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Tag: Ehichioya Ezomon

  • Defections: Will Wike honour Tinubu’s invitation to join APC? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Defections: Will Wike honour Tinubu’s invitation to join APC? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    This is certainly not a good political season for Nigeria’s opposition parties, as they face an existential threat from continuing depletion of their major and minor platforms due to massive defections of members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Coming at a time they’ve vowed to “capture power” from the APC, and throw President Bola Tinubu out of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa seat of government in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city; the same politicians blame their dwindling fortunes on the President for stifling the opposition in order to create a one-party State in the country.

    But Tinubu dismissed the charge on Thursday, June 12, 2025, during his first “State of the Nation Address” at a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, to mark the 2025 Democracy Day, stressing the importance of opposition in a democracy, even as he admitted he has no intention of helping rival parties to stay united. His denial of a one-party state was lucid and detailed, The Nation reports.

    The President said: “At this point, I plead for your indulgence so that I may put a terrible rumour to bed. To those who ring the alarm that the APC is intent on a one-party state, I offer you a most personal promise. While your alarm may be as a result of your panic, it rings in error.

    “At no time in the past, nor any instance in the present, and at no future juncture shall I view the notion of a one-party state as good for Nigeria. I have never attempted to alter any political party registration with INEC.

    “Look at my political history. In 2003, when the then-governing party (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tried to sweep the nation clean of political opposition through plot and manipulation, I was the last of the progressive governors standing in my region (South-West).

    “A greater power did not want Nigeria to become a one-party state back then. Nigeria will not become such a state now. The failed effort to create a one-party state placed progressive political forces on a trajectory to form the APC. It put me on the trajectory which has brought me before you today.”

    Yet, President Tinubu welcomes defectors from opposition parties into the APC, stating that the ruling party will keep its doors open to all willing to join, declaring, “It is my wish for the opposition to be in disarray. I cannot help them put their house in order.”

    Tinubu said: “We would be guilty of political malpractice if we closed the door on those from other parties who now seek to join the APC. I sincerely welcome our party’s newest members from Delta and Akwa Ibom states, led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Pastor Umo Eno and other members of this National Assembly.

    “Political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by examining their internal processes and affairs rather than fearfully conjuring up demons that do not exist.

    “For me, I would say try your best to put your house in order. I will not help you do so. It is, indeed, a pleasure to witness you in such disarray.”

    Twenty-four hours later, on June 13, President Tinubu again advised opposition politicians to put their house in order ahead of the 2027 General Election, “so that nobody will accuse anybody of trying to stifle the opposition,” as he commissioned another road project completed by the Wike FCT administration.

    Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who represented Tinubu, said: “The President wants you (opposition) to come together. If you cannot come together, the President cannot help you to come together.

    “This is politics. And you will never come together when you continue to tell lies on a daily basis. Everything, you condemn. Nothing is good in your country. Was Nigeria like this in 1960? Was Abuja like this three years ago?”

    Meanwhile, as usual since assumption of office on May 29, 2023, Tinubu visited Lagos State where he observed the Muslim Eid celebrations; and his home in Ikoyi turned into a “Mecca” and a tourist destination high-up Nigerians, friends and foes alike, visiting to “spend quality time” with him, and pose beside him for photo-ops.

    There’re speculations, though, that the visits by some opposition politicians and their backers had to do with the current politics of mass defections to the APC. A case in point was the visit by a business tycoon, Dr Adedeji Adeleke, along with his brother and Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke of the PDP, and son and Afrobeat music star, David Adeleke (alias Davido), who campaigned against Tinubu’s election in 2023.

    That visit has raised alarm in the Osun State chapter of the APC, whose leaders have vehemently rejected Governor Adeleke’s alleged overtures to defect to the APC, vowing to sack him from power in next year’s guber poll in the state.

    With his return to Abuja from Lagos, Tinubu buzzed the polity on Wednesday, June 11, as he invited former Rivers State Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike, to join the APC. This was during Tinubu’s commissioning of road projects linking several districts in Abuja.

    Praising Wike’s performance in office, and saying he “will be welcomed in the APC,” Tinubu declared that, “no amount of political pressure or opposition” would derail his development under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

    The President said: “We have somebody in Nyesom Wike. He’s not a member of my party (APC) — not yet. But the day he changes his mind and registers with the progressives, we will welcome him. Because we will join him in singing, ‘As e dey sweet us, e go dey pain dem’” – echoing Wike’s earlier rendition of the popular Tinubu/APC 2023 victory song, targeted at opposition’s loss of the presidential poll.

    The previous day, on June 10, President Tinubu, inaugurating the refurbished Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC) – renamed Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre (BATICC) – told the minister to “continue with your good work,” and not to listen to the chatter by the “busybodies and the bystanders.”

    Tinubu, after a guided tour of the facility, noted that Wike reflected “Nigeria and Nigerians in the work done at the centre. “You reflect us as people of quality, people of character, people of determination, people of great spirit. That’s what we are,” Tinubu said. “And I’m glad you are reflecting that.

    “Don’t pay attention to the busybodies and the bystanders, whatever they say, continue with your good work. You are a transformational leader. You have the foresight, the vision and determination to succeed. Thank you very much,” the President said.

    That’s incredible! Tinubu literally urging Wike to emulate him – a President, who doesn’t give a damn about the opposition broadsides and dirts thrown at him. Really, it wasn’t as if Wike needed Tinubu’s advice, as he’s boasted he “happily steps on toes” of critics of his style of governance of the FCT, and politicking in general.

    Defections to the APC – which were in trickles pre-announcement of the formation of a Coalition of Opposition Politicians aimed at sacking Tinubu and his government via the 2027 General Election – spiked into an exodus when the coalition commenced canvassing for membership. And there’s been no let-up in partisans streaming into the APC!

    Between May and June 2025, Delta Governor Oborevwori and Akwa Ibom Governor Eno – along with majority of elective and appointed members from the national to ward levels, the rank and file members and the party structures in both states – dumped the main opposition PDP and joined the APC.

    In all 36 States of the Federation, decamping from the opposition parties to the APC is virtually on daily basis, with cross-carpeting in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly almost a one-way affair into the APC during plenaries.

    It won’t be a surprise to polity watchers if Wike were to change his political camp, and join the APC, as he’s practically – in flesh and blood – an APC member, serving under the party, and vigorously promoting and stridently defending the tough reform policies and programmes of the Tinubu administration.

    While still professing to be a member of the PDP, Wike, as he did in 2023, has repeatedly pledged to “support, campaign and elect President Tinubu for a second term in office in 2027,” lauding his “bold, courageous and decisive leadership.”

    On Thursday, June 5, at the 2025 distinguished personality lecture held at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Wike, in a paper titled, “The Nigeria of Our Dreams,” said Tinubu’s distinguished him from past leaders, who paid lip service to oil subsidy removal. The Cable reports.

    “Leaders before him all spoke about the evil of fuel subsidy, but none had the courage to dare the blackmail of removing it,” Wike said, adding that, “Tinubu is fittingly grappling with the inevitable, unintended and sometimes orchestrated consequences of this removal.”

    “Today, our states have far more resources to develop, the debts are no longer piling, and the price of petrol is gradually but steadily adjusting downwards in tandem with the forces of demand and supply and the strict implementation of regulatory conditionalities.”

    Agreeing with Chinua Achebe’s crtique – “The Trouble with Nigeria” – that the absence of proper leadership remains the country’s undoing, Wike said Tinubu is the kind of leader to take Nigeria out of the woods.

    Earlier on Wednesday, June 11, Wike – precursoring Tinubu’s later remarks at the road projects launch in Abuja – claimed that the President’s infrastructural development “has killed the coalition moves by the opposition.”

    Mr. President, let me first of all convey the happiness and appreciation of the people of the city. I’m sure that when you came down from the vehicle, you saw how happy people were praising you. That’s to tell you they appreciate and recognise the good works you are doing,” Wike said.

    “There are some people, whatever you do, they will never be happy. They were born not to be happy, and so there is nothing you can do about it. But those who appreciate, who are happy, you can see how elated they are.

    “I didn’t know that people can be in pain (over developments). And now that I know there are such people that are pained, my duty is to continue to give them high blood pressure,” Wike said, breaking into the Tinubu/APC victory song, ‘As e dey pain dem, e go dey sweet us.’ ‘As e dey sweet us, e go dey pain dem.’ “That’s my job. I’ll be happy every time, moving, laughing. And then they will be there fighting and shouting and killing themselves.”

    “So, Mr. President, we want to thank you that we are part of this, what is going on, the revolution that’s going on. Your good work has killed the coalition. I was thinking that truly, there would be a coalition. So, I told my people, ‘make sure that every national television must hook in (up) so they can see what’s happening every day.’

    “‘If they turn to ADBN, they’re watching Mr. President. If they turn to TVC, it’s Mr. President. If they go to Channels, Mr. President. If they go to NTA, Mr. President. Even the one I don’t watch, Arise (TV), it’s Mr. President.’ So, they have no choice, and they must watch it and watch it for 17 days. There is nothing they can do. Coalition is bound to fail, and it has failed.”

    With the midterm over, will President Tinubu also take off the gloves, and form a political tag-team with Wike, to give the opposition politicians a bloody nose for their scorched-earth campaign against him, his government and the APC? Certainly, the auguries don’t look good for those angling to grab power from him 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.

  • As another governor joins ‘assault’ on journalists, free press – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As another governor joins ‘assault’ on journalists, free press – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has reportedly extended his executive tentacles to the Delta State House of Assembly, where he barred journalists from coverage of the midterm report of his administration’s stewardship since May 29, 2023, when he took office to steer the ship of “The Big Heart Of The Nation” for four years till 2027.

    Rather than the normal press conference or interaction with journalists to showcase his “achievements” in the first two years in office, Rt Hon. Oborevwori took the ceremony to the Delta Assembly, where journalists were locked out of the chamber – with visuals showing them milling outside the gate of the complex in Asaba, Delta’s capital city.

    A May 29, 2025, report by The Townhill, states that: “A sad occurrence took place yesterday (Wednesday, May 28) at the premises of the Delta State House of Assembly, as over 20 journalists drawn from the mainstream and Online media, who were there to cover the governor’s address marking his second year in office, were disdainfully denied entry.

    “They stood outside the gate of the Assembly while the governor was presenting the address, after which he laid it on the table as if he was presenting the yearly Appropriation Bill.

    “The media houses barred were: ThisDay, Punch, The Guardian, New Telegraph, Quest TV, Odenigbo Radio, Business News, Emerald News, Nigerian Tribune, Express News, Ndokwa Vanguard, Spade News, Gallant Reporters, Douba Post, Daily Independent, Leadership, Blue Print, The Story, National Pilot, The Hill and National Light.

    “As a norm, former Governor James Onanefe Ibori and his successors (Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and Dr Ifeanyi Okowa) usually held periodic media chats, particularly like yesterday’s occasion, until the incumbent Governor Oborevwori stopped it, opting to use the hallowed chamber of the State Assembly to address Deltans instead.”

    This comes on the heels of Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno banning Channels Television crew from the Government House press centre, Uyo, the capital city, for “daring” to file a report on his remarks, publicly confirming his plans to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the crucial 2027 General Election.

    At the State Executive Council (Exco) meeting on May 22, Eno, confirming his speculated decision to leave the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), directed his appointees to follow him to the APC, or resign their appointments forthwith. Noting that, “anybody who claims he is not aware of my intention to leave the PDP is still living in the 18th century,” he warned that he’d nothing to negotiate with anyone unwilling to follow his political direction.

    “Apart from elected officials, like House of Assembly members and Local Government chairmen, I have nothing to negotiate with you (his appointees),” Eno declared, boasting, “Let me tell you, anybody who believes that when I leave the PDP he will use the party structure to fight me is lying because I will still control the PDP structure.”

    These were the remarks the Channels TV crew filed that earned it Eno’s ban from the Government House press centre on May 25.

    Media reports on Eno’s alleged action noted that the broadcast “caused embarrassment within the governor’s camp, prompting swift action from the state’s media handlers,” adding that, “the governor was so furious he wanted to sack Ekerete and disband the entire press corps” – referring to Ekerete Udoh, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary.

    The actions of Chief Oborevwori and Pastor Eno – and similar behaviours by other government officials and institutions – are a direct and grave assault on the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which recognises and mandates the mass media to hold government and its officials to public account.

    Section 22 of the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides that, “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold… the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”

    This power, conferred solely on the media, elevates the press to the “Fourth Estate (Arm) of the Realm (Government) – the other arms being the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. It’s this authority that Oborevwori and Eno tried/try to subvert by banning and/or barring journalists from coverage of their official activities.

    The governors can’t even come under Section 39(3) of the Constitution, which authorises withholding of information received in confidence, as enforcing such confidentiality shall derive only from “any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”

    Which law supports Oborevwori’s prevention of journalists from covering his midterm report at the House of Assembly? Was the report confidential in line with the Constitution? And which law did Eno rely upon to persuade, if any, the Channels TV crew from reporting his remarks on plans to defect to the APC?

    Not surprising, a similar thread holds Oborevwori and Eno together. They hail from the South-South geographical zone of the Niger Delta. They’re first-term governors elected in 2023 on the platform of the PDP, which had ruled both states since 1999. The governors acted in regard to their second-year anniversary in office, in readiness for re-election in 2027 under the APC.

    Governor Oborevwori’s officially been received into the APC, along with his predecessor and the PDP vice presidential candidate in the 2023 General Election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, elected and appointed officials from the national to ward levels, and members and the entire party structure.

    Having also officially announced his defection – along with his elected and appointed officials, PDP members and party structure from his “beloved PDP” on Friday, June 9 – Eno awaits an opportune moment to make a public show of being received into the APC.

    And as there’s nothing to hide any more, won’t it be incumbent on Governor Eno – if he hadn’t done so – to rescind, and lift his ban on the Channels TV crew, to be free to access the press centre at the Government House, Uyo?

    Let it not be assumed that Oborevwori and Eno’s actions against journalists are in character with the public perception, and belief that the APC and the Federal Government of President Bola Tinubu confer on the party governors immunity to act with impunity, and “nothing will happen.”

    This claim, which swirls in the camp of the opposition – whose governors aren’t better in dealing with journalists – aligns with the soundbite that, “Once you join the APC, all your sins will be forgiven.” Hence the reported exodus of opposition politicians to the APC, to “avoid” the anti-graft agencies’ searchlight and dragnet!

    Yet, if we blame Governors Oborevwori and Eno for their obviously unconstitutional posturing towards the mass media, shouldn’t we also query the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), that’s supposed to oversee the welfare and security of its members, but kept mute in the face of the Oborevwori and Eno actions in the Delta and Akwa Ibom councils?

    While the Akwa Ibom NUJ didn’t protest Eno’s banning of Channels TV’s crew from the Government House press centre for carrying out its constitutionally-obligated assignment; the Delta NUJ’s seeming reaction to Oborevwori’s locking out of journalists from the Delta Assembly was beggarly, and an afterthought.

    The nearest the NUJ officials came to such a conclusion was a reference to Section 22 of the Constitution, and why Oborevwori hasn’t followed the tradition of his predecessors to engage regularly with the press.

    As reported by Banneronlinenews on May 30, a statement by the Delta NUJ Chairman, Comrade Churchill Oyowe and Secretary, Comrade Victor Sorokwu, partly reads: “In a functional democracy, effective governance cannot thrive without deliberate and transparent communication with the media. Unfortunately, under the current administration, media engagement has been largely selective, inconsistent, and insufficiently structured.

    “Past administrations, especially under Chief James Ibori and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, demonstrated strong media relations by institutionalising quarterly press briefings and media parley sessions that created platforms for open, direct interaction between journalists, the governor and government officials. While Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa made modest efforts in this regard, his administration lacked the consistency and broader inclusion needed to sustain such engagement.

    “We are concerned that the current administration has allowed this tradition to lapse, thereby widening the gap between the government and the organised media. If left unaddressed, this could have adverse consequences for public trust and how the administration is ultimately assessed in the annals of history.

    “Let it be made clear: this intervention is not driven by animosity or self-interest, but by a genuine desire to see the government succeed in deepening democratic ideals. It is an objective and professional reflection of our constitutional responsibility as the Fourth Estate in Government.

    “The good news is that it is not too late. The Governor has both the time and the opportunity to recalibrate his media engagement strategy. We urge His Excellency to embrace a more transparent, inclusive, and constitutionally aligned approach, anchored on regular, statewide press interactions via live broadcasts, radio, television, and physical briefings involving journalists across all media platforms.

    “As a Council, our mission is not to confront, but to constructively chart a course that advances both governance and journalism in Delta State. We are ready to partner with the government in building a vibrant culture of openness, accountability, and mutual respect between the state and the media.”

    Of course, the Delta NUJ didn’t forget to praise Oborevwori’s increased stipends to journalists, and his two-year achievements in office. “We acknowledge and appreciate the 100% increase in stipends to some journalists across the state. Though modest, this gesture signals a recognition of the media’s vital role in promoting democracy and development.

    “However, this gesture has not assuaged expectations of Journalists in Delta State. The NUJ Delta Council calls for a greater responsiveness in the area of media engagement and public accountability.”

    Listing the governor’s achievements, the NUJ said: “From the implementation of the new minimum wage, regular payment of workers’ salaries, to pensioners to women and youth empowerment initiatives; infrastructure projects – roads, drains, bridges, and flyovers – as well as sustained peace-building efforts; the administration has demonstrated capacity and commitment to governance.

    “For these, the Council commends the Governor for acceding to the expectations of many and proving opponents wrong, who might have underestimated his ability to deliver on his administration’s ‘MORE’ Agenda.”

    As the Delta NUJ rightly stated, its mission “is not to confront, but to constructively chart a course that advances both governance and journalism in Delta State.” Still, the NUJ shouldn’t close its eyes to or gloss over it when state governors – as reported in the instant cases in Delta and Akwa Ibom – deliberately want to abridge journalists’ right to hold the government and its officials to account!

     

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

  • Gov Eno’s ire over Channels TV’s broadcast of ‘defection’ to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Gov Eno’s ire over Channels TV’s broadcast of ‘defection’ to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As in every issue or event in the polity, mixed reactions greeted the report on Thursday, May 22, 2025, that the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, had directed all commissioners and other political appointees in his government to either defect with him to the All Progressives Congress (APC), or resign from their positions.

    This comes barely one month after the “political tsunami” that swept through the Delta State chapter of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when Governor Sheriff Oborevwori; former Governor and ex-vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 General Election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; elected and appointed officials from the national to ward levels; and members and the party structure moved enmasse to the ruling APC.

    While members of the APC were jubilant in anticipation of their ranks being swelled in Akwa Ibom – and a sure bet of winning the state during the 2027 election – the PDP, as usual, blamed the exodus from its fast-depleting platform on President Bola Tinubu for his alleged stifling of the opposition, and desire to turn Nigeria into a one-party state.

    The broader criticism, though, was that those decamping from the opposition parties are either coerced to join the APC “for protection from prosecution for corruption,” or fleeing the “sinking PDP ship” to enhance their political fortunes in the APC in 2027.

    In the midst of this disfavouring scenario to the PDP, Governor Eno released his bombshell at the State Executive Council (Exco) meeting, confirming his long-rumoured decision to leave the PDP, and directing his appointees to follow him to the APC, as reported by Vanguard on May 22, quoting sources at the meeting.

    Noting that his defection shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of his appointees, Eno stated: “Anybody who claims he is not aware of my intention to leave the PDP is still living in the 18th century,” warning that he’d nothing to negotiate with anyone unwilling to follow his political direction.

    “Apart from elected officials, like House of Assembly members and Local Government chairmen, I have nothing to negotiate with you (his appointees),” Eno declared, boasting, “Let me tell you, anybody who believes that when I leave the PDP he will use the party structure to fight me is lying because I will still control the PDP structure.”

    For his potential defection to sit well with the Akwa Ibom people, Eno said his decision to align with the APC was driven by his “admiration for the leadership style of President Tinubu,” and desire to “work more closely with the Federal Government.”

    But 72 hours later, on May 25, the governor threw another bombshell, barring Channels Television crew from the Akwa Ibom Government House press centre in Uyo, the state capital city, over the station’s airing, on May 23, a footage of his reported declaration to defect to the APC.

    The broadcast allegedly “caused embarrassment within the governor’s camp, prompting swift action from the state’s media handlers,” The ConclaveNg reported on May 25, citing PREMIUM TIMES, which quoted a source to have said: “The governor was so furious he wanted to sack Ekerete and disband the entire press corps” – referring to Ekerete Udoh, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary.

    Mr Udoh – who summoned the press corps shortly after the Channels TV broadcast of the video, in which Eno confirmed his plans to defect to the APC – broke the news of the governor’s reported barring of the television reporter and cameraman, Christopher Moffat and Kufre Ikpe, respectively, from the Government House press centre.

    A flurry of questions: Did Governor Eno make the remarks attributed to him? If yes, what rules did Channels TV break to warrant its crew being barred from the press centre? Was Eno misquoted? Was his statement taken out of context? Or was the report and broadcast false, and a figment of the imagination of the television crew?

    Months before Eno eventually “let the cat out of the bag,” his utterances, actions and body language left even the politically-uninformed to be aware that it’s a matter of time before he dumped the PDP for APC. The governor repeatedly praised Tinubu for his economic reforms that have freed more resources to the States, and told his critics that he wouldn’t, for the sake of opposition politics, pick unnecessary fights with the President.

    Lately at a stakeholders’ meeting, leaders from the political divide in Akwa Ibom passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Governor Eno, and endorsed the trio for re-election for second terms in office in 2027.

    So, why is Eno agitated that Channels TV relayed his declarative statement to decamp to the APC? Has the governor been playing hide-and-seek with the party, Tinubu and Akpabio? Were his prior public displays a mere posturing intended to attract attention and interest, and make the unwary believe his intention to defect to the APC was a done deal? Has he reconsidered his decision, and strategy to defect as no longer feasible following some unwelcoming reactions to his announcement?

    Eno should be man enough to say what’s amiss, and be damned! Nobody forced him to make that declaration, which he can as well renounce at will. After all, membership of a political party is dictated by free entry and free exit. And Nigerian politicians are adept at defection and re-defection. They can decamp to party B in the morning, and decamp back to party A in the evening of the same day!

    Eno’s case is easier, as he hasn’t yet defected to the APC. He can hide under the alibi of “being misquoted or quoted out of context,” or simply that “the report by Channels TV on the remarks attributed to him was fake news concocted by nosey, busybody, and mischief reporters.” And that’ll be all; no qualms and no further questions asked!

    But, once again, on Thursday, May 29, Governor Eno restated his resolve to defect from the PDP, which he says he loves, but that “it’s time to progressively move on.” This was at a state banquet in Uyo, held to mark his second year in office, where he called for continuing unity of Akwa Ibom across party lines, as reported by The Nation on May 31.

    Even as he didn’t directly say he’d join the APC, Eno, expressing his “fondness” for the PDP, said: “I respect our party, the PDP. I love the PDP. But we all know the way things are (likely referring to current crisis in the party). So, whatever happens, wherever the journey of life takes me, I will always love you (PDP members). We’ve built strong friendships, and we will always keep them.

    “If you have anything to do, invite me – I will come. I will always be there. But it’s time to progressively move. That, again, will not affect anything in this state. We do not govern based on political affiliations. I would love to see all our party leaders seated together like this, across party lines.

    “We must always put Akwa Ibom first. We know we have Akwa Ibomites in the PDP, APC, YPP, and IPAC. What matters most is that there is food, security, and welfare for our people. The ARISE Agenda provides for all these. Whenever anyone flies into Akwa Ibom, please drop your party tag and know you are flying into a united Akwa Ibom.”

    While the public rue the fate that befell the Channels TV’s crew, it puzzles that Governor Eno barred the reporters from the Government House press centre for “daring” to file a report on his remarks for broadcast. His action breaches Section 22 of the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, which mandates that, “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold… the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”

    Unless, otherwise, Eno says his proposed defection to the APC is solely a private matter, which it’s not because – in the absence of independent candidacy enshrined in the Constitution – only a political party can legally sponsor a candidate for elective office in Nigeria. So, the governor must necessarily belong to a party to qualify to contest for re-election in 2027 or any other election cycle.

    Why the focus on Channels TV’s crew, leaving out reporters of other media outfits that also filed the defection story? If the crew had previous issues with coverage of the governor and was warned but fell prey once again, Eno should’ve had recourse to their employer, to caution or ask to withdraw them.

    The governor can’t – by fiat – ban the reporters from the press centre, a “supposedly” public space, unlike at a private property where you can bar people, for example, from trespass or interference in your affairs. Moreso as Mr Moffat has been Channels TV’s correspondent at the Government House for over 10 years – a sort of doyen of the press corps, who won’t deliberately break the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ at the seat of power.

    If Governor Eno’s serious, and sincerely wants to defect to the APC, it’s incumbent on him to rescind, and lift his ban on the Channels TV crew, to be free to access the press centre at the Government House, Uyo. Nothing else will suffice in the circumstances!

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

  • DisCos’ blackmail of government to retain subsidy on tariffs – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    DisCos’ blackmail of government to retain subsidy on tariffs – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    In March 2025, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) released the performance report of 2024/Q4 in comparison to 2024/Q3 by the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in the country.

    While the report speaks of Eko DisCo (90.00%) and Ikeja DisCo (82.63%) as recording the highest collection efficiency in 2024/Q4 – a similar trend observed in 2024/Q3 – it notes the lowest collection efficiency recorded by Jos DisCo (49.68%).

    The NERC, in its document titled: ‘Quarterly Report 2024,’ states that, “The NBET (Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading) company invoice payable by the DisCos for 2024/Q4 was only ₦360.97bn because the FGN has taken responsibility for 57% (₦471.69bn) of the total generation costs in the form of subsidies arising from the freezing of end-use customer tariffs at the rates payable in July 2024.”

    This is astounding! Why would the government augment 57% of the total generation costs by the DisCos, even if it’s to mitigate their demand for increased tariffs “due to low revenue,” despite the power suppliers’ segmentation of customers into ‘Band A’ to ‘Band E’ for higher billing and increased revenue?

    Still, the pressure continues from the DisCos for a hike in customers’ tariffs – as a tool for blackmail, to ensure that the subsidy “feeding bottle” isn’t taken from their mouth, as the government may not risk another subsidy removal without incurring the wrath of the labour unions, and Nigerians in general.

    In comparison, the NERC report says the total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2024/Q3 was ₦466.69bn out of the ₦626.02bn billed to customers, translating into a 74.55% collection efficiency, compared to the 77.44% collection efficiency recorded in 2024/Q4 – a +2.89pp higher than the 74.55% recorded in 2024/Q3. The Nation reported on March 24.

    The NERC report notes that a comparison of the DisCos’ performance shows that eight of them recorded improvements in collection efficiency between 2024/Q3 and 2024/Q4, with Yola (+13.93pp) and Kano (+9.88pp) recording the greatest improvements; while “the remaining three DisCos recorded declines in collection efficiency, with Jos DisCo (-3.61pp) and Abuja DisCo (-3.39pp) having the most significant declines over the period.”

    If the figures provided by the NERC are a true reflection of the collection efficiency of the DisCos, those with improved collection rate of about 65% and above should exit the subsidy payment, or have their shares reduced equal to their collection efficiency – as there’re indications that their collection efficiency will be higher from 2025/Q1 to 2025/Q4, than what they recorded in 2024/Q1 to 2024/Q4, respectively.

    Now to the segmentation of customers into ‘Band A’ to ‘Band E’ by the DisCos, which’s a kind of inverted pyramid in the supply chain, where the minority top tier customers receive more and constant electricity supply, and pay higher tariffs, while the majority bottom tier customers receive less and irregular supply, and pay lower tariffs. Thus, the average daily power supplies are: ‘Band A’ 20 hours; ‘Band B’ 16 hours; ‘Band C’ 12 hours; ‘Band D’ 8 hours; and ‘Band E’ 4 hours.

    Customers in ‘Band A’ now enjoy more hours of constant supply of power, averagely 20 hours per day for “higher tariffs.” A younger brother of mine told me that supply in their area under ‘Band A’ “is so regular that I have to switch off my fridge in the morning until I return home about nightfall.”

    He continued: “Because the power is constant and the light always full, sometimes we want the supply to be cut-off by NEPA” (National Electric Power Authority) – the inefficient moribund government-owned electricity company that’s decisively labelled as “No Electric Power At all” or “Never Expect Power Alway” – that preceded the equality failed Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which sprung the current ineffectual power bodies.

    In contrast, customers in the lower ‘Band E’ continue to receive four hours or no supply at all, and yet, billed tariffs averaging N10,000 monthly that they say they can’t afford, or simply neglect to pay. As a male customer in my area of Lagos lamented, “Why should I pay an over-estimated bill for electricity I didn’t, and don’t receive?”

    “If they (the DisCos’ disconnection crew) like, let them come and remove my wire. I don’t care. After all, we were in darkness for three weeks last month (April 2025), and the previous months, and years were not better, either,” the customer said with a drawn-out hiss.

    Surely, that customer spoke the minds of millions of dissatisfied customers under the lower ‘Bands” of the electricity line. An independent survey of these customers across the country will reveal a shocking find of inefficient and poor power supply, amid escalating tariffs.

    This prompted masquerades to lead a youth protest in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State on April 11, 2025, in what they described as “outrageous billing and sudden movement of the community’s electricity billing regime from Band C to Band A.”

    As reported by SENTINELNG on April 13, the youths, “dancing and singing war songs,” carried placards with inscriptions, such as, ‘IBEDC Mr Badmus Must Go’, ‘Omu-Aran Say No to Band A’, ‘Revert Omu-Aran to Band C’, ‘Omu-Aran Youths Have Spoken Loudly.’

    The orderly and peaceful protesters – who stormed major streets, and designated areas, including the Olomu palace, and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) district office at Omu-Aran City Complex – alleged that the sudden movement of billing from Band C to Band A, and the outrageous bills received for the month of March, were orchestrated by the newly-posted Business Manager, Mr A. O. Badmus.

    With some of the electricity bills displayed, ranging from N41,000 to N47,000 for the month of March, as against the old rate of between N10,000 to N15,000; the youths vowed to continue the protest until their grievances and demands were meant.

    These include: Replacement of faulty transformers for consistent electricity supply in the community; reversion of billing from Band A to Band C; suspension of Band A billings and a review of the current charges to reflect the old billing regime; an independent review of IBEDC’s service delivery in Omu-Aran, to assess the proper tariff regime classification; immediate stoppage of overdraft purchase on pre-paid meters; and stoppage of consumers purchasing materials for faulty electricity equipment.

    Meanwhile, it’s a game of passing the buck from the power suppliers to the electricity regulatory agency, as Mr Badmus declined to speak on the issue, and directed inquiries to the IBEDC Kwara State Communication Officer, Mr Gbenga Ajiboye.

    In his reaction, Ajiboye said the issue of electricity regulation remains the sole responsibility of the NERC, adding, “they (NERC) are the one who does regulation, monitoring and enforcement; there is nothing we can do on our own as far as regulation is concerned in the state (Kwara).”

    Yet, the NERC report talks about collection efficiency of tariffs instead of supply inefficiency by the DisCos. That under-served and unserved customers haven’t embarked on massive protests that could worsen Nigeria’s economic situation doesn’t mean customers are satisfied with their power supply.

    Rather than improve on supply efficiency, the DisCos have habitually threatened to cut-off customers that protest poor services. They’ve actually plunged communities into darkness due to misunderstanding between customers and DisCos’ ubiquitous Disconnection Crew.

    Imagine the negative tagging of a department or section of DisCos as “Disconnection Crew” in place of a less autocratic, “Connection Crew,” even if the job of the staff is to disconnect customers for sundry excuses!
    The ladder-bearing “disconnectors” roam the streets regularly in the name of disconnecting indebted customers. But their mission is to blackmail and extort customers, and leave when their palms are greased, while the customers’ bills remain unpaid, and mounting.

    In any case, customers are over-estimated compared to the power supplied, and the tariffs keep climbing even when they weren’t supplied for weeks or months over claims of faulty lines or transformers, or collapse of the on-again-and-off-again national grid.

    The DisCos are ingenious in billing and fleecing of customers. For example, the Ikeja DisCo operates a dubious system of “capping” that imposes a monthly-fixed amount for segmented areas in its jurisdiction, whether they receive power or not.

    The method works this way: Every month, the DisCo’s billing officers decide the amount to “charge” each segment of their service areas. For instance, in the billing month of May 2025, the billing officers may decide to cap one segment at a monthly 250 hours of electricity consumed by each customer, irrespective of whether they receive supply or not.

    It’s like a back-door reintroduction of the abusive and abolished fixed monthly fee paid by customers for a so-called “maintenance” of their meters – which servicing was never, ever carried out till the phasing out of post-paid meters for the now elusive pre-paid meters.

    Pre-paid metering has also offered the DisCos an avenue to squeeze customers, as they hoard the single-phase and three-phase meters, and keep inreasing their prices, to make a killing on desperate customers trying to escape over-estimation.

    Who’ll save Nigerians from the seemingly sherlock DisCos over irregular and poor supply of electricity and over-estimatiion of customers: The Government, the Minister of Power or the NERC? The trio appear complicit in extorting customers, and ineffective monitoring and sanctioning of the powerful and overbearing electricity providers!

  • DSS flies kite for Utomi’s ‘shadow government’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    DSS flies kite for Utomi’s ‘shadow government’ – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    “Today, I bring to this pioneer body the desperate cries of a people troubled by how their reality seems bound for serfdom. I challenge you to awaken these people who wrongly believe that everything is fine as long as they can manage a share of what little still trickles down from crude oil sales.”

    This coup-like message – delivered virtually on May 5, 2025, by Patrick

    Okedinachi Utomi, a Professor of Political Economy and Management Expert, to a group of Nigerians he’s named into a “Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government” – has sent the government of President Bola Tinubu into an overdrive.

    Sufficiently riled – and not buying the Utomi gambit – the Federal Government launched a two-pronged push-back on the challenge, first with the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, saying, “At a time when our nation is set to celebrate 26 unbroken years of presidential democracy, the idea of a so-called ‘shadow government’ is an aberration.”

    “Nigeria is not a parliamentary system where such a system is practised, and there is no provision for such in our statute books. While opposition politics is a central feature of democracy, it must be practised at all times within the bounds of propriety,” Idris said.

    “This idea of a shadow government sadly does not pass that test. Our bicameral legislature amply features members of the opposition, and it should be the right place to contest meaningful ideas for nation-building,” the minister added.

    Then the authorities dragged the social activist and politician before the Federal High Court in Abuja. Leading the charge against Utomi is the Department of State Services (DSS), which, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/937/2025, and filed on May 13 via a team of lawyers led by Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), lists Utomi as the sole defendant in the legal action yet to be fixed for hearing.

    The DSS alleges that Utomi’s action, capable of creating chaos and destabilising the country, isn’t only an aberration, but also constitutes a grave attack on the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), and a threat to the democratically-elected government that is currently in place.

    The DSS also tells the court that if left unchecked, the “shadow government” may incite political unrest, cause intergroup tensions and embolden other unlawful actors or separatist entities to replicate similar parallel arrangements, all of which would pose a grave threat to national security.

    As reported by Vanguard on May 14, the DSS provides some grounds upon which it accessed the court, including that: Section 1(1) of the 1999 Constitution declares its supremacy and binding force on all persons and authorities in Nigeria; and section 1(2) prohibits the governance of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with provisions of the Constitution.

    Others are: Section 14(2a) of the Constitution states that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria, from whom government, through the Constitution, derives all its powers and authority; and that the “shadow government” lacks legal imprimatur, as it contravenes various portions of the Constitution.

    In its accompanying affidavit alleging Utomi’s establishment of a purported shadow government comprising of several persons that made up its ministerial cabinet, the DSS states that, “the ‘shadow government’ or ‘shadow cabinet’ is an unregistered and unrecognised body claiming to operate as an alternative government, contrary to the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

    “The defendant, through public statements, social media, and other platforms, has announced the formation of this body with the intent to challenge the legitimacy of the democratically-elected government of Nigeria.

    “While inaugurating the ‘shadow cabinet,’ the defendant stated that it is made up of the Ombudsman and Good Governance portfolio to be manned by Dele Farotimi; the policy Delivery Unit team consisting of Oghene Momoh, Cheta Nwanze, Daniel Ikuonobe, Halima Ahmed, David Okonkwo and Obi Ajuga; and the council of economic advisers.

    “Based on the intelligence gathered by the plaintiff, the activities and statements made by the defendant and his associates are capable of misleading segments of the Nigerian public, weakening confidence in the legitimacy of the elected government, and fuelling public disaffection.

    “The defendant’s actions amount to an attempt to usurp or mimic executive authority, contrary to sections 1(1), 1(2), and 14(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which exclusively vests governance in institutions duly created under the Consttution and through democratic elections.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria has made several efforts to engage the defendant, to dissuade him from this unconstitutional path, including statements made by the Minister of Information, but the defendant has remained defiant.

    “It is In the interest of justice, national security, and the rule of law for this honourable court to declare the existence and operations of the defendant unconstitutional and illegal.”

    Among other reliefs, the DSS prays the court: • To declare the purported ‘shadow government’ or ‘shadow cabinet’ being planned by the defendant and his associates as “unconstitutional, as it amounts to an attempt to create a parallel authority not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

    • To declare that under Sections 1(1), 1(2) and 14(2)(a) of the Constitution, “the establishment or operation of any governmental authority or structure outside the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) is unconstitutional, null, and void.”

    • To issue an order of perpetual injunction, restraining Prof. Utomi, his agents and associates from “further taking any steps towards the establishment or operation of a ‘shadow government,’ ‘shadow cabinet’ or any similar entity not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

    The question: Who are members of the “shadow government,” and what are its objectives and modus operandi that’ve given the government somewhat unnecessary jitters? According to Utomi, as reported by PUNCH on May 7, the “shadow cabinet,” consists of people from several opposition parties,” with human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, as “head of Good Governance.”

    Others are Oghene Momoh, Cheta Nwanze, Daniel Ikuonobe, Halima Ahmed, David Okonkwo, Obi Ajuga, Dr. Adefolusade Adebayo, Dr. Peter Agadah, Dr. Sadiq Gombe, Chibuzor Nwachukwu, Salvation Alibor, Bilkisu Magoro, Dr. Victor Tubo, Charles Odibo, Dr. Otive Igbuzor, Eunice Atuejide, Gbenga Ajayi, Dr. Mani Ahmad, Peter Oyewole and Dr. Omano Edigheji.

    Explaining that the group, created to respond to what he calls “a national emergency,” would meet weekly to review government policies and suggest practical alternatives, Utomi says their main priorities include boosting production, creating a clear economic growth plan, decentralising security responsibilities, and reforming the Constitution.

    While the group will also focus on offering better options for healthcare, education, infrastructure, law enforcement, and policy monitoring, the “team must also address issues of ethics, transparency, and integrity, which continue to challenge this government at every turn,” Utomi says.

    “Nothing is more urgent than tackling the rising poverty across the country. Multinationals are shutting down, and millions are unemployed. Just two recent company exits illustrate how poorly thought-out policies have tanked the economy,” Utomi adds.

    From the look of things, the shadow cabinet is primed to fill the void created by the opposition parties and their leaders, who’ve failed to hold the government to account, and offer alternative policies and actions to tackle the myriad problems facing Nigeria, but have been engaged in trivialities and inanities in the polity.

    Indeed, as Utomi notes: “The imperative is that if a genuine opposition does not courageously identify the performance failures of incumbents, offer options, and influence culture in a counter direction, it will be complicit in subverting the will of the people.”

    Despite its wide publicity in the media, many Nigerians – even among the informed who surf the Internet 24/7 – didn’t know or hear about the existence of a “shadow government” in Nigeria. And those who knew or heard about the “shadow cabinet” paid little or no attention to its proclaimed existence.

    But that’s before the DSS action, following Utomi’s decision to form a behind-the-scenes government, and attempt to “illegally usurp the executive powers of President Bola Tinubu.” Thanks to the wind the DSS has put to their sails, Utomi and his “ghost cabinet” are trending in the media, and in political circles across the country.

    Previously unaware Nigerians are asking multiple questions for an informed opinion. Among other posers, they want to know where the “shadow government” is headquartered; who are the cabinet members; if there’re zonal or state offices and governors/administrators; how can ordinary Nigerians be part of the government; and if it’ll form a political party or align with other parties to contest in the 2027 General Election, or take over the current Government of Nigeria through other means.

    Agreed that the DSS has the statutory power to “safeguard the nation by preventing threats to the lawful authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its constituent institutions!” However, why give oxygen and a stamp of de facto to a nascent body that might not get off the ground, as did most of Utomi’s previous political adventures?

    Though prominent during the pro-democracy era, Utomi’s political posturing gained traction at the 2007 General Election, when he flew the flag of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), but failed to fly at the poll, even as his governorship bid didn’t also fly in Delta State in 2011.

    In subsequent election cycles, Utomi either flirted with the ruling party or the opposition, or boasted of floating a “mega party” to take over the reins of power, only for his avowals to end in rhetoric, or ignored or rejected by politicians and members of the civil society organisations he’d calculated would rally the troops behind him.

    Utomi, as a member of the Labour Party (LP) during the 2023 General Election, denounced the highly-disputed presidential election of February 25, 2023, as “stolen” by Tinubu, in cahoots with the APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and security agencies, and on March 4, 2023, called for a review of the results in 12 states, “to enable the INEC to come to some useful resolution.”

    By unwittingly reviving his political fortunes, the government has given Utomi the ammunition to fight it. In that regard, Utomi didn’t let the DSS charge to go unreplied, albeit informally, comparing his new-found political endeavour to that of global freedom icons like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr.

    “To the Spirit of Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela and the holy watch of St. Thomas Moore, I raise the meaning of being for what is left of my time on this stage,” Utomi wrote in a post to his X handle on May 16.

    Utomi scoffs at the government chasing “shadows” in the face of alleged breaches to the Constitution, saying, “I am heartened by messages of solidarity from across Nigeria on this shadowy business of chasing shadows of shadow cabinets. Reminds me of the Nigeria I used to know. I want to thank all. It’s energizing some want to put together 500 lawyers to defend me against the DSS.”

    “It’s amazing that we are chasing shadows while our constitution is unraveling aided by those in power. The constitution holds that those who defect from parties they were elected MUST have their seats declared vacant. If DSS enjoys going to court, it should prosecute such.”

    Accusing the government of using propaganda and tries to silence opposing views, Utomi says: “The resort to propaganda as a tool of governing, by the party in power, makes rational discussion of the decisions of the APC government difficult, moving us more towards fascist conditions.

    “Like Joseph Goebbels inoculated Germans to Hitler’s deadly path, a massive shower of propaganda insults seeks to prevent patriots from factually critiquing policy choices of the government, and the behaviour of its agents, which can have more negative consequences on our well-being.”

    Insisting to continue to fight for democratic accountability, and that he’s ready for arrest by the DSS, and to pay the supreme price in his struggle, Utomi touts his pro-democracy bona fide under the despotic regime of Gen. Sani Abacha (1993-1997).

    “Under Abacha, we brought Nigerians together at St. Leo in Ikeja for a conference on the future of Nigeria,” Utomi says, adding, “I chaired the planning which came out of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria on the watch of then Fr. Kukah and Ehusani. Now for shadowing democracy hell comes.”

    Rhetorically, Utomi asks: “Where am I? (I) will arrive on June 12 (2025), and head to Abiola’s residence. My hands are primed for handcuffs and if the Aquino treatment from Marcos, bullet at the Airport is preferred, I submit willing like a lamb led to slaughter. Death is no big deal. 4 of my friends are in the morgue.

    “What is certain is that (President) Tinubu will not escape that same fate. He may have been in London when I faced the assassins under Abacha and been the supplier to Chief (Anthony) Enahoro and NADECO abroad of reports of my position on matters of the struggle but we all ultimately go the way of man.”

    As the government decides to make a mountain out of a molehill, and pursues who and what’s not necessarily hunting it, Nigerians wait to see the end of the legal action against Prof. Utomi, and the extent to which his “shadow government” or “shadow cabinet” will go under the prevailing political environment characterised by exodus of opposition politicians to the APC headed by President Tinubu, who they’ve accused of turning Nigeria into a one-party state!

  • Attack on Tinubu’s family: How low can Atiku sink? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Attack on Tinubu’s family: How low can Atiku sink? – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    I‘ve never dreamt, imagined or thought of the day Nigerian politicians – in desperation for fresh or renewal of elective mandates – would not only go after their political opponents and their children, but also encourage their own children to toe the same line.

    This is what stares Nigerians in the face – ahead of the make-or-mar 2027 General Election – as former Vice President and ex-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, breaks the boundaries and off-limits in politics, and viciously attacks the family members of President Bola Tinubu.

    In a move reminiscent of the biblical injunction: “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7 and Deutronomy 5:9), Atiku’s breached the unwritten code of shielding politicians’ children from the extreme vagaries of politics, and gone after Tinubu’s family members, particularly Seyi Tinubu.

    At stake is Seyi’s alleged interference in the leadership dispute in the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), by disrupting the induction of a factional NANS leader, Comrade Atiku Isah, who Seyi reportedly offered N100m to back the re-election of his father in 2027, failing which he engineered Isah’s kidnap and torture.

    At a press briefing on April 30 in Abuja, Isah, among other allegations, claimed that the bribe attempt took place in Lagos, and after he rejected the offer, he’s “assaulted, stripped, and abducted by thugs” on April 15. “I could not endorse a president who had failed to deliver on his campaign promises,” Isah told the press.
    Seyi flatly denied the allegations, and yet, Atiku jumped into the fray, and issued a blistering rebuke to Seyi, his siblings and the entire Tinubu family. Without restraints, Atiku removed the gloves, pulled no punches, and delivered heavy body blows to the Tinubus.

    In a statement, “Tinubu Must Call His Family To Order: Nigeria Is Not A Private Estate,” issued by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, on May 2, Atiku urged Tinubu to restrain his family members, particularly Seyi.

    “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must urgently rein in his family members, particularly his son, Seyi Tinubu, who appears determined to purchase political loyalty for his father by any means necessary, including coercion, violence, and intimidation,” Atiku warned in the statement reported by Vanguard on May 2.

    “Had this incident ended fatally, it would have been recorded among the growing list of atrocities committed by criminal elements in the country. That it is allegedly tied to the President’s own son makes it even more horrifying. What’s worse is the emerging suggestion that even top security officials are not beyond Seyi Tinubu’s overreaching influence – an unacceptable compromise of state institutions,” Atiku said.

    Calling for an independent investigation into Isah’s allegations he described as “deeply alarming and strike at the core of democratic norms and civil liberty,” Atiku said such accusations against a member of the First Family were both “disturbing and dangerous.”

    Atiku warned against any effort to “subjugate” civil society organisations, such as NANS, through “threats, bribes, or brute force,” saying, “Nigeria is a democratic republic, not a monarchy handed down to one family.”

    Is Atiku politically aligned with Comrade Isah? No, the statement dismissed. Noting that Atiku’s past meeting with Isah was focused solely on education reform and student welfare, the statement insinuated a possible harm to Isah by the Tinubu family and/or his administration.

    “Attempts to drag former Vice President Atiku Abubakar into this scandal by alleging a political alliance with Comrade Isah are baseless, malicious, and desperate. Comrade Isah’s advocacy and public stance must be evaluated based on fact, not fiction,” the statement said.

    “We issue a clear warning: nothing must happen to this young man. Any harm to him will not go unnoticed or unchallenged. Nigerians deserve truth, accountability, and a leadership that respects the rule of law – not a regime that weaponises power to silence dissent.”

    Questions: Did Atiku have all the facts, and the appropriate intel before he immersed himself in the Isah allegations, and came to the conclusion that Seyi was guilty as charged, without giving him the benefit of the doubt even when he’d vehemently denied the allegations?

    Did Atiku know more than meets the eye in the viral allegations against Seyi? Is Atiku’s anti-Tinubu family attack a broader plan to get at a soft target first before the battle is taken to President Tinubu for the ultimate showdown?

    Surprisingly on May 7, as reported by PUNCH on May 8, Isah recanted, and apologised to Seyi. In a post on his Facebook page tagged, “Setting the Records Straight/Public Apology to Seyi Tinubu,” Isah said his allegations against Seyi were untrue, and instigated by the other factional NANS president, Olusola Ladoja, to outsmart him in the NANS leadership tussle.

    Isah’s words: “In the video, I also alleged that, for what they considered my stubbornness to reject their #100,000,000, I was on the 15th of April 2025 abducted, stripped naked, and thoroughly beaten up, and… taken to the station where an involuntary statement purportedly abdicating my position as NANS President was obtained under duress.

    “It has become clear that the offer of N100,000,000, which was alleged was made to me to support President Tinubu, was clearly untrue, as Ladoja Olusola, who was desperate to get me out of my legitimate position as the duly-elected President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, fed me lies and half-truths for the sole purpose of achieving his selfish agenda of taking over the reins of the student body through the back doors.

    “It was also Ladoja Olusola, who warned me that Mr Seyi Tinubu could order my killing and thereafter, instruct the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, to bury the matter.”

    Denying that Seyi didn’t lead thugs to the venue of his inauguration, but a gambit sold to him by Olusola Ladoja, Isah declared, “In fact, I later found out that Mr Seyi was nowhere near the venue.”

    The inevitable and consequential questions: Now that Comrade Isah’s recalled his allegations, and apologised to Seyi for the falsehoods he peddled against him, will Atiku, also be man enough like Isah, to expeditiously and publicly apologise to the Tinubu family, particularly Seyi, for his unguarded and unwarranted attack?
    Would President Tinubu have acted the way Atiku did were the shoe on the other foot? Would a taciturn Tinubu – who’s ignored his opponents’ vile campaigns against him prior to the 2023 General Election – have taken issues with Atiku and his family had Atiku’s son the subject of the debate?

    Many would vouch that Tinubu won’t even directly address the matter because “he values his children and family greatly, and will not willy-nilly subject them to public ridicule via his own unguarded utterances or statements,” an anonymous respondent, who claims to know the Tinubus intimately, said at the weekend in Lagos.

    Once acclaimed to be friends, what’s caused the gulf between Atiku and Tinubu? Or more aptly, what does Atiku have against Tinubu and his family members? Is it mainly politics, exacerbated by the lead-up to the 2027 General Election?

    During the 2023 poll cycle, Atiku traced his parting of ways with Tinubu, politically, to the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in 2007. In an interview with Arise TV, aired on July 22, 2022, Atiku said: “I’m still a friend of him (Tinubu), and (but) being friends with him doesn’t mean we can’t have our political differences.

    “My fundamental disagreement with Tinubu since 2007 was due to the Muslim-Muslim ticket issue. And this formed my reason to have parted ways with him politically. I remember I left PDP on the issue of zoning, and together with him (Tinubu), we formed the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    “I was given the ticket and Tinubu insisted that he must be my running mate. But I turned the demands down, that I will not contest the election on a Muslim-Muslim ticket base. And due to that, he switched his support to the late Umar Yar’Adua during the poll. And that was the parting point.”

    Atiku’s right that his quarrel with Tinubu is over his “support” to elect PDP’s Yar’Adua in 2007. But those in the know dispute Atiku’s claim that he formed the ACN with Tinubu. Rather, Tinubu, rounding off his eight-year tenure as Governor of Lagos State (1999-2007), offered his already formed ACN platform to Atiku for his presidential run in 2007 against then-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “anointed” Katsina State Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who took Atiku to the cleaners at the poll.

    Atiku’s since kept Tinubu at arm’s length; and during the 2023 election, he took his beef with Tinubu to a new level. Witness the amount of hostility, which Atiku welded into the presidential campaign against Tinubu, including deploying huge sums of dollars into investigations, court processes in the United States, and global media attacks aimed at disqualifying Tinubu from participating in the poll, or be sacked by the courts as unduly elected and returned!

    The U.S. investigations against Tinubu are alive and ongoing, pursued by an American legal researcher, Aaron Greenspan (allegedly aligned with Atiku), who pressures America’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to shorten the time of reporting – from July to May 31, 2025 – on their investigations into Tinubu’s alleged narcotics deals in the 1990s, for which he reportedly forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government.

    Certainly, Atiku and his coalition of opposition politicians are preparing the grounds for the 2027 presidential run, and in their calculation, anything that adds bite to their political arsenal against Tinubu – even by dragging his son and the entire family into the fray – is fair game!

    That includes the opposition politicians encouraging, enlisting and supporting their own children to join in the campaign to damage the image of President Tinubu, his family members, and government.

    And that’s happening in Kaduna State via the sons of former Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai; the son of Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed; and the son of Atiku. Together, they’ve busted the boundaries and off-limits in Nigeria’s toxic political environment!

  • Again, PDP in denial aftermath of members’ exodus to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon 

    Again, PDP in denial aftermath of members’ exodus to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon 

    The entire leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a shameless lot. That’s the least of the adjectives to describe such unserious and un-self-examining politicians, who, in the face of an embarrassing implosion of their platform, engage in scapegoating President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as responsible for their self-inflicted woes!

    How can the leaders of the PDP – who, within 24 hours, recognised, as “authentic,” three claimants to the position of National Secretary of the party – locate the source of their problems in the APC leadership, which’s protecting its members, and receiving defectors in droves from “an already capsizing PDP boat,” according to former Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), summarising the lead-up to the “political tsunami” that swept the Delta State chapter on Wednesday, April 23, 2025?

    From the acclaimed leader of the PDP, former Vice President and twice presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the Chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Adolphus Wabara, to the Acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum, and to former Senate President and ex-Governor of Kwara State, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki – all behave like the ostrich, bury their heads in the sand and blame Tinubu and APC for their leadership failure to unite the once famed “biggest and largest political party in Africa.”

    All the politicians, with their structures and followers, who’ve decamped to the APC, cited the intractable division, and a rudderless leadership as reasons for dumping and jumping out of the “sinking PDP boat,” to save their lives and political careers!

    Lately-decamped former Delta State Governor and the PDP vice presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, in an interview on ARISE News on April 29, explained that the PDP internal disarray – legal wrangling over leadership, disunity, and lack of electoral strategy – convinced Delta’s political elite that the party could not compete effectively in 2027. So, how are these the faults of President Tinubu and his APC government?

    Wabara’s floated the most ludicrous of the PDP claims after the mass defections into the APC: That the APC will implode soon; the PDP defectors have no followership; President Tinubu is turning Nigeria into a one-party State; and politicians trooping into the APC foresee Tinubu rigging the 2027 general election. What warped reasoning from the supposed repository of the PDP leadership!

    In an interview with Vanguard published on April 26, 2025, Wabara predicted that: “The PDP will laugh last because very soon, there will be implosion in the APC. Those people joining the APC will soon want to displace the party members who have built the APC over the years. The displaced APC members will look for where to go, and they will simply come over to the PDP.”

    Did the PDP implode on August 31, 2013, because Atiku, seven PDP governors of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Niger, Rivers, Kwara and Adamawa, the acting national chairman and some national and state lawmakers were displaced in the PDP by defectors? Certainly not!

    The PDP imploded because then-Atiku’s faction, the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), walked out of the Special National Delegates Convention at the Eagle Square in Abuja, accusing the organisers of “disqualifying over 50 of the 75 aspirants” from vying for the 17 positions in PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC).

    Subsequently, the Atiku splinter nPDP, with five governors of Adamawa (Murtala Nyako), Kano (Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso), Sokoto (Aliyu Wamakko), Kwara (Abdulfatah Ahmed) and Rivers (Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi), defected and dissolved into the opposition APC, which defeated President Goodluck Jonathan, and removed the PDP from power just 16 years into its dream unbroken 60-year suzareignty over Nigeria.

    How can displaced APC members, due to the defection of PDP members into the APC, “look for where to go, and they will simply come over to the PDP,” as Wabara claimed? What’ll be the attraction in the PDP – which might be a shadow or carcass of itself if the trends in the party continue beyond 2025 – when there’re viable alternatives in the flourishing Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the wave-making coalition of opposition politicians, ironically headed by Atiku, the leader of the comatose PDP?

    On the defection of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Okowa, with the entire PDP structure to the APC, Wabara said: “It was expected, and I think we should expect more. But there’s nothing to worry about. That’s politics. We long expected such defections and we know the reason: Some are doing so for second tenure, and some for protection.”

    As Wabara claimed, were Atiku and ex-Governors Nyako, Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Ahmed and Amaechi – all except Ahmed, on their second term in office – looking for re-election or protection from the APC that wasn’t sure of defeating incumbent President Jonathan and the PDP in 2015?

    Were ex-Governors of Rivers (Nyesom Wike), Abia (Okezie Ikpeazu), Benue (Samuel Ortom), Enugu (Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi) and Oyo (Seyi Makinde) – all except Makinde in their second term – looking for re-election or protection when they worked against the PDP and it presidential candidate, Atiku, in the 2023 general election? Again, certainly not!

    The governors, under the aegis of G-5 (PDP-G5), rebelled against the PDP because, against the dictates of the PDP constitution, Atiku, as the party leader, refused to yield the position of national secretary to Southern Nigeria, as Atiku and then-PDP national chairman, ex-Senate President Iyorcha Ayu, are from Northern Nigeria.

    Still in denial, Chief Wabara dismissed, as “a movement of the leadership and not the followership,” the mass defection of PDP members in Delta State to the APC, adding, “Even at that, I have it on good authority that not all the leaders are moving to APC. At the fullness of time, Nigerians will decide the 2027.”

    A couple of questions for Wabara: Are the Nigerians, who’ll decide “at the fullness of time in 2027,” different from the decamped PDP members combining with APC members in the APC? Who and how many are the PDP elders not moving to the APC in the exodus from the PDP?

    Wabara, noting that muzzling the opposition under any guise would birth tyranny and despotism, “which pose grave danger to democracy,” said: “I have earlier warned against Tinubu turning Nigeria into a one-party state and it’s all coming to pass now. He has no apologies for that, and this is not good for our democracy.”
    Has Wabara – a former Senate President (2003-2005), who didn’t last his tenure under the “do-or-die” political regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), with Atiku as Vice President – forgotten how the PDP muzzled the opposition within and without the party, turned Nigeria into a “real” one-party State, and boasted that it’d rule the country for unbroken 60 years, and counting?

    Wabara also asserted that PDP defectors have an inkling about Tinubu rigging the 2027 general election, and hence their mass movements into the APC. This is the same old and tired talking point of the PDP leaders, under which they hide to cover their electoral failures. This will also be their alibi in 2027 even if they lose the poll squarely!

    Whereas the APC, with the majority of elected officials and positions across the country, isn’t resting on its oars, but embarks on aggressive drive for more members; the PDP is satisfied with moaning its losses, and blaming President Tinubu and the APC for poaching its members with underhand tactics. Who’s stopped the PDP from deploying similar tactics to draw APC members into its fold?

    Indeed, Saraki, on his X handle, @bukolasaraki, on April 24, spoke truth to power on both sides of the divide. Warning that a “one-party state, as being disingenuously designed by some people, will not augur well for a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-religious, and highly-diversified society like ours,” as “it is even more dangerous when we eliminate alternatives and make people hopeless,” he urged the PDP to also fish for “some governors from the other parties.”

    On the defection of Delta’s governor and his predecessor in office, Saraki remarked that: “Yes, it is unbecoming and shocking for the running mate to the standard bearer of a leading party to abandon ship to join the ruling party. This is unprecedented and nobody should try to justify such an act with the talk of being put under pressure (by President Tinubu and the APC). It is simply a sign of how low we have sunk as a polity.”

    Nonetheless, Saraki told members that the two years before the next general election were an ample time to reposition the PDP, adding: “That is a long time in politics. We have enough time to brace up to the challenge. There is nothing that prevents us from getting some governors from the other parties to join our ranks.”
    Saraki cautioned PDP against externalising blame, saying: “Our party members should also refrain from blaming our woes on the ruling party. That would be a lazy approach. They are playing politics to win elections. It is our responsibility as party members to ignore their antics and seize the moment and momentum to make our party stronger and better.”

    Rather than lamentation, the party leaders should adopt Saraki’s view that, “The PDP is better with fewer members who are loyal, sincere, determined, dedicated, and committed to its ideas, ideals, and progress than to have so many who will identify with us in the afternoon and be romancing the ruling party in the night.”
    Surely, for the PDP, it’s time to “know your members” (KYM)! That seems the only strategy remaining for its survival going into 2027! Enough of its leaders scapegoating President Tinubu and the APC for their self-induced woes!

  • Omo-Agege, Nwoko’s failure to stop Oborevwori, Okowa’s defection to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Omo-Agege, Nwoko’s failure to stop Oborevwori, Okowa’s defection to APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    The handwriting was boldly displayed on the wall many months before Wednesday, April 23, 2025, when Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor in office and vice presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, and their entire political structure dumped the PDP for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The defectors include Deputy Governor Monday Onyeme; House of Assembly Speaker Emomotimi Guwor; federal and state lawmakers; commissioners; local government chairmen and councilors; party officers at the state, local government and ward levels; and chieftains across the state.

    The mass defection, described by the watching public as a “political tsunami,” not only ended weeks of speculations about Oborevwori’s intention to ditch the platform he rode on to office, but also marked a significant shift in Delta’s politics and far-reaching implications for PDP’s structure and influence in the South-South zone.

    To the undiscerning, the process leading to the decampment appears to have started about February 4, 2025, when the APC governorship candidate in 2023 in Delta, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, opposed admitting Oborevwori and Okowa into the APC.

    At an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Agbor, Ika South and Ute-Okpu in Ika North East Local Government Areas of Delta on February 4, Omo-Agege noted that, while the party was open to welcoming Senator Ned Nwoko (PDP, Delta North), House of Representatives and House of Assembly members and other PDP leaders, it’d “no interest in Oborevwori and Okowa joining its ranks.” The Nation first reported on the issue on February 4.

    Omo-Agege’s rejection of Oborevwori and Okowa stemmed from “Oborevwori’s government’s alleged attempts to downplay APC’s strength despite the party’s growing influence in Delta,” hence he told the APC stakeholders that, “We have built this party from scratch, and we will not allow people with questionable records to destroy what we have worked hard for.”

    Omo-Agege recalled: “After the 2023 elections, the PDP spread false propaganda, claiming that APC no longer exists in Delta. Yet, this is a state where APC won two senatorial seats and two House of Reps seats. Today, the only PDP senator (Nwoko) is set to join APC, and you are still saying we are not on the ground? Are we not the majority party?

    “In Delta Central where Governor Oborevwori and I come from, APC won the senatorial seat. Out of three House of Reps’ seats, APC won two, while the remaining one was won by the Labour Party (LP). PDP won none. Out of nine House of Assembly seats, APC secured five, while PDP got four. So, which party is truly more popular?”

    Omo-Agege added: “Soon, we will have three senators, and I am aware that the three PDP House of Reps members are joining APC. Some House of Assembly members will also join us. So, they are all coming. We welcome everyone of them. The only two people, who are not welcomed, are Governor Sheriff and Okowa. They should remain in PDP and build their party.”

    Despite his (and later Nwoko’s) spirited efforts, Omo-Agege failed to stop Oborevwori and Okowa’s defection to the APC – which process was reportedly partly facilitated by the pioneer “political godfather” in Delta politics since democracy returned in Nigeria in 1999, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, who’s created a political dynasty that’s produced Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (2007-2015), Governor Okowa (2015-2023), and Governor Oborevwori (2023-till date) – all on the PDP platform.

    Although Ibori and Okowa had issues over the governorship succession for 2023, with Okowa’s candidate, Oborevwori, a former Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, prevailing over Ibori’s choice, Mr David Edevbie, a commissioner of finance in Ibori’s administration (1999-2007); the differences didn’t disrupt the political calculations on ground, which’s that Ibori, a reported close ally and confidant of President Bola Tinubu, should bring Oborevwori and Okowa into the APC fold for the 2027 election.

    That move is to expand the APC political base in the South-South beyond Cross River and Edo states to Delta, Akwa Ibom and possibly Rivers – which’s almost “in the bag” courtesy of former Rivers State Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike – and thus the expansion of the playing field for the re-election of Tinubu in 2027.

    Delta having led the way, further speculations indicate that four or five other governors and their structures will move into the APC ahead of 2027, as a coalition of opposition politicians, headed by former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is working to upstage Tinubu at the poll.

    Indeed, hours after the PDP structure in Delta defected to the APC, an elated and upbeat National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, restated his prediction that more governors would join the party. The former Kano State governor spoke as he received newly-decamped PDP members from Kano at his residence in Abuja on April 24.

    Declaring that the 2027 election “is a done deal” for the APC, Ganduje told reporters: “In APC, we believe in our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we believe in his economic reforms, we believe in his Renewed Hope Agenda and part of the political renewed hope agenda is trying to canvass for more followership into the party.

    “We started by democratically electing governors, especially in Edo State (Governor Monday Okpebholo), who was in PDP (but decamped to APC and was elected Senator), we contested (the governorship) and we succeeded in winning the election; the state is now in APC.

    “Now, there is another channel that has been opened through advocacy, through dialogue, through convincing some highly and even elected governors to come into the party. And you can see what has happened.

    “The Governor of Delta State (Oborevwori), including his cabinet, even including the former vice presidential candidate (of the PDP, Okowa), including all the members of the state assembly and National Assembly, and the timber and caliber of PDP, are now in APC.

    “So, you can see that we are expanding. I don’t want to reveal our secret but what I’m telling you is that for APC, 2027 is a done deal. More governors are coming into APC, I assure you; and places where we have elections, APC, insha’Allah, will win those elections.”

    Pioneer chapter chairman of the PDP in Delta State, ex-Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), has described Oborevwori and Okowa’s defection to APC “as the outcome of extensive internal consultations within the party.”

    “All PDP members in the state, including the governor, former Governor Okowa, the Speaker, the state party chairman, all the local government chairmen and others, have agreed to move to the APC. We cannot continue to be in a sinking boat,” a reference to the PDP that’s fractured prior to the 2023 general election.

    After an enlarged PDP stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Asaba on April 23, Manager told journalists that the decision to decamp to the APC followed months of deliberations among key party figures, adding, “We’ve had intense discussions – some of them contentious – but we eventually reached a near-unanimous consensus driven by the prevailing mood in the party. What you are witnessing today is the culmination of those deliberations.”

    Without revealing the behind-the-scenes scheming, Manager said: “You cannot remain in a boat that is clearly capsizing. As a liberal-minded person, I’ve tried to view the situation objectively, and the current realities have made it clear – it’s time to chart a new course.

    “As you can see from the mammoth crowd around you, this is not a solo decision. It reflects a shared vision among us. It is a collective one, made for many reasons – reasons which I may not delve into at this moment.”
    Also significant is Okowa’s viral video message, reportedly addressed to his supporters in his dialect, with the assurance that he would choose the best (political) path going into 2027. “Be assured that we will not go in the wrong direction. We will take the best direction, the best path for our people,” Okowa said in the video.

    With the mass defection of PDP members in Delta to the APC, what does the future hold for Omo-Agege, who, though having a face-off with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), over control of Delta’s APC, had rightly placed himself as the front runner for Governor in 2027?
    The scramble for the APC ticket may now be a straight fight between Oborevwori on the one hand, and Omo-Agege and Keyamo on the other hand. With a united front of former PDP memberers behind him, the APC ticket is as good as Oborevwori’s for his second term bid!

    Can Omo-Agege and Keyamo bury the hatchet, and unite to produce a single aspirant from the “original” APC camp to challenge Oborevwori for the ticket? For now, that prospect is better imagined, even as Omo-Agege’s called for unity in the face of a possible hostile takeover of the Delta APC structure by the new entrants, with Oborevwori becoming automatic leader of the party in Delta State – reaping where he didn’t sow!

    At the APC stakeholders’ meeting on February 4, Omo-Agege implored members “to be united, and stay strong.” Thanking them “for their dedication and hard work,” he reassured the members that “all internal issues within Delta APC will be resolved ahead of 2027,” stressing that PDP’s national crisis could render it irrelevant by the next election cycle – a prediction that’s ominously unfolding by the day.

    “We should stop focusing on our internal issues and instead take advantage of PDP’s bigger problems. Are we even sure PDP will still exist in 2027? Their crisis at the national level is worsening. Our focus should be on winning the next elections and re-electing President Bola Tinubu,” Omo-Agege stated, adding that the successes of Tinubu’s policies “have made APC the most attractive party in Delta State, drawing interest from several political figures.”

    It looks a long road – and a fait accompli – for Omo-Agege and the founding or original APC members, several of whose chieftains led the agitation for Oborevwori and Okowa to decamp to the APC, which the duo honoured in a grand style on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

  • Udenwa’s indictment of politicians, blame of PDP’s woes on APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Udenwa’s indictment of politicians, blame of PDP’s woes on APC – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Recently, the seemingly urbane and easy-going former Imo State Governor Achike Udenwa (1999-2007), chewed two issues at the same time: Nigerian politicians’ propensity to buying their way into elective office; and alleged interference of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the affairs of the opposition, principally the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Udenwa, featuring on Edmund Obilo’s ‘State Affairs’ show, a political podcast, as reported by Vanguard on March 2, 2025, posited that, “Nigeria is in a situation where rich politicians can buy the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), the Police, and the Army to win elections.”

    The Udenwa claim isn’t something new in Nigeria where “anything goes.” But it’s concerning the failure of the podcaster(s) to unravel if Udenwa, ex-Minister of Commerce and Industry (2008-2010), is sqeakly clean in the political arena, and as governor for eight years.

    According to Udenwa, “Our society has grown to such a level where, if you say, ‘vote for me,’ I am (we are) no longer asking, ‘what can you do? What are your antecedents? What type of character do you have?’ We don’t ask such questions again. And, of course, even if I don’t vote for you, you can buy your way through if you have the right amount of money.”

    Could politicians buy the INEC, the Police, the Army, and the voters? Udenwa replied, “You can buy everybody,” and affirmed that elections in Nigeria are “about buying, but that the practice must be curbed for the correct leaders to emerge.”

    This is where the podcaster(s) failed the journalistic test – that’s if they’re really journalists, as it’s difficult to identify ones among social media posters, who parade as such – as there’s a couple of begging questions to ask.

    • “Did Udenwa buy his way to the seat of Government in Owerri, capital city of Imo State, for his two terms of four years each in 1999 and 2003, in that order? • “On good conscience, as a Christian, could Udenwa affirm (the Bible) that he didn’t deploy Imo State’s resources and assets to prosecute, especially his re-election as governor?

    Udenwa’s answers to the questions could’ve elicited further probing into his adherence to accountability, probity and transparency while he’s in government as a governor, and as a minister, respectively!
    It’s apt, though, that Udenwa’s blanket allegation of politicians buying their way into office is self-deprecating, without exonerating himself or the PDP from blame, or pointing fingers at only his opponents and opposing parties!

    Politicians – more than the Military – are Nigeria’s real problems due to their “do-die-die” kind of politics, right from the First Republic (1960-1966) that ended in a conflagration partly traced to the elections in the Western Region, which the Military capitilised on to disrupt civil rule from 1966 to 1979 (13 years), and from 1983 to 1999 (16 years), totaling 29 years.

    Politicians go into elections with a mindset of winning; no room for losing. That’s why they deploy all means legal, unlawful and unorthodox, including huge financial outlays to bribe party members; buy votes from voters; secure assistance of electoral officials and security agents to aid rigging; and arm thugs to snatch or destroy ballot materials, and maim or kill opponents to gain the upper hand.

    When they’re defeated by their more adept opponents in electoral manipulation and malfeasance, politicians mostly refuse to admit failure, but go to the election tribunals to complain about their “stolen mandate,” and pursue the petitions through the judicial chain: from the High Court to the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court, the final arbiter in legal matters.

    We’ve seen cases, where defeated candidates go back to relitigate the apex court decided matters at the high courts, which boldly entertain such overreach that aims to undermine the hierarchical and pyramidal judicial powers and pronouncements therefrom.

    Losing at the poll and in the courts means millions or billions going down the drain. But victory at the poll or in the courts gives politicians an avenue to recoup and defray their election expenses directly from the public purse or via third parties in the form of inflated contracts for returns from the money earmarked for such projects.

    Because of monetisation of elective offices in Nigeria – and the immense powers and influence that officeholders wield – politicians exploit deliberately-created loopholes in the operating rulebooks that reward the waywards in government.

    Hence they dip their hands in the public till, make away with billions in local and foreign currencies, stash some in safe havens – which their yet-unborn generations can’t exhaust in their lifetimes – and deploy more on fleet of exotic vehicles, private jets, choice properties, and frolics across the globe.

    When the law seldom catches up with politicians, it comes to little or nothing, as lawyers and the courts connive to dismiss or drag, for years, the allegations leveled by unstrengthened anti-corruption agencies, which may also compromise and file weak charges against the treasury looters.

    From the forgoing, one tends to agree with Chief Udenwa that politicians with deep pockets can buy all the stakeholders involved in the processes of election in Nigeria, to get into office, and that, “the practice must be curbed for the correct leaders to emerge.”

    But as the Apostle Paul observes in Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” So, it’s time Udenwa and the political class went down on their knees, to seek forgiveness from God for their electorally-monetised sins against the Nigerian people, and pledge to sin no more!

    Even as he admitted PDP’s internal problems, Udenwa, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT), said, “There are external hands trying to destroy the PDP through internal sources,” without mentioning the names, and added, “We are still battling the problem, and I believe PDP will not be destroyed.”

    Characteristically, Udenwa regurgitated the talking point of the PDP – (and the entire opposition, which’s a new megaphone in former Kaduna State Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, a mind bender, who can spin any issue to his advantage) – to blaming others, but themselves for failure to adhere to the dictates of their party’s constitution and run their affairs in line with democratic principles and standards.

    Their main punching bag is the APC, which dislodged them from power in 2015, just 16 years into their dream 60-year suzareignty over Nigeria. Since then, the who-is-who in the PDP hasn’t said anything tangible until they blame their self-induced and inflicted problems and division at the national and sub-national levels on the APC and its leadership.

    Why do PDP and its members play the ostrich: bury their heads in the sand, and turn around to blame the APC as the “bird of prey” for spotting their uncovered hides? They know the genesis of their problems, and won’t place the blame where it belongs, but fish for a scapegoat elsewhere!

    For instance, is it the APC that influenced or coerced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to lead seven PDP governors of Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Niger, Rivers, Kwara and Adamawa to walk out of the Special National Delegates Convention at the Eagle Square in Abuja on August 31, 2013?

    Leaving the convention venue, Atiku, the governors, the PDP Acting National Chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje and some National Assembly members moved to the Yar’Adua Centre for an emergency meeting, and addressed a press conference in protest of the convention organisers’ disqualification of over 50 of the 75 aspirants – presumed loyal to opponents of second term-seeking President Goodluck Jonathan – from vying for the 17 available positions in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

    Subsequently, they formed a splitter group, named New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP); and Atiku and five of the governors of Adamawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kwara and Rivers defected and dissolved the nPDP into the opposition APC, which defeated then-ruling PDP and President Jonathan in 2015.

    Fast-forward to 2023, and history somehow repeated itself, only this time in a reverse scenario but with the same Atiku as the lead actor. Returning again to the PDP pre-2019 poll – and clinched the presidential ticket, but was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari for his second term in office – Atiku breached the PDP constitution during the 2023 election cycle.

    The PDP constitution forbids the presidential candidate or president and party chairman to emerge from the same region, North or South. Still, Atiku from the North insisted that Dr Iyorcha Ayu, a northerner and former Senate President (1992-1993), remain in office as chairman until the end of the 2023 election.

    At the PDP convention/presidential primary in Abuja for the 2023 poll, Atiku defeated then-Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike (now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja) to the second spot. The consensus of the PDP leaders was for Atiku to pick Wike as his running mate, but Atiku chose then-Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

    An incensed Wike – who, along with other four aggrieved PDP governors of Abia, Benue, Enugu and Oyo, had formed a group nick-named G-5 (PDP-G5) – pounced on the issue of zoning of the National Chairmanship to the South, as a precondition to work for the Atiku-Okowa ticket at the February 25, 2023, presidential election.

    With Atiku sticking to his guns, and backing Ayu to retain the PDP chair – the G-5 governors worked against him, and he lost the five states in 2023, thus reinforcing the axioms: “Those who are too clever sometimes overreach themselves,” and “Don’t cut your nose to spite your face.” Had Atiku let go the PDP chairmanship to the South, the G-5 governors would’ve worked for his ticket, for enhanced chances at the poll.

    Has the PDP learned any lessons from its missteps in 2015 and 2023? NO! The party has failed to mend especially the 2023 cracks in its platform, which’ve widened and deepened, such that there’s pandemonium at a recent meeting of the BOT (which Udenwa belongs) in Abuja, following a clash by members of the Atiku and Wike factions.

    The PDP and its members should face their problems squarely, and stop blaming the APC as stirring internal crisis in their fold. The leadership should respect the party’s constitution, and enthrone internal democracy based on the rule of law and inclusiveness of all members! Enough of the blame game!

  • Rivers crisis: Fubara’s dismissal of Nwaeke’s allegations not enough – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Rivers crisis: Fubara’s dismissal of Nwaeke’s allegations not enough – By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi lately commented on the Rivers crisis – which dates back to his administration (2007-2015) – claiming that the blowout between suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and ex-Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, stemmed from “how to share Rivers State’s money.”

    Amaechi, who stood aloof as Fubara and Wike turned Rivers into a theatre of acrimony and mayhem, made the claim in an interview with DW on March 19, 2025, after resurfacing on the political scene, and describing as “unconstitutional” President Bola Tinubu’s emergency rule in Rivers.

    According to Amaechi: “The fight bewtween the current governor of Rivers State and the FCT minister is about sharing money. If not, what is the quarrel? Nigerians don’t dislike corruption again. I’ve not seen anybody on the street querying what the problem is. Can both of them speak to the public and tell us what the problem is about?”

    Amaechi didn’t say anything new. To use a local parlance – “Even the blind can see, and the deaf can hear” – that the unbridled desire to appropriate Rivers resources is the root cause of the fight-to-finish between godfather Wike and godson Fubara, leaving a huge toll on the political, economic, social, and security fabrics of Rivers.

    If one may ask, what’s the cause of the low-intensity fight between Amaechi and his mentor and godfather, ex-Governor Peter Odili, during Amaechi’s governorship? Wasn’t it over the Rivers resources, for which Amaechi signalled his intention to fight dirty, and Odili had to flee Rivers until Amaechi’s out of power in 2015?

    Ditto for the duel between Amaechi and Wike – clothed in the normal politics of then-Minister of State (Education) and later Minister of Education – wanting to take over power from Amaechi, whereas in reality, it’s who’d get the lion’s share of Rivers resources after Amaechi’s tenure.

    The difference, though, is that Wike couldn’t wait for Amaechi to exit office peacefully. He deployed “Federal might” under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, to make Rivers ungovernable for Amaechi, who, as Wike’s ally under the Odili political camp, bolstered Wike’s rise, by appointing him as his Chief of Staff, and “nominating” him for a ministerial portfolio.

    During the 2023 General Election, Wike defied all opposition, “anointed” Fubara as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), practically strapped him to his back, and campaigned for him to become governor.

    For his yeoman’s job, Wike allegedly “wants to lord it over Fubara, and makes him a puppet and figurehead” in his government. It’s Fubara’s resistance that’s kept Rivers quaking for over 18 months (since October 2023).

    To stem the crisis sliding into a full-blown anarchy, President Bola Tinubu wielded the big stick on March 18, 2023, and proclaimed a State of Emergency on Rivers, suspended, for six months, the executive and legislative arms of the government, and appointed a Sole Administrator to superintend affairs of the state.

    A lot has happened barely three weeks after, the most telling being the bombshell allegations by former Head of Service (HoS), Dr George Nwaeke, against Fubara – the thrust of which’s Fubara’s directive to burn down the Rivers House of Assembly in 2023, and his plan to use militants to destroy oil installations in Rivers, and Niger Delta that lays Nigeria’s golden egg.

    Nwaeke, who claims to be an “insider and eyewitness” to some of Fubara’s plans and actions, had suddenly resigned his position, and “disappeared” from the radar, only to show up in a video press conference, levelling grave allegations against Fubara, his Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie, and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed.

    In response, Fubara’s issued counter-accusations, rather than address directly the Nwaeke charges, which border on economic sabotage, destruction of public property, stifling of the legislature, and plotting to stop President Tinubu’s re-election in 2027. Below are Nwaeke’s pointed allegations:

    • Fubara directed the burning down of the Rivers Assembly, using Edison Ehie, whom the governor mobilised with “a bag of money.”

    • Fubara’s attempts to demolish the residential quarters of Rivers Assembly members was averted by a press conference held by Rivers elders and youths, and National Assembly members.

    • Fubara’s procured the services of militants to bomb oil pipelines, as part of the plot to bring down the Tinubu government.

    • Nwaeke says he observed several meetings between Fubara, his chief of staff and some militant leaders, with each meeting ending with huge sums of money paid to attendees.

    • Fubara told Nwaeke that as Chief Security Officer of Rivers State, and his brother (Governor Duoye Diri) is in charge of Bayelsa State, all oil pipelines are under their care.

    • Fubara said that at the appropriate time, they (he and Diri) would tell the boys (militants) what to do, and fund was not an issue.

    • Nwaeke says he wasn’t surprised when Fubara repeated the statement in a public function that, “I will tell the boys what to do at the appropriate time.”

    • Fubara plans to start destruction of oil facilities from non-Ijaw-speaking areas of Ogoni, Oyibo, Ahoda, to remove attention from the Ijaw and make it have a statewide outlook.

    • That such actions will bring down Tinubu, and usher in a new President from the (rumoured) coalition of political parties, with a Vice President from the Ijaw.

    • Fubara boasts he’s the “David that will bring down the Goliath (Wike) of Rivers State,” and that he’s the backing of the crème de la crème in Rivers.

    • Fubara told Nwaeke he plans to use the Ijaw to decide the next President of Nigeria.

    • Nwaeke claims he used to sleep over in the Government House, Port Harcourt, but became uncomfortable when Governor Mohammed and other stakeholders started nocturnal visits to Rivers State.

    • Fubara’s co-opted Governor Mohammed into the plot against Tinubu, and told him (Nwaeke) he would support Mohammed or any other northerner for president in 2027, with discussions ongoing.

    • Nwaeke says he’s not bothered about who Fubara supports, but is concerned about the “quantum of Rivers resources” released to visitors plotting Tinubu’s downfall.

    • Nwaeke says he’s privy to several private meetings between the governor and labour leaders in Rivers and the largesse given out at each meeting to compromise the Labour Union.

    • The media will be captured by paying heavily for airtime and retaining social media influencers and known social critics on their payroll.

    • Such plans accounted for the organised media condemnations and public outcry against the President and National Assembly over the Rivers emergency rule.

    • That Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule averted a major disaster in Rivers, and Nigeria from the militants.

    • Nwaeke wants Rivers Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), to step up his guards and be vigilant, as Fubara and others continue to hatch their plans if not put in check.

    At the video press conference, Nwaeke said: “I am not unaware of what this revelation means, but I am doing this to free my conscience and warn those innocent persons that are used to sway public sentiment that there is more than meets the eye in the Rivers matter.

    “As an insider and a key player in this administration by my position, who worked closely with Siminilayi Fubara, it will be unfair for me to keep silent or not to address some key factors that have affected or will affect our state if we continue on this trajectory.

    “I want to tell Rivers people today that the House of Assembly complex on Moscow Road was clearly brought down by Edison Ehie under the instructions of Governor Siminilayi Fubara. I challenge him to an open confrontation and I will throw more light on it.

    “If not for the intervention of Mr. President, Nigeria would have faced the worst economic sabotage, and Rivers State would have been up in flames. I thank the President for a swift intervention in Rivers State crisis, especially on the state of emergency that was declared and assented to by the National Assembly.

    “Those who love democracy and humanity will always protect humanity and democracy. Mr. President, you have just protected democracy and humanity in Rivers State. I can now sleep with my conscience clear.”

    Nwaeke’s allegations against Fubara are heavy, and damaging, and call for a direct and frontal rebuttal, point by point. But so far, Fubara’s been dismissive, labeling Nwaeke as “compromised” and not the calibre of person he’d sit or discuss with any of the alleged issues.

    In a personally-signed counter-statement on March 29, 2025, Fubara said: “First, on the claim that he (Nwaeke) was aware of my discussions and plans to support Bala Mohammed’s alleged 2027 presidential bid, it is laughable that Dr. Nwaeke would be part of any high-level political meeting as Head of Service, much more sitting in my alleged night meetings with Bala Mohammed and militants, like he claimed. Howbeit, none of such meetings ever held.

    “The truth is that the whole world knew when the Bauchi State Governor, as Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, visited the State, and there was nothing secret about the visits.

    “It is also ludicrous for Dr. Nwaeke to claim that he was aware of my meetings to encourage attacks on oil pipelines and other National assets in the State, as there was no time I held any meeting with militants or any criminal group to destabilise the State. It is on record that I have been at the forefront preaching peace in the State even in the face of obvious provocations.

    “The truth is that Dr. Nwaeke has been compromised, and whatever he is saying is only aimed at fulfilling his promise to those who may have paid or coerced him to lie against me.

    “I call on all well-meaning Nigerians and the good people of Rivers State to disregard everything said by Dr. Nwaeke, as they are mere desperate attempts to discredit me and my administration, and undermine the peace process by Mr. President.”

    Fubara followed up on the “nothing burger” with a series of WhatsApp messages, suggesting that Nwaeke had been reaching out to Ehie “for funds and support in exchange for his loyalty,” as his ₦500,000 monthly salary was inadequate to meet his needs.

    Yet, Fubara’s denial hasn’t scratched the surface of Nwaeke’s damning allegations against him. He needs to invalidate the charges in a more organised format, such as a press conference, to throw the ball back into Nwaeke’s court. Anything short of that will sustain doubts about him coming clean, and erode his credibility and public trust!