Presidency Fires Back at Obi: ‘Childish, Hollow, and a Distraction’ After Weekend Poll Wins

The Presidency didn’t mince words. Hours after Peter Obi demanded President Tinubu’s resignation citing “monumental failure,” Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga delivered a blistering rebuttal—dismissing the call as “puerile,” “anti-democratic,” and the product of a “self-constructed echo chamber” where Obi “reels off lie after lie to himself.”

Onanuga’s first strike was procedural: Nigeria runs a presidential system, not Westminster. Tinubu was elected to a fixed four-year term. “Obi should wait until the presidential election to know what the people think.” The weekend’s by-election victories in Ekiti, Nasarawa, Enugu, Ondo, and Rivers were cited as proof of popularity—a “resounding victory” Obi should fear more than criticize.

The Presidency countered Obi’s security critique with data: 15,000+ terrorists “taken off the streets,” high-profile rescues in Borno and the Northwest, drone deployments, and a new Special Adviser on Homeland Security. Then the personal dagger: “Obi, who as governor was a colossal failure, unable to secure lives and property in his small state of Anambra, is now calling for resignation.” Willie Obiano’s documented criticisms of his predecessor were invoked.

Onanuga listed achievements Obi allegedly ignores: GDP growth every quarter surpassing global averages, $50 billion+ foreign reserves, oil production up from under 1 million to 1.8 million barrels daily, federation revenue projected at ₦30 trillion (vs ₦7.7 trillion in 2022), stock market soaring from 50,000 to 250,000, stable naira, record FDI. “A dead horse economy” was what Tinubu inherited, Onanuga insisted.

The Presidency disputed Obi’s characterization of Tinubu’s power promise. The actual quote, they claimed: “Whichever way, by all means necessary, you will have electricity, and you will not pay for estimated bills anymore.” The Electricity Act, millions of prepaid meters, and off-grid solar projects were cited as delivery—transmission infrastructure remains the bottleneck.

Inflation? A global problem, Onanuga argued, worsened by the Hormuz crisis after “America and Israel attacked Iran.” The subtext: external shocks, not policy failure.

“True leadership means staying the course,” Onanuga concluded. Tinubu has “a team of thinkers and doers.” Obi, meanwhile, “lives in his self-constructed echo chambers… We sympathise with him. That reality he fantasises about is mostly a figment of his imagination.”