Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has declared that President Bola Tinubu is not threatened by possible 2027 presidential challengers, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
Atiku is a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) while Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Both have been tipped to emerge presidential candidates of their respective parties.
Bwala however dismissed allegations of undermining opposition parties, and insisted that the opposition’s internal crisis was self-inflicted.
Speaking on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Bwala said resident Tinubu remains politically dominant because of his strategic leadership and the attractiveness of the APC government.
“They are familiar customers to Asiwaju. I hope you know he defeated them in 2023,” Bwala said while responding to a question on whether Tinubu fears Atiku or Obi ahead of the 2027 election.
He added that Tinubu defeated them “when the odds were against him,” insisting that neither politician currently poses a major political threat to the President.
Speaking on Atiku, Bwala described the former vice president as experienced but weakened by age and political timing.
“My former principal, Atiku Abubakar, is a good man, smart and intelligent with political credentials. The only problem is what we call in football father time. The skill will be there, but you will not be able to act,” he said.
The presidential aide also took aim at Peter Obi, claiming the former Anambra governor relied heavily on religious sentiment during the 2023 elections and lacked political structure and management skills.
“Peter Obi came into politics with a dead political career,” Bwala stated.
He further alleged that Obi’s supporters on social media were largely exaggerated, claiming many were “bot accounts,” while insisting the real-life support base was smaller than perceived.
Bwala argued that opposition parties were weakening themselves through internal crises, defections, and poor leadership, rather than being destabilized by the APC.
“We welcome the idea of an opposition that will come with superior ideas so we can engage Nigerians on our various ideas,” he said.
“But the opposition today consists largely of internally displaced politicians, some desperate for power.”
He rejected allegations that Tinubu was using federal power or state institutions to weaken rival parties, saying politicians defecting to the APC were doing so willingly because they found the ruling party attractive.
“All of them are coming to Asiwaju not under coercion,” he said.
“We are hopeful that by the time the election comes, even that one member of the opposition governors’ forum will join us.”
The presidential spokesman also defended the administration’s economic policies, particularly fuel subsidy removal, insisting the government would only intervene if circumstances demanded it.
“If there is a demand for subsidy, the President will do that. For now, government policy has not seen the suitability of that,” he said.
Bwala maintained that despite current economic hardship, Tinubu’s reforms were yielding positive results, citing improvements in debt service ratios, foreign reserves and endorsements from international financial institutions.
“The metrics and numbers are working in favour of the Nigerian economy. We are out of the worst period and moving towards recovery,” he added.