Presidency Tears Into Obi, Defends Tinubu’s Political Trajectory

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga has launched a scathing attack on Peter Obi, describing the former Anambra State governor’s recent interview on Channels Television as a public relations disaster that failed to revive his 2027 presidential bid.
In a post on his X account on Monday, Onanuga said Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), had hoped the television appearance would re-energise his political fortunes but instead triggered widespread criticism.
According to Onanuga, he watched only about 30 minutes of the interview before switching off, claiming Obi made several false assertions that drew negative reactions from viewers.
One of the key issues raised during the interview was Obi’s attempt to equate his political journey with that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu after he was questioned about frequently changing political parties. Onanuga rejected the comparison, insisting that Tinubu’s political career has been marked by ideological consistency, unlike Obi’s.
Tracing the President’s political history, Onanuga said Tinubu entered partisan politics through the Social Democratic Party (SDP), under which he won election to the Senate. He noted that following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Tinubu became a prominent figure in the pro-democracy movement, resisting military rule, enduring detention, and eventually going into exile, where he continued campaigning for the restoration of democracy.
He added that Tinubu returned to Nigeria in 1998, joined the Alliance for Democracy (AD), and was elected governor of Lagos State in 1999. Despite internal crises within the AD and political pressure from the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Tinubu retained his seat in the 2003 governorship election.
Onanuga further recalled that Tinubu later championed the formation of the Action Congress (AC), which evolved into the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before becoming one of the major blocs that merged to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013.
Drawing a sharp contrast with Obi’s political career, the presidential aide said the former Anambra governor was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) but later defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he became Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election.
He argued that while Tinubu remained within the same progressive ideological family throughout his political journey, Obi repeatedly switched political parties, making any comparison between the two leaders misleading.