Presidential aide Daniel Bwala has sparked fresh political controversy after claiming that a large number of supporters of former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi are not real people but social media bot accounts.
Bwala, who serves as Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday while addressing the presidency’s repeated responses to criticism from Obi and his supporters.
Defending the government’s engagement with opposition voices online, Bwala argued that Obi’s supporters dominate political conversations on social media, making it difficult for the presidency to ignore them.
“When we keep quiet, Peter Obi and his Obidients, from morning till the next morning, are talking about Asiwaju government,” he said. “When we respond to them, you say we are reacting to them.”
The presidential aide went further, alleging that many of the accounts promoting the Obidient movement online are automated profiles designed to manipulate social media algorithms.
“Peter Obi has a followership that they call the Obidients, that are largely, they consist of people that are not human beings, we call bot account,” Bwala stated.
“If you are very familiar with social media and the manipulation of algorithm, you will say that. But the real Obidients that are human beings, when you see them on the street, they are not very many.”
Bwala also revisited the 2023 presidential election, arguing that Peter Obi’s electoral success was heavily influenced by religious sentiments and political tensions surrounding the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
According to him, Obi’s campaign benefited from a wave of religious mobilisation that intensified political divisions in the country.
“At that time, he used religious rhetoric. The toxicity of what he introduced in 2023 will be a long time before it leaves us as a country,” he said.
The presidential aide claimed that several religious leaders who publicly supported Obi during the election period have since distanced themselves from the former Anambra State governor.
“The same religious leaders that followed him at that time, right now, they don’t feel his energy anymore,” Bwala added.
He also questioned Obi’s leadership style and ability to maintain political alliances, pointing to the departure of some of his former associates and allies over the years.
“When Peter Obi governed as governor in Anambra till today, have you seen any of his former commissioners, aides, or administrative assistants that are still with him? He doesn’t have man-management skills,” he argued.
Bwala referenced names such as Valentine Ozigbo and Kennedy Okonkwo, suggesting that several individuals who once worked closely with Obi have since moved on politically.
The remarks are expected to further deepen political tensions between supporters of President Tinubu and the Obidient movement, which emerged as one of the most influential political forces during the 2023 election cycle.
