{"id":7858,"date":"2025-05-20T07:50:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=7858"},"modified":"2025-05-20T07:50:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T07:50:32","slug":"peter-obi-clarifies-rome-encounter-with-tinubu-reiterates-focus-on-governance-and-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/peter-obi-clarifies-rome-encounter-with-tinubu-reiterates-focus-on-governance-and-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Obi Clarifies Rome Encounter With Tinubu, Reiterates Focus on Governance and Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" data-start=\"488\" data-end=\"842\"><strong data-start=\"488\" data-end=\"842\">Labour Party&#8217;s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has clarified the context behind his widely circulated photograph with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during their recent visit to the Vatican, Rome. Speaking during an interview with Arise News, Obi dismissed rumors of political alignment, asserting that the occasion was purely a religious event.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"844\" data-end=\"961\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"846\" data-end=\"961\">&#8220;We went for a church service in Rome. I&#8217;m not fighting the President,&#8221; Obi said, responding to online speculation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"963\" data-end=\"1197\">The image, which emerged following the inauguration of Pope Leo in Vatican City, sparked political conversations back in Nigeria. However, Obi made it clear that the visit was not politically motivated but centered on faith and unity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1199\" data-end=\"1488\"><strong data-start=\"1199\" data-end=\"1352\">Speaking in Abuja, shortly after donating \u20a620 million to the Saint Andrews Anglican Church in Kubwa Diocese for ongoing education and health projects<\/strong>, Obi emphasized his unwavering commitment to governance that tackles poverty, poor healthcare, and lack of access to quality education.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1490\" data-end=\"1621\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1492\" data-end=\"1621\">\u201cMy fight is against bad governance, hunger, poverty, and out-of-school children. It is not about political rivalry,\u201d Obi stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1623\" data-end=\"1817\">During the donation ceremony, Bishop Duke Akanmisoko of the Kubwa Diocese praised Obi\u2019s generosity and called on other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate his support for education and healthcare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1819\" data-end=\"2033\">Obi also declined to address reports suggesting that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is considering him as a running mate in the 2027 general election. He redirected attention to more pressing national issues.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"2035\" data-end=\"2192\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2037\" data-end=\"2192\">\u201cPolitics, for me, is not about position. I\u2019m focused on doing the right thing. Right now, it\u2019s about these children and their future,\u201d Obi told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"\" data-start=\"2194\" data-end=\"2254\"><strong data-start=\"2198\" data-end=\"2254\">Education as the Cornerstone of National Development<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2256\" data-end=\"2436\">Reinforcing his belief in education as the foundation of societal progress, Obi called on the Nigerian government to prioritize investments in both public education and healthcare.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"2438\" data-end=\"2555\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2440\" data-end=\"2555\">\u201cEducation is the most critical investment. The more educated a nation is, the more developed it becomes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2557\" data-end=\"2787\">He argued that education, alongside health and poverty alleviation, must receive urgent attention from both government and stakeholders. According to Obi, Nigeria&#8217;s low health insurance coverage\u2014less than 10%\u2014is a national crisis.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"2789\" data-end=\"2925\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2791\" data-end=\"2925\">\u201cGovernment should support institutions like this school and hospital. The law already says basic education should be free,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2927\" data-end=\"3131\">Obi reiterated that corruption is the root cause of poverty in many developing countries, stressing that tackling corruption would free up resources for education, healthcare, and social welfare programs.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"3133\" data-end=\"3280\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"3135\" data-end=\"3280\">\u201cThe more corrupt a nation is, the poorer its people are. Corruption stifles development and undermines investment in critical areas,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr class=\"\" data-start=\"3282\" data-end=\"3285\" \/>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"3287\" data-end=\"3439\">Let me know if you&#8217;d like me to format this into a publish-ready CMS template or optimize it further for AMP or mobile SEO. Ready for your next article!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Labour Party&#8217;s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has clarified the context behind his widely circulated photograph with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during their recent visit to the Vatican, Rome. Speaking during an interview with Arise News, Obi dismissed rumors of political alignment, asserting that the occasion was purely a religious event. &#8220;We went for a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Peter Obi addresses viral Tinubu photo, refocuses attention on education, poverty, and health as national priorities.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7861,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions\/7861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}