Presidential aide, Dada Olusegun, has dismissed a call for President Bola Tinubu’s resignation made by the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, Peter Obi.

In a statement, Obi urged Tinubu to follow in the steps of Keir Starmer, who recently announced his resignation as UK Prime Minister.

Starmer’s decision followed mounting public frustration over a stagnant economy, a worsening cost-of-living crisis, and a perceived failure to honour key campaign pledges.

Reacting, Obi pointed out that Nigeria faces similar issues under Tinubu, including insecurity and poor electricity supply, hence the need for the President to resign.

However, Tinubu’s aide dismissed Obi’s argument, which equates the UK’s parliamentary system with Nigeria’s presidential system, describing it as fundamentally flawed.

Olusegun said that in a parliamentary system, a Prime Minister answers directly to their party and legislature, while Nigeria operates under a constitutional presidential model with a fixed four-year executive tenure designed for long-term stability.

“More importantly, True political accountability must look beyond sensational headlines and face the hard economic realities inherited by the current administration,” he said.

Olusegun revealed that Tinubu inherited an economy struggling under the weight of unsustainable subsidies, multiple exchange rates, declining oil output, and severe fiscal constraints. He said resolving decades of systemic distortion would never be painless, but these difficult choices were non-negotiable for national survival.

He said that while the administration openly acknowledges that citizens are enduring severe cost-of-living adjustments, the claim that “every sector has deteriorated” does not withstand factual scrutiny. According to him, Nigeria now enjoy a Strengthened Financial Markets and a Fiscal Stability Environment, which has improved oil production, state revenues, foreign reserves, infrastructure projects, healthcare investments, and investor confidence.

He said the necessity of these reforms is further underscored by the very leaders managing local economies.

“Notably, Professor Charles Soludo, the current Governor of Anambra State [the exact state Peter Obi once governed] has repeatedly and publicly eulogised President Tinubu’s economic policies.

“As a seasoned economist and former Central Bank Governor, Soludo has stated that the administration’s audacious reforms rescued Nigeria’s public finances from the brink of collapse and gave the economy room to breathe again. He noted that true leadership is about visionary, difficult choices that guarantee a resilient future, rather than chasing short-term popularity,” he said.

Dismissing Obi’s claim that every sector has collapsed and that the economy is in its worst state ever, Tinubu’s aide urged him to explain the historic performance of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). He also demanded an explanation for the projected 4.4 per cent economic growth for 2026, the highest in over a decade.

“How do you explain the unprecedented increase in profits of several companies that used to declare losses before the President got elected in 2023?

“How do you explain the massive increase in the allocations due to the three tiers of government?

“How do you explain the increased daily oil production and our foreign reserves?

“How do you explain the disappearance of the yearly ASUU strikes and the persistent fuel station queues?” he asked.