Peter Obi overrated – Bwala

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on PolicyCommunication, has criticised Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidentialcandidate, saying he is not a genuine ‘labour’ leader. Speaking on The Clarity Zone Podcast, Bwalaargued that Obi’s reputation as a philanthropist was exaggerated. “Peter Obi is a billionaire, multi-billionaire. There is norecord that Peter has floated a foundation, or a school, anything that has todo with public interest and funded so they can meet the needs of the masses.Not a single one,” he said. Bwala also dismissed reports that Obi had made hugedonations. “He has never given beyond N50m, and even that one, I cantell you the circumstances behind it. He never gave N100m to anybody,” heclaimed. He further mocked the boreholes reportedly donated by Obi inthe North after the elections, describing them as “caveman days borehole —where somebody will climb and be bouncing like this before water will comeout.” Beyond philanthropy, Bwala questioned Obi’s alignment withthe Labour Party, saying he had no history of standing with workers. “Peter Obi is a capitalist by nature. He believes in freemarket economy. He’s a businessman. There is nothing resembling socialismaround Peter Obi. But Peter Obi ran on the platform of Labour Party that isprincipally a socialist party. Tell me whether you have ever seen Peter Obi inany workers’ strike, protest or student unionism. Even during EndSARS, was hethere?” He compared Obi’s 2023 campaign to Donald Trump’s populiststrategy, saying Obi only took advantage of youth anger. “In the last election,Obi just saw that the youth were not happy and he rode on that anger. They evensaid, ‘we no dey give shishi,’ because once you ride on their anger, theysponsor themselves to fight your cause,” Bwala added. He also accused Obi of using churches during the campaignand abandoning them afterwards. “He went to all the churches, met all the Pentecostalbishops. He was everywhere — Holy Ghost night, Holy Ghost morning, propheticprayers. But after the election, I didn’t see him again. Like my church, we hadShiloh. I told one of my pastors that Peter Obi no dey go Shiloh again,” hesaid. Obi joined the Labour Party in 2022 after leaving thePeoples Democratic Party and ran a campaign that gained huge support fromyouths and church groups under the “Obidient” movement. The Labour Partypresents itself as a pro-worker, social democratic platform.

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