Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Presidency has launched a scathing attack on the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, describing his recent television interview as a public relations disaster and accusing him of distorting facts about his political career while remaining in denial over his defeat in the 2023 presidential election. The criticism, contained in a statement issued on Monday, July 27, 2026, by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, came barely 24 hours after Obi appeared on Channels Television's 'Politics Today' programme hosted by Seun Okinbaloye.
Onanuga, who said he watched approximately 30 minutes of the interview before switching off his television, did not mince words in his assessment of Obi's performance. "If the political nomad thought the interview would re-energise his ebbing 2027 presidential ambition, it turned out to be a PR disaster, judging from the spate of reactions to the many lies he referenced," Onanuga declared. The presidential spokesman's intervention marks one of the most direct and blistering critiques of Obi since he emerged as the NDC's flag-bearer for the 2027 general elections.
The first major point of contention raised by Onanuga was Obi's attempt to draw parallels between his own movement across political parties and President Tinubu's political journey. During the interview, Obi had argued that his party switches were no different from the President's political odyssey. Onanuga rejected this comparison outright, insisting that Tinubu has remained ideologically consistent throughout his career, moving only within parties that share a progressive political ideology. He traced Tinubu's trajectory from the Social Democratic Party in the early 1990s to the Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress, Action Congress of Nigeria, and eventually the All Progressives Congress, which he helped found in 2013. "Tinubu has not been jumping from one ideologically different party to another. Since he joined party politics in 1991/92, Tinubu has stayed the progressive path all the way," Onanuga said.
In stark contrast, the presidential spokesman depicted Obi as a "political nomad" who abandons political platforms rather than working to strengthen them. Onanuga recalled that Obi was elected governor of Anambra State on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance before defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party, where he became Atiku Abubakar's running mate in the 2019 presidential election. Following the PDP's defeat, Obi later joined the Labour Party to contest the 2023 election, and more recently aligned with the newly formed Nigeria Democratic Congress. "It is not in doubt that if the NDC fails to deliver what you want, you are not far away from the exit door. You would shamelessly migrate to yet another party. You do not build; you always want to reap where you did not sow," Onanuga said.
The second major issue that drew the Presidency's ire was Obi's continued insistence that he won the 2023 presidential election, despite finishing third behind Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and the eventual winner, Bola Tinubu of the APC. Onanuga accused Obi of squandering an opportunity presented by the interviewer to address the matter and instead maintaining what he described as a delusion. "You didn't win that election. You came third, and if not for the bloc vote from your ethnic group, you would have ended up a miserable third," Onanuga said. He reminded Obi that the Supreme Court had dismissed his petition challenging Tinubu's victory and urged him to accept reality more than three years after the polls. "Mr Obi, it is time you accepted the stark reality of the loss. Stop dreaming of a victory that you never had," Onanuga declared.
The presidential aide also took issue with Obi's claim during the interview that he had done nothing different from what President Tinubu had done in his political odyssey. Onanuga dismissed this with a smirk, contrasting Obi's trajectory with what he described as Tinubu's principled stands, including his defiance of military rule, detention, and exile in the 1990s. He argued that Tinubu never abandoned his ideological commitments even when political circumstances became difficult, unlike Obi who, according to Onanuga, jumps ship whenever a platform no longer serves his ambitions.
The Presidency's blistering response came just hours after Obi had used the same interview to criticise the Tinubu administration's handling of Nigeria's security and economic challenges. Obi had argued that the President lacked the capacity required to address the country's worsening crises and dismissed arguments that Tinubu's backing from governors would prove decisive at the polls. However, the Presidency's counter-attack shifted the focus from policy critiques to Obi's political credibility and his refusal to accept electoral defeat.
Obi's interview has also drawn criticism from other quarters. Aisha Yesufu, a chieftain of the NDC, expressed frustration with the interview, saying she felt irritated because Obi had not said anything new. Human rights activist Segun Awosanya, popularly known as Segalink, described Obi as a "political content creator" and warned that Nigeria would be ruined like he allegedly ruined his state in eight years of rule. The backlash suggests that Obi's media appearance, intended to re-energise his support base ahead of 2027, may have instead exposed him to renewed criticism from both opponents and erstwhile allies.
The Presidency's intervention also reflects the growing intensity of political rhetoric as Nigeria approaches the 2027 general elections. With the opposition coalescing around Obi and other candidates, the ruling APC has increasingly sought to define the former Anambra governor as an opportunistic politician with no ideological consistency. Onanuga's statement, posted on his X account on Monday morning, has been widely shared and discussed across Nigerian social media platforms, with supporters and critics of Obi engaging in heated debates over the merits of the Presidency's criticisms.
As of Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Obi had not issued a formal response to Onanuga's statement. However, given the former governor's history of robust engagement with his critics, a reply is widely anticipated. For now, the Presidency has made its position clear: Peter Obi's interview was a missed opportunity, and his political journey, in the eyes of the Tinubu administration, is one of opportunism rather than principle. Whether the public will share that assessment remains to be seen, but the exchange has undoubtedly added fresh fuel to Nigeria's already charged political atmosphere.
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