Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser To to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, has accused Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi of using repeated claims about threats to his life as part of a political strategy involving the Obidient Movement, the support group backing Obi’s presidential ambition.
Bwala made the allegation in a post on X while reacting to Obi’s recent remarks in Berlin, Germany, where the former Anambra State governor claimed there had been an attempt on his life during a planned visit to Benue State in April 2025.
The presidential aide dismissed Obi’s claims and argued that they followed what he described as a pattern of making similar allegations.
“The desperation of Peter Obi @PeterObi is palpable. He recently travelled to Europe and was quoted to have alleged that Governor of Benue wanted to kill him. Imagine lies from someone who said he wants to govern a country like Nigeria,” Bwala wrote.
He also referred to the recent controversy surrounding Obi’s claims of intimidation at Nigerian airports, insisting that the opposition politician had wrongly accused airport authorities after allegedly violating airport traffic regulations.
“The other day he falsely accused airport officials of threatening his life when in fact he violated airport Trafic rules,” Bwala stated.
The presidential aide went further to suggest that Obi’s latest allegation about his safety was intended to mobilise members of the Obidient Movement against political opponents.
“Lately his new found allegation on life may appear to be his strategy to use his Obidient movement to threaten people’s life like they have been doing on us,” he added.
Bwala’s comments followed Obi’s appearance at a high-level roundtable discussion organised by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Berlin on Thursday. During the event, Obi alleged that there had been an attempt on his life after he planned to visit Benue State for a humanitarian outreach.
According to Obi, the Benue State Government had earlier advised him not to visit the state, a development that eventually forced him to cancel the trip. He said he was disappointed by the government’s handling of the planned visit and claimed events surrounding the incident pointed to an attempt on his life.
“You’re not aware that I wanted to go to Benue and the governor said I can’t come. You’re not aware that the governor said I shouldn’t come, and when I went there, there was a shootout,” Obi said.
“What else do you need? Do you need somebody to die before you believe it? There was already a shootout when I tried to visit the place. Once they said, ‘Don’t come here.’ What else do you want me to tell you about the attempt on my life?”
The latest exchange comes days after another dispute involving Obi and the Federal Government over an incident at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo had released CCTV footage which he said showed a vehicle linked to Obi violating airport parking regulations, rejecting Obi’s earlier suggestion that he had faced intimidation at Nigerian airports.
However, Obi’s spokesperson, Zekeri Idris, dismissed the minister’s claims, arguing that the footage released did not relate to the incident Obi had described publicly. Idris maintained that Obi does not enjoy the level of official security protection many assume and alleged that vehicles associated with the NDC presidential candidate had repeatedly been singled out for questionable treatment by airport authorities. He also questioned why similar scrutiny had not been applied in previous airport incidents involving other prominent Nigerians.