Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has claimed that the political career of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ended after the 2023 general elections.
Bwala made the assertion during an interview on The Clarity Zone Podcast, arguing that Obi is no longer a major factor in Nigeria’s political landscape.
“Like I said, if you check round the world, all political leaders that were able to move came with a purpose, with a vision, and they built a structure. They didn’t take advantage of the structure they built,” Bwala said.
According to him, Obi’s rise in 2023 was driven by a temporary political opportunity rather than a sustainable structure.
“Peter Obi is not at the moment a subject in the political terrain. His career ended in 2023. He will not get a quarter of the votes he got in 2023,” he added.
Bwala further argued that Obi benefited from religious sentiments during the last election, following the decision of a major political party to field a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
“He rode on an opportunity that presented itself in 2023 where there was a decision by one political party to carry a vice-presidential candidate who is a Muslim. So there was apathy by the Christian community, and he came and mobilised them,” Bwala said.
He claimed that many of those voters have since shifted their support back to President Tinubu.
“The majority of this same community has now come back to this president because they just realised that the last person that will use religion against the interest of others is Bola Tinubu,” he added.
