A former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has berated the First Lady of Nigeria, Remi Tinubu over her birthday request to Nigerians.
Tinubu had asked Nigerians willing to celebrate her with gifts to channel their gesture towards the completion of the National Library in Abuja.
Reacting to the development in a post shared on 𝕏, Obi applauded Tinubu’s request but argued that beneath it lies an indictment of the nation.
He asserted that Nigeria does not need to wait for birthday gifts before completing its National Library.
Obi lamented that millions of dollars are being wasted on trips, jets and yachts while a nation like Nigeria will now wait for Remi Tinubu’s well-wishers to make contributions for her birthday before completing a national asset.
He wrote, “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.
“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.
“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.”
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