Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Peter Obi has come under sharp criticism from the Presidency after he declined to disclose the specifics of how he intends to tackle the country’s security and electricity challenges if elected president in 2027, insisting during a podcast interview that Nigerians have no right to know the details of his plans.

Obi made the controversial remarks during an interview on the Nevon HQ podcast hosted by broadcaster and political commentator Rufai Oseni, where he was repeatedly pressed to explain how he would achieve the ambitious promises he has outlined for Nigeria.

When Oseni challenged him over his pledge to raise Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity from its current level of approximately 4,000 megawatts to at least 10,000 megawatts within four years, Obi refused to provide a roadmap. “No, no, no, I’m not going to tell you how. It is not for you to know how. It is for you to look at the man who is saying this,” he said. The former Anambra governor argued that voters should focus on his credibility and track record rather than demand technical explanations, adding that political leaders the world over are judged by who they are, not by pre-emptively disclosing every detail of their strategies.

On the question of security one of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges Obi was equally guarded. When Oseni asked him directly what he would do as commander-in-chief to rescue children abducted by terrorists and address the wave of insecurity across the country, Obi flatly refused. “I will not tell you,” he told the interviewer. He justified his position by pointing to his tenure as Governor of Anambra State, where he claimed to have confronted criminality head-on, but maintained that spelling out his security blueprints publicly would expose them to theft by political opponents. On the economy, Obi indicated that he would have devalued the naira and subsequently sourced funds to defend the exchange rate, while he also took aim at the federal government’s NELFUND student loan scheme, describing it as inadequate and pledging to overhaul it if elected. He also addressed the issue of political defections, stating colourfully that if someone sets his house on fire, his instinct would be to flee widely interpreted as a commentary on his own exit from the Labour Party.

The interview drew an immediate and pointed response from the Presidency. Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Policy Communication, took to his verified X account to mock Obi, questioning how the NDC flagbearer could fail to perform even when the questions were, in his words, being served to him on a platter by an unofficial sympathiser. Bwala shared a graphic summarising Obi’s responses, describing them as the “bold vision” of the NDC’s presidential candidate, in an obvious expression of sarcasm. He suggested that Obi’s inability to articulate a convincing position even in a favourable interview setting raised serious questions about his readiness for the presidency.

The interview has since gone viral across Nigerian social media, with opinion sharply divided. Supporters of Obi argue that keeping strategic plans confidential is a legitimate approach, while critics contend that Nigerians deserve clear policy positions from anyone seeking to lead Africa’s most populous nation.