Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North, has said Edo State was safer during his tenure as governor than Anambra State was under the administration of Peter Obi.

Oshiomhole made the remarks during an interview on a podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, excerpts of which circulated on Sunday.

The former governor of Edo State, who served from 2008 to 2016, compared his administration’s security record with that of Obi, who governed Anambra from 2006 to 2014 before handing over to Willie Obiano.

According to Oshiomhole, Obi was unable to effectively tackle insecurity in Anambra despite spending nearly eight years in office.

“Peter Obi could not fix insecurity in Anambra State. It took the intervention of Governor Obiano, who took over from him and began destroying the properties of those whom he believed had used their compounds for kidnapping,” Oshiomhole said.

He argued that kidnapping was prevalent in the state during Obi’s administration and claimed that the security situation deteriorated significantly.

“It got to a situation where wives kidnapped husbands and husbands kidnapped wives and told children to bring money. It got to that level,” he said.

Oshiomhole maintained that Edo was safer than Anambra during the period both men served as governors.

“And Governor Obi, as he then was—I was a governor then; my state was safer than Anambra under Obi,” he added.

The lawmaker further alleged that Obi failed to adequately address insecurity and the activities of the Bakassi Boys before leaving office, questioning the former governor’s ability to tackle Nigeria’s broader security challenges.

“So, if Obi couldn’t fix Anambra State and couldn’t handle the Bakassi Boys until Obiano intervened, do you think he is the one who will have the courage?” Oshiomhole asked.

The senator also criticised Obi’s recent comments against ethnic profiling, arguing that political leaders should go beyond identifying problems and provide practical solutions.

“Recently, he said we shouldn’t be doing ethnic profiling. Fine. What then should we be doing?” he said.

“Everybody knows that things are not perfect, but a statesman must provide answers. There have to be specific new things that they will bring. But we haven’t heard anything other than the buzzword, ‘Do the right thing.’”

Oshiomhole questioned what specific policies Obi was proposing and expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu would secure victory in the 2027 presidential election.

“What is the right thing and what is the left thing? Tinubu will win hands down, and these people will not get the kind of votes they got before,” he said.

Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party and finished third, is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election.