Popular columnist, Professor Farooq Kperogi, has said that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, won 13 states — and not 12 as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that comparing Obi with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Kperogi stated that the former Kano State governor is “a local champion” while the former Anambra State governor is not.

According to the US-based Professor, Obi won Rivers State, and he was a victim of “electoral fraud” in the South-South state.

Kperogi wrote in his Saturday column: “Apart from winning 12 states (I insist Obi won Rivers State, making it 13), including two northern states, Obi bested Kwankwaso in 13 northern states: Kaduna, Taraba, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa, and Benue.

“I don’t say this to ridicule Kwankwaso with whom I am on cordial relational terms. In fact, when he visited the United States late last year, he was gracious enough to call me from Washington, DC—after his minions had made an anguished hue and cry about my offhanded, well-intentioned but misunderstood description of him as a “local champion.”

“Although I am critical of his tendency toward infantile personalization of power (which caused him to paint red “Kwankwasiyya” inscriptions on physical projects he completed when he was governor), I have profound respect for Kwankwaso for his transformational infrastructural uplift of Kano, my second state after my home state, and for his remarkably praiseworthy investment in the education of Kano’s youth even while outside government.

“I have never ceased to be impressed by the investment of his own personal wealth (to the extent that we can call the wealth of any politician “personal”) to sponsor scores of brilliant Kano youth to acquire much sought-after and relevant higher education degrees in universities across the world. He himself completed a PhD in water engineering from Sharda University in India last year, which signposts his love for education.

“Nonetheless, he is still, for now, a local champion. But I think he and Obi have a bright future together in national politics if they learn from their mistakes and make strategic amends.”