The Presidency has hit back at allegations linking President Bola Tinubu to the internal turmoil surrounding Peter Obi and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), calling the claims "baseless" and "unfounded."
In a statement issued on Monday via his X handle, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the President had no involvement in Obi’s political decisions or the challenges facing the ADC. He said, "I wonder why all these incompetent politicians are turning President Bola Tinubu into their favourite whipping boy. The President has nothing to do with Obi’s abandonment of the Labour Party or the jam he appears to have run into in the ADC.
Onanuga accused the former governor of failing to demonstrate leadership in managing the crisis within the Labour Party before leaving the platform. “After using the Labour Party to vie for the highest office in the country, Obi dumped it in a classic case of use-and-dump. He failed to demonstrate leadership in resolving the party’s crisis,” he stated.
He further mocked the "Obidient movement," describing it as an online-heavy base that Obi failed to transform into a functional political structure.
Onanuga stated, “Instead, he went to the embrace of his IPOB base, the so-called Obidient movement, which is more active online. You would think the man would transform the movement into a political party. But no, he didn’t do any such thing. He is just incapable of building an organic party of his own.” The presidential aide went further to claim that Obi joined the ADC in search of an existing political structure, describing the party as one facing internal challenges. “Because he knows he needs a political structure to realise his doomed dream of winning the presidency, he shopped for a cooked soup to partake in the ensuing party. The peripatetic politician moved to the hijacked ADC, an SPV bought by Atiku Abubakar from Ralph Nwosu. No due diligence appeared to have been conducted by the new owners, and thus, the nightmare they are confronting today,” he added.
Addressing the chaotic leadership tussle within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Presidency dismissed any links to President Bola Tinubu with a blunt reality check: “What is the connection of Tinubu with the ADC crisis? Absolutely none." Obi and his team—mockingly referred to as “co-travellers”—to stop the blame game. The message was clear: if they want to be serious contenders for the 2027 presidency, they need to “get their acts together”
He also urged Obi and other stakeholders to resolve internal disputes within the party. “Let them go and settle with Nafiu Gombe and other disenchanted ADC members. As of now, Obi, without being made a candidate, is inconsequential for 2027,” Onanuga stated. He added that Obi’s performance in the 2023 presidential election does not guarantee a similar outcome in the future. “The fact that he came third in 2023 does not mean he will have the same showing in 2027, if he ever becomes a candidate of any party. 2023 is not like 2027. President Tinubu is an incumbent with many achievements to flaunt, most of which Obi has been blind to acknowledge,” he said.
Onanuga insisted, noting that President Tinubu will be running as an incumbent with a record of "many achievements" that he claims Obi has chosen to ignore.
Labeling the attacks on the President as "sheer baloney" and a desperate attempt to smear Tinubu’s democratic image, the message was blunt: "First things first. Let the man become a candidate first."
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been embroiled in a leadership crisis following efforts by opposition figures, including Atiku, Obi, Rauf Aregbesola, and others, to use the party as a platform for a potential 2027 coalition.
The drama reached a fever pitch on April 1, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced it had delisted African Democratic Congress leadership, including Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, from its records. The commission, through its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information Committee, Mohammed Haruna, explained that the move was in compliance with a court order directing it to preserve the status quo pending the final judgment of the trial court.