The Presidency has dismissed as baseless allegations linking President Bola Tinubu to the internal leadership crises affecting former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, refuted any suggestion that President Tinubu played a role in Obi’s political moves or the troubles currently rocking the ADC.
“I wonder why all these incompetent politicians are turning President Bola Tinubu into their favourite whipping boy,” Onanuga said. “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 Obi of failing to show leadership while the Labour Party was embroiled in internal disputes, even after benefiting from the platform to contest the presidency.
“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,” Onanuga stated.
He further argued that Obi had relied heavily on the so-called “Obidient movement” — which he described as largely active online — without converting it into a viable political structure.
“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,” Onanuga added.
According to the presidential aide, Obi later turned to the ADC in search of a ready-made political structure, describing the party as one already 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,” Onanuga said. “No due diligence appeared to have been conducted by the new owners, and thus, the nightmare they are confronting today.”
Onanuga insisted that the crisis within the ADC is self-inflicted and has no connection whatsoever with President Tinubu.