Following the recent U.S. presidential debate between Donald Trump and Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Nigerian Presidency has drawn a comparison between Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Bola Tinubu, Temitope Ajayi, made this comparison in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, stating: “Peter Obi is the Nigerian version of Donald Trump. Like Obi, Trump will use the most negative epithets imaginable to describe a country he wants to lead again, just to make a point and rile up his base.”

Ajayi’s comments came after the heated U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday night, where Vice President Kamala Harris put Donald Trump on the defensive. During the debate, Harris challenged Trump on a variety of issues, pushing him into a series of angry responses and personal attacks.

Ajayi further commented on the debate, saying, “Kamala Harris prosecuted Trump very well in their first face-to-face debate. She convincingly won and left no one in doubt about her capacity. Vice President Harris knew Trump’s weaknesses and set traps for him, which he repeatedly fell into. Both candidates were fact-checked, and while Harris made just one incorrect claim, Trump made 33 false claims in the same 90-minute debate.”

Throughout the debate, Trump responded to Harris’s provocations by repeating conspiracy theories and making false statements about the 2020 election and immigration. Despite being fact-checked by moderators, he continued to stand by his controversial claims, including an unsubstantiated assertion that immigrants were consuming the pets of U.S. residents.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country,” Trump claimed, contradicting the Springfield city manager, who said there was no factual basis for such accusations.

Harris’s performance earned her praise, including an endorsement from pop superstar Taylor Swift. She managed to keep Trump on the defensive throughout the debate, repeatedly needling him into angry responses on various topics, from abortion to foreign policy.

After the debate, Trump declared it his “best debate,” but snap polls and commentators largely agreed that Harris had come out on top, with her campaign immediately challenging him to a second debate in October. Harris’s assertive approach, including surprising Trump by initiating a handshake before the debate and taking control of key issues, helped her maintain an advantage.

One of their most heated exchanges focused on abortion, with Trump defending his push to end federal protections for abortion rights, arguing that states should decide their own policies. Harris countered, calling his stance a “bunch of lies” and “insulting to the women of America.”

The debate also featured a sharp clash over Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results, with Harris mocking his reality TV catchphrase by saying he had been “fired by 81 million people” and calling him a threat to democracy. Harris further criticised Trump’s divisive use of race throughout his career and labelled him a “convicted felon.”

On foreign policy, Harris took a strong stance, telling Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “eat you for lunch” in the context of the war in Ukraine and asserting that world leaders were “laughing” at Trump. Trump fired back by accusing Harris of being weak on the Gaza conflict, claiming she “hated Israel.”

Harris, who had prepared extensively for the debate, repeatedly succeeded in provoking Trump into making finger-jabbing insults and incoherent responses. She even mocked the size of his rally crowds, suggesting that attendees were leaving early due to “exhaustion and boredom.”