•Peter Obi and Tinubu
The presidency yesterday dismissed as false and politically motivated a claim by the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, that he might not be alive to participate in the January 2027 general election due to alleged persecution by the federal government.
In a social media post on his verified X handle, @aonanuga1956, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the assertion as another attempt to attract undue sympathy and deflect attention from what he called his growing credibility deficit.
The presidency said Obi’s allegation, made during a podcast with Chude Jideonwo yesterday, was part of a pattern of “lies and propaganda” intended to portray the former Anambra State governor as a victim of political persecution, reports The Nation.
As earlier reported by The Frontier, Obi had alleged that the federal government had been harassing him, frustrating his business interests and pressuring people not to associate with him socially.
Obi also suggested that he might not be alive to contest the January 2027 presidential election if the alleged persecution continued.
Responding in the post, Onanuga dismissed the allegations as baseless, insisting that the Tinubu administration had neither the time nor the inclination to target Obi or any of his business interests.
The presidential spokesman also rejected Obi’s claim that an incident involving his vehicle at an airport was evidence of official harassment, arguing that, by Obi’s own account, the development appeared to have resulted from a breach of parking regulations rather than any action directed against him by the government.
Describing Obi as “a pathological and serial liar,” Onanuga accused the former Labour Party presidential candidate of habitually dragging the government into every personal inconvenience he encounters through exaggeration and unfounded allegations.
According to him, Obi’s claim that he might not survive to witness the 2027 election, as well as his allegation that individuals were being discouraged from inviting him to social events, was “nothing more than a fabricated narrative” designed to win public sympathy while diverting attention from what he described as the credibility challenges facing Obi, his Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and his adopted political association, the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Onanuga also dismissed suggestions that the federal government was targeting Fidelity Bank Plc, in which Obi has a substantial interest.
He maintained that the bank had continued to thrive under the current administration’s economic reforms, insisting that there was no basis for claims that the government was persecuting the financial institution because of Obi’s interest in it.
“The Tinubu government remains fully focused on consolidating its historic and beneficial reforms for the good of all Nigerians. It has neither the time nor the inclination to be distracted by Mr Obi’s self-serving narratives and lies or by his candidacy, as he constantly diminishes himself with specious, unverifiable utterances”, Onanuga said.
The presidency maintained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration remained focused on implementing its economic and governance reforms and would not be distracted by what it described as unfounded allegations from opposition figures.
