‘He has put a curse on himself’: Presidency attacks Peter Obi over promise to rule only for four years

The Presidency has criticised former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi over his reported promise to spend only four years in office if elected president.

Obi, in a clip from an interview scheduled to air on News Central TV on Thursday, 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.”

“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,” he said in the circulating video.

The former Anambra State governor also criticised the current administration’s economic policies, including borrowing and rising cost of living, saying Nigeria had entered one of its most difficult economic periods.

However, reacting, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said 2027 presidential aspirant, Peter Obi, cannot be trusted to keep to his single-term promise.

Onanuga in an X post early Thursday said Obi’s one-term promise should not be taken seriously as he has no plans to keep it.

The presidential aide said, “If you believe Peter Obi’s promise to serve only one term as president, you’ll believe anything.

“Consider his record: while in APGA, he famously placed himself under a self-curse, vowing never to leave the party that made him governor. He gave his word to the Ikemba, even on his deathbed, swearing loyalty and fidelity to APGA.

“Yet, 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.

“By his own actions, Peter Obi has shown that his word cannot be trusted. His promises are as fleeting as his political allegiances.”

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 criticising the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms.