Economic Expert Faults Peter Obi Over “Professors Helping Illiterates” Remark

Dr. Taofiq Raimi, a Development and economic expert, has criticized the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, over comments accusing university professors of helping “illiterates” become president.

Speaking on Arise News, Raimi accused Obi of committing “the fallacy of generalisation” and went further to claim that the former Anambra governor was also an illiterate.

Obi had on Tuesday expressed concerns about the state of Nigeria’s electoral and judicial systems while speaking at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi.

He accused academics of facilitating electoral fraud, legislators of undermining electoral laws, and prominent lawyers of supporting forgery.

The NDC candidate also compared his own experience of challenging election results in court to what he described as the decline of the nation’s institutions.

Raimi faulted Obi for making sweeping statements against an entire profession.

“Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of NDC has continued to generalize. You can’t say professors. He has committed a fallacy called fallacy of unqualified generalization. He said professors, how many of them? There are bad eggs everywhere, even in journalism, even in acting,” he said.

The expert also took a swipe at Obi over his “illiterates” comment.

“Peter Obi talked about professors helping illiterates. That also means he is an illiterate because he himself has just collected form to contest as an aspirant of his party,” Raimi added.