A top aide in President Bola Tinubu’s camp has pushed back hard against Peter Obi, calling out the former Anambra governor for reviving talk about questions surrounding the president’s history.
Frederick Nwabufo, who serves as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement, didn’t hold back after Obi weighed in on a court case playing out in the United States. That case touches on old allegations linking Tinubu to drug trafficking — claims that have followed the president for years and keep resurfacing whenever election season draws near.
Obi’s original post on X never mentioned Tinubu by name. He simply noted that politicians should remember their personal ambitions don’t outlast the nation’s interests. Still, given the timing and context, most people reading it understood exactly who — and what — he was pointing at.
Nwabufo wasn’t having it. He flatly denied that Tinubu has any “unresolved” chapter in his past, insisting the matters people keep bringing up have already gone through proper investigation and legal review. He went as far as calling Obi’s comments “ludicrous,” accusing the opposition camp of recycling the same tired allegations every time an election gets close.
His broader point? Nigerian politics needs to grow up. Rather than digging up old dirt, Nwabufo argued that parties and candidates should be competing on ideas — real policy differences that actually help voters decide who’s fit to lead. He suggested that opposition figures lean on these old stories precisely because they don’t have anything stronger to run on.
With the 2027 general elections still ahead, this back-and-forth is just one more sign that the political temperature is already rising — and that Tinubu’s past isn’t going away as a talking point anytime soon.
