Daniel Bwala, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on policy communication, says Peter Obi will neither emerge as the presidential nor vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Bwala claimed during an interview on The Clarity Zone Podcast, where he argued that Obi lacks the capacity to function as director-general of any coalition political movement.
The presidential aide also said the former Anambra State governor would ultimately contest the next general election on a different political platform.
According to Bwala, Obi has lost control of the political structure he built following the 2023 general election, including his influence within the national assembly.
“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.
“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. All the elections he has gone across Nigeria supporting candidates… all of them failed.”
Bwala further criticised Obi’s supporters on social media, accusing them of harassment and double standards.
“The army of Trojans that he has on social media, they attack people. They say you are two-faced, that you change party. That’s what they do every day,” he 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.”
The presidential aide accused Obi of hypocrisy over party loyalty, noting that the former governor has switched political platforms multiple times.
“He started with PDP, then went to APGA. In APGA, he came back to PDP. From PDP, he went to Labour,” Bwala said.
“Right now, when you hear people talk about being between the devil and the deep blue sea, he is between ADC and Labour.
“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.”
Bwala also predicted that Obi would not secure even a quarter of the votes he recorded in the 2023 presidential election.
Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the last general election, polled 6,101,533 votes, finishing third behind the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to Bwala, Obi’s political rise was driven by a temporary opportunity rather than sustained grassroots strength.
He further described Obi as “an actor” in Nigeria’s political space, arguing that his popularity was built on “make-believe” rather than political reality.
