. Bayo Onanuga to Obi: Your ‘re known for broken loyalty
Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has said he would serve only one term of four years if elected president, insisting he would serve only one term in office “even with a gun to my head.”
Obi who is a frontline presidential aspirant of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, accused the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Joash Amupitan, of acting out a script allegedly written by President Bola Tinubu.
The former governor of Anambra State made the allegation in a yet-to-be-released interview with News Central TV.
He disclosed that he recently wrote to the INEC boss, Amupitan, telling him that he will not be there forever.
Obi said, “If anybody had told me that we could use Professors to run our elections and it would be worse, I would have said a capital no.
“I wrote to the present INEC Chairman and said, ” Remember, you will not be here forever”.
Asked if INEC is an agent of the president, Obi said, “Yes, completely. Whatever the INEC Chairman is doing today, he is acting the script written by the man who employed him.
He added, “I want to be a one-term president because of stability. I would not stay a day, with a gun to my head, longer than four years.”
The former Anambra State governor also criticized the current administration’s economic policies, including borrowing and rising cost of living, saying Nigeria had entered one of its most difficult economic periods.
Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party, where he came third behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Since the election, Obi has remained a key opposition figure, frequently criticizing the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has criticized Obi over his pledge to serve only one term if elected president, saying his political history shows inconsistency.
Reacting on Thursday in a post on X, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed the promise, insisting that Obi’s past political decisions show a pattern of broken loyalty.
“If you believe Peter Obi’s promise to serve only one term as president, you’ll believe anything,” Onanuga said.
He said Obi had previously pledged loyalty to the All Progressives Grand Alliance while serving as governor of Anambra State but later defected to the Peoples Democratic Party.
“Peter Obi’s pledges have always been short-lived. He ultimately abandoned APGA for the PDP, and since then, he has drifted from one political platform to another—a political rolling stone,” he stated.
According to Onanuga, Obi’s political movements over the years show that his promises are unreliable.
“By his own actions, Peter Obi has shown that his word cannot be trusted. His promises are as fleeting as his political allegiances,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has officially joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State.
Mimiko arrived at the APC secretariat in Ondo West Local Government Area on Wednesday to formalize his membership of the ruling party.
He was received by the APC Chairman in the state, Babatunde Kolawole, and the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, amid cheers from party supporters.
Mimiko, who governed Ondo State between 2009 and 2017, had in April resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ending speculation over his political future.
Before joining the PDP, the former governor was a prominent figure in the Labour Party (LP), where he played major political roles at both state and national levels.
Sources who spoke with The Nation said his return to active partisan politics followed a period of relative political quiet during which he maintained influence through loyalists and political structures across the state.
Party insiders described Mimiko’s defection as strategic, saying his political experience and grassroots network would strengthen the APC, particularly in Ondo Central Senatorial District.
A former spokesman to Mimiko, Akinsola, confirmed the development, saying arrangements had been concluded to formally receive the former governor into the party.
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