The Presidency has dismissed Peter Obi’s call for President Bola Tinubu to resign, describing it as childish, hollow and politically misplaced.
Obi had reportedly urged Tinubu to emulate the British Prime Minister by voluntarily resigning, citing worsening conditions in the country. But the Presidency, in a strongly worded response, said the comparison was defective because Nigeria does not operate the same system of Government as Britain.
In a statement issued by Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said Obi’s call was not a genuine demand for accountability but an act of political grandstanding designed to distract Nigerians after the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), recorded major victories in recent elections.
According to Onanuga, Obi’s argument showed a poor understanding of Nigeria’s constitutional order, noting that while the United Kingdom operates a Parliamentary system where a Prime Minister can resign under Party pressure, Nigeria runs a Presidential system in which the President is elected for a fixed four-year term.
“Obi forgets our country does not run a Parliamentary system of Government like the UK. We run a Presidential System, with the President elected to a fixed four-year term,” the Presidency said.
The statement argued that Tinubu had no reason to resign, insisting that the President still enjoyed democratic legitimacy and popular support across the country.
The Presidency pointed to the recent electoral victories recorded by the APC in Ekiti State and Senatorial contests in Nasarawa, Enugu, Ondo and Rivers as evidence that Nigerians still backed Tinubu and his Party.
It described the results as an early referendum on the administration, saying they showed that Tinubu remained politically strong despite opposition criticism.
“The people of Ekiti State and the Senatorial constituents in Nasarawa, Enugu, Ondo and Rivers have just delivered a resounding victory for President Tinubu and his Party,” the statement said.
The Presidency added that Obi and his new political platform, the NDC, should be more concerned about the growing strength of the APC ahead of the January 2027 Presidential Election.
It advised Obi to wait for the next General Election if he wanted to know what Nigerians truly thought of Tinubu’s administration, instead of using social media to demand the President’s resignation.
“Obi should wait until the Presidential Election to know what the people think of Tinubu’s Government. Moving to use X to harangue the President out of office is off the mark and anti-democratic,” it added.
Defending Tinubu’s record, the Presidency said the President did not inherit a perfect country in 2023, but met an economy and security situation that required difficult decisions and painful reforms.
It said the administration had taken bold steps to stabilize the economy, restore investor confidence and confront long-standing structural problems.
The statement maintained that while the reforms had imposed hardship on Nigerians, they were necessary to rescue the country from deeper economic crisis.
The Presidency therefore insisted that Tinubu would not resign, stressing that he remained focused on delivering his mandate and would only be judged by Nigerians through the ballot box.