The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has declared that former Anambra State Governor and 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is “unfit” to govern Nigeria.

Onanuga made the remark in a series of posts on X on Saturday titled “Deconstructing Peter Obi,” in which he criticised Obi’s political record, supporters and approach to governance.

According to Onanuga, Obi’s background as a trader has influenced his understanding of governance, which he argued should not be reduced to financial savings and interest income.

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“Your Excellency Peter Obi, governance and development are different from trading where everything is primarily about profit and loss account without much consideration for human life,” Onanuga wrote.

He also criticised what he described as Obi’s emphasis on government savings and interest income, arguing that the primary responsibility of government should be the security and welfare of citizens.

“Indeed, if government savings and interest income constitute an indicator of governance performance, perhaps it should have been one of the MDGs or SDGs and governments would start competing as to who saves the most rather than who improves the security and welfare of the people the most,” he said.

Onanuga further alleged that Obi’s record regarding workers and pensioners in Anambra State raised questions about his approach to governance.

“Your response to the thousands of workers and pensioners you owed and your reducing development to the size of bank accounts and interest income while millions die in poverty don’t show good signs,” he stated.

The presidential aide also accused Obi of repeatedly making false claims and criticised his supporters for allegedly defending him when his claims are challenged.

“No one blames Obi for being a pathological liar. What one hears is, ‘Yes, we know that he is lying, but must you be the one to expose the lies of a brother—even if his lies are hurting you?’” Onanuga wrote.

He added: “Those who love H.E. Peter Obi should advise him to stop lying as a habit so as to avoid the constant embarrassment of confronting inconvenient facts and truth.”

Onanuga also accused Obi and his supporters of applying what he described as a double standard to political support.

“The double standard is everywhere around Peter Obi. For Obi’s supporters, ‘H.E. Peter Obi has the right to choose who to support and campaign for, even when he is not on the ballot. For our governor (Governor Soludo) to dare to exercise the same right and support anyone else but Peter Obi, he must be crucified,’” he said.

The statement comes amid continuing political exchanges involving Obi, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo and supporters of both politicians ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Onanuga concluded with a direct assessment of Obi’s suitability for the presidency, stating: “My verdict: He is unfit to govern Nigeria.”

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, is leading the national leadership and state chairmen of the party in a three-day strategic retreat in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The retreat, which brings together APC leaders and invited stakeholders, is focused on strengthening the organisation and unity of the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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Themed “Strengthening Party Organisation, Unity and Electoral Readiness Towards 2027,” the retreat is expected to provide an avenue for party leaders to deliberate on issues affecting the party and strategies for improving its preparedness for the upcoming elections.

Yilwatda is leading the gathering of the party’s national leadership and state chairmen as the APC continues its preparations for the 2027 electoral cycle.

The participation of invited stakeholders is also expected to contribute to discussions aimed at strengthening coordination and organisational effectiveness across the party.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Gabriel Pidomson, has dismissed reports of mass defections from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting that the ADC remains united and focused on the 2027 governorship election.

Pidomson made the clarification during an interview on Arise News, where he said he was not aware of any ADC member who had defected to the APC, to the best of his knowledge.

According to him, reports suggesting that members of the opposition party were moving to the APC were merely “political optics” designed to create a different impression about the strength of the ADC in Rivers State.

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“The ADC is strong and united. We are united in our resolve to win. We are united in our resolve to bring about change in Rivers State,” Pidomson said.

He added that the party was more concerned with strengthening its structures and accommodating new members than responding to claims about defections.

“So, there’s nothing like that. We are together, we are united,” he said.

Pidomson said the only person he was aware had left the party after the governorship primary was Dr Seconte Davies, who lost the contest, but stressed that he was not certain Davies had joined the APC.

“The only major person that left the ADC — and I’m not sure whether he joined the APC — is Dr Seconte Davies,” he said.

The ADC candidate said Davies’ departure had not affected the party’s structure in Degema, adding that the party was “getting stronger, waxing stronger by the day.”

He said the ADC was now focused on mobilising new members and integrating them into its structures ahead of the 2027 election.

“We are focused now, not even in mobilising people in our party, is how we can accommodate the people that are coming to join the party. And how we’ll structure them into the systems and structures of our party,” Pidomson said.

His comments come amid fresh political realignments in Rivers State ahead of the 2027 elections, including disagreements between the ADC and APC over the so-called Rainbow Coalition. Pidomson recently described the political arrangement as “rainbow confusion,” arguing that the ADC represented a broader coalition of politicians from different political backgrounds.

Pidomson, however, maintained that the ADC remains focused on the 2027 election and that no defections had affected its structure.

He also said he was not focused on the activities of the Rainbow Coalition, stressing that his priority was building the ADC ahead of the election.

Meanwhile, former ADC governorship candidate in Rivers State, Tonte Ibraye, resigned his membership of the party, citing internal leadership disputes and concerns over the legitimacy of the party’s 2027 electoral processes.