Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, has dismissed suggestions that former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, could clinch either the presidential or vice-presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress.
Speaking on The Clarity Zone Podcast, Bwala described Obi as politically isolated, arguing that the former Labour Party presidential candidate lacks the capacity to lead or coordinate any coalition, including serving as a director-general of such an alliance.
According to the presidential aide, Obi has lost control of the political structure that emerged around him after the 2023 general election and no longer wields meaningful influence in Nigeria’s political landscape.
“After the election, he lost everybody he was leading. He had members in the House of Representatives. How many are there in the National Assembly?” Bwala asked.
He further questioned Obi’s current standing, insisting that the former governor no longer enjoys the support of sitting governors or elected officials.
“The only governor he had… is the governor with him or with us? In fact, I have not seen one that identifies with him at the moment,” he said.
Bwala also claimed that candidates backed by Obi have failed to record electoral success in subsequent polls across the country.
“All the elections he has gone across Nigeria supporting candidates… all of them failed,” he added.
The presidential aide went on to criticise Obi’s supporters on social media, accusing them of attacking political opponents while overlooking what he described as Obi’s history of frequent party switches.
“The army of Trojans that he has on social media, they attack people. They say you are two-faced, that you change party,” Bwala said.
“But when you say their master and hero has been changing party like a player in the Premier League changes clubs every season, they don’t like it.”
He accused Obi of hypocrisy on the issue of party loyalty, recounting his movement from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, back to the PDP, and later to the Labour Party.
“He started with PDP, then went to APGA. In APGA, he came back to PDP. From PDP, he went to Labour,” he said.
Bwala maintained that Obi is currently politically adrift. “Right now, when you hear people talk about being between the devil and the deep blue sea, he is between ADC and Labour,” he stated.
Insisting that Obi would not secure either the presidential or vice-presidential slot of the ADC, Bwala predicted that the former governor would eventually contest the next general election on a different platform.
“He will not be the presidential candidate, he will not be the vice-presidential candidate. Peter Obi is going to run on a platform other than Labour and other than ADC,” he said.
Bwala further forecast that Obi would struggle to replicate his 2023 performance, when he polled 6,101,533 votes to finish third behind the APC and PDP candidates, adding that Obi would not secure even a quarter of that figure in the next election.
He concluded by describing Obi’s political rise as the result of a fleeting opportunity rather than deep grassroots support, portraying him as “an actor” whose popularity was built on “make-believe” rather than political reality.
