Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga has fired back at Peter Obi following the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate’s recent appearance on Channels Television, dismissing the interview as unsuccessful and using it as an opportunity to revisit unresolved questions about Obi’s political record and his continued claims over the 2023 election.
Much of Onanuga’s response centered on a comparison Obi had drawn between his own political journey and that of President Bola Tinubu, a parallel Onanuga rejected outright. He argued that Tinubu’s career has followed a single, consistent progressive lineage, tracing it from the Social Democratic Party through the Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress, and Action Congress of Nigeria, before culminating in the APC’s formation through the 2013 merger of opposition parties.
Obi’s path, by contrast, was framed by Onanuga as a pattern of movement rather than continuity. He noted that Obi was first elected governor under the All Progressives Grand Alliance, later joined the PDP, ran as Atiku Abubakar’s vice-presidential candidate in 2019, shifted to the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 election, and has since settled with the NDC. Onanuga went further, alleging that the Labour Party fell into leadership disarray after the 2023 polls and claiming that campaign funds under Obi’s control remain unaccounted for. He also suggested that Obi’s habit of leaving parties, rather than staying to fix their internal problems, reflects a broader unwillingness to do the harder work of party-building.
But the sharpest part of Onanuga’s statement addressed the 2023 election itself. He insisted the matter is not up for debate, pointing to the judicial process, including the Supreme Court’s ruling, as having already settled the outcome in Tinubu’s favor. For Onanuga, Obi’s continued insistence that he was denied victory amounts to relitigating a case that has already been closed. “Mr Obi, it is time you accepted the stark reality of the loss. Stop dreaming of a victory that you never had,” he said.
Onanuga closed by urging Obi to move past the 2023 result altogether and redirect his energy toward future political engagements rather than continuing to revisit an outcome the courts have already resolved.
