Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, has sharply criticised Peter Obi, the former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, dismissing him as a “character-in-chief” and accusing him of engaging in political “theatrics” rather than substantive leadership.
Bwala’s comments came during a wide-ranging interview on The Clarity Zone Podcast, hosted by Chinedu Emmanuel, popularly known as Nedu. In the interview, the presidential aide responded to claims that Obi had once described Bwala as a “character.” He turned the phrase on the ex-LP candidate, asserting that Obi’s political style is more performance than leadership.
“In the movie, the actor is a character. He is actually the character-in-chief, because what he’s playing is what we call theatrics,” Bwala said, emphasising that Obi’s public persona and political rhetoric paint “a fictitious picture of a reality that will never exist.”
Bwala went on to argue that Obi’s political approach sold “hope” rather than concrete outcomes, suggesting that many of Obi’s supporters were left directionless after the 2023 elections. According to Bwala, when Nigerians saw “reality dawn and he lost the election, they couldn’t manage the picture of the fantasy that was painted in their mind, and they ran berserk.”
The presidential aide also accused Obi’s supporters of baseless attacks on social media and said that many online commentators “migrate and abuse people,” claiming this behaviour stems from Obi’s inability to lead through tangible achievement.
“They are all over the media now… they don’t have a particular platform where they stay. They migrate and abuse people. And that is because leadership is not easy,” Bwala remarked.
Bwala also contested recent claims from Obi that he had never been to Anambra State during his tenure as governor. In a striking aside, the Tinubu aide insisted he knew the geography of Obi’s home state, even offering to “tell you the road that leads to his house.”
He went further, even joking about anecdotal figures from Obi’s political narrative, saying, “I even know the junction where the madman that used to advise him used to stay, very close to Upper Iweka,” dismissing the former LP candidate’s remarks about advice he once received from a mentally unstable man in Anambra.
“How can he say I have never been to Anambra?” Bwala said, ridiculing the assertion.
Bwala’s critique reflects broader tensions within Nigerian political discourse, where opposition figures like Obi, known for his significant 2023 election showing and influence among youth and urban voters, are frequently the target of pointed commentary from government supporters.
Separately, Bwala has previously accused Obi of political opportunism and inconsistency, likening his movement between political platforms to that of “Premier League football players” who “change club every season,” an allusion to Obi’s shift among multiple parties over the years.
At the time of writing, Peter Obi and his associates had not issued a detailed rebuttal to Bwala’s latest remarks in the national media. Obi, a former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has in the past used social media and interviews to dismiss misinformation and unfounded attacks on his person and political record.
Observers say Bwala’s comments are likely to reverberate in political circles as Nigeria’s political landscape intensifies ahead of future electoral contests, especially as figures like Obi continue to engage with the public across traditional and digital platforms.
