Author: The Nation

  • Kano Deputy gov under pressure to resign after refusing to join APC

    Kano Deputy gov under pressure to resign after refusing to join APC

    A stalemate is brewing in the Kano State Government following the refusal of Deputy Governor Aminu Gwarzo to quit in the aftermath of the defection of Governor Abba Yusuf from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Gwarzo opted to remain in the NNPP and loyal to the party’s national leader, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso.

    The expectation in the APC was that the deputy governor would join some other loyalists of Kwankwaso in government in throwing in the towel as soon as the governor switched camps on Monday.

    He has so far declined to quit.

    He has even received the backing of the Kano State chapter of the NNPP to stay put in government.

    The NNPP insisted on the deputy governor’s right to occupy his position and his critical role in governance, “underscoring the imperative of adherence to constitutional responsibilities.”

    It said Gwarzo’s “continuity in office is essential for the stability and progress of the state’s governance.”

    Spokesman for the NNPP in the state, Engr Ibrahim Karaye condemned call for the resignation of the deputy governor, and said he remains a bona fide member of the party and a key figure in the state’s governance.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

    He pointed out that the Deputy Governor was elected on a joint ticket with Governor Yusuf.

    Besides, he said Gwarzo is constitutionally entitled to continue discharging his duties, and argued that the State Executive Council is a constitutional body that should not be dragged into partisan disputes.

    Kwankwaso’s son – Mustapha- who held the portfolio of Youth and Sports Development in the government has already left.

    Karaye was responding to a statement by Information and Internal Affairs Commissioner Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya who had said it was only honourable for the deputy governor to resign if he could no longer align politically with his principal.

    “What we are hoping for, just as we saw with some commissioners who felt uncomfortable and resigned, is that the deputy governor should also take an honourable step if he is no longer on the same political path with the governor,” Waiya said.

    He added: “If you sit in an Executive Council meeting where people are discussing how to build Kano and there is suspicion about where such discussions may end up, then there is a problem. Governance is about trust.

    “Many people have aspirations, including the ambition to become governor. There is nothing wrong with that. But if personal interests begin to conflict with the direction of government, the most honourable option is to step aside and pursue those goals independently.”

    It was gathered that the government, with a comfortable two thirds majority of the members of the State House of Assembly on its side, may get the deputy governor impeached if he continues to resist resignation dodge functions presided over by the governor.

    However, the challenge in doing that may be finding   offenses that amount to “gross misconduct” against him.

  • APC e-registration hits seven million, rescheduled congresses

    APC e-registration hits seven million, rescheduled congresses

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),  has registered over 7 million members in its ongoing nationwide electronic membership registration exercise.

     The party has also extended the exercise earlier scheduled to round off on Saturday, January 31, 2026, to February 8, 2026, to accommodate the high demand and enthusiastic response from potential and existing members.

     National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, disclosed this to newsmen after the 183rd meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on Friday in Abuja

     He said the extension of the registration exercise was a direct response to widespread clamor from party stakeholders.

     According to Morka, “With respect to e-registration, there’s no complicated explanation. We just want more members to register,” adding that, “the extension was in response to the clamour by enthusiastic members who are hoping to register, to afford them more time.

     “As of now, we have crossed the mark of 7 million… By the grace of God, by the time we are closing on the 8th of February, we should have crossed the mark of 12.5 million.”

     Reaffirming that the primary aim of the e-registration was part of the party’s push to digitize its records, ensure data integrity, promote financial inclusion, and align with national legal standards.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

     He proudly noted that the party has become the first major political party in Nigeria to fully digitize its membership register, setting a precedent for internal democracy and modernization.

     Applauding the registration exercise as “tremendously successful”,  APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, maintained that the requests for extension of the exercise came from various stakeholders, including state-level leaders and the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).

     Basiru said, “The e-registration has been tremendously successful. We have received requests from many states that there are so many members that are still eager to register… Based on that request, particularly by the body of the Governors Forum at the meeting we held with them the day before yesterday, that was why the National Working Committee decided to extend.”

     Morka also announced that Ward Congresses will hold on Wednesday, 18th February 2026, while the National Convention is now scheduled to be held on 27th–28th March 2026.

     He added that Osun and Ekiti States as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are excluded from scheduled Congresses due to upcoming elections, while Rivers State is excluded due to the subsisting tenure of the current executive committees of the Party in the State. 

     The party spokesman further said that details on the adjusted Congress and National Convention timetable and schedule of activities and composition of the National Convention Planning Committee will be announced on Monday

  • Chop alone, die alone

    Chop alone, die alone

    These are the tales of two state chairmen of a popular party.

    They are predecessor and successor; the former a lawyer-diplomat, and the other a businessman.

    Both were eminently qualified, but one was definitely wiser.

    The challenge was money, or put succinctly, the management of corruption or financial inducement.

    The diplomat believed in a collegiate approach, collective effort and team spirit. Thus, when bribes were offered to him during local government nominations, he would declare the amount to the members of executive during meetings. The money was shared by all of them.

    But the businessman had a way of secretly collecting bribes from aspirants without disclosing to members of his team.

    No matter how it was concealed, the bribery always leaked. Exco members always got to know because the mouths of bribe givers were not closed. The exco members would grumble, but they often lacked the temerity to challenge the chairman.

    Even at that, the diplomat who carried his team along ran into turbulence during his tenure. An aspirant who offered some money as gift ahead of nominations cried foul when he did not emerge as candidate. He alleged that the chairman took bribe from him and failed to deliver. A petition was forwarded to the party leader. Copies were sent to the governor and the executive committee.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

    Swiftly, the exco rose in defense of the chairman, absolving him of the charge. They unanimously told the leader that it was one of those unsolicited unofficial donations to the party and that no member of exco was in the dark. The chairman survived. He completed his tenure successfully.

    But it was the other way round for his successor; the stingy businessman-chairman. When he ran into crisis over a dollarised bribe, his exco abandoned him – after all they never partook in it.

    He appeared alone before the leader. His defense was turned down. There was no support from exco. The leader remembered how his predecessor was fiercely defended by other party officers. His tenure ended on that note.

    The former promoted the idea of “we chop together and survive.” The latter, the idea of “chop alone, die alone.”

    Neither of the two approaches is clean. But since politics is always in conflict with morality, wise politicians tend to lean towards the second approach as a strategy for survival in the murky waters of corrupted politics.

  • Alleged cyberstalking: Court grants actress Angela Okorie N5m bail

    Alleged cyberstalking: Court grants actress Angela Okorie N5m bail

    • Trial begins March 23

    Detained actress, Angela Okorie, got a reprieve yesterday as a Federal High Court in Abuja granted her bail at N5million and a surety in the same amount.

    Justice Emeka Nwite had on January 28 ordered her remand in Suleja prison in Niger State following her arraignment on charges of criminal defamation and cyberstalking.

    Ruling on Okorie’s bail application yesterday, Justice Nwite held that although the prosecution opposed her request for bail, there was no concrete evidence before the court to show that she would jump bail if granted.

    The judge said: “Therefore, I am minded to grant the bail in the interest of justice,” adding that bail is at the discretion of the court, which must be exercised judicially and judiciously.

    Justice Nwite ordered that the defendant’s sole surety must be a level 13 civil servant, who must depose to an affidavit of means.

    He said the surety must produce his appointment letter and letter of the last promotion.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

    The judge ordered Okorie and her surety to submit two passport photographs to the court registrar, adding that the residence of the surety must be verified by the registrar.

    Justice Nwite, who adjourned the matter until March 23 for trial, ordered Okorie to be further remanded in Suleja prison pending when she complies with the bail conditions.

    At the commencement of proceedings yesterday, prosecuting lawyer, Victor Okoye, informed the court about a seven-count amended charge filed by the prosecution and applied that the defendant’s plea be taken in relation to the amended charge.

    Justice Nwite granted Okoye’s application, following which Okorie was re-arraigned on the seven-count amended charge.

    She pleaded not guilty, following which Okoye applied for a date for the prosecution to open its case.

    Okorie of 1 Henry Montero Street, Lekki Palm City, Ajah, Lagos is alleged, in the amended charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/278/2025, to have conspired with Ifeoma Mbonu (now at large) to commit cyberstalking and defamation by calling a fellow actress, Mercy Johnson Okojie, a blood sucking demon in their posts on their social media platforms of Instagram and Tiktok.

    Okorie’s case stemmed from a petition by Mercy Johnson Okojie’s lawyer, in which sundry allegations were leveled against her and Ifeoma.

    Part of the petition, dated Mary 14, 2025 reads: “Most alarmingly, in a recent criminal and defamatory publication, Angela Okorie published the following statement via her Instagram page @ realagelaokorie: ‘Blood sucking demon no see blood suck again, E say na slimming tea. Except there’s no God, MJ go and beg people you chop their destinies and destroyed their hornes else no peace for the wicked!!! Gospel songs won’t save you. Your heart Is Dark!!!’

    “This malicious statement, clearly targeted at our client, was published with the intent to cause irreparable reputational injury, incite hatred, provoke unrest among the public and further harass and emotionally traumatise our client.

    “The tone, content, and framing of the publication aim to portray our client as a destructive person, despite her widely known public image as a humanitarian and devout Christian mother.

    “The principal suspect, Angela Okorie, has demonstrated a relentless and calculated effort to incite public hatred and threaten public peace by repeatedly using her social media platform for criminal intimidation, false accusations, and criminal defamation.

    “She has become the most aggressive and persistent in this malicious campaign.”

  • Military refutes viral video of ‘captured’ IPOB commander ‘Gentle the Yahoo’

    Military refutes viral video of ‘captured’ IPOB commander ‘Gentle the Yahoo’

    The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has debunked a viral video in which an Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) commander, Ifeanyi Eze Okorienta, popularly known as Gentle De Yahoo, was seen claiming that he was alive and had returned.

    The military high command, speaking through the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Michael Onoja, during a press briefing on Friday, stated that the video might have been generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

    In October 2025, the military announced that troops operating under Operation UDO KA captured “Gentle the Yahoo,” a notorious commander linked to the IPOB and its militant wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

    He was linked to growing attacks in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State, including the murder of three of his fighters in the area.

    In a video released yesterday, a visibly limping Gentle the Yahoo announced his return, alleging that he was poisoned while in government custody, and vowed to restore peace to Okigwe amid warnings to the governors of Imo and Anambra states, Hope Uzodimma and Chukwuma Soludo.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

    However, Maj-Gen. Onoja noted that such videos were not impossible, especially given the prevalence of social media and artificial intelligence.

    He said: “What I can say is that in this era of AI, it is possible to create anything just to destabilise and cause panic within the society.”

    The Defence spokesperson said the military would look more closely into the video and the claims, and reaffirmed that the armed forces and other security agencies would remain committed to pursuing criminals to guarantee peace across the country.

     “Notwithstanding, we will take necessary action with relevant security agencies, to confirm if it is true that he is back, and then necessary action will be taken to contain any individual or group that threatens our security,” Onoja said.

  • How I became pregnant for my husband’s son — Nasarawa housewife

    How I became pregnant for my husband’s son — Nasarawa housewife

    • Say I slept with him because my husband lost his potency  

    • Husband: I know who was responsible for my impotence

    Tongues are wagging in Bargu, a community in Awe Local Government Area, Nasarawa State over the confession of a 40-year-old housewife, Mrs Esther Jemkwe, who slept with her 23-year-old stepson because she was desperate to produce a child for her husband.

    Esther said she hit on the idea of sleeping with the only child her husband, Audu Jemkwe, had from a failed marriage he had before they met because she realised that he became impotent a few weeks after they got married in 2022.

    Our correspondent gathered that before 51-year-old Audu’s marriage to Esther in 2022, he had been involved 27 years earlier in another marriage that was blessed with a son named Theophilus before it collapsed and they parted ways. Theophilus, however, chose to stay with his father.

    It was gathered that before his second marriage in 2022, Audu, a carpenter by profession, was sexually very active, which was one of the reasons he chose to remarry. Theophilus, on his part, was an automobile mechanic and, like his father, had no meaningful education.

    Trouble began after Esther got married to Audu only to find that her once virile partner had lost his potency.

    Recalling the shocking discovery, Esther said: “His manhood stopped functioning the moment I moved into his house. We did everything humanly possible to revive it but to no avail. I was worried, but I could not discuss it with anybody because it is embarrassing.”

    Recalling the good memories of their earlier days together, she said: “We bonded together and were in love. He proposed marriage to me and we agreed to it. We planned towards a particular date.

    “What attracted me to him was that he was very good in bed and he satisfied me sexually.

    “Honestly, apart from his caring nature, his performance in bed was among the factors that attracted me to him.

    “I am the only daughter of my parents, and they are no longer alive. They died during the farmers/herders crisis in Nasarawa.

    READ ALSO: The Economist: Nigeria’s economy moving from the brink

    “I had difficulty getting a husband while I needed to get married to have a rest of mind since we lived in a village where herders disturb often. But the people who kept coming were only interested in sleeping with me until Mr Audu Jemkwe, a carpenter, came with genuine intentions and we made it.

    “So, moving into his house, my dream was to have children. Jemkwe (Audu) was sexually fit until we got married. But shortly after, his manhood started failing. I became worried because he became impotent.

    “I endured this for over year and kept hoping that the problem would go away, but months passed and the situation did not improve. So I decided to inform his first son.”

    From Esther’s discussion with Theophilus who practices his vehicle mechanic in Lafia while Esther was a trader, buying and selling goods between Awe and Lafia, the state capital, a relationship developed between the two.

    Given the mutual feelings shared by the two, they did not see any reason why they could not engage each other instead of going outside, especially as Theophilus shares the same blood with her husband with whom she was now living like cat and dog after orthodox and traditional efforts made to fix his impotence failed.

    The situation resulted in accusations and counter-accusations between the couple. Putting the blame on her husband, Esther said that while she was willing to approach a soothsayer to ascertain what was wrong with Audu, he on his part was not favourably disposed to the idea.

    She believes that Audu knew the source of the problem but chose to hide it from her. But to be doubly sure that the problem did not lie with her, Esther decided to test her own virility by luring her husband’s son into a secret affair with a stem warning not to reveal it to anyone. Investigation revealed that their intimate affair lasted the entire Year 2025.

    Each time Esther came down to Lafia for her business, she would pass a night at Theophilus’ place. The reason, she said, was to ascertain her ability to conceive a baby, because she needed a child badly and age was no longer on her side.

    After frequent visits to Lafia, Esther eventually missed her period, signaling that she was pregnant. But when she broke the news to her husband, what ordinarily should be a piece of good news became a source of quarrel. Audu vehemently denied ownership of the pregnancy and also alleged foul play. He said since they got married, there had been no intercourse between them because his manhood had been down.

    The angry husband, accusing Esther of infidelity, asked her to pack her things and move out of his house to live with the man responsible for her pregnancy.

    Pressured by our correspondent, Esther eventually opened up to tell her own side of the story.

    She said: “I am not a loose woman. I am just a woman who loves her husband very much and didn’t want to lose him. I did what I did to save my marriage even though I feel guilty about it.

    “It was not easy, but I slept with his first son from his first wife so that I could give my husband a child. But rather than sustain my marriage, the plan has scattered it.

    “I got married to my husband over four years ago. We had no child. The worst was that I never got pregnant even for one day, because we were not mating. He is impotent.

    “When I realised that I was no longer getting younger, I was worried as much as he was. His relations became so impatient that they started breathing down my neck.

    “They gave me no breathing space at all. They said I was cheating on their son and that I had no womb to bear a child. They did not know that their son was impotent.

    “The mother decided to move in to live with us in Awe and practically made life in my matrimonial home unbearable for me.

    “At a point, she stopped talking to me. The only time she would talk to me was when she wanted to insult me and remind me of how less a woman I was.

    “I was confused. More so when my husband kept mute and refused further efforts to ascertain the source of the problem.

    “But any time I was in Lafia with Theophilus, we used to have serious lovemaking sessions, especially during my ovulation period, all in a bid to get pregnant so that my mother-in-law would stop humiliating me.

    “Luckily, God answered my prayers

    “I was moved to continue my affair with Theophilus in Lafia because the insult from my mother-in-law was getting too much, too unbearable for me. She vowed to frustrate me out of her son’s home, not knowing their son was impotent.

    “It is so agonising to say this. Instead of testing someone else to ascertain my fertility, I seduced and slept with his son. Theophilus is a young man in his early 20s.He had not started sleeping with women before I lured him into making love with me.

    “I started by buying good things for him anytime I went to Lafia, sleeping with him on the same bed and playing with his manhood. Gradually, one thing led to another.

    “There was a time I asked him if he had tested sex before and he said no. I wondered why a 23 years old boy had not known a woman. I compelled him to take an oath not to disclose it to anybody, and I said I would teach him.

    “I ensured that I did that during my ovulation period. I never disclosed the reason for this, but deep in my mind, I wanted to test my fertility.

    “I planned it during my ovulation. In fact, any time I was in my ovulation period, I ensured I visited him in Lafia where he works as a mechanic.

    “I had the key to his room and most people thought I was his mother.

    “I knew I was doing the wrong thing and betraying my husband, but I saw it as a necessary action to save my marriage.

    “I didn’t want to go sleeping with another man outside. I knew it was wrong, so I preferred it from his son. After some months, I discovered that I was pregnant.”

    Now that the deed had been done and her husband has sent her packing from their matrimonial home, she said she would do nothing else but try to reassemble the pieces of her broken life and move on.

    She has since relocated to Lafia to continue with her business

    Although she regrets her action, she said she had decided to keep the pregnancy “because it is blood within blood”.

    I know who was responsible for my impotence — Husband

    Lamenting the incident, Audu said: “I know where my problem came from. A man in my village whose wife I dated for years before I got married is behind my predicament.

    “I was lucky that he allowed me to produce a child with my first wife. But he has vowed that I would not give birth.

    “He got me through my old shoes. And when my manhood stopped functioning, I consulted a native doctor somewhere without my wife knowing. That was shortly after I got married.

    “The native doctor told me everything, that the old man I was dating his wife in the village was the brains behind my sudden impotency. He advised me to go and beg the man. I did, but the man is yet to forgive me.

    “At first, he denied responsibility but later accepted and told me he would look into it.

    “I’m confused about my life. My dream of getting married to bear children that will add to Theophilus was aborted,

    “I am the only male child of my parents and they are old. In fact, my father is not alive, though he warned me against my affairs with women before he died.

    “Yes, I asked my wife to pack and leave my house. She has since moved to Lafia.

    “People are telling me that since she did it with Theophilus who is my son, I should consider her decision and allow her.

    “I’m still thinking about it.”

    Contacted, Theophilus admitted having such an affair with his father’s wife. But he said “it is a family matter that will be settled with time”.

  • Lagos and 2027 battle (2)

    Lagos and 2027 battle (2)

    Ahead of the electioneering, other names being speculated are Jimi Benson,  member of the House of Representatives from Ikorodu, who succeeded Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman of the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).

    Benson is the toast of Ikorodu Division. If Ikorodu Division is a state, he may automatically become governor. He has attracted many Federal Government projects to the constituency, which has accorded him fame and increased the popularity of the party.

    Also, many Lagosians take  the technocrat and experienced politician, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, very serious. They want him to run because they perceived him as a performer.

    Abiru, who hails from an illustrious Ikorodu family, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). A loyal chieftain, patriot, astute public administrator, his competence and giant strides in the banking sector have been celebrated. Never afraid of challening situations, anything he touches turns to gold. Abiru enjoys the trust of the party, its leadership and the state.

    But sources insist that the financial expert may not personally seek the governorship ticket unless he is called upon to take up the role in furtherance of his dedicated and consistent service to the state, the nation and humanity.

    Currently, Abiru is representing Lagos East District in the Senate. He served meritoriously as Finance Commissioner in the Fashola administration before returning to the unfinished business of banking.

    He was appointed in July 2016 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the Group Managing Director to lead the turnaround of the regulator-induced takeover of the then-troubled Skye Bank, in a bid to preserve the stability of the overall Nigerian Financial System. The successful completion of the assignment gave birth to today’s Polaris Bank Limited.

    READ ALSO: Tunji Olaopa, critical reforms and the Trump challenge (2)

    Abiru has also served on various boards, including Airtel Mobile Networks Limited; FBN Capital Limited (now FBN Quest Merchant Bank Limited); FBN Bank Sierra –Leone Limited; and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS).

    More names would be speculated as the Lagosians gaze at 2027.

    Lagos APC is regenerating itself. It can boast of a unique academy of successors, who are being groomed and nurtured on the code of trust and service, and their consistency and reliability are not in doubt. It is however, a mixed grill of exceptiional children of party gerontocrats and legends, and other hardworking, dynamic, competent and promising youths. Many of them were thrown up by their personal exposure to activism and mobilisation from campus days. They exhibit traits that underscore giftedness, talentednes, giftedness and creativity. Others have risen to the pinnacle of their professions in the thriving private sector.

    Many of them did not enter politics at the top. They were privileged to rise through the ranks, climbing the hierachial ladder of leadership, service and learning.

    After the collapse of proposed  60:40 formula for offiice sharing in AD in 2023, Asiwaju Tinubu concentrated on party building, nurturing and strengthening the structure, which has now stood the test of time. He attracted a cult followership in his base and region before becoming a bridge builder with vast networks across the federation.

    A party offiicial said: “I can mention, at least, 50 names that are worthy of being saddled with the leadership of Lagos State; men and women who have learned at the feet of Asiwaju.

    “They are exactly like the leader, but they have acquired his traits and styles of politics and administration that made him successful.”

    According to the official, “Asiwaju has been identifying and targetting some promising youths, who are men of the future. They are talented and they look promising. Many of them do not realise that they are being prepared for the fuuture.”

    However, there is a subsisting debate over the preference of the party for technocrats as against core politicians. The argument may be weak. A feature of one tends to run into the other. Technocrats have done the state proud as governors, and they ultimately end becoming politicians. The politicians who loathe technocrats forget to realise that once upon a time, they were also technocrats before venturing into politics.

    How is the PDP faring? The Lagos chapter is down completely, weakened by the multiple crises ravaging the divided platform. The Lagos PDP is torn apart across the local governments. But the state executive committee is made up of officers loyal to the Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Chief Olabode George, who is recognised as the state’s party leader by the national leadership.

    PDP broke down long time ago. It was erected on a shaky foundation in Lagos. After its first chairman, Olorunfunmi Basorun, was asked to step aside, the party started to wobble from one crisis to another. In 27 years, the chapter has produced over 10 chairmen – Basorun, Muritala Ashorobi, Alaba Williams, Mr. Williams, Setonji Koshoedo,Captain Tunji Shelle, Adegoke Salvador, Adedeji Doherty, and Philip Aivoji. It smacked of leadership instability.

    Those who ran from AD/AC/ACN to PDP -Adeseye Ogunlewe, the late Rafiu Jafojo, Olufemi Pedro, Musiliu Obanikoro, Remi Adikwu-Bakare, Wahab Owokoniran etc – later ran back. They compared the two platforms and saw the futility of political wandering.

    Unlike in the past, the chapter is in want of a suitable candidate, following the defections that hit the party.

    Chinedu Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has left the party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), while Jide Adediran has retraced his steps back to APC.

    The only aspirant on the platform, for now, is Funso Doherty, who ran for governor four years ago on the platform of a smaller party. He managed to be visible at the factional convention in Adamasingba Stadium, Ibadan.

    Since 1999, PDP has been kept under check by the AD, AC, ACN and now APC. Its 1999 candidate, Chief Dapo Sarunmi,  lost to Asiwaju Tinubu; Funso Williams also lost in 2003.

    Four years later, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, a defector from AD, lost to Fashola. In 2011, Ade Dosunmi could not make any impact.

    In the 2015 contest, Jimi Agbade, who was persuaded to try his luck in PDP after his failed attempt in Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), could not defeat Akin Ambode.

    In 2019, Agbaje, after feelers from the electoral commission on the poll outcome, conceded defeat to Sanwo-Olu.

    Adediran strayed from APC to PDP, lost his deposit and returned to base.

    The three people from AD/AC/ACN/APC – Obanikori, Agbaje and Adediran – could not delivery victory to the main opposition party.

    Many politicians are deserting PDP, which is currently at crossroads over the protracted leadership crisis. Since there is no end in sight to the logjam, it is risky for anybody with governorship ambition to adopt it as a platform.

    Labour Pary (LP) appears to be in a similar mess, no thanks to the rift between the National Caretaker Committee headed by Senator Esther Nenadi-Usman and the faction led by Julius Abure. Both factions are still in court.

    If Peter Obi returns to LP as presidential candidate, it may enliven the members of the structureless party, particularly the Obedients, in Lagos. If he becone the ADC candidate, Lagos LP will automatically shift allegiance to ADC.

    The arrowheads of ADC in Lagos are Owokoniran and Funmi Onita-Coker. The national secretary,  Raud Aregbesola, understands the Lagos terrain. But he may not be able to penetrare as he contends with a fading influence in the state.

    Also, Lagos Labour Party (LP) is not in a good shape, having been deserted by many chieftains, following protracted crises.

    The appeal of the LP in the state seems to have evaporated after Rhodes-Vivour lost in the 2023 election. The erstwhile LP candidate has hinted that he might fly the ADC flag in the 2027 general election. But the party has neither confirmed nor denied the hint. It remains to be seen if Rhodes-Vivour still wields the same clout the LP gave him through the social media warrior in his former party.

    With the influx of desperate gold diggers who want to reap where they did not sow in Lagos, 2027 will turn out to be interesting in many aspects. But the ruling party and its leading lights need to watch out for a likely repeat of the 2023 experience when non-indigenes plotted to take over the state by hook or crook. Nothing should be left to chances. No discerning party goes to sleep with an agitated opposition brandishing fire near its roof to take over the property.

  • Uganda’s democratic tyranny

    Uganda’s democratic tyranny

    Uganda is indeed on my mind this week simply because any empathy-filled Pan-African black man anywhere with a flair for liberty must show concern for the citizens of any country where democracy is being cannibalised. The repressive governance disguised as democracy in Uganda is regrettably of contagious effect on the African continent with curious immodel specimen from the world’s number one democratic country under President Donald Trump’s leadership in far away United States.

    ‘Competitive authoritarianism’ robed in democratic costume, particularly in Africa, rather than abate, is fast spreading like a virus. We need antidotal vaccine to stem this ugly tide.

    Instinctively, many might be wondering why Uganda, despite the myriads of issues demanding serious analytical commentary in Nigeria. My response is captured by the resonating words of that globally renowned irrepressible martyr of liberty and freedom, Martin Luther King Jr. where he said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

    Truly, democratic injustice, though has historical antecedents, is sadly becoming more ingrained in contemporary polity with no jurisdictional limitations.

    In the African continent, the latest mal-example of distorted values of representative democracy is Uganda under the repressive government of Yoweri Museveni. The democracy envisioned by Abraham Lincoln in Gettysburg, United States, in November 19, 1863, has through the democratic shenanigan of leaders like Museveni and others, now given birth to a political coinage that is globally known as ‘competitive authoritarianism.’ This is a redefinition that is completely antithetical to everything that real democracy stands for.

    Currently in Africa, Museveni epitomizes the deplorable wind of competitive authoritarianism that is fast gaining momentum amongst leaders, especially in the developing world of which Africa is a prominent part.

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    Museveni gained power through a populist rebellion but regrettably now represents everything he condemned in the government he toppled. A brief historical excursion suffices: Museveni captured Kampala, his country’s capital after staging a five-year armed rebellion against the government of Tito Okello on January 26, 1986. He was sworn-in on January 29 of same year. Forty years after, at age 81, and currently serving a contentious seventh term as president of Uganda after his transmutation from military to civilian president in his pioneer ‘democratic’ election in 1996. So far, Museveni and his son have been projecting that country as truly one of the most repressed nations in Africa and the world

    Museveni started as a rebel with a cause but is now affirmatively a tyrant in democratic robes. He is indubitably not a shining model of democratic ideals. In his country today, hopelessly helpless Ugandans have taken his stay-put in office as more of a fait accompli. Added to their political grief is the murderous antics of his biological son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who for decades has been the Chief of Defence Forces in his father’s government.

    Kainerugaba has been the brutal force behind his father’s hold on power. His father is reputed to have relatively stablised his country’s $65 billion economy. Museveni’s noteworthy stance against homosexual activity is equally well known. But these two accomplishments have been dwarfed by Museveni and son’s political monstrosity of pocketing the media; scrapping of presidential term limits in 2005 and and also removal of age limits in 2017 through dubious constitutional amendments. These undemocratic changes were designed to perpetually keep him in power till death.

    The above have been confirmed by his recently held presidential election and the disputed results that proclaimed him as the odious winner. That election’s surrounding happenings also affirmed Museveni’s son as being above the law. His son routinely made fiery and insensitive late night social media posts. As the engine room of his father’s tenacious hold on power, he is reputed to routinely order crackdown on political opponents and even known to have masterminded the infamous four-day internet blackout meant to prevent the world from knowing the political atrocities of his father’s regime during the recently held elections.

    Museveni, despite having a Vice President has turned his son as his alternate-president. The son’s brutish approach is replete with, but not limited to, his reportedly boasting that 30 “terrorists” from the opposition Bob Wine’s National Unity Platform party had been killed while his self-branded two thousand “hooligans” from same Wine’s party had, on his instructions, been arrested and tortured. He routinely ordered the brutalization of opposition supporters and disrupted their political rallies.

    At a point, Museveni’s son’s uncurtailed monstrosity saw him threatened to behead Bobi Wine who is Uganda’s most potent opposition leader at the moment. This abysmal Ugandan situation of a president’s son holding the entire country captive is vividly depicted by Wine who is Museveni’s opposition nightmare to wit: “Nobody is safe again in Uganda where a military general will consume his whisky and wish somebody death.”

    Due to his tyrannical traits, Museveni’s ruling party has been cleansed of truth sayers. His son has destroyed military discipline and cohesion because he’s fond of summarily retiring rival military officers while he uses pecuniary incentive and undeserved promotions to secure soldiers’ loyalty. Museveni looks the other way while his son’s invidious act continues unabated.

    It would be apt to ask whether Kainerugaba actually passed through Britain’s prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy where values of military finesse and discipline are believed to be taught. He defied his global exposures to civilised Swedish conduct and the other countries he came across. This megalomaniac son of Museveni lived and grew up in Sweden and few other countries while his father was a guerrilla commander of the National Resistance Movement/Army against Milton Obote and his government after disputing the 1980 results of a general election in which his father contested to lead Uganda on the platform of Uganda Patriotic Movement. Museveni commenced the Ugandan Bush War in the aftermath of this electoral disputations in 1981.

    The rapaciousness of father and son keeps tormenting the spirits of Ugandans through the Special Forces Command, an elite unit often described as an within the army. Museveni’s son eagerly wants to succeed his father and was reportedly caught on tape in 2023 complaining about his being bored of waiting to achieve this goal. This is despite his knowing that even if Museveni dies in office, the Vice-President is constitutionally empowered to take over temporarily, pending when a fresh election takes place. With Museveni’s son’s leadership inordinate mindset, the ruling National Resistance Movement party of his father has an uphill battle ahead.

    Time is however tickling and Museveni should thoughtfully halt his, and son’s repressive governance model. If in the eighties, he launched a guerrilla warfare that removed a constitutional government in his country, let him be reminded that such is still possible today; if not against him but against his inordinately ambitious son. One of Museveni’s precursors in power and a globally renowned brutal tyrant for that matter, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda was disgraced out of power. If it happened then to Amin, why not Museveni and his son!

    Admonition: Any leader aspiring or currently ruminating over the possibility of emulating the Museveni model should jettison the idea and embrace leadership integrity that’ll engrave their names in the pantheon of democratic greatness.

    Ugandans living within and outside their country need not be told that Museveni and his son have become law unto themselves and when a situation like this arises, Thomas Jefferson once scribbled some words to guide victims’ remedial actions where he said: “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes a duty.”

    For leaders of countries that are discreetly plotting to inflict the Museveni Model of repressive governance on their hapless citizens, the Thomas Jefferson salvo should serve a reminder of the extent the people, as a matter of duty, can justifiably go when pushed to the edge by competitive authoritarian, anywhere in the world.

    • Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency is currently managing partner at AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS(SMS Only To: 07011117777).

  • Snow in Summer’s Shadow: What extreme winter storms in America, Canada reveal about climate change

    Snow in Summer’s Shadow: What extreme winter storms in America, Canada reveal about climate change

    As the Arctic warms, the systems that once kept cold air contained are breaking down, unleashing extreme winter storms further south.”

    In recent months, images of snow-covered highways, grounded flights, and frozen cities across the United States and Canada have dominated global news. From blizzards crippling parts of the American Midwest to record-breaking snowfall across Canadian provinces, the scenes appear to contradict a warming planet. For many observers, the question has been inevitable: how can climate change be real when snowstorms seem to be getting worse?

    The answer lies not in denying climate change, but in understanding it.

    Climate change does not simply mean hotter weather everywhere. Rather, it describes a disruption of long-established climate systems, leading to more extreme and unpredictable events—including intense cold spells and heavier snowfall in some regions.

    When Warming Fuels Extreme Cold

    “Frozen Cities in a Heating World: The Climate Paradox Behind America’s Snowstorms”

    Scientists explain that rising global temperatures are weakening the Arctic jet stream, a high-altitude wind system that helps keep cold air locked near the North Pole. As the Arctic warms faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, the jet stream becomes more unstable.

    When this happens, frigid Arctic air can plunge far south into North America, while warmer air moves northward elsewhere. The result is unusual and often severe winter storms, bringing heavy snow, ice, and dangerously low temperatures to regions unaccustomed to such extremes.

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    Ironically, a warmer atmosphere can also hold more moisture. When cold air masses collide with this moisture-laden atmosphere, snowfall can become heavier and more intense. This explains why some parts of the U.S. and Canada are experiencing stronger snowstorms even as average global temperatures rise.

    Economic and Social Disruption

    The recent snow events have had serious consequences. In the United States, winter storms have disrupted supply chains, closed schools, damaged power infrastructure, and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. In Canada, prolonged cold spells and heavy snowfall have strained emergency services and exposed vulnerabilities in transportation and housing systems.

    These impacts underscore a key climate reality: extreme weather—whether heatwaves, floods, or snowstorms—carries heavy economic and human costs.

    For countries with strong infrastructure, such events are disruptive but often manageable. For developing nations, including Nigeria, similar climate volatility can be far more devastating.

    Why This Matters to Nigeria

    At first glance, snow in North America may seem distant from Nigeria’s climate challenges. Yet the underlying lesson is deeply relevant. Climate change is not a single, uniform experience; it reshapes weather patterns differently across regions.

    The snowstorms in the U.S. and Canada serve as a warning: no country is insulated from climate instability. Wealth, technology, and geography may reduce vulnerability, but they do not eliminate risk.

    The Myth of “Cold Weather Disproves Climate Change”

    One of the most persistent misconceptions is that cold weather disproves global warming. In reality, climate change is measured over decades, not days or seasons. A single snowstorm—or even a harsh winter—does not negate long-term warming trends.

    In fact, global data consistently show that the past decade has been the warmest on record, despite periodic cold extremes. What is changing is variability: weather patterns are becoming more erratic, more intense, and harder to predict.

    This volatility complicates planning for agriculture, energy supply, health systems, and disaster response worldwide.

    A Global Wake-Up Call

    The snow-driven disruptions in North America have reignited debates about preparedness and resilience. Power grid failures, frozen pipelines, and overwhelmed emergency systems have revealed that even advanced economies are struggling to adapt to climate extremes.

    These events reinforce the need for climate-resilient infrastructure, improved early warning systems, and long-term investment in adaptation—not just emissions reduction.

    For Nigeria, this means strengthening flood control, modernising urban drainage, supporting climate-smart agriculture, and improving energy resilience to withstand both heat and storms.

    From Spectacle to Substance

    Extreme snow makes headlines because it is visually dramatic. But focusing only on the spectacle risks missing the broader message. Climate change is not about one type of weather replacing another; it is about instability replacing predictability.

    The same forces that produce blizzards in North America are driving droughts in the Sahel, floods in coastal West Africa, and heat stress across tropical regions.

    Understanding this interconnectedness is critical for informed public debate and effective policy.

    The Choice Ahead

    The snowstorms blanketing American and Canadian cities are not evidence against climate change; they are part of it. They illustrate how a warming world can paradoxically deliver more severe cold in certain places, even as overall temperatures rise.

    As nations debate climate finance, emissions targets, and adaptation strategies, these events provide real-time proof that delay carries consequences.

    For Nigeria and the rest of the developing world, the lesson is clear: climate change is not a future problem or a foreign issue. It is a present, global challenge demanding urgent, coordinated action.

    Whether it falls as snow in North America or rain in Lagos, climate disruption is reshaping the world. The question is no longer whether climate change is happening, but whether societies are prepared to confront it.

    • Adeleye, PhD, Ibadan. Researcher in Environmental Pollution and Control – badeleye@gmail.com +234 803 525 6450

  • Mother of three brutally attacked by neighbors over prepaid meter’s recharge cries for Justice

    Mother of three brutally attacked by neighbors over prepaid meter’s recharge cries for Justice

    A mother of three has cried out for justice after she was brutally flogged by neigbhours in the Ikola area of Alimosho, a Lagos suburb, following a disagreement over the recharge of prepaid meter installed at their residence, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    A brutal scene unfolded at Paul Ekundayo Close, Diamond Estate, a middle class neighbourhood in Ikola, Alimosho, Lagos. The scene had the trappings of the Yoruba masquerade festival in which devotees flog bystanders in public.

    On this occasion, however, there were no festivities. Rather, it was an aggressive scene wherein a woman and two young men said to be her sons descended on a female neighbour and mother of three, Ms Eniola Agboola.

    Eniola and two of her children who both shared in the flogging, had cried and shouted for help but got none as the flogging which started at nightfall continued until her attackers felt satisfied and bolted.

    The flogging was a culmination of domestic disagreements that had simmered among the occupants of the building in the last few months. What began as agitation over lack of openness in the handling of a prepaid meter shared by four occupants of the building and three traders at the shops located at the entrance of the house had snowballed into mutual mistrust.

    It reached a climax on Christmas eve after the neighbour and her children stormed Eniola’s apartment with canes and flogged her and her children mercilessly.

    “The incident happened around 8.30pm on December 24, 2025 while I was trying to clean my corridor in preparation for the Christmas celebration the next day,” Eniola had said as she writhed in pains.

    “I wanted to remove my youngest son’s bicycle from the corridor of my apartment when my neighbour, Ms Ronke Olanrewaju, her daughter Wunmi and her son, Dare Olanrewaju appeared and splashed water on me.

    “As I was about to protest, they yelled at me and accused me of pouring water on them earlier, then they brought out canes.

    “I ran into my apartment but they smashed my door with a big stone and subjected me to brutal flogging.

    “One of them called a lady named Faith, who was selling grocery in one of the shops in front of our house, to block the entrance to my apartment in case I tried to escape through the door.

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    “They stripped me and dragged me on the floor inside my parlour and continued to flog me until they were satisfied.

    “They then left me to lick my wounds as blood started gushing out of my wounded body.

    “Even my daughters were not spared, as they were flogged too until they sustained injuries from the beating.

    “I was rushed to a hospital for treatment that night and my children also received treatment for the injuries they sustained from the beating.

    “I reported the case at the Meiran Police Division and they were arrested on December 24 but released on December 27.

    “The matter also drew the attention of a community leader in Ikola, who mediated and blamed the woman for her reckless and brutal attack on me and my children.

    “Ms Olanrewaju later sent N200,000 to me as compensation when I insisted on pressing for justice. I declined the offer of monetary compensation for a brutal assault she meted out to me and my family.”

    Recalling the events that led to the brutal assault, Eniola said she was a victim of conspiracy following her outspokenness about the management of the prepaid meter installed in the building.

    She said: “I moved into the building in 2023, and we have a prepaid meter that serves five apartments and four shops.

    “We were taking turns to recharge the meter, and every recharge was to last a month.

    “However, she does not load the meter as and when due. It was discovered that every recharge she did lasted just three days.

    “Other occupants became worried and asked that I speak with her to show the receipt of the electricity token purchased.

    “I did as mandated and she became angry that I requested the receipts for the recharge she did on the prepaid meter.

    “She was also fond of sending my daughters on errands while her own children were at home doing nothing.

    “I told her to stop sending my children on errands, especially in the night, and she started telling people that I provoked her for daring to ask her to provide evidence of payment for recharge of meter and for stopping her from sending my children on errands.

    “She subsequently got the support of some of the tenan, who have since subjected me and my children to verbal insults and diabolical jokes.

    “They called me all sort of names like olosho, asewo (prostitute), among others, but I did not respond to their insults.

    “One of them, Ms Faith Omoshe, who sells groceries in a shop in the building, used a chair to block the entrance to the pathway to my apartment and I removed the chair, leading to her biting off my hand in April 2025.

    “I reported the case at the Meiran Police Division where she was detained and made to sign an undertaking that she would never attack me again.

    “Yet, it was she that ganged up with Ms Olanrewaju to attack me by blocking the exit door to prevent me from running outside while the flogging lasted.

    “Although she was arrested too, she was later released and has since locked her shop and has not been seen.

    “She told the police that she travelled out of Lagos, perhaps for the yuletide.”

    The 44-year-old victim explained that she resorted to demanding for justice when the alleged culprits failed to honour the terms of a truce brokered by some community leaders.

    ”They damaged my doors and stole my smart phones worth N1.5 million and have been telling people around how they dealt with me mercilessly by logging me and my children, boasting that there was nothing anyone could do to them.

    “They have refused to honour the terms of an intervention by some community leaders, including the Baale of Ikola.

    “The community leaders tried to intervene to discourage me from pressing for justice, and they asked the woman to pay the sum of N1.5 million being the cost of the smart phones they took away and other damages they did at the scene.

    “Instead, they dropped N200,000, which I have since rejected.

    ”They have refused to visit the police station despite several invitations and they have also refused to pick the N200,000 they dropped for my treatment and the phone they took away after I rejected monetary compensation.

    “They have also failed to honour several invitations by the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, a state-owned parastatal with the mandate to handle incidents of sexual and domestic assaults.

    ”All I want is justice, because the brutal assault was premeditated and it shows in the manner it was executed by the woman, her children and collaborators.

    “As I speak, my body still aches from the floggings that left me with wounds, swollen face and dislocated joints.”

     A footage sighted by our correspondent showed moments Eniola was being brutalised by the alleged culprits. In the video, Eniola was seen being dragged on the floor while a woman holding canes and boy warned, “run whenever you see my mother, run when you see my mother” while the victim’s daughter was crying for help.

    The police spokesperson for the Lagos Command, Ms Abimbola Adebisi, was contacted for response, but at press time, she had not responded to an inquiry our correspondent sent to her mobile phone.

    Efforts made by the reporter to get Ms Olanrewaju’s response yielded no result.

    A visit our correspondent made to a building identified as her tailoring shop in the Ikola neighbourhood on Thursday and Friday did not yield fruits as the shop was locked in the early part of Thursday.

    The people who spoke with the reporter around the site of the shop also declined to give out her phone number when he visited again on Friday.

    In a Whatsapp chat with the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Mrs Abimbola Adebisi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), she quoted the Meiran Divisional Police Officer, Oluwakemi Adegboye,  as saying that a case of assault occasioning harm was reported on December 28, 2025 by one Eniola Oladapo (f) against Olanrewaju Oluronke (f) and others.

    “The victim went on agreement of collection of N500,000 from the suspect without the consent of police. Unfortunately, N200,000 was given with promise of paying the balance of N300,000 in the middle of February 2026,” the DPO said.

    Asked the current status of the case, the DPO said: “Our last discussion with the victim was that she wanted to go and refund the money she collected in order to charge the case to court.”