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Tag: Ehichioya Ezomon

  • Osun 2026: Plaudits for Oyetola for dropping ambition – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Osun 2026: Plaudits for Oyetola for dropping ambition – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Holding political office, whether elective or appointive, has become the shortest route to power, wealth and fame in Nigeria. That’s why politicians can do anything – legal and illegal – to secure the ticket or the means to get into office. Nothing – absolutely nothing – is spared in this endeavour, including committing the most heinous of crimes: murder.

    Speculations abound that politicians use their children, siblings, parents, friends, associates or any unfortunate strangers for “sacrifice” to enhance their chances at elections or appointments, or become and retain power as “political godfathers” who majorly sponsor  officeseekers.

    You’re on your own trying to frustrate a politician’s efforts to get into office, as you could pay dearly for it via physical elimination by hired thugs, food or drink poisoning, or spiritual attack by mediums of varying faiths found in the nooks and cranies of Nigeria.

    Politicians consult prophets, alfas, marabouts and babalawos to foretell their chances for political offices. And trust the sorcerers; they divinate whatever that’ll please their clients to part with millions of Naira, and a promise for more “rewards” if the predictions come true.

    Recall allegations and reports in the early part of the Fourth Republic (which began in 1999) about politicians going or being taken to the (in)famous “Okijia Shrine” in Anambra State, to swear to oath of allegiance, to cede some “juicy portfolios” in the cabinet, and a percentage of internally-generated revenue by the government to their godfathers.

    There’s a sensational report about a governor, who – due to mounting pressures over alleged financial impropriety, and on the reported divination of a prophet – burned N8m cash by a riverside, where he’s stark-naked and bathed with “spiritual soap” “to ward-off opposition to his position.

    Repeated failed attempts at the poll don’t deter or dissuade politicians from holding on for years predictions for their success at elections – with their sorcerers continuing to renew their hopes and faith for a luckier next time. This partly accounts for politicians’ nomadic movements (defections) across several parties to get elected or retain their positions.

    For the 2027 General Election, defections and realignments are daily occurrences, with dormant members and those who’ve long left or were expelled from political parties organising press conferences to contrive defections anew – all in attempts to position themselves for elective or appointive offices in the next election cycle.

    Some politicians, who’ve contested for the same positions many times, still hold themselves out as “divinely anointed” and ready to throw, under the bus, any supporters and spokespersons who may suggest that they’re not “desperate” for the offices.

    One of the opposition leaders angling for the presidential contest in 2027 did just that lately, declaring that one of his mouthpieces didn’t get his permission to claim that “he’s not desperate to be President,” and reaffirmed his determination to vie for the office.

    In the circumstances, why would former Osun State Governor and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Chief Adegboyega Oyetola, pass up the 2026 Osun governorship for other aspirants of All Progressives Congress (APC)? Well, for whatever reason for the decision, I salute his exemplary display of leadership, courage, and selflessness, which calls for emulation by the political class.

    Elected governor in 2018 on the platform of the APC, succeeding Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2010-2018), who later served as Minister of Interior (2019-2023), Oyetola lost his re-election bid in 2022 to Mr Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Despite his cabinet appointment in 2023 in President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the expectation was that, Oyetola – who’s the privilege of “right of first refusal” (ROFR) for the governorship – would stake for the position in 2026, to prove two points: His claim to’ve won the 2022 poll, which he contested up to the Supreme Court and lost; and his popularity with the Osun voters.

    Observers of the high-stakes politics in Osun were already visualising an epic rematch between Oyetola and Adeleke, whose desire to switch camps to the APC was “thwarted” by vehement opposition and protests by APC chieftains, some for their own governorship aspiration, and others reportedly at the behest of Oyetola.

    In particular, Oyetola’s expected to prove those points on two grounds. One, in light of claims by Adeleke that barring the setback from his attempts to decamp to APC, and the lingering crisis in the PDP, he remained (and remains) with Osun grassroots because of his “developmental strides” in the past three years in the saddle.

    Two, the fact that Oyetola’s estranged “godfather” and predecessor, Aregbesola, who allegedly caused him re-election in 2022, is the Interim National Secretary of African Democratic Congress (ADC), which the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) has adopted to fly its members’ flags in 2027.

    What an opportunity for Oyetola to kill three birds at the same time with one stone: Stop Governor Adeleke’s re-election; defeat the governorship candidate of the ADC; and demystify Aregbesola’s touted political influence in Osun!

    But on Friday, July 25, 2025, Oyetola surprised the entire Osun political stakeholders, declaring he won’t contest for the 2026 governorship, thus bringing reliefs to the camps of three main parties, the PDP, APC and ADC, and their governorship aspirants, among whom the candidates will emerge during a 21-day primary period from November 24 to December 15, 2025.

    Giving a short-and-sharp reason for taking himself off the APC primary and the governorship poll, Oyetola, at a party stakeholder-meeting in Osogbo, the Osun capital city, said the APC has “enough qualified and competent people of outstanding track records” to aspire to the office, adding, “this is a unique selling proposition (for members) to feast on.”

    Describing the APC as “strong and able” that won’t spare “any legitimate effort to unseat Governor Adeleke, and return to power,” Oyetola tasked the aspirants to “embrace peace, be each other’s keeper, and avoid a campaign of calumny, bitterness and politics of acrimony,” reports The Nation on July 27, 2025.

    While praising the leadership and members for their continuous commitment to the growth and development of the APC since 2022 when he lost the governorship, and giving the assurance of his commitment to lead the party to victory in 2026; Oyetola urged massive mobilisation for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), describing the process as “a prerequisite for victory.”

    Oyetola didn’t spare the opposition moves against Osun-born President Tinubu, saying the coalition poses no threat to APC. “It is crystal clear that the coalition is drifting to collapse,” he said, adding, “This has no iota of effect on us, particularly in Osun.”

    He remarked snidely that, “We knew this since it is the same TOP that metamorphosed into Omoluabi (two political groups formed by Aregbesola) later ADC. We are resolute to come victorious in the future elections, and this is incontestable.”

    Certainly, Oyetola’s dropping his governorship ambition, and his inspiring message to Osun APC members was sweet music to the aspirants at the parley who, notwithstanding their individual ambition, were united in opposition to Governor Adeleke’s desire to defect to APC.

    Several of the aspirants at the Osogbo meeting – co-presided by the APC State Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, and Chairman of the Elders’ Caucus, Chief Sola Akinwumi – include the National Secretary of APC, Sen. Ajibola Basiru; and Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji.

    Others are the Chairman of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Sen. Jide Omoworare; Prince Dotun Babayemi; Dr Akin Ogunbiyi; Barrister Kunle Adegoke (SAN); Sen. Mudashiru Hussein; and Rafiu Durodoye, a United States-based Professor of Mathematics.

    Also in attendance are APC State Secretary, Alhaji Kamorudeen Alao; Treasurer, Hon. Femi Kujembola; former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Protocol, Ambassador Issah Niniola; and former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico, Adejare Bello.

    The rest are current and former members of the National Assembly and Osun State House of Assembly; local government chairmen and councillors; APC state and local government EXCOs; and stakeholders from state to the ward levels.

    Even as Oyetola’s out of the governorship race, the Osun APC aspirants still have to contend with Governor Adeleke and Aregbesola, who, along with his COP/ADC members, has vowed to remove from power in 2027 his erstwhile political mentor and godfather, President Tinubu.

    The aspirants have a dual responsibility ahead of them: Get the primary right and rally behind the chosen candidate to take over power from Adeleke in 2026; and reverse the 2023 defeat of Tinubu in Osun by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of then-PDP.

    The first task is arduous, considering that Adeleke and the Osun PDP members have tactically adopted Tinubu as their preferred candidate for 2027, giving them the leverage to subtly use that pedestal for blackmail, to stave-off Adeleke’s defeat at the poll in 2026.

    Ensuring a win for Tinubu is even trickier if Adeleke – win or lose re-election – wants to play the spoiler by reneging on the Osun PDP declaration of support for Tinubu, and swing votes – as it happened in 2023 – for the PDP or ADC candidate in 2027.

    So, Chief Oyetola, the governorship aspirants, and the entire members of the APC in Osun State are in a double fix, from which to extricate themselves in 2026 and 2027, accordingly. Only a united front, as Oyetola’s solicited, will guarantee their expected victories!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357

  • By-elections: Shameless opposition berates APC for woeful defeat – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By-elections: Shameless opposition berates APC for woeful defeat – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As a people, Nigerians – and especially politicians – have practically lost all sense of shame. Otherwise, members of the opposition parties would’ve buried their heads in ignominy for their woeful defeats across the 13 states that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted by-elections on Saturday, August 16, 2025.

    In a decisive routing, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) first claimed 12 of the 17 legislative constituencies: all seats contested in Adamawa, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kogi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba, including one seat each in three opposition states of Adamawa, Kano and Taraba.

    The opposition constituency in Zamfara – declared inconclusive by INEC at close of poll on August 16 – also went to APC during the re-run on Thursday, August 21, bringing to 13 seats in 10 of 13 states secured by the party.

    As the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secured the two constituencies in Anambra, and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) took one of two seats in Kano, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – battling internal crisis that’s depleted its once formidable platform – not only claimed the seat in Oyo State, but also placed second in most constituencies, even as it lost seats in Adamawa, Taraba and Zamfara.

    Rather than take their defeat as self-inflicted, chiefly on account of their fictionalised and disorganised platforms, the boastful, “hungry and angry” pot-bellied politicians revisited concocted, hackneyed, tired and worn-out allegations of “electoral malpractice” by the APC, INEC and security agencies, to “steal their votes” – votes they merited only on social media where they build castles in the air.

    Particularly irksome are members of the “a new-Nigeria-is-possible” Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) – residing in African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 General Election – who boasted, and failed to deliver the by-elections to “send a strong message to Tinubu that he is a one-term President (OTP).”

    Whereas prior to and during the polls, reports indicted the major parties for potential or actual committal of electoral malpractice; the opposition covered their tracks, and heaped all blame on Tinubu, APC, INEC and security agencies.

    Condemnable as disruption in a few states is, especially the assaults on eligible voters by armed thugs in Kano; the by-elections have exposed the COP/ADC as overhyped and overrated, as members confronted in-house crises in state chapters, where “all politics is local.”

    In the lead-up to the poll, the major figures in the COP/ADC fanned out across the country, to introduce the ADC to the states, canvass for and register new members, and rally supports for their candidates.

    Such opposition figures include former Vice President and PDP’s presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023, Atiku Abubakar, who leads the COP/ADC; former Anambra Governor and 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi; former Kaduna Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nasir el-Rufai; former Rivers Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; former Osun Governor and ex-Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and former Edo Governor and ex-APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

    • Alhaji Atiku’s strongholds of Adamawa and Taraba were the first to birth the COP/ADC across Nigeria, but reportedly had a poor reception from Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who’s allegedly “not on the same political page anymore with Atiku.”

    Rumours have swirled about the PDP governor hobnobbing with the APC, and may defect to the platform. So, does the by-elections in Adamawa and Taraba going to APC – even with the tiniest of margins – and not Atiku’s ADC or Fintiri’s PDP tell any story? Perhaps, in the circumstances!

    • Mr Obi – riding the wave of his third-placing in the 2023 poll – has been criss-crossing the country on “humanitarian activities” that’ve irked some state governors as “unlawful campaigning” ahead of the 2027 poll.

    Similarly in his home state of Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo – who praises President Tinubu’s harsh economic reforms as the antidotes to stabilize the system – has declared Obi as “untrustworthy,” and holds him out as such to the people.

    For the by-elections, Obi campaigned in Anambra and elsewhere for candidates of ADC, on the alibi that INEC didn’t approve candidates of the divided LP, which, on eve of the poll, got the nod, via a court order, to field the candidates. But the court fiat didn’t change the situation.

    Like distrust members in other states – who, unable to process the mixed messages from Obi and other ADC and LP chieftains, switched their votes to other parties’ candidates – the Anambra people voted the governing APGA’s candidates, in place of the ADC candidates Obi canvassed for.

    • In Kaduna, El-Rufai, who left the APC for “failing a cabinet post in the Tinubu administration,” and defected to Social Democratic Party (SDP) as a bargaining platform in the COP/ADC, used the by-elections to test run for 2027, and gauge his popularity with Governor Uba Sani.

    On August 13, campaigning on the roof of a moving SUV, El-Rufai waved the ADC flag to the crowd, as he led a massive rally for candidate Alex Adanu in Kujama, Chikun local government, urging, “I appeal to all voters to come out en masse on Saturday and vote for the ADC candidate, Alex Ben.”

    But the ADC lost the poll, as the people, enjoying relative peace and harmony, and even developments under Governor Sani, used the by-elections as “payback” to el-Rufai for his alleged “eight-year maladministration of Kaduna.”

    • In Rivers, Amaechi, who lately rode in “a two-million-man procession” through the streets of Port Harcourt, claims that ADC has registered over 800,000 members since he launched the party in the state a few weeks ago.

    The ADC needs to confirm that huge membership figure with a strong showing in the August 30 council poll in Rivers, for Amaechi to prove his supremacy over former Governor and Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, a staunch supporter of President Tinubu, who Amaechi vows to defeat if he gets the ADC ticket for the 2027 contest.

    “I tell you, I’ve not had an election against Tinubu. I know Tinubu very well. I know his strengths. I know his weaknesses. And I know that if allowed to fly the flag of ADC, I will defeat Tinubu for sure,” Amaechi said on Friday, August 8, on X Space tagged, ‘Weekend Politics’.

    Recall that at the APC presidential primary on June 8, 2022, in Abuja, for the 2023 election, Tinubu beat Amaechi, among a pack of 13 aspirants, to second position by 1,271 votes to 316 votes – a margin of lead of 955 votes. Can Amaechi reverse this marker against the sitting President at the general election in 2027?

    • In Edo, following Chief Odigie-Oyegun’s launch of ADC in Benin City recently with some aplomb, an ally of his claimed to’ve garnered 40,000 members. Yet, the party lost scandalously to third position at the by-elections. For instance, in the Ovia federal constituency, while APC scored 77,053 votes, and PDP earned 3,838 votes, the ADC recorded 925 votes.

    Meanwhile, Governor Monday Okpebholo – executing his “Edo Rising” agenda to reverse alleged “misgovernance by ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki” – has turned the state into a “huge construction site,” building roads and flyovers, and reviving education, health, transport and other social services, and embarking on an agricultural revolution for food security.

    And “Edo people have taken notice, and showed their appreciation by massive votes for the APC candidates in the by-elections” to replace the seats vacated by the governor and Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa in the Senate and House of Representatives, accordingly.

    • Ogbeni Aregbesola’s reported attack by political thugs in Ogun for his alleged “betrayal of President Tinubu and the APC” is a condemnable act against freedom of choice and association. Yet, with APC claiming the Ogun by-election, the real test for Aregbesola as Interim National Secretary of ADC is the 2026 governorship poll in Osun, which he ruled for eight years (2010-2018).

    As the APC savours its massive victories in the August 16 by-elections, President Tinubu’s hailed all stakeholders at the franchise, and enjoins them to “continue to be guided by the spirit of sportsmanship, fair contest and magnanimity, which are enablers of enduring democracy.”

    It’s hoped that opposition members will genuinely process Tinubu’s message, channel the lessons learned to restrategise their winning formula going into 2027, and quit blaming others when they falter and come short of their ballot projections!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357

  • 2027 poll: Amaechi’s ‘manifesto’ to change Nigeria – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2027 poll: Amaechi’s ‘manifesto’ to change Nigeria – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    When you’re hungry and angry, you lose concentration and comprehension. If you’re angry and hungry, you lose self-confidence and esteem. If your anger and hunger is driven by hubris, you lose emotional control, and say and do things preposterous.

    This is the stage former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, finds himself so early in the race for 2027 General Election.

    Declaring for president – and vowing to “remove” from power President Bola Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) – Amaechi claims to co-form a Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) plying its 2027 trade under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

    A top player in the political arena since the Fourth Republic began in 1999, Amaechi, who’s adopted an outlandish strategy to achieving his aspiration, declared on May 30, 2025, that he’s “hungry” despite his belying physical appearance.

    At an event marking his 60th birthday, Amaechi advanced his “hunger” rhetoric with a plea to his audience: “For us, the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power (Tinubu), we can remove him from this power,” he said.

    Amaechi wasn’t talking about his personal food security, but “hunger for power” that he’d left after a 23-year stint as Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years (1999-2007), Governor for eight years (2007-2015), and Minister for seven years (2015-2022).

    Again on the roll on July 23 during a roadshow to launch the ADC in Port Harcourt, Rivers capital city, Amaechi accused the state political elite (without exonerating himself) of always “writing (election) results.”

    With an apocalyptic bent to his messaging, Amaechi warned his ADC members in Rivers to stop those responsible for writing results, or else, “Nigerians will be dead and buried if Tinubu wins a second term in 2027” – inferring the president would rig the poll.

    “We should encourage people to come out and vote for the removal of the current government or we will all die of hunger,” Amaechi says, adding, “Currently, Nigerians are complaining in President Tinubu’s first tenure; imagine what the second tenure will be like. Then, you’ll be dead and buried.”

    The latest 2027 gambit comes in a kind of ‘Manifesto’ “released” on Friday, August 8, on X Space tagged, ‘Weekend Politics’, with a seemingly uncoordinated and incoherent Amaechi staccatoicly equivocating and prevaricating.

    Engaging with Nigerians on his presidential bid, Amaechi promises: “I will end corruption in 30 days, or I will resign. I will not reverse the removal of subsidies. I will instead direct the funds (therefrom) into the pockets of Nigerians, not the elite’s,” without providing how to tackle the two crucial issues.

    The below bulleted list that Amaechi addressed made the X Space participants to sigh and yawn, and the public to scratch their heads, as they consider the implications of an Amaechi presidency. Happy reading:

    • Amaechi vows to “abandon the coastal road” (Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway), as “that road is for stealing.” Instead, he’ll veer the funds to complete the East-West road “that will serve the same as the coastal road.”

    Amaechi’s mum on the multi-trillion naira infrastructural projects awarded on his watch as minister. Were funds for these projects immune from being stolen?

    The East-West road Amaechi didn’t remember when he’s minister serves only the hinterlands, whereas the coastal highway will open up more opportunities in commerce, manufacturing, real estate, tourism and blue economy along its 700km stretch that transverses nine states from the South-West to South-South.

    Three posters on X sum up Amaechi’s vow to abandon the coastal highway, thus: “It’s shocking that a former Transportation minister could say publicly that fixing the East-West road will achieve same objective as Lagos-Calabar coastal highway that is meant to link coastal areas in 9 states. How does he not know the difference between the two?”

    “He (Amaechi) clearly doesn’t understand the ‘coastal’ aspect of the highway and that’s why he didn’t see the difference between it and the East-West road, which is just a normal road linking Niger Delta communities. So shocking!”

    “As a Minister of Transport for 8 years, you (Amaechi) said you were going to do rail services even to Niger (Republic), positioning it as a key to economic development. Today, the Coastal road (in Nigeria) is for stealing and not a key to economic development.”

    • Amaechi pledges to change the amended 1999 Constitution, and replace Indigeneship with Citizenship – a euphemism for Residency that bestows nativity, ownership of land and political power on non-indigenes across Nigeria.

    A Bill on Indigeneship, sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, was withdrawn on July 29 following a nationwide opposition. Though intended to “promote national unity, equity, and inclusiveness among all Nigerians, regardless of where they reside,” opponents of the Bill argued that it’d rob indigenous people of their ancestral and cultural possessions to pay settlers.

    • Twice the Director-General for the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s election in 2015 and 2019, Amaechi preaches fidelity in poll conduct, saying he’s never been engaged in rigging, and repeatedly declined to serve on the APC election planning committees, “because I know what they discuss (is how to rig elections).”

    • Amaechi pledges to stop election malpractice via reforms, as “the lowest hanging fruits for me, if I become President, in my first six months” in office; and vows to defeat Tinubu in 2027 if given the ADC ticket.

    “I tell you, I’ve not had an election against Tinubu. I know Tinubu very well. I know his strengths. I know his weaknesses. And I know that if allowed to fly the flag of ADC, I will defeat Tinubu for sure,” he says.

    • In a circlical manner, Amaechi debunks alleged electoral malpractice against him, and challenges his accusers to prove their case that, “I participated in any election rigging, and I will apologise for that,” adding, “I will never participate in any rigging whatsoever, and I will not do it. What I promise to do now, going forward, is to stop rigging.”

    “I challenge any politician, living or dead, to come forward and say I was part of rigging. In fact, all the appointments given to me by APC to join election planning committees, I have refused to participate. Why?

    “Because I know what they discuss. I listen to them. I hear them. They will bring governors. They will go to government agencies and get money. But the rest, I don’t want to say it until I win primaries. If I get the ticket, I will reveal those things.”

    • Amaechi describes Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (2015 till date) as “the worst Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission in the history of Nigeria.”

    What evidence does Amaechi have to compare Yakubu’s credibility with previous INEC’s chairs’: Justice Ephraim Akpata (1998-2000), Dr Abel Guobadia (2000-2005), Prof. Maurice Iwu (2005-2010), and Prof. Attahiru Jega (2010-2015)?

    Amaechi “magically” became governor in 2007 (and got re-elected in 2011) via a poll conducted by Iwu, then perceived globally as “the worst INEC Chairman in Nigeria’s history” for announcing “fictitious results,” declaring “winners” ahead of collation, and urging “defeated” candidates and parties, whom he accused of unpreparedness for elections, to “go to court” to seek redress.

    Recall that the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua labelled the Iwu-declared results for his presidency in 2007 as blatantly rigged, apologised to Nigerians over the electoral heist, and pledged to reform the system, but ill-health and ultimately death didn’t allow him to fulfill the avowal.

    • Amaechi alleges that Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and candidate of the Labour Party (LP) won the 2023 presidential poll in Rivers. “I would agree to an extent that Peter Obi won in Rivers state, but unfortunately, the result that came out was different. How it happened, I have no idea,” he said.

    Why did Amaechi keep quiet for over two years, rather than assist Obi in the courts to substantiate his viral claims of winning the poll, prompting the Supreme Court to dismiss Obi’s appeal as “lacking in merit” within 72 seconds?

    • Amaechi claims that, “those very influential among the ruling class visit CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) to steal money,” stating, “if they could use all the money they are pocketing to improve security and the economy, Nigeria wouldn’t be in such dire straits today.”

    Nigerians are aware that similar allegations dogged the Buhari eight-year administration in which Amaechi’s a “super Minister,” and a member of the kitchen cabinet and “cabal” at the Presidential Villa.

    • Amaechi isn’t competiting for 2027 with his successor-Governor Nyesom Wike, but he dares the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to “a walk along the streets of Port Harcourt, to reveal who is healthy and who the people actually love.” What a joke by a president material!

    • Amaechi says he’ll support the ADC candidate to unseat President Tinubu. “In a free and fair primary, whoever wins will have my full support. I will be deeply devoted to the campaign and will do everything in my ability to help ADC unseat this current clueless government,” Amaechi concludes.

    Most likely driven by hubris than a natural intent to upstage the incumbent, will an Amaechi presidency be based on altruistic purposes, or on hunger for power, anger for vendetta, and pander to interests that undermine Nigeria’s diversity and unity? The clock ticks slowly but steadily towards 2027!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357

  • Nnamdi Kanu: October 10 likely ‘freedom day’ for separatist leader – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Nnamdi Kanu: October 10 likely ‘freedom day’ for separatist leader – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Many Nigerians – and certainly majority of Igbo, home and abroad – have followed the 10-year (since 2015) epic legal battle by the Nigerian government to link leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to an alleged treasonable felony and terrorism, resulting to deaths and destruction.

    Yet, many Nigerians are unaware that Friday, October 10, 2025, could be “freedom day” for Kanu, whose journey to a long detention stemmed from his agitation for a separate “State of Biafra” from Nigeria – an attempt to resuscitate the defunct “Republic of Biafra” that led to the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970.

    On Friday, July 29, 2025, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, adjourned till October 10 a ruling on whether to allow a “no-case submission” by the defence, and free Kanu.

    A “No Case Submission” is a legal argument that the defence usually moves after the prosecution has presented its case, to show that the evidence isn’t enough to prove the allegation against the defendant.

    If the judge rules in his favour, Kanu will regain freedom from his “solitary confinement” at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS), where he’s been held since 2021 following his rendition from Kenya, where he’s traced to after he jumped bail in 2017.

    But if the judge rejects his application, and refuses to grant him a fresh bail, Kanu will enter a defence, and his detention will continue at the DSS dungeon or in the Abuja Correctional Centre, where he’d pleaded to be returned, to no avail.

    The timelines of Kanu’s trial, as reported by Vanguard on July 18, 2025, are as follows: He’s arrested on October 14, 2015, and upon his arraignment, granted bail, on health ground, on April 25, 2017, and released from the Kuje prison on April 28, 2017.

    Midway into the trial, Kanu escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, and was re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021, and returned to Nigeria on June 27, 2021.

    On June 29, 2021, the trial court remanded Kanu in custody of the DSS, where he remains till date. On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight of the 15-count charge the Federal Government preferred against him, and on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, quashed the charge, and ordered Kanu’s immediate release.

    But the government appealed the judgment to the Supreme Court, which on December 15, 2023, vacated the appellate court’s judgment, and allowed the government to proceed with Kanu’s trial on the subsisting seven-count charge.

    At the July 29, 2025, proceedings when the counsel concluded their addresses on the “no-case submission,” Kanu’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), called for dismissal of the trial, and Kanu’s acquital, arguing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case “beyond reasonable doubt.”

    In a similar reporting by The Nation on July 18, and The Guardian on July 19, Agabi noted the prosecution’s failure to prove a single element of the offences charged, and bring before the court anyone who claimed he’s incited by Kanu’s broadcasts, which Agabi termed “mere boasting.”

    “This man (Kanu) can boast. He was just boasting. He said ‘I can bring the world to a stand still.’ I don’t see anything wrong with that. You don’t prosecute a man for mere boasting,” Agabi said

    Agabi said that Kanu, like other Nigerians, was concerned about Nigeria’s state of insecurity, hence he’d advocated self-defense against killer attackers.

    He faulted the ENDSARS (October 20, 2020, protests against Police brutality of Nigerians) report tendered by the prosecution on the grounds that it wasn’t authenticated, and the death reports (relating to the protests) “without the doctors being invited to be cross-examined.”

    Claiming Kanu’s detention violates International Law, which forbids solitary confinement beyond 15 days, Agabi said: “He (Kanu) is no longer normal on account of his solitary confinement. The case has been pending for 10 years.

    “Memories have been lost, which is why most of the prosecution witnesses were saying ‘they can’t remember, they don’t know’ when they were asked questions.”

    Referencing the record of proceedings, with the prosecution witnesses exhibiting ignorance “80 times,” Agabi argued that all the witnesses came from the DSS, and their participation was merely to obtain the defendant’s statements “without investigation.”

    He stated that the witnesses’ responses didn’t satisfy the requirement of “proof beyond reasonable doubt,” adding that the prosecution failed to respond to 10 issues, which the defence raised in its 40-point address.

    “If they (prosecution) failed to respond to one or two issues, it is enough for the court to acquit the defendant. But, in this case, the prosecution failed to respond to 10 issues raised by the defence,” Agabi said.

    He urged the court not to attach probative value to additional evidence the prosecution filed after trial had commenced, as the charge had been amended about seven times, but no persons’ names were reflected as those who were allegedly incited by the defendant.

    Agabi flayed the proscription of IPOB without the President’s approval, saying, “Without the President’s approval, there cannot be any proscription. We are saying there is no proscription, because there is no presidential approval. If they have it, they should bring it.”

    Noting the Court of Appeal ruling relating to Kanu’s alleged unlawful importation of a radio transmitter into Nigeria, Agabi, who argued that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to try the charge, called for dismissal of the entire case, and acquital of Kanu.

    In response to Agabi’s address, the prosecuting counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), urged the court to reject Kanu’s no-case submission, and allow him to enter a defence in the charge against him.

    Awomolo said the prosecution supplied sufficient evidence to warrant Kanu to enter a defence, “to explain why he engaged in terrorism activities that promoted violence and destruction, including the killing of not less than 170 security officials.”

    Noting the prosecution’s call of five witnesses and tendering of many exhibits, including video and audio evidence, Awomolo argued that contrary to the defence lawyer’s claim, the prosecution’s reply addressed all issues raised, to the effect that, “the no-case submission is of no moment.”

    He adduced reasons why the court should dismiss the no-case submission, including taking a sweeping view of the evidence led so far, and determine whether a prima facie case was made out against the defendant to warrant his being called to enter a defence.

    Saying the defence’s attack of the witnesses’ credibility, the record and the evidence led so far was “not what is required at this stage,” Awomolo noted that Kanu, in the video and audio evidence tendered by the prosecution, admitted being the leader of IPOB, “which he knew was a proscribed group.”

    He faulted the argument that Kanu’s broadcasts amounted to “a clear case of boasting” requiring no criminal prosecution, stating that Kanu, in other videos, admitted to making broadcasts in which he called for violence and destruction.

    Explaining that the law prohibits statements that could cause fear in the mind of the people, Awomolo asked: “Why will somebody say a terrorist, who boasted that security men and other people should be killed, should be allowed to go free?”

    He dismissed the claim that Kanu had been in solitary confinement for 10 years, noting that he’s first arrested in 2015, and granted bail in 2017, but which bail was revoked in 2021 “on the grounds that he jumped bail,” adding that the court ordered Kanu’s current detention.

    Accusing the defence legal team of causing the delays in the case, Awomolo said: “For three years, his (Kanu’s) counsel were responsible for the delay of trial. The delay had been the shenanigans of the defence team, not that of the prosecution. Their case (accusation) that this case has lasted for 10 years is not true. They are the cause of the delay.”

    Awomolo argued that since the issue of IPOB’s ban is before the Supreme Court, it’d be inappropriate for the trial court to pronounce on whether the proscription was properly done.

    Stressing that Kanu’s aim was to create a separate State of Biafra, with about 170 security men killed in the process “because of his boasting,” Awomolo queried, “Why was he boasting? If the defendant believed that he was merely joking and was a content creator, he should be made to answer to why he was boasting and creating fear in the mind of the people.”

    “When a person is boasting and threatening death and violence, that cannot be said to be mere boasting,” Awomolo said, urging the court to call on Kanu to “come and explain what his boasting was about.”

    In summary, the prosecution holds that a prima facie case has been made, such that the court should dismiss Nnamdi Kanu’s “no-case submission,” and order him to enter a defence of the felony and terrorism charge against him.

    Conversely, the defence labels the prosecution’s case as an academic exercise based on Kanu’s “mere boasting,” and the failure to link or call any witnesses to affirm that his alleged incitement influenced them to commit acts of violence and destruction.

    The question: Which facts, evidence and arguments will sway the court’s opinion on October 10: That a good case has been made against Kanu, and he should proceed with a defence, or that his “no-case submission” is enough for him to breath an air of freedom?

    Well, we’ve seen this movie before, with Kanu returned again and again to solitary confinement. Perhaps, the storyline may be different this time!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.

  • 2027 poll: As in 2023, Obi leads ‘campaign’ for president – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2027 poll: As in 2023, Obi leads ‘campaign’ for president – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    About 19 months to the next General Election, it looks as if the franchise is weeks or even days away. What with heightened activities in the polity, headlined by alignments and realignments of majorly opposition politicians and parties in their quest to “remove” President Bola Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power in 2027!

    Apart from the drumbeats by stakeholders for re-election of Tinubu, who’s only shown interest by body language, an early bird in the bid for president is former Anambra State Governor and candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 poll, Mr Peter Obi.

    Ahead of the rollout of activities for the election, Obi’s practically kickstarted campaigns for 2027, tweaking only his strategy as political exigencies demand, but following the 2023 cycle playbook when he shredded the formbook to place third in the declaration of the poll results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Below, abridged only for dates, is a recap of those strategy and playbook – published under the caption, “Why Obi blazes trail of 2023 polls,” in my Monday column of August 29, 2022 – to serve as a guide to how Obi approaches the 2027 election. Happy reading:”Barely six months to the February (2023) presidential election, contenders for the position have virtually yielded the field to candidate Peter Obi and his platform, the Labour Party.

    “The candidates of other major parties: All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party appear to have no stake in the polls.

    “What Nigerians read, watch or hear in the media is, Peter Obi’s here, Peter Obi’s there, and Peter Obi’s everywhere, as if the former Anambra State governor is ubiquitous.

    “But he’s not! Unlike the rest candidates posturing for president, Obi’s seeming “ubiquity” is located in the seriousness he attaches to the processes of the election.

    “Well, Obi’s an “opportunist” defined by vocabulary.com as, “One who sees a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals.”

    “To urbandictionary.com, an opportunist is, “One willing to befriend any person regardless of race, creed, gender, sexuality or socioeconomic status if the relationship benefits them directly or indirectly by improving their public image.”

    “What an apt description of Obi, who simply seizes on the current national discontent, disaffection, disappointment, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, dissonance, and disunity to fire up Nigerians, to join him in the race for 2023!

    “Remember where Obi comes from. When he decamped from the PDP to LP in May 2022, he’s confronted with the issue of “lack of political structure” to kickstart his run.

    “Other posers were: What did Obi achieve as governor (2006-2014)? What experience has he got to govern a complex country as Nigeria? As part of the old order, what new things are Obi bringing to the table?

    “The answers rest on these bywords: “A toothless animal is the first to arrive to eat of the fallen fruits.” “The morning shows the day.” “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” “As you make your bed, so you must lie on it.”

    “Obi has risen early, to plan to succeed in the crucial 2023 election, so that he’d have cause to lie comfortably on his well-laid bed after the poll. It’s that simple!

    “Because Obi actually lacked the structure – physical and representative – to reach millions of eligible voters, he’d to first embark on an aggressive mobilisation, deploying modern tools of communication to maximum effect.

    “It’s to capture the youths, to buy into, and spread his “New Nigeria” message that stresses youth engagement, empowerment and development for a 21st century society.

    “Has Obi succeeded in this strategy? Absolutely! Like a wild fire, the youths have turned his (small) acorn into millions for a revolutionary change of the status quo.

    “Adopting the appellation of “ObIdients” for all supporters, the drivers of his campaign have segmented their operations into two: swarm the media space, and take over the political arena of the country.

    “Hence Obi leads on social media platforms, and political events and quasi-rallies, even as the Independent National Electoral Commission has yet to sanction electioneering.

    “As he tweets regularly to his followers, or comments on issues of concern to the public, Obi engages in several events, some taking him to more than one state, in a day.

    “He’s either attending seminars, workshops or meetings organised by political groups or professional bodies; paying homage or solidarity visits to persons or groups; or joining in worship at church services or crusades.

    “Obi presents himself as a different breed of politician, who’s prepared to engage Nigerians by highlighting the issues plaguing the country, and how he’ll solve them.

    “He isn’t afraid to speak to Nigeria’s economy, education and security, even as fact checkers query the alleged exaggerated or inaccurate examples, comparisons and figures he reels out to support his presentations.

    “And confronted on such “inaccuracies,” Obi has a ready response: “Go and verify,” knowing the very low reading culture in Nigeria, where even truth is a scarce commodity.

    “An unflattering saying is that, to hide something from a Nigerian, you put it in writing, in form of a book, as they won’t open, nor peruse it. So, with no appetite for reading, most Nigerians judge the content of a book by its cover.

    “The likes of Obi make un-informed, incorrect, imprecise, outlandish or even unfounded pronouncements because the audience, mainly of their supporters, won’t question their assertions. Rather, the captive listeners applaud and ovate every anecdote, innuendo, nuance and gesture.

    “The upside is that Obi controls his messaging by talking, engaging, and proffering solutions to problems. Whether the messaging makes sense is a different story. But his listeners’ enthusiastic receptions answer that poser!

    “Obi enjoys a rockstar status wherever he goes. His entry into a gathering causes excitement and commotion, as the attendees mob, hug and take selfies with him. And when he’s formally announced, a standing ovation takes over.

    “The other candidates only come out irregularly, or speak through surrogates – not to address the real issues at play, but to fight the fires they or their campaigns have lit.

    “They hibernate – in Nigeria and overseas – waiting for the electoral umpire to blow the whistle before they show up publicly to tell Nigerians what they have for them in 2023.

    “Because there’s a dearth of engagement by the other candidates, the media “rely” on Obi as their main source of “relevant” news on 2023, even from a single assignment.

    “For example, within minutes of the leadership summit by the Labour Party and Coalition for Peter Obi on August 11 (2023) in Abuja, the media published four news items on Obi.

    “The headlines: *How Labour Party will transform Nigeria’s economy from consumption to production –Peter Obi *2023: We have structure, ready to save Nigeria, Obi boasts *What I’ll do after winning 2023 presidential election –Obi *Leadership deficit Nigeria’s greatest undoing –Peter Obi.

    “On the same day, the candidates of the APC and PDP earned such headlines as: *Catholics blast Lalong over reference to Pope, demand apology *Tinubu/Shettima: Lalong explains his reference to Pope *2023 polls: Imams, Pastors pray for Tinubu, Sanwa-Olu’s success *PDP crisis: Atiku sends Adamawa gov to Wike, meeting deadlocked *Atiku should beg Wike to win 2023 election –Onwordi *PDP crisis: Please, apply brakes, before it’s too late, Dele Momodu warns Wike.

    “That’s why Obi blazes the trail, leaving the other major candidates to play catch-up. But will his approach take him to the finish line in February 2023? Obi thinks so!

    “Still, Ecclesiastes 9:11 admonishes: “… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” (King James Version).

    As it turned out in 2023, Obi got very close – a couple of whiskers – to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa seat of government and power in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. But as the saying goes, “Nearly does not kill a bird.” Will the same or similar calculations and permutations get Obi past the finish line, and into the Executive Mansion in 2027? The answer is in the belly of time!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.

  • Amaechi’s self-indictment on election malpractice in Rivers – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Amaechi’s self-indictment on election malpractice in Rivers – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    When you talk too much, there’s a tendency to talk yourself into trouble! Likewise, when you point one or two fingers at your enemy, the other three or four fingers will point at you! This is a universal truism that’s roped in one of the promoters of the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) and a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation.

    It’s the second time – if not more – in two months that Amaechi would cut his nose to spite his face – all in an attempt to project himself and the COP/ADC as capable, and ready to boot out President Bola Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power in 2027.

    On May 30, 2025, Amaechi – unarguably one of the multi-billionaire politicians who’ve brought Nigeria to its sorry pass – told the nation that he’s “hungry” and wondered why Nigerians weren’t protesting against the Tinubu administration over its economic hardship brought upon the country.

    In an event marking his 60th birthday, Amaechi, critiquing the state of the economy, said: “We’re all hungry, all of us are. If you’re hungry, I am. For us, the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power (President Tinubu), we can remove him from this power. In Nigeria, there are no capitalist ideas among the politicians; it’s about sharing (of public money).”

    Perhaps, contrary to his expectation that he’d be garlanded for standing up for the people, Amaechi’s phrasal “hunger” was “interpreted as a metaphor for his ambition and desire to remain politically relevant, rather than a statement about his personal food security,” as AI Overview notes.

    Amaechi didn’t only incur the wrath of Nigerians, who flayed him for capitalising on their current station in life to feather his political interest – for which he’s announced his presidetial bid – but his “I’m hungry” sermonisation also degenerated into a “war of words” between him and his successor in office and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.

    Wike, who’s governor of Rivers from 2015 to 2023, accused Amaechi of lying to Nigerians. “We have no time to listen to nonsense in Nigeria. I don’t understand why a man like Amaechi would choose his 60th birthday to lie to Nigerians about being hungry,” Wike said, as reported by PUNCH on June 2.

    “He (Amaechi) was Speaker from 1999 to 2007, Governor from 2007 to 2015, and Minister from 2015 to 2023. (And yet) he never spoke about hunger during those years. Now (that) they are regrouping, they’re only hungry for power.

    “This shows his (Amaechi’s) failure. How can you trivialise the issue of hunger? He joined Atiku and claimed hunger. It is clear he cannot stay out of power. From 1999 to 2023, Amaechi stood before Nigerians and claimed hunger.”

    Likening Amaechi to a political paperweight that couldn’t secure “even 25% for (the late President Muhammadu) Buhari during elections, despite being the campaign DG,” Wike claims he isn’t a liability (like Amaechi) but an asset.

    “You may dislike me, but I am an asset in ensuring President Tinubu wins a second term (in 2027). Thank God we did not support the PDP (in 2023); otherwise, he (Amaechi) would have taken the glory.

    “He is now in a coalition. I don’t like to talk much. Let them form their team and start from home in Rivers. Let’s see how he plans to remove the president. Is it a military coup? The term ‘removal’ is synonymous with dictatorship or military coup. Nigerians remember what happened in 2015, and now he claims Nigerians are hungry.”

    Again on July 23, Amaechi self-indict, revealing how results of elections in Rivers had been written over the years to select representives of the people, including himself, who didn’t even campaign, and cast ballot, but was affirmed Governor by the courts.

    Amaechi, in Port Harcourt on a roadshow with members of the ADC – the platform adopted by the COP to field its members for the 2027 General Election – alerted the members to Rivers’s “notoriety” for “writing election results,” and vowed he’d stop “election merchants” in 2027.

    His words: “We are new members of the ADC, it’s the adopted party of the coalition. Most importantly, have your eyes on 2027 and to have your eyes on 2027, please go home and start registration.

    “We will form a committee that will go from local government to local government, ward to ward, to ascertain the number of people we have.

    “Our (Rivers) state is notorious for writing (election) results, and we must stop them (the ruling PDP and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)) from writing results. When they said that they have already written results, it discourages voters from coming out.”

    Amaechi painted an apocalyptic picture of hunger under the Tinubu administration, and urged the ADC members to stop those responsible for writing election results, or else, “Nigerians will be dead and buried if Tinubu wins a second term in 2027,” inferring that President Tinubu will rig himself in at the poll.

    “We should encourage people to come out and vote for the removal of the current government or we will all die of hunger,” Amaechi said, adding, “Currently, Nigerians are complaining in President Tinubu’s first tenure; imagine what the second tenure will be like. Then, you’ll be dead and buried.”

    Excruciating as the hardship in the country is – which needs hammering on to galvanise the president to aleviate the grassroots, who are hardest hit by the tough economic policies of the government – Amaechi’s labelling Rivers as the “Capital of Election Malpractice in Nigeria” is beyond mere oppo attack on Tinubu and the ruling APC.

    It’s an open indictments of the INEC for, as it were, always declaring false results in Rivers; the courts for affirming those crooked poll results; and the security agencies for conniving with Rivers politicians to make the people’s votes not to count.

    Since 1999 when the first rounds of election were conducted in Rivers under this dispensation, the processes have not been free, fair, credible, transparent, and acceptable due to alleged massive manipulation, declaration of concocted results, and returning of undeserved winners therefrom.

    With the recorded electoral flaws, the courts have continuously affirmed those returned by the electoral empire, whose officials have been accused of financially compromised by the Rivers ruling elite of the PDP, which’s controlled the state till date.

    Amaechi’s “can of worms” has revealed him as an active participant and collaborator in writing election results in Rivers, where he’s in government – either at the state or federal level – for 24 years (1999-2023), and still angling to return to power via the presidency in 2027.

    Amaechi’s elected twice into the Rivers State House of Assembly, in 1999 and 2003, respectively, and was the Speaker for eight years (1999-2007), Governor for eight years (2007-2015), and Minister of Transportation for eight years (2015-2023).

    In 2007, Amaechi made history when the Supreme Court affirmed him as the first recorded Nigerian politician, who didn’t participate in campaigns and voting, and yet was returned as the duly-elected Governor of Rivers State.

    In the lead-up to the 2007 governorship in Rivers, Amaechi clinched the PDP primary. However, the powerful President Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP found a “k-leg” (local parlance for “problem” or “irregularity”) in the choice of Amaechi, and pressured the PDP to give the ticket to Celestine Omehia, who reportedly came fourth at the primary.

    One thing led to another, and Amaechi escaped into “self-exile” in Ghana, from where he initiated/continued a legal process to “retrieve his ticket.” In his absence, campaigns were held and elections conducted, with the INEC declaring Omehia as winner, and sworn in as Governor to succeed Dr Peter Odili, Amaechi’s reported mentor and political godfather.

    Omehia lasted only a few months in the saddle before he’s sacked by the Supreme Court, which, in a novel opinion, declared that the ticket for any elective position belongs to the aspirant that’s duly-elected at the primary: That’s Amaechi in the case of the Rivers PDP primary for the 2007 poll, and was affirmed Governor, irrespective of his non-participation in the campaigns and election.

    The questions for Amaechi: Did someone help to write him in during the primaries for a seat in the Rivers assembly, and the governorship in 1999 and 2007, and accordingly at the polls? Did he rig his second terms in Rivers assembly and as Governor in 2003 and 2011?

    Though Amaechi had problems with the family of then-President Goodluck Jonathan, and his powers severely curtailed by “federal might” wielded on behalf of the Jonathans by later-to-be Governor Wike, did he write the results for the 2015 election in favour of his “anointed candidate” under the APC, which he defected to, to escape the onslaught in the PDP?

    And as Director-General of the APC Campaign Council for the 2015 and 2019 general elections, did Amaechi write the poll results in Rivers for the APC? Answers to these posers should be in the affirmative, as Amaechi didn’t claim any election in Rivers as free, fair, credible, transparent and acceptable from 1999 to 2023, nor exonerate the major players, including himself, from the poll shenanigans.

    Which leads to the next questions: Will Amaechi, gunning for president under the ADC in 2027, not write election results for himself, and in favour of his party candidates? Why should members of other parties, especially the APC, trust that he won’t write the election results? Amaechi’s entrapped himself, and all eyes will be on him and the ADC/COP in 2027!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357

  • 2027 poll: Atiku, not PDP, diverges from party’s principles – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2027 poll: Atiku, not PDP, diverges from party’s principles – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Only the uninformed – far removed especially from the daily haggle over the 2027 General Election – will express a modicum of surprise that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s again dumped the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a likely greener platform, the rave-of-the-moment African Democratic Congress (ADC).

    To keen watchers of the polity, only a miracle or divine intervention could’ve kept Atiku in the PDP, whose unravelling and fast-declining fortunes are  traceable majorly to his politics of self, entitlement, convenience, opportunism, rigidity and lack of respect for the party Constitution, thus brooking no other as more qualified than himself for the office of President of Nigeria.

    Were it otherwise, Atiku – in line with the PDP Constitution that forbids the North or South of Nigeria to simultaneously hold the positions of national chairman and president/presidential candidate – would’ve compromised on the issue of ceding the chairmanship to the South, as he’d secured the presidential ticket for the North for the 2023 election.

    As the acclaimed leader of the PDP since the lead-up to the 2019 election, Atiku’s adamant insistence on retaining the two positions in the North splittered the party, with five of 14 PDP governors working against him at the poll he’d a chance to win.

    In his presidetial pursuits, Atiku’s demonstrated that he’s a politician that endures little or the least inconvenience, and will bolt out the door the moment he senses that his interest isn’t feasible any more or threatened by forces he can’t or won’t challenge, and just walk away.

    It’s the third time since 1999 that Atiku would “port” the PDP ahead of a general election. He did so (partly as presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while he’s vice pesident in the PDP government) before the 2007, 2015, and 2027 polls; but remained in the party prior to the 2003, 2011, 2019 and 2023 elections.

    Save when he’s Governor-elect of Adamawa State before then-PDP presidential candidate Olusegun Obasanjo nominated him as his running mate for the 1999 election, Atiku’s aspiration to be president in 1993, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 spans 30 years, in which period he’d a real shot at the presidency thrice in 2007, 2019 and 2023, but came short each time.

    At 81 by 2027, that year’s election might be Atiku’s last attempt at the presidency, as younger and equally-ambitious members of the PDP have served notice that his time’s up, and they’re ready to battle for the party ticket with him for 2027.

    Many of the young turks were still in their late twenties or early thirties when Atiku joined in the formation, nurturing and sustenance of the PDP to its apogee of the “largest political party in Africa,” which boasted it’d rule Nigeria for unbroken 60 years, but was halted in 2015 after only 16 years in the saddle by a merger of four opposition parties.

    What does a willy old horse like Atiku do in such a circumstance before he’s caught napping? Of course, go to another welcoming platform to ply his ambition! It wasn’t a difficult decision to reach, as he’s virtually become a nomad in his political career!

    And that’s the dream, the idea and the birth of the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP), whose members Atiku’s cleverly shepherded to the ADC (which I’ve graciously aliased, “Atiku Democratic Congress”) – the supposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the COP aspirants to contest in the 2027 poll.

    The final act before departure came on Wednesday, July 14, 2025, when Atiku officially resigned his membership of the PDP,  with the disclosure letter “leaked by rogue elements within the PDP and APC (All Progressives Congress),” as alleged by Atiku’s media adviser, Chief Paul Ibe, without denying the content, which reads:

    “I am writing to formally resign my membership from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with immediate effect.

    “I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude for the opportunities I have been given by the Party. Serving two full terms as Vice President of Nigeria and being a Presidential candidate twice has been one of the most significant chapters of my life. As a founding father of this esteemed Party, it is indeed heartbreaking for me to make this decision.

    “However, I find it necessary to part ways due to the current trajectory the Party has taken, which I believe diverges from the foundational principles we stood for. It is with a heavy heart that I resign, recognizing the irreconcilable differences that have emerged.

    “I wish the Party and its leadership all the best in the future. Thank you once again for the opportunities and support.”

    Again, no surprises here except Atiku’s indulgence in sophistry, with a sleight of hand about how it’s “indeed heartbreaking for me to make this decision,” and feigning “irreconcilable differences that have emerged” in the PDP he’s quitting at the most trying time in its 27-year existence.

    It would’ve been better for Atiku to leave the PDP without uttering a word of excuse or alibi, or at best offer both gratitude and apology to a platform that exposed and elevated him to national politics and the presidency of Nigeria.

    But alas, Atiku’s purposive, on his way out, to inflict the deepest and unkind cut on loyal PDP members, who’d unselfishly stood by him, time and again, when he returned to the party after he met with disappointments elsewhere!

    Which’s why underneath the facade of members’ regrets over Atiku leaving the PDP, many see his exit as “good riddance to bad rubbish,” as he’d literally left the platform since his loss of the 2023 poll. Former Minister of Women Affairs and a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Josephine Anenih, alluded to this on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on July 17.

    Anenih said: “If you ask me, I would say he (Atiku) didn’t exit yesterday (when his letter was published); he had exited after the last election (in 2023). Because, after the last election, maybe he held a (press) conference once or something, and that was it. He has not attended any meeting.”

    “Even the women of the Board of Trustees went to him and we told him that, ‘the party is drifting because there is no leadership, and we look at you as our ‘baba,’ as our leader and we expected you to take action, to be in the forefront, to give direction.’”

    To Atiku’s letter being “leaked” and why the attempt to hoard it, Atiku’s media aide, Ibe, on Arise TV News on July 16, claimed the letter’s exposure was “deliberately timed to stir controversy and divert national attention (from burial of former Head of State and ex-President Muhammadu Buhari).”

    Ibe’s words: “We’re here because people, who never wished His Excellency Atiku Abubakar well, leaked a communication of his. Yes, it was leaked. It is the handiwork of rogue elements in the PDP working in cahoots with APC members.

    “Those who claim to know why he resigned, are they clairvoyants? I would rather say we speak on something else and not this particular issue, considering the fact that the nation is still in mourning and the memories of the late President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was just interred yesterday (July 15), are still fresh.”

    In a reaction, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), not only described as “insensitive” Atiku’s purported publication of his letter during a period of national mourning, but also faulted his “using a letterhead bearing the Nigerian coat of arms,” noting that, “Atiku is no longer a government official and should not present correspondence in that manner.”

    As a further confirmation of the letter’s undertone, Atiku and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai reportedly turned the Buhari private compound venue of the burial into a playground for politicking, throwing their weights around, and specifically gathering other opposition figures to pray at Buhari’s graveside.

    If the letter wasn’t intended for publication during Buhari’s burial ceremonies, why didn’t Atiku wait for completion of the rites of passage before resigning from the PDP? Why the haste to coincide with the Buhari obsequies?

    Truth is, Atiku had intended the letter to achieve political mileage at the funeral – hence he wrote it just a day after Buhari’s demise, and announcement of his burial plans – but he didn’t envisage the backlash it would generate.

    So, his explanation for the letter’s publication is an attempt at cleaning up his miscalculation – a pattern that’s dogged his entire political life whenever he’s caught in his own game, and which he’s taken to the COP/ADC almagam.

    Atiku’s “here again and there again” political attitude hasn’t been lost on particularly former PDP’s Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, who, barely six days earlier on July 10, urged Atiku and other topshots to “remain, and work for the progress of the PDP,” as reported by TheNewsGuru on July 11.

    Cautioning that, “those forming coalition should not forget they have traveled that way before, and it amounts to nothing and it will be good they remain in the party to help build it,” George, at a social engagement, tagged: “Restitution of Restoration,” in Lagos, said the PDP remains a strong platform, offering great opportunities for members, and where “the interest of the estranged party leaders can be better served.”

    “There is no coalition in today’s Nigeria that can be stronger than PDP,” George said. “The PDP is a reborn political party that has weathered all storm and can never go under. All these leaders must return to this Iroko political party,” he added.

    Labelling it “a disservice” to use the PDP to get into higher positions and then quit the party at the slightest opportunity, George asked such people to do a re-think. “They should take it easy, there is no way their congregating can pass the PDP strength. They have done it before, there is no major issue of contention in the PDP that can make them leave the PDP,” he said.

    Still, George’s emphatic that the PDP hadn’t changed its decision to zone the presidency to Southern Nigeria in 2027 – a sticky point that’s driven Atiku and several northern presidential hopefuls from the PDP and APC to embrace the “marriage” between COP and ADC.

    Rhetorically, George queried: “What is the contention about? Why do they want to leave the PDP? They want to be presidential candidate?

    “Positions are zoned in the PDP. The founding fathers of the party zoned positions because lack of zoning of positions led to the collapse of the First and Second Republics (in 1966 and 1983, accordingly),” George added.

    While George’s pleas didn’t stop Atiku from crossing the Rubicon, a redeeming feature lies in his meeting another disappointment at the ADC primary for its presidential ticket, or at the election in 2027, or if he simply drops his lifelong ambition to be President of Nigeria. Atiku, like the biblical prodigal son, could then return to an open-arms, welcome-home reception to the PDP!

    But at this stage in the race for 2027, the “Turakin Adamawa” has moved on, and only the politically-naive will nurse the hope that he’ll return to the PDP just for asking him without factoring in his chances of one more shot at the Presidency!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.

  • 2027 poll: ADC/COP’s northern presidential gambit – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    2027 poll: ADC/COP’s northern presidential gambit – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Among the big political parties in the race for the 2027 General Election, only the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has endorsed a sole presidential candidate in President Bola Tinubu who, also, is currently the only candidate representing Southern Nigeria in the election.

    But for his rolling-stone rhetoric, and crisis in his platform, the 2027 ticket for former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi would’ve been cast in stone by now under the Labour Party (LP), which he used to ply his momentous candidacy from Southern Nigeria in 2023.

    Obi’s romance with the Coalition of Opposition Politicians (COP) – which’s adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to challenge President Tinubu’s re-election bid – has left him virtually roaming in the political wilderness.

    As for ex-Rivers State Governor and former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, his aspiration had more traction in 2023, when he placed a distant second to Tinubu at the primary, than in 2027. Having no visible structure to his name, his undisguised animus towards Tinubu is propelling his Southern bid that may land him the running mate slot, or left disappointed entirely!

    Being a first-term president, Tinubu’s the privilege to declare early his interest in re-election by exploiting his “Right Of First Refusal (ROFR).” But without much ado, he’s gotten a “first shot” at the presidency for a second term, courtesy of all organs of the APC at federal, state, local government and ward levels, the governors, lawmakers and other stakeholders of the party across Nigeria.

    It’s strategic, though, that the President’s received a reprieve from going into a gruelling and potential-for-crisis primary election, as he and his administration face severe economic and security headwinds amidst threats by the COP to terminate his government in 2027.

    To achieve the opposition’s goal to throw Tinubu out of Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, and sack the APC from the governance of Nigeria, the ADC’s declared the collapse of its structures, to enable the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar-powered and led coalition leadership to drive the process towards 2027.

    Ahead of the make-or-mar presidential contest, the wave-making ADC needs the tact, discipline, transparency and Solomonic wisdom to pick its flagbearer among highly-ambitious, and fiercely-individualistic contenders, who see themselves as unmatched for the job.

    They include thrice presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar; Messrs Obi and Amaechi; and former Kaduna State Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai.

    It’s uncertain if former Senate President and ex-Kwara Governor Bukola Saraki; former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, and other aspirants lurking in the shadows are in the running for president.

    The presumption in political circles is that whoever the ADC picks as its presidential candidate will automatically become the standard bearer of the COP that faces scrutiny if truly it’s a coalition, or a gathering of disparate politicians looking to bolster their chances to gain the ticket, failing which they’ll revert to their mother platforms to run for president. This explains why some of the gladiators in the COP are hedging to defect to, and register as members of the ADC.

    So, how do the opposition politicians tackle the daunting task of selecting, from among them, the candidate to face President Tinubu – a familiar but formidable foe, who defeated Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Obi to second and third positions, respectively, in the February 25, 2023 presidential election?

    At this juncture in the race for 2027, going solo, as Atiku and Obi did in 2023, may result in a similar outcome: Tinubu wins the election, and leaves Atiku and Obi to lick their wounds, and blame alleged “electoral malpractice” for the avoidable wrong choice of running on separate tickets.

    Whereas in 2023, Atiku and Obi singly scored 6.9m votes and 6.1m votes, and each failed the election; had they contested on a joint ticket, their combined total of over 13m votes – a margin of lead of 5m votes – would be enough to overwhelm the 8.7m votes secured by Tinubu, and give them the Presidency on May 29, 2023.

    The BIG QUESTION is: Can Atiku and Obi bury their individual ambition, and the one step down for the other as the presidential candidate in 2027? It’s doubtful due to a number of factors, principally the “unwritten” rotation of the Presidency between the North and South of Nigeria every eight years since the return of democracy in 1999.

    Southern Nigeria kicked off the rotation in 1999 via former Head of State, retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP, who handed over in 2007 to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who died three years after in 2010, with his successor, then-Vice Goodluck Jonathan, contesting and winning the 2011 poll under the PDP.

    Dr Jonathan’s presidency “distorted” the swinging rotation of power between the North and South. Had he allowed a northerner to complete the four years (2011 to 2015) remaining in Yar’Adua’s eight-year tenure, there wouldn’t be talk, till date, about the “South shortchanging the North of its presidency.”

    The question remains which party supports rotation of the presidency at any tenure? Whenever they’re out of power, the opposition parties don’t recognise rotation, and aren’t on the same page with the ruling party, thus creating a wiggle room to circumvent zoning at every election cycle!

    For instance, between 2015 and 2023, it’s presumed that the APC – which won the 2015 presidential poll through retired ex-Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari – was representing the Northern bloc’s rotation of the presidency, and would return power to the South after Buhari’s eight-year tenure.

    Hence no major party fielded a candidate from the South to mount a challenge to Buhari’s presidency. But the opposition PDP, via Atiku, a northerner, rubbished the rotation principle, and dared the APC and LP that presented Southern candidates for the 2023 poll.

    For 2027, the opposition and Atiku are again poised to confront the APC and Tinubu. So, Atiku or any other Northern opposition candidate winning the election would abridge the 2023 return of power to Southern Nigeria, and further distort the rotation between the North and South.

    This is the dilemma that might burden especially a section of the ADC and the coalition in picking their presidential candidate for 2027. For starters, Atiku – floating the COP and leading the members to the ADC – has one objective: to clinch the ticket, and meet Tinubu at the poll!

    This qualifies to label the ADC as “Atiku Democratic Congress” (my copyright (c)) with several things already going for him in the platform, including the choice of “indirect primaries” to pick the candidates for elective offices; and PDP members dissolving into the ADC, reportedly starting in Atiku’s North-East zone stronghold.

    Looking at the presidential materials in the ADC/COP, none can defeat an “old warhorse” Atiku where the language of the game is availability of nationwide structures, and deployment of Naira and hard currencies to woo the “beautiful-bride-delegates.”

    If Atiku gets the ADC/COP ticket, it’ll leave the Southern aspirants, including Obi and Amaechi, in limbo, and may spur an unending crisis going into the 2027 poll. But there’re two possible mitigating factors: All the ADC/COP aspirants support Atiku’s candidacy; and Atiku picks Obi or Amaechi as running mate.

    Yet, neither of the choices is a problem solver, as Southern voters, and supporters of those denied the ticket – particularly the “Obidients” who propelled a “politically-structureless” Obi to the third position in the 2023 presidential contest – may revolt against the ADC/COP and Atiku in 2027.

    In a worst-case scenario, Obi may jettison the coalition – as he did in 2023 when he ditched the PDP – and fall back on the LP for his presidential bid, which his ardent supporters vow is “non-negotiable,” even as some want him to accept pairing, as running mate, to any Northern candidate “so long as it will lead to removing Tinubu and the APC from power in 2027.”

    Will Obi accept to be a running mate, or stand only for the top position? As of now, he’s neither here nor there. He’s ambivalent in statements and interviews on the issue. Below are his responses to quizzing on his 2027 aspiration and the platform to realise the dream. He apppeared on Channels TV’s ‘Sunday Politics’ on July 6, 2025:

    On running only for president, Obi said: “I’m going to contest for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I believe I am qualified for it (the position).”

    On being a running mate to Atiku in 2027, Obi said: “This is not in play; nobody has ever discussed that (with me). People assume so many things. Nobody has ever discussed with me whether I am going to be A or B or C. I am part of the coalition which will be able to produce a president with the capacity and compassion to save this country.”

    On leaving the LP, Obi said: “Where we are now, the coalition might have other parties that will come together, like it did in the past and change the name of the party. But right now, we have adopted one party. The other ones are coming in; so, we cannot say we are going to leave or stay but what is constant now is that we have all agreed to work together.”

    And on if he’s joined the ADC, Obi said: “Today, I remain in the Labour Party, but we have all agreed to work in coalition for the 2027 elections. For that, we have adopted the ADC, but as we grow, other parties and individuals will still come on board. What we did was the unveiling, but we are still going to bring other people and individuals under the same umbrella. For now, we want a better country for everybody.”

    It remains the same scratchy-and-patchy affair for Southern Nigeria in the opposition camp! Will the aspirants, particularly Obi, diss rotation of the presidency between the North and South, and settle for the vice presidential slot to a Northern candidate in 2027? That answer is blowing in the wind!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.

  • PDP crisis: Leaders in ‘give-and-take’ to patch up cracks – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    PDP crisis: Leaders in ‘give-and-take’ to patch up cracks – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    In my Monday, June 30, 2025, copy entitled, “Questions over PDP’s June 30 NEC meeting,” two posers stood out from the public spat involving stakeholders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding the 100th meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for June 30 at the party Wadata Plaza headquarters in Wuse Zone of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    The first question was whether the meeting would hold, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had spotted an obvious lacuna of non-compliance with the PDP constitution in the letter of notification, prompting the commission to decline attendance, as technically, “there is no notice of the NEC before the Commission.”

    The issue at play was the PDP Acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum’s June 25, 2025, indefinite postponement of the NEC 100th meeting fixed at its 99th meeting of May 27, ironically presided by Damagum by virtue of being Chairman of the National Working Committee (NWC).

    The meeting’s deferment was greeted with a push-back by a reported majority of the NWC members, the National Ex-Officio Members’ Forum and the Board of Trustees (BoT) – all vowing the meeting would hold, as “Damagum’s action violated PDP’s constitution,” and a disregard for the decision of the 99th NEC meeting “that’s binding on all organs of the party.”

    The second question was: Whose prompting and command would members of the NEC listen to and obey on June 30: The “advisory” Chairman of the BoT and former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, or the “superintending” National Chairman Damagum? I posited that polity watchers would know the answer in a matter of hours that Monday.

    It’s indeed predictive, as observers were, for hours, treated to absurdities, including clashes by supporters of rival camps; sealing of the PDP secretariat by heavily-armed security operatives; barring of party members and journalists from the complex; and relocation of the BoT pre-NEC meeting to the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in the Central Business District of Abuja.

    Besides shifting of the NEC meeting, Damagum announced “immediate reinstatement” of Sen. Samuel Anyanwu – PDP’s duly-elected National Secretary in 2021 for a term of four years ending in October 2025 – who’s rejected by a section of the party on grounds of alleged forfeiture of the position he left midstream to contest for Imo State governor in November 2023.

    The supremacy battle in the PDP – dating back to pre-2023 General Election – initially pitted former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (who “decamped” to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on July 2, 2025) against former Rivers State Governor and Minister of the FCT, Chief Nyesom Wike.

    But ahead of June 30, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, the “inheritor” of the prior Atiku faction – who’d reportedly parted ways with Wike, and was able to push the PDP Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, to replace the Wike-backed Anyanwu as acting national secretary – joined by 11 of 19-man NWC, some Governors, the BoT and Ex-Officio Forum members, supported the 100th NEC meeting, but opposed Anyanwu’s return as national secretary.

    In contrast, the Wike camp, consisting of Damagum and eight NWC members, some Governors and other stakeholders, was against the 100th NEC meeting, but favoured Anyanwu’s reinstatement as national secretary.

    These contestations threatened to push the PDP further towards the precipice, as the stakeholders arrived in Abuja on June 30 to a barricaded party headquarters by security operatives on “orders from above” – a reference to a higher police officer and/or government official. But common sense eventually prevailed, and the party leaders, in the spirit of give and take, “successfully” held the 100th NEC meeting.

    The NEC meeting followed a closed-door meeting by some PDP governors at the Bauchi State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja. As reported by Channels TV on June 30, the parley had in attendance Bauchi State Governor and Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Sen. Bala Mohammed, Governor Makinde, Bayelsa Governor Douye Diri, and former Kwara Governor and ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    In his opening remarks, presiding Damagum explained that the PDP had resolved its internal disagreements and agreed to proceed with the NEC meeting at the Wadata Plaza already vacated by armed security operatives, who the FCT Police Command had said were drafted there to “maintain law and order,” to prevent hoodlums (political thugs) hijacking the chaotic scenes.

    “The issue at hand, which creates a lot of tension and discussion within us, has been discussed, and we have taken a position and, fortunately, to allow the NEC to step in, which has prompted this meeting. It was a helpful decision,” Damagum said.

    “The beauty of our party is that we have always handled our problems in our own ways. So, after due consultations with our leaders, the governors, leaders of other organs, we say even though we’ve slated this NEC and we had challenges, this is our own NEC,” he added.

    Unlike in his June 25 cancellation of the 100th NEC meeting, and reinstatement of Anyanwu as national secretary, Damagum’s less dramatic pronouncing the NEC decision: The next NEC meeting is fixed for July 23, 2025, to discuss all contentious issues and take decisions on them, leading to the National Convention; and Sen. Anyanwu is to continue to serve as national secretary.

    If it were a game of soccer, that’d be a “one-all-draw”. A truly “give-and-take” outcome: The Governor Makinde camp having its way with the 100th NEC meeting, and the Wike faction securing a reprive for Anyanwu as national secretary!

    Addressing the earlier police presence at the PDP secretariat, which many members criticised as a “siege orchestrated by the government to prevent the NEC meeting from holding,” Governor Mohammed told journalists that the blockade was “necessary to prevent miscreants hijacking the meeting,” tacitly confirming the security operatives’ claim of “orders from above” for their deployment at the Plaza.

    Summing up the NEC meeting as a win-win of “no victor, no vanquished,” Dr Saraki, chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee, in a statement on June 30, said: “This evening, our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), successfully concluded the 100th edition of its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

    “Today, there was no victor and no vanquished. The winner today is the PDP. Another winner is Nigeria’s democracy because, without a vibrant opposition, democracy dies. Again, millions of our party members and supporters, who are located in all the 774 LGAs across the country, also emerged winners.

    “It was a symbolic gathering, as the meeting could have either been the breaking point, going by events of the last 48 hours, or the junction to cross the Rubicon and march forward into greater heights. Our esteemed leaders chose the latter,” Saraki said, as reported by DailyPost.Ng on July 1.

    “I am particularly happy about the meeting for two reasons. One, we all agreed on the need for unity as a way of sending a signal to the entire nation that the PDP can only wax stronger. Two, the spirit of give and take dominated our frank discussions.”

    For the BoT chair, Wabara, the NEC meeting is one river crossed. Waxing biblical, and with a ting of warning to PDP members, he promised: “We shall survive. The God of politics is in this party. If it is Allah, the Allah of politics is in this party. For any other party to succeed, we have to release our God to bless them. But our God knows that PDP is the beacon of hope for this country.

    “What is happening here today will shock so many people. I’m sure they (alleged external forces and infiltrators) will start planning again to bring problems. NWC, please don’t allow a crack anymore because, once they have seen us now coming together, they would say, what? What happened? Who is the native doctor that made this possible? They don’t believe in God. They will start doing something to destabilise us, which we will not agree.

    “So, whatever we are doing here today, we are doing because of our service to this nation, because of our service to the suffering masses. That’s why we have all sacrificed one thing or the other. So, I thank you so much for coming; thank Nigerians for their support, and we hope to take over power in 2027.”

    For now, “All is well that ends well” for the PDP! But for how long is the question that’ll continue to bother genuinely-concerned members, even as the initial main antagonists – Atiku and Wike, who beat the drums that fueled the division within – were absent on June 30, but left their footsoldiers to size themselves up and come to a compromise on the two most sticky issues: the 100th NEC meeting and national secretaryship.

    Will the “returned” common sense – which, pre-June 30, appeared a scarce commodity in the once acclaimed “largest political party in Africa” that boasted of an uninterrupted 60-year dominance of Nigeria’s governance – be a fleeting moment or a bird of passage? Again, polity watchers have a duty to train their binoculars on the PDP!

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.

  • As Benue burns: ‘Enough not enough’, Mr President, do something! – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As Benue burns: ‘Enough not enough’, Mr President, do something! – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Once again, communities in Benue State – the acclaimed “Food Basket of the Nation – are under attack, with death and destruction everywhere. Naturally, the survivors, from crying, moaning and wailing, will run to seek refuge and shelter in neighbouring and distant communities or internally-displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps to mourn their losses, resign to faith to avert the next attack, which will come in the cycle of orgy that’s taken over Nigeria.

    This was the situation in the Yelewata community, Guma local government area of Benue overnight of Saturday, June 15, 2025, when over 100 people were massacred, either shot, butchered or burnt alive beyond recognition in their houses doused with petrol and lit.

    A heart-rending aspect to the carnage is that the invaders gave advance notice, and this warning was communicated to the relevant authorities and law enforcement agencies. But when the attackers arrived, those sworn to defend and protect the people were found wanting!

    And all we do, as a people, and as a self-governing entity, is to throw up our hands in the air, express sympathy, promise to deal with the perpetrators, throw foods and cash at the victims, and go back to our comfort zones with no real solution to the endless carnage of INNOCENT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. (Emphasis mine).

    So, it’s not enough for President Bola Tinubu to declare that, “Enough is now enough” to the blood-letting in Benue because, there’s no time – and nowhere – killing of innocent people is seemingly permitted as in Nigeria. A presumed innocent’s life can only be taken away via duly applied law. Any other means is barbaric, illegal, and punishable according to the offence of murder!

    Hardened criminals have their day with the law until found guilty. And they’ve the luxury of appeal and even pardon. But the innocent Benue people – and others across Nigeria where criminals appear to have the free rein to perpetrate and perpetuate cold-blooded murder and plunder – don’t have such luxury.

    Where does Mr President’s “Enough is now enough” come from? Are we to imply or believe that the blood-thirsty vampires, parading as herders, bandits, Boko Haram, ISWSP, Lakurawa, and the lately identified terror group, Mamuda, are given time and space to rape, kill, destroy and plunder before they’re stopped?

    Defenceless, helpless and hopeless, innocent indigenous people are attacked in their farms, in their homes in the dead of night, in their markets, in their worship places, in their schools, and in hospitals and on the highways.

    Displaced from their ancestral homesteads, the people move in droves to brace the elements in uninhabitable open market stalls, or make-shift IDPs’ camps, where, sooner than later, the marauders will visit them with further deaths and destruction. There’s nowhere to run, and no place to hide from the killers!

    Mr President cautioned on Tuesday, June 17, that, “Political and community leaders in Benue State must act responsibly and avoid inflammatory utterances that could further increase tensions and killings. They should also rein in those who go out to cause provocations and ignite reprisal attacks.”

    There’s nothing we don’t hear in Nigeria! Let’s not muddle up things, Mr President. You went to Benue on Wednesday, June 18, due to the massacre of community people, mainly farmers, even in the IDP camps. These attacks don’t result from inflammatory utterances and provocations that cause further killings and reprisal attacks, but are planned and executed to attain a certain end.

    The cycle of mindless raping, killing, destruction, plundering and pillaging is no longer herder-farmer clash, banditry or cattle-rustling. Let’s call it by its real, actual, and proper name: Ethnic cleansing and genocide!

    During your visit, Mr President, the Chairman of the Benue State Council of Traditional Rulers, the Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh Prof. James Ayatse, told you that the Benue repeated attacks weren’t herder-farmer clashes, but genocidal invasion for land-grabbing.

    The Tor Tiv’s words: “Your Excellency, it is not herder-farmer clashes. It is not communal clashes. It is not reprisal attacks or skirmishes. What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by herder-terrorists and bandits.”

    Mr President, the aim of the attackers is, first, to occupy, subjugate, dominate and convert; and then to annihilate, eliminate, exterminate, extinct and erase any traces of the people and their tradition, culture, language, and heritage. To achieve this goal, they create fear, panic, inflict pain and put to flight those alive to abandon their lands and communities, which the invaders occupy and rename in their own language.

    Talking about foreign invaders, do they come and forcefully occupy our communities? NO! The unpatriotic collaborators and backers within and outside the government – for reasons of politics and/or ethnic and religious domination – invite, harbour, accommodate, plan and collaborate with the hoodlums to carry out nefarious activities.

    Have we forgotten how a former Governor of a Northern state confessed to how he and other opposition politicians invited bandits from neighbouring countries, to help create insecurity in Nigeria during the 2015 General Election? And that after the poll, which the opposition won, the bandits refused to return to their countries despite huge monetary compensations offered to them?

    What about the open invitation the head of the government from that election extended to all Fulani, anywhere in Africa, to come and make Nigeria their global home? The foreign Fulani have honoured the invitation with exodus from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Tchad, Cameroun, Central African Republic and several other countries.

    Sadly for Nigerians, the Fulani invitees come into Nigeria as outlaws armed with dangerous weapons and charms. And joined by some local herdsmen, they’re responsible for the human and material atrocities we daily experience in the country today.

    Also during the heated debate on ranching, to curb alleged herder-farmer clashes, one presidential candidate equated cows as having equal fundamental rights as Nigerians; and that herders were free to roam and graze their cattle anywhere without let or hindrance from farmers and state governments that’ve enacted Anti-Open Grazing Laws?

    But as you aptly emphasised, Mr President, a human’s life is valuable than that of a cow’s, and thus, they’ve no equal fundamental rights, as that politician claimed. These are your words: “I wanted to come here (Benue State) to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity – not to see gloomy faces… The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people.” Well said!

    Yet, the same politician and the one who confessed to inviting bandits into Nigeria are angling to be President in 2027, and have formed a Coalition of Opposition Politicians to “capture power” from President Tinubu. Imagine the kind of government they’ll foist on Nigeria if they succeed!

    Kudos, Mr President, for heeding the viral calls by Nigerians for you, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, to take the lead and visit Benue to condole, sympathise, and comfort the grieving survivors of the attack, and the people and Government of Benue State.

    By your action, you’ve sacrificed politics for security by postponing your official visit to Kaduna, to commission projects, and rerouting your itinerary to Benue, which’s become the epicentre of carnage and depopulation in Nigeria.

    Mr President, now that you’ve come, you’ve seen, and you’ve heard from the Benue people – and also visited the hospital to empathise with the injured – you should put your foot down the harder, and assert your absolute power and authority in the area of security. Your public query to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr Kayode Egbetokun, is the right message to send.

    As you asked: “How come no one has been arrested for committing this heinous crime in Yelewata? Inspector General of Police, where are the arrests? The criminals must be arrested immediately.” No other person can give that command but you, Mr President, as the buck stops at your table.

    Mr President, there’s no sacred cow when security tops the priority agenda! Rather than mouth the presence in the government of collaborators with the merchants of death, it’s time to identify those involved, expose and flush them out of the system, and prosecute them accordingly. Also give a marching order to the security agencies to identify the saboteurs in their midst, and flush them out for prosecution.

    In other countries not beholden to ethnic, religious and political considerations in matters of security, collaborating with criminal elements to sabotage the system, especially national security, carries a heavy price to pay, as a deterrent, in long-term prison or death sentences, which are carried out to the letter!

    But here in Nigeria, our governments, both federal and states, appease, rehabilitate and empower so-called “repentant terrorists,” while their victims are left to lick their wounds. That narrative should change: Let the offenders be punished, and the victims compensated, rehabilitated and empowered! No more room for “Enough is now enough”!

     

    Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357.