing those essentials.

For further information on sport secret and greatest sport icon click here

“That is why it is shocking that, in our present circumstances, while billions are easily found for jets, yachts, unused mansions, endless trips abroad, and other frivolities, the nation must rely on birthday donations to complete its own National Library.

“What kind of country must beg for charity to build the very temple of knowledge? What kind of leaders waste trillions on luxury and vanity, while the National Library – our intellectual furnace – remains abandoned in the capital? Serious nations treat libraries as sacred; but here we reduce them to afterthoughts, begging bowls, or birthday tokens.

“Mrs Tinubu was right: education is the most enduring legacy a nation can give its people. Yet to know this truth and still prioritise vanity is both shocking and tragic.

“If Nigeria will rise, it will not be on the wings of jets or the splendour of mansions, but on the strength of minds formed in classrooms and nourished in libraries. Until then, the lament remains true—we are finished,” he wrote.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post