Onanuga to Obi: You abandoned PDP after 2019 defeat instead of rebuilding it

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga has criticised Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, accusing him of abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after its defeat in the 2019 presidential election instead of helping to rebuild the opposition party.

The criticism followed Obi’s appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he was interviewed by Seun Okinbaloye. During the interview, Obi defended his recent move to the National Democratic Congress (NDC), dismissed criticism of his political defections by arguing that President Bola Tinubu had also changed political platforms over the years, and maintained that he was the rightful winner of the 2023 presidential election despite the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming Tinubu’s victory.

Reacting in a statement posted via his X account on Monday, Onanuga dismissed Obi’s comparison with President Tinubu, arguing that while the President had remained within the progressive political family throughout his career, Obi had repeatedly switched political parties in pursuit of personal ambition.

According to Onanuga, Obi was elected governor of Anambra State on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) before defecting to the PDP, where he emerged as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate in the 2019 presidential election.

“Your presidential pair lost to Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo of the APC. You did not wait to rebuild the vanquished PDP. Instead, you pursued your selfish interest by joining the Labour Party. You ran as the party’s candidate in 2023,” Onanuga said.

He contrasted Obi’s political journey with Tinubu’s, saying the President had remained committed to the progressive movement from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) through the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and eventually the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Onanuga said Tinubu chose to strengthen and rebuild his political base after the AD suffered electoral setbacks in 2003 rather than defecting to the PDP.

“Tinubu remained true to his ideological persuasion. He stayed in the same lane… He built a new party from the bottom up, which has grown like an oak tree from an acorn,” he said.