Obi No Longer A Threat To Tinubu, Says Presidential Aide
A senior aide to President Bola Tinubu has moved to play down the political weight of Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 general elections, declaring that the former Anambra governor cannot repeat his 2023 upset victory in Lagos and no longer unsettles the administration.
Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, made the remarks during an interview on the Mic On Podcast on Saturday. “This government is not afraid of Peter Obi. He is not a nightmare to our government. Maybe before, Peter Obi was a threat, but right now, he is no threat because we stand on the solid ground of performance,” Dare said.
His comments came barely a month after Obi formally clinched the presidential ticket of the Nigeria Democratic Congress. The NDC, which officially registered in February, named Obi as its 2027 flagbearer, setting up a rematch of the three way contest that defined the 2023 poll against Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar, now of the African Democratic Congress. Obi later named former Kano governor Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate, an alliance widely seen as an effort to widen his reach into the North.
The Lagos reference carries particular sting for the ruling party. In 2023, Obi, then on the Labour Party platform, defeated Tinubu in the president’s home state by nearly 10,000 votes, a 0.77 percent margin, in what observers described as a major upset. Final figures put Obi on 582,454 votes against Tinubu’s 572,606, with Atiku trailing on 75,750. Although the APC won 11 of the 20 local government areas, Obi’s overall tally was higher, and Tinubu also lost Ikeja, where he cast his own vote.
Dare insisted that outcome would not be repeated. “Peter Obi defeated President Tinubu in Lagos in 2023. This is 2027; he can’t defeat Tinubu again in Lagos,” he said. He pointed to what he called a record of delivery, stating, “We have been able to interrogate the problems of this country. Decisions are being taken, policies are being unfolded across the country, and we have a scorecard to show.”
The presidential aide also questioned the substance of Obi’s public interventions. “Peter Obi is not a nightmare. Maybe you replace nightmare with nuisance because if you see some of his reactions, they are very pedantic,” Dare said, adding that some of Obi’s interview answers went “in a roundabout direction that does not make sense.”
The exchange reflects the early jostling shaping the 2027 contest. In 2023, Tinubu was declared winner with 8.79 million votes while Obi polled 6.1 million, finishing third nationally behind Tinubu and Atiku, but carrying both Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory. Obi’s appeal among young, urban voters, channelled through the Obidient Movement, remains a central variable in opposition calculations.
Whether the NDC ticket can convert that momentum into a national victory remains uncertain. Obi’s defection from the Labour Party has triggered competing claims over his old structure, with former running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed signalling his own presidential ambition. For now, the ruling party’s message is one of confidence, even as the opposition consolidates around a single candidate it failed to unite behind three years ago.