The Presidency has accused supporters of the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of shielding him from public scrutiny and giving him a “licence to lie” without consequences.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the assertion in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday while reacting to a statement issued by the Anambra State Government.
Onanuga highlighted four key points from the Anambra government’s response to Obi, using them to question the former governor’s political record and fitness for higher office.
According to Onanuga, Obi’s supporters have created a dangerous double standard by blindly defending him whenever his claims are challenged by facts.
Quoting the Anambra State Government’s assessment, Onanuga noted that Obi has a history of demarketing both his predecessors—Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Chris Ngige—and his successors, while portraying himself as the only capable leader the state has produced.
“There is a dangerous trend in our public discourse where there are two sets of standards: one for everyone else and another for Peter Obi,” the statement cited by Onanuga read. “He spent eight years in office demarketing Dr. Mbadinuju and Dr. Ngige, and has spent the last 13 years using his media team to daily demarket his successors.”
Onanuga further argued that Obi’s supporters tolerate falsehoods out of blind loyalty, an attitude he warned undermines public accountability and ethical politics in Nigeria. He advised those who genuinely care about the former governor to urge him to stick to verifiable facts.
The presidential aide also highlighted the intolerance of Obi’s followers toward political opposition. He cited the intense criticism directed at Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, for supporting candidates other than Obi, noting the irony that Obi reserves the right to support whichever candidate he chooses.
Critiquing Obi’s economic track record, Onanuga asserted that the former governor views governance strictly through the lens of a trader focused on bank balances rather than human development.
“Governance and development are different from trading, where everything is primarily about a profit-and-loss account without much consideration for human life,” Onanuga quoted. “Reducing development to the size of bank accounts and interest income while citizens suffer does not indicate good performance. Governance performance is measured by how much a government improves the security and welfare of its people, not how much it saves.”
Onanuga concluded that Obi’s approach to governance demonstrates that he is unprepared to lead a complex nation like Nigeria.
