Daniel Bwala, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, has compared social media personality Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, to Peter Obi, claiming the critic has more compassion than the former presidential candidate.
During an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Bwala didn’t hold back. He labeled Peter Obi as an “internally displaced politician” and dismissed Obi’s recent criticism of President Tinubu for not visiting Yelewata, a community in Benue State where several killings occurred.
According to Bwala, VeryDarkMan—who is not a politician—visited Benue State to show support and concern, while Peter Obi has stayed away. “Why does Obi need to wait until he becomes president to show empathy? Empathy is personal,” Bwala said.
He explained that leadership requires balancing priorities and insisted that Tinubu’s physical presence in Yelewata wouldn’t have changed the situation. “If the president was in Benue, they would say he didn’t visit the right place. Now that he went, they complain he didn’t go to a specific town. It’s just moving the goalpost,” he said.
Bwala also argued that Peter Obi and his supporters are focusing on empty political points. He criticized them for constantly shifting their arguments and said their behavior is typical of “internally displaced politicians.”
He went further to challenge Obi and others in the opposition who are seeking power, asking how many of them have taken the time to visit the affected communities themselves.
Speaking about Obi’s comments on the president attending a commissioning event instead of visiting victims, Bwala pointed to Nigeria’s constitution. He noted that under Section 5, the president can act through the Vice President, ministers, and other officials. “Obi clearly doesn’t understand the roles within the presidency,” Bwala stated.
He reminded Nigerians that top security and intelligence officials have visited all crisis zones, acting as direct representatives of the president. He ended by saying Peter Obi’s criticisms are based on a lack of understanding of how leadership and governance work in Nigeria.
