Fans and supporters of the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, popularly known as the Obidients, have vowed to resist any plot to stop Obi from being on the 2027 presidential ballot.

They were reacting to a boast by Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Policy Communication to President Bola Tinubu, that Obi would not get the ticket of any party in 2027.

Bwala, who made the claims while featuring on Channels Television Wednesday, said the former Anambra State Governor would only serve as a Director-General in the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC).

He also claimed that Obi had lost 50% of his voters in 2023, adding that in 2027, President Tinubu would get up to 2 million votes from the South East, hitherto considered Obi’s stronghold.

Bwala had claimed, “As I tell you, he’s not going to get a ticket in any of the parties. That is Peter Obi. The problem now is that he might not even get the vice presidential ticket from the way things are going, but whether Peter Obi is a ticket bearer of the party, he has lost more than 50% of his votes because they were not votes that were built on agenda and politics. They were built on rhetoric and division, and Nigerian people’s eyes are open.

“You see the South-East, I guarantee you, President Bola Tinubu is going to get more than four times, if not six times, the value of the vote he got. He’ll get up to two million,” Bwala said.

But in a swift reaction, one of the State Coordinating Council Collegiate team members of the movement in Abia, Dr Chibuzor Obiesili, said that the “emphatic statement by Bwala that Obi would not get any party’s ticket is suspicious”.

Challenging the presidency “to come clean on the suspicious remark or be held accountable for it”, Dr Obiesili vowed that the Obidients Movement would stoutly resist any attempt to undermine Obi’s 2027 presidential ambition.

“Is Bwala now telling Nigerians that the presidency determines who gets a party ticket in 2027? Obiesili queried.

He faulted Bwala’s claims that Obi had lost 50% of his South East voters, dismissing the claims as “wishful thinking and empty political hallucination”.

According to Obiesili, “Obi’s support and followership are not only intact but swelling nationwide.”

“Bwala should stop hallucinating; Obi is not losing but gaining more support. His national appeal is so organic that even those who were not part of it before are now among the key drivers,” he claimed.

He said that “the Obidients’ Movement is stronger now among states and regions which were not supportive in 2023, having realised the truth.”

“In case Bwala is not aware, many Nigerians who were deceived by APC’s fake change in 2023 are now more obedient than the Obidients.

“2023 was an Obi wave, but 2027 shall be an Obi tsunami because Nigerian voters now know and understand better. Like Bwala rightly mentioned in his TV show, the eyes of voters have opened. They have realised that the change promised by APC is not real change; it’s a chain!”

Continuing, Obiesili said, “Bwala will be living in self-denial if he thinks Obi won’t be on the 2027 ballots,” adding that “nobody is more presidential material than Obi.”

He wondered why “Obi is always the headache of the presidency if truly his popularity is waning as Bwala and his fellow foot soldiers are purporting.”

“The presidency should stop pretending. It’s obvious that Obi’s ever-increasing popularity and national acceptance have remained their nightmare. But Nigerians are resolute about the coming tsunami that will birth the desired change.”

According to him, the building momentum for Obi is informed by his dream for a new Nigeria where accountability, transparency and performance will be cherished.

“The Obidients Movement is about a new Nigeria; it’s a national project to rescue Nigeria from political hijackers and reset the country; it’s a patriotic movement to make Nigeria great again! It’s a movement that is blind to tribe, religion or culture. All patriotic citizens who believe in Nigeria are queuing behind the movement,” he said.

He also told the presidency to stop making false claims of imaginary votes for Tinubu ahead of 2027, alleging that such wild claims have suspicious motives.

“Bwala’s claims of 2 million votes for Tinubu in the South East are as suspicious as Dr Nicolas Felix’s boast of 15 million votes for the President in 2027. The presidency should not forget that Tinubu lost the South East in 2023, and his policies have not made life better for the citizens in that region nor in any region to generate the imaginary millions of votes they are claiming. This is suspicious and calls for explanations.”