The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Atiku, Obi call for truce

    Atiku, Obi call for truce

    Shortly after former Anambra State governor and Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, migrated to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on December 31, 2025, supporters of former vice president Atiku Abubakar began assailing him for eyeing the presidential ticket of a party whose takeover was inspired and financed by someone else. For weeks, both camps in the ADC, a previously existing but fringe party chosen by a coalition of opposition forces to wage the 2027 electoral battle, have engaged in heated exchange of words, insulting and bruising each other in anticipation of the primary to determine the party’s standard-bearer. The reason is that the two gladiators, Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi, know that the 2027 poll will be their last, but feared that they won’t get the traction they received in 2023.

    While Mr Obi, whose supporters resent supporting any other person for the presidency save their champion, had been fairly reticent about the scurrilous Obidients, Alhaji Atiku appeared to have had enough of the heated exchange to post on social media last week of the need for supporters of the ADC presidential aspirants to stop the brickbat. According to the former vice president, “Anyone who insults Obi or Atiku does not mean well for the leaders, the Coalition ADC and for Nigeria and Nigerians. The only people who benefit from such a civil war are the APC urban bandits who want to maintain the satanic status quo. We are better together!” This admonition came on the heels of some Obi supporters damning the impatience of Atiku supporters who denounce the intolerance and irreverence of the vulgar Obidients.

    Around the same time Alhaji Atiku posted his admonition, the convener of the League of Northern Democrats, Umar Ardo, also a fellow Adamawan, told Channels Tv, that Mr Obi was nothing but a pretender to the throne. According to him: “Well, the ADC, as currently constituted, if it goes for primaries a hundred times, Atiku will win a hundred times. There is absolutely no doubt about that. How Peter Obi and his supporters react is what will determine the election. I am not saying that Peter Obi cannot be the candidate of the party; however, he can only be the candidate of the party if Atiku steps down.” Mr Ardo’s confidence infuriated the Obidients, and they doubled down on their precondition for joining forces with the ADC, which is that they expect their champion to get the ticket for the 2027 poll, or nothing else. Mr Obi, they exclaimed, was the only one fit and modern and electable for the presidency.

    READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

    Alhaji Atiku is, however, a more consummate politician. He knows many things the naïve and exuberant Obi supporters don’t. When the former LP candidate was still trying to make up his mind which political platform to use, Alhaji Atiku quietly and efficiently organised the takeover of the ADC and imbued it with life. With his men positioned in key organs of the party, he forbade them from talking about any predetermined presidential ticket. Their singsong was that the ADC needed to be built first before talking of candidacies. Of course he knew there were talks of matching Mr Obi with former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai for the presidential ticket, or failing that, matching Mr Obi with the proud and domineering former Kano governor and NNPP leader Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for the ticket. And he knew much more that in the Southeast or anywhere for that matter, if push came to shove, ADC members always knew on which side their bread was buttered.

    So Alhaji Atiku sits grimly and contemplatively in near anonymity, poised for the big day when the party would make its choice for the ticket. To him, the priority was to get Mr Obi into the party, and then after that, the bridge. Last December, frustrated that the LP was engrossed in litigations, and fearing he could be left stranded, for he was a joiner not a founder or builder, Mr Obi finally defected and directed his men to join the grand coalition. But he did not burn his bridges. He left room for retreat if it became inescapable, for he knew that there was not a cat in hell’s chance he would be given the ticket either on a platter or even if he schemed for it with all he has. Above all, the former Anambra governor knew that any opposition to Alhaji Atiku would be half-hearted, ultimately doomed by regional permutations and financial necessities. After all, despite his misgivings, Mr Obi knows he has really nothing to campaign with: no divisive religious themes, and no convincing proof he has a clue how the economy works beyond mouthing comparative statistics of global development.

    The former vice president has now called a truce, and Mr Obi has little appetite for any abusive exchanges. But at bottom, their edgy supporters, particularly the implacable Obidients holding Mr Obi hostage to their utopian ideals, have made up their minds which way to go. They will keep a tentative truce; but with their hands on the trigger and their guns cocked, they will fire at will when any provocation arises. However, with both men in the same creaky boat, and sailing midstream in a river with billowing waves, it would be insanity to attempt to bail out. As Mr Ardo mused, the ADC fortune will be determined by how the supporters of both Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi react when the chips are down and the presidential ticket secured. The alternative is too grim to contemplate.

  • The Kaduna (Kajuru) abductions

    The Kaduna (Kajuru) abductions

    Last Sunday’s abduction of some 177 worshippers from three churches in Kurmin Wali community in Kajuru local government area of Kaduna State illustrates once again the loopholes in Nigeria’s security paradigm. The abductions took place on Sunday, but it was not until Tuesday before the authorities acknowledged that a crime took place. Did no one lodge a report to the nearest police station? And if they did, why were senior police divisions, local government officials and state authorities not immediately notified? By initially denying the crime, state and local government authorities seemed mortifyingly unaware of any attacks and abductions in Kajuru.

    Unfortunately, much time was lost bickering over whether a crime occurred or not, rather than immediately activating measures to intercept the kidnappers. As late as Thursday, however, according to some indigenes of the area, the kidnappers were observed travelling on foot in the same general area. Though some 11 people reportedly escaped from their abductors, some 166 are thought to remain in the custody of the criminals who are clearly having a hard time moving so many people at once, and on foot. Why can’t they be monitored and isolated?

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    Not only must states redesign their security architecture and crime reporting methods, they must also brace up for embarrassment now and again as the next election cycle draws near. The Defence minister Christopher Musa hails from the state and is a member of the ethnic stock of the victims. Only recently he publicly condemned the act of negotiating with terrorists. The terrorists and anguished public will watch to see what happens, especially when the kidnappers were quoted as mocking the affected communities for reposing too much hope in security agents. What is clear is that if the response time to these crimes is not shortened, the nation and the security forces will be repeatedly embarrassed.

  • Abure’s ouster: What next for Labour Party?

    Abure’s ouster: What next for Labour Party?

    A Federal High Court ruling may have resolved the Labour Party’s leadership dispute, but with Peter Obi gone and the 2027 elections approaching, doubts remain about the party’s future. DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR RAYMOND MORDI reports.

    By any measure, the Federal High Court ruling delivered on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, should have been a pivotal turning point for the Labour Party (LP). Justice Peter Lifu’s judgment, affirming the removal of Julius Abure as national chairman and recognising Senator Nenadi Usman as head of a 29-member National Caretaker Committee, was unequivocal.

    It echoed earlier pronouncements of the Supreme Court, held that Abure’s tenure had long expired, and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deal only with the Usman-led leadership.

    However, instead of ending the conflict, the judgment has sparked a bigger debate: is this truly the end of the LP’s internal crisis, or just another phase in ongoing troubles since its rapid rise in 2023? Put simply, does the LP still matter as Nigeria heads toward the 2027 election?

    These questions hover over a party that once embodied youthful protest politics and electoral disruption, but now appears trapped between legal victories and political decline.

    A party stuck in court

    For over two years, the LP has been known more for court battles than for its ideas or organization. Rival groups have moved between different courts, each seeking legal backing for their claims. As a result, the party’s usual ways of settling disputes broke down, replaced by legal orders and public arguments.

    Justice Lifu’s ruling matters because it tries to end this cycle. By confirming that only the Nenadi Usman-led committee is recognized by law and the INEC, the court aimed to bring closure where the party itself could not.

    Chief Clems Ezika, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sees the decision as legally straightforward. “The Supreme Court has settled the position ab initio that Abure never emerged as the national chairman of the party from Congress,” he says. “So, Abure was not properly elected as the party’s national chairman from the outset.”

    For Ezika, a respected elder within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Federal High Court merely restated settled law. “Since the court has declared that the Nenadi Usman-led leadership of the party is the only one recognised by law, the matter is resolved,” he argues, adding that the only outstanding task is for the caretaker committee to organise a fresh congress in line with the party constitution.

    Others, however, are less optimistic about the political consequences. Afam Ilouno, a legal practitioner and long-standing LP member, believes the ruling highlights a deeper malaise. “If the judgment of the Supreme Court did not bring peace to the party because certain people refused to respect it, would they respect the judgment of the lower court?” he asks. “They would now claim the right of appeal and start climbing the ladder (of appeal) upwards once again.”

    In short, the law is clear, but getting people to follow it is a different issue.

    Abure’s shadow

    Julius Abure, the central figure in this story, is still a divisive presence even after being removed. Critics say he represents the party’s problems, arguing that his refusal to step down after his term ended hurt the party and alienated key supporters.

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    Ezika is unsparing. He describes Abure as “a meddlesome interloper” whose actions undermined the party from within. Among LP insiders, there is a more caustic allegation: that Abure functioned as an APC mole, fraternising with influential figures aligned with the ruling party and deliberately weakening the LP as an opposition force.

    Critics may not be able to prove these claims beyond a reasonable doubt, but their persistence reveals a larger issue: Abure’s time as leader became linked to problems. During his leadership, the party lost many elected officials and key members, most notably Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate. Obi’s move to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) cost the party its strongest asset.

    Justice Lifu’s ruling removes any legal claim Abure had to the party’s leadership. Still, his influence remains. The group loyal to Abure plans to appeal, which could keep the party in limbo and make rebuilding harder.

    “Given how Nigerian politics works, Abure and his team seem desperate,” says one LP member who asked not to be named. “But even small issues can hold a party back if there’s no discipline.”

    Nenadi Usman’s moment

    For Senator Nenadi Usman, the judgment is both a win and a challenge. She called it “a victory for democracy” and a turning point for a party she says has been “unfairly battered by internal sabotage.” Usman insists the LP is not about one person, and losing big names does not mean the party will fail.

    “Our task now is to reorganise,” she told supporters shortly after the ruling. “The Labour Party will remain a formidable force in 2027.”

    Usman argues that Obi and others joined the ADC with the LP leadership’s approval, calling it a tactical move rather than a betrayal. This view helps the party keep a symbolic link to the Obidient Movement, even as it plans for a future that might not include Obi as its candidate.

    It’s unclear if this argument will convince regular party members. Many grassroots supporters followed Obi to the ADC, prioritizing personal loyalty over official endorsements.

    Still, Usman’s leadership brings some stability by giving INEC, donors, and candidates a clear point of contact. As Comrade Mashood Erubami, an APC member and activist, says, “Members of the LP now know their leader, and they have the opportunity to sponsor a candidate in the election.”

    Relevance without Obi?

    The biggest challenge for the LP is not legal but political: Can the party stay relevant without Peter Obi?

    In 2023, Obi’s candidacy and the youth-led Obidient Movement were the primary factors behind the LP’s rise to prominence. Before that, the party was a minor player with little national presence. Obi turned it into a platform for protest votes, city-based support, and social media excitement.

    Now that much of that energy has moved to the ADC, the LP could return to its pre-2023 status. Ezika puts it plainly: “As of today, most of its core members and supporters have migrated to the ADC. So, at the end of the day, the Labour Party may be labouring in vain.”

    Others warn against giving up on the party too soon. Ilouno says relevance isn’t just about one person. “There are still people in the LP who are holding the ground,” he says. “The party has been around for some time, even before it became a frontline platform.”

    This struggle between maintaining the party’s strength and relying on prominent personalities lies at the heart of the LP’s problem. In Nigeria, parties often serve ambitious politicians. The LP became a movement for a while, but now, without its central figure, it must choose whether to build lasting structures or risk fading away.

    Datti Baba-Ahmed and the question of alignment

    Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Obi’s former running mate, adds more complexity. He wants to run for the LP’s presidential ticket, which raises challenging questions about party unity and strategy.

    At first glance, his ambition shows faith in the party’s future. But where does he stand between Abure and Usman? And how can he oppose the ADC coalition while still supporting Obi, who wants that coalition’s ticket?

    Some observers interpret Baba-Ahmed’s posture as hedging. Some think Baba-Ahmed is playing it safe. “He is keeping one foot in the LP and one eye on the broader opposition realignment,” says a political analyst in Abuja. “It could be a personal strategy, or it could be part of a larger game plan we don’t yet see.” It is both an opportunity and a test. A credible aspirant could signal that the party remains competitive. But internal disagreements over alliances and ideology could as easily reopen old wounds.

    The merger question

    One of the most significant decisions for the LP is its choice not to join any mergers or alliances before 2027. In a political scene dominated by those in power, a divided opposition usually means defeat.

    Ezika draws a historical parallel. “The only way to defeat the incumbent is if all the opposition parties consolidate their powers by coming together and presenting a single candidate,” he says, recalling how the APC itself emerged from a merger of legacy parties in 2013.

    From this point of view, the LP’s decision to go it alone seems unrealistic. Erubami goes further, saying that even a united opposition might struggle against the ruling party’s strengths. “As far as I am concerned, the 2027 presidential election is already a done deal for Asiwaju,” he says, noting the influence of APC governors and the power of incumbency.

    Still, many in the LP resist mergers because they don’t trust bigger parties. Activists worry about losing the party’s identity if they join larger groups—past experiences of smaller parties being swallowed up in coalitions still bother them.

    Senator Usman’s leadership will partly be judged by how well she handles this challenge, balancing party values with political reality.

    A party saved or postponed?

    Supporters of the court ruling say it has saved the LP from ending up like the PDP, which has been weakened by protracted internal crises. By removing Abure and approving a caretaker leadership, they believe the court has given the LP another chance.

    Critics argue that the court’s action may be too late. With top leaders and supporters already gone, legal decisions alone can’t bring back the party’s momentum.

    What’s clear is that the ruling changes the situation. It ends one dispute but may start others. It gives Nenadi Usman more authority, but doesn’t guarantee everyone will follow. It clarifies who leads, but doesn’t address the party’s relevance.

    As one independent observer said, “The Labour Party has won its case in court. Now it must win a case with Nigerians.”

    Whither the LP?

    The coming months will show if the LP can turn legal order into political success. The party faces big tests: holding a credible national congress, creating a message that goes beyond 2023 nostalgia, and choosing whether to go it alone or form alliances.

    It is good that the party is not built around one person, as its new leadership claims. But Nigerian politics is still very focused on individuals. Without a leader who can rally voters nationwide, the LP could become just a minor player in the 2027 race.

    Justice Lifu’s ruling might end one leadership fight, but it doesn’t solve the party’s bigger crisis. Whether the Labour Party becomes a real contender or fades away will depend more on future decisions than on court rulings.

    For now, the question is still unanswered: What’s next for the Labour Party?

  • How Aliyu has unlocked Sokoto’s economic potentials

    How Aliyu has unlocked Sokoto’s economic potentials

    By Muhammed Bwago

    Sokoto State stands at a pivotal moment in its economic transformation journey. Long celebrated as a historic center of culture, learning, and commerce in northern Nigeria, the state is now reshaping how business is conducted by modernizing rules, processes, and institutions that govern economic activity. This is more than policy rhetoric—it is a deliberate effort to translate reform into practical outcomes that would create jobs, attract investments, and improve daily interactions between citizens, businesses, and government. By embracing innovation and institutional reform, Sokoto State has signaled its intent to be competitive in a modern, technology-driven economy.

    At the heart of this transformation is Sokoto’s Business Enabling Reforms Action Plan for 2024–2025, a roadmap for improving the ease of doing business. The plan aligns with the Federal State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme, supported by the World Bank, and aims to strengthen institutions, streamline procedures, and enhance transparency. Unlike many reform documents that remain aspirational, Sokoto State’s plan has been approved by the State Executive Council and clearly assigns responsibilities, timelines, and measurable targets across multiple ministries and agencies. This institutional backing signals that the reforms are intended to be implemented, and that progress can be tracked and assessed objectively.

     “This action plan is a game-changer for Sokoto,” says a state official. “It gives every agency clear responsibilities and deadlines, something that was missing  in the past. We now have a framework that can be monitored and adjusted to ensure real impact.”

    Sokoto State is gradually moving core government services away from slow, paper-based procedures toward digital platforms that reduce delays, discretion, and uncertainty. One of the most visible reforms is in land administration. Through the Sokoto Geographical Information System, the state government has introduced an electronic process for issuing and recertifying Certificates of Occupancy and Rights of Occupancy. These certificates now include GPS coordinates, owner photographs, and enhanced security features, making them more reliable and harder to falsify. For businesses and individuals, this reform provides greater certainty of ownership, easier verification, and improved access to finance, as land can now be confidently used as collateral for loans.

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    The digital land system is particularly important for a state like Sokoto State where agriculture and land-based businesses form a significant part of the economy. Farmers, traders, and investors now have clear titles that can be used to secure loans, attract partnerships, and plan long-term projects without fear of disputes over ownership. This reform has drastically reduced administrative bottlenecks, which have historically slowed investment, and has laid the groundwork for more structured urban and rural development.

    To support the digital transition, Governor Ahmed Aliyu signed into law the Sokoto State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency Bill. This agency is tasked with expanding digital infrastructure, coordinating e-government services, and engaging private technology partners to bring modern solutions to the state. While challenges such as limited broadband coverage, uneven ICT literacy, and irregular power supply remains a challenge, creating a dedicated ICT agency demonstrates long-term commitment to building the foundation for modern, technology-driven service delivery. Over time, this institutional structure can facilitate innovations such as mobile-based government services, online licensing, and integrated payment systems, making Sokoto State more business-friendly and future-ready.

    Sokoto State reforms are designed not only for large scale investors but also for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of the state’s economy. Simplified tax administration, integrated payment platforms, and clearer regulatory requirements have reduced compliance costs for traders, artisans, and family-owned businesses. Digital systems minimize repeated visits to government offices, saving time and money for entrepreneurs who often operate on tight margins. More predictable land and administrative processes enable SMEs to formalize operations, access finance, and plan for sustainable growth.

    The reform plan also emphasizes access to justice, particularly for commercial disputes. The decentralization and strengthening of Small Claims Courts aims to provide faster, cheaper, and more accessible resolution of disputes. Lengthy court cases have historically been financially devastating for small businesses, threatening cash flow and business relationships. By offering a quicker, more affordable alternative, Sokoto State’s judicial reforms have helped to preserve businesses, encourage entrepreneurship, and strengthen confidence in the rule of law. When combined with improved land records and transparent administrative processes, these judicial reforms have contributed to a more stable and predictable commercial environment.

    Transparency and accountability are central to ensuring that reforms genuinely reduce corruption rather than simply shift it into new forms. Digital land certificates create verifiable electronic trails, making it difficult for officials or intermediaries to manipulate ownership records. Published procedures, processing times, and official fees allow businesses and civil society to hold government agencies accountable, while the Ministry of Finance’s focus on improved financial reporting, internal controls, and external oversight further strengthens governance. These mechanisms do not eliminate corruption overnight, but they significantly raise the cost and risk of malpractice while encouraging ethical behavior and professional standards,because decisions and transactions are documented real time.

    The broader economic implications of these reforms beyond administrative improvements are significant. Predictable rules, reliable land administration, and efficient public services are essential signals to both domestic and external investors. Confidence in the regulatory environment will certainly encourage investment in the sectors where Sokoto State has natural advantages, such as agriculture, agro-processing, solid minerals, trade, logistics, and services. Over time, increased investment will definitely translate into job creation, higher incomes, and a broader tax base, generating a virtuous cycle of growth and public revenue that allows the state to reinvest in infrastructure and human capital.

    These reforms also have social implications. By simplifying processes and reducing bureaucratic hurdles, citizens experience less frustration when interacting with the government. Formalizing small businesses and improving access to finance empowers individuals and families, contributing to poverty reduction and economic inclusion. Digital systems also foster data-driven governance, allowing policymakers to identify bottlenecks, measure performance, and design evidence-based interventions.

    Nevertheless, the road ahead is not without risks. Digital reforms require sustained funding, continuous maintenance, and protection against cyber threats. Capacity gaps within the civil service must be addressed through ongoing training and incentives. Public awareness campaigns are critical to ensure that businesses and citizens understand and trust the new systems. Without effective communication, even well-designed reforms may fail to achieve their intended impact. Resistance from entrenched interests is another challenge. Bureaucracies accustomed to discretionary authority and manual processes may be slow to adopt new procedures or attempt to circumvent rules. Sokoto’s approach mitigates this risk through service-level agreements, standardized timelines, transparent fee schedules, grievance redress mechanisms, and digital tracking tools. Yet persistent enforcement and political leadership remain key to overcoming inertia and opposition.

    Sokoto State’s approach highlights a broader lesson for governance in Nigeria and similar economies: modernization requires a combination of technology, institutional reform, and accountability. Technology alone is insufficient. Success depends on well-trained officials, consistent enforcement, citizen engagement, and political commitment. By investing in these complementary pillars, Sokoto is not only improving the ease of doing business but also laying the foundation for sustainable, inclusive economic growth.

    There is no doubt that Sokoto State’s business reforms represent a serious and structured attempt to modernize governance and unlock the economic potentials of the state. By combining digital innovation, institutional reform, and accountability mechanisms, the state is moving beyond rhetoric towards tangible change. If sustained with political will, which Governor Aliyu has demonstrated over and over, adequate resources, and inclusive engagement, these reforms can reshape Sokoto State’s economic landscape, strengthen investor confidence, and improve everyday interactions between government and citizens. In doing so, Sokoto State has positioned itself not only as a custodian of rich history but as a forward-looking state prepared to compete and thrive as a modern economy.

  • 2027: Battle for Benue Northwest Senatorial Zone seat

    2027: Battle for Benue Northwest Senatorial Zone seat

    Benue North West Senatorial zone, also known as Zone B, comprises seven local government areas: Makurdi, Gwer East, Gwer West, Guma, Tarka, Gboko, and Buruku.

    This zone is a strategic political bloc, with its senatorial headquarters located in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

    Several political heavyweights have represented this zone in the Senate, including Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume; the late Senator KJN Waku, Senator Fred Orti, Senator Joseph  Adagba, Senator Oker Jev, and the current Senator, Chief Titus Tartenger Zam.

    Notably, the party that wins Benue Zone B often secures the governorship elections, making the 2027 elections highly competitive.

    Several aspirants have thrown their hats into the Zone B senatorial race.

    Among them is Chief Dave Awuna, son of the late educationalist and colourful politician, Chief Padopads Awuna.

    Awuna, who recently served as Nigeria Scout Commissioner, is gradually gaining popularity among the electorate in Benue North West Senatorial zone.

    He expressed his intention to end the persistent farmers-herders clashes and transform the zone into a food production hub.

    “You know part of the Benue North West zone is located on the bank of River Benue, that is Gwer West, Makurdi, and Guma, with massive farming activities going on throughout the year.

    READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

    However, it has not promoted joy but sadness due to the farmers-herders clash. I will collaborate with the state and federal governments to put an end to the crises,” he said.

    Awuna emphasized the need for synergy between the Governor and Senator, as they cannot afford to work in isolation.

    Having consulted widely in the seven local government areas,  Awuna is receiving great attention and is favoured by zoning.

    Contesting on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and being on good terms with Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, puts him in a strong position.

    Another strong aspirant is Barr. Emmanuel Jime, former Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly.

    For eight-years, he represented Makurdi-Guma Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

    Jime, a former Executive Secretary of Nigeria Shippers Council and Chief Executive of Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), is bringing a huge financial war chest and grassroots experience to the race.

    He has empowered many youths and provided employment opportunities, endearing himself to the people. Jime is contesting on the APC platform, leveraging his connection with the governor.

    Dr. Steven Hwande, the Chief Medical Director of Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), is another prominent aspirant.

    Despite government restrictions, Dr. Hwande has successfully carried out consultations across the Benue North West Senatorial zone, garnering significant support.

    As CMD of BSUTH, he has made a lasting impact by employing over 200 youths, upgrading the hospital, and putting it on the international map.

    His performance has positioned him as a leading contender for the senatorial seat.

    Hwande has turned Benue State University Teaching Hospital into medical tourism.  He met a dilapidated hospital but within a twinkle of an eye change and upgraded it to international standard.

    He employed over 200 staff with state- of -the art medical equipment.

    Hwande is a team player and all leading stakeholders in the zone are behind him .

    Chief Titus Zam is the incumbent Senator repressing Benue Zone B

    You can’t rule out an incumbent in any election.

    Zam has made it clear that he is seeking a second term , as such he cannot be a push over.

    As the 2027 general elections approach, more aspirants are likely to join the race.

  • At bay in Kurmin Wali

    At bay in Kurmin Wali

    Ungoverned and ungovernable spaces proliferate in some dark axis of lawlessness in the nation. This is in spite of the bravest efforts of the security forces and the proactive onslaught of the new Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa, who has declared war on terrorism and its sponsors. Once again, the authorities have been embarrassed by a brazen act of state-baiting. It took the law enforcement agencies almost two days to acknowledge that the latest incident of mass abduction actually took place. This was after a spate of denials during which time they gave a firm rebuff to enquiries suggesting that something nasty and unpleasant had taken place in the arid, dusty bowels of Kurmin Wali in the Kajuru Local Government Council of Kaduna State. Tired and miffed by it all, the police and the local authorities had apparently decided to take up residence in a Cuckoo land of fiction and eerie denial. They finally caved in to overwhelming reality when denying the obvious was no longer profitable or honorable.

        One can understand and appreciate the fear and apprehension of the local authorities and the security agencies. But this could not have been the way to go, particularly given the scale and magnitude of the mass abduction and the fact that in a globalized world, news, particularly bad news, tends to travel with supersonic speed and far and wide, too. By Tuesday, international media agencies were already beaming images of the terrible mass eviction. The few solitary livestock remaining, particularly the heedless hens and stranded dogs, trembled in fright as they wandered aimlessly about as if humanity had become the greatest enemy of domestic animals.

        The terrorists struck while church service was in progress. Nothing could have been more helpful to the narrative of religious persecution.  They had broken through the massive iron bar put in place by terrified worshippers as they barricaded themselves in. They then proceeded to herd the worshippers out of the premises to join others from adjoining churches. From there, they were marched out, irrespective of age, sex and health, through a dusty track that led out to the fearsome forest. For a country which had become the cynosure of the whole world because of deepening cultural schisms and orchestrated religious altercations, a country that has come under the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s evangelical expedition, this must be as concerning as it can get. It appears that if care is not taken, some people are bent on making the entire nation not just ungovernable but practically unlivable.

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      By Wednesday afternoon, Al-Jazeera, through its intrepid correspondent, was already beaming horrific images from the site and scene of carnage and economic castration. It was a classic abode of the wretched of the earth; a haunting snapshot of the last vestiges of a misbegotten feudal civilization. Cowering and shivering with fright and premonition, the few remaining habitants had gathered their miserable belongings together, ready to flee but with nowhere to go. They let it be known that the last school in the area closed shop several years earlier. No police outpost, no health facilities, no government presence. The dazed and distraught villagers claimed that they had earlier sighted the terrorists openly marching up and down the entire village before they struck. There were no authorities to report to, or to alert.

      This is where the idea of “ungoverned” space began to assume a dark, ironic hue. It is the state that has evaporated. There are ungoverned spaces because there are ungovernable governments. In a classic instance of what is known as chutzpah, the bandits are demanding from the villagers nineteen motor cycles they claimed to have lost or misplaced in previous raids and a tidy sum as reparation. Where are these miserable people going to get the money? Obviously they have been paying ransom through their nose. Chutzpah is when a man murders his own parents only to inform the court that he ought to be set free on the grounds that he was an orphan.

    We must pity our friend, Uba Sani, the governor of Kaduna State, who has shown more compassion and considerable emotional intelligence in administering the affairs of this amorphous conurbation bristling with geopolitical tensions, ethnic polarizations and religious disharmonies. Just as the story of the mass-abduction was unfolding, Sani’s political adversaries opened another political front for him by circulating a fake memo purportedly broadening and widening the succession base of the Zazzau emirate by prising it away from Fulani domination. It doesn’t get more explosively regicidal than that, and it shows the extent of the ethnic, religious and cultural fracture in the state.

      The Kurmin Wali abduction has returned the issue of terror-containment and the implications for the nation to the front burner. Curiously but hardly assuring is Governor Uba Sani’s assertion that the abducted would regain their freedom in due course thus inadvertently letting slip a pattern of abduction and ransom payment almost inevitably followed by more abduction. This is a pattern that cannot be sustained given the growing international encirclement of the nation’s ethnic and religious categories and the ultimate threat to food security in a situation where farmers can no longer go to their farm. With the oil market about to be saturated by Venezuelan oil as instigated by Donald Trump, government revenues will dip further putting grave pressure on the ability of government to finance its budget.

      Despite General Musa’s vehement denunciations and his brave attempts to walk his talk about not giving any quarters to terrorists, there is still a dichotomy, a wild oscillation between outright kinetic approach and the non-kinetic approach which favours negotiations and quiet ransom. We have not heard the last from the agents of appeasement. What appears to be a decisive victory for the adherents of kinetic approach which culminated in General Musa’s recall after being dropped as Chief of Defence Staff to serve as Minister of Defence after his predecessor was shunted aside may not be what it seems. It is a mere reshuffling of the sitting arrangement to placate certain power sectors who might have been unsettled by the mode and manner of the removal of the former military brass hat. A power struggle subsists. Musa may huff and puff, but the real locus of power and troops deployment lies somewhere else.

       The buck stops at the table of the president, and it is a very tough call indeed. Tinubu has to combine statecraft with political sagacity and the wily management of electoral fortunes, particularly in an electoral season where nothing is guaranteed and where the path to a second term is strewn with so many political landmines despite the hegemonic domination of the ruling party and its octopoidal reach and range. By popular consensus, Tinubu is an unrivalled political strategist, past master in the art of wheeling and dealing and a clinical finisher when it comes to the defenestration of opponents.

       But nowhere has it been said that the former Lagos State Governor is a military genius and an enabler of stunning defeats on the field of battle. Only few men in human history have been able to combine the two outstanding gifts of military genius and political prodigy. The greatest military commanders have been known to trip over elementary political calculations while the greatest political geniuses often wilt at the prospects of massive bloodletting.  From all appearances,  Tinubu  is a man who abhors sectarian violence in all its manifestations and  recoils at the prospects of mindless bigotry. Going forward, this politicized sensitivity and reluctance to engage in violent confrontation may well turn out a major handicap as he squares up to those whose agenda is to torment and brutalize the nation into submission to their antediluvian vision of human society.

    The brutal irony of postcolonial Africa, particularly its traumatised and embattled multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-economic conflations where the personalization of power is the norm, is that we often ask and expect our rulers to be everything at once. Sometimes, it is the rulers themselves who insist on being everything. This is what has made the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Libya to topple over into actual military confrontation.

       In post-military Nigeria, despite the fact that General Obasanjo did very well in the remit of demilitarization handed over to him by his subordinates  it was when going forward to deepening and expanding the democratic space that the Owu-born warrior came a sad cropper. Till date the baleful overcast of Obasanjo’s anti-democratic debacle still hangs over the nation. If only the poor man had limited himself to one eventful, nation-shaking term which forbidding symbolic aura would still have been with us as veritable lodestar. Trying to cover his track, he committed more grievous infractions. His loss of prestige and sacral respectability is also the nation’s loss.

      President Tinubu will do very well to take some historical lessons to heart.  This is a different order of battle from the immediate post-military epoch. The master-drummers below the reef and the puppeteers orchestrating the spate of terrorism and abductions in the north of the nation will soon appear in the horizon to name their price. If the president succumbs to their blackmail, they would have succeeded in making the country ungovernable and probably unlivable. But it will be foolish to imagine that they will stop until something gives, having succeeded in blackmailing the nation by their malevolent antics. This is because there is an inflationary dynamic to the logic of terrorism and hostage-taking. The more you give in, the more it demands until there is nothing to give again.

       A gifted nation like this, which is supposed to be the Mecca and magnetic hub for the Black race, cannot just continue to exist on paper. It must be made to mean something. The powers that be must brace up for confrontation with the demons confronting the nation. This insurgency in the north has gone on for too long and has already consumed some of the best flowers of the nation. A situation in which non-state actors and anti-state urchins hold the country to ransom for decades can no longer be treated as a normal occurrence or as a passing fancy. 

      The president must put in place an emergency advisory council comprising of retired war veterans, masters of asymmetrical warfare and experts in jungle neutralization in order to halt the drift into anarchy and anomie. We can seek international assistance. On the political front, this may well be the time to set in motion the convocation of a conference seeking a confederal consensus for the nation which will allow the various components to work out their internal contradictions to their satisfaction. This is the only way sanity can be re-imposed on the current dysfunctional bricolage.  

  • The Battle of Agindingbi

    The Battle of Agindingbi

    Okon falls to Mama Igosun

    It was the longest day, and the cannons of Kiriji were already booming. Even before commencing on the great march on Mama Igosun’s redoubt, Okon was already dreaming of sweet victory and sweeter revenge. “I go tie up dem Yoruba witch as dem dey do for Akwa Ibom. Dem small children go pepper am and im go confess. Dem go know say na dem yeye Yoruba people dey trouble dis kontri. After dat na dem OPC house I go head make I go finish dat were man who come beat Okon just like dat”.

     After Okon was forcibly dislodged from the house in a civil commotion that lasted a whole day, he had taken up residence with Baba Lekki who promised him a medical concoction that would make him invisible to any human-being.  But the crazy boy still had his doubts about Baba Lekki and his bogus charm. As he evaded Baba’s lunging walking stick, Okon suddenly rounded on the old crook.

       “Baba as una dey chase me, dat means you dey see me? So when dem medicine go start work, abi na Yoruba wayo?” Okon demanded.

        “Na by remote control I go trigger am. I get dem remote control from dem Agbanrere (Giraffe) neck and dem buffalo horn”, Baba replied.

         “So, how one go know say one don become spirit?” Okon pressed.

         “When you hit dem LASTMA people and dem no reply”, Baba answered.

     “Baba  wetin if dem charm no work?”, Okon asked the ageing scoundrel.

          “Foolish boy, he come be like the case of dem apprentice pilot who dey ask him oga wetin go happen if parachute no open. Na dat one dem dey call jumping to conclusion”, Baba Lekki retorted with a sinister smile.

         “Baba, walahi, if dis yeye juju no work, as you come draw blood from my head, naim I go draw blood from una mouth”, Okon snarled as Baba Lekki tried to hush him away. By now, Okon knew he was on his own. But he was determined to press his luck.  Very soon, Okon arrived at the sight of an uncompleted building that had just collapsed. It was a scene out of the apocalypse. While people were wailing, open looting was also going on. His sense of natural dignity and justice affronted, Okon blocked the path of a neer do well. “No be dem dead people property you dey thief so?” Okon demanded. Before the mammoth urchin could give a reply, Okon dealt him a resounding slap on the face.

       “Allah wa kabr, awon omo ogun orun dide”, the illiterate vagabond screamed and fled.

    READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

       By now, Okon had arrived around the neighborhood. He was now convinced that the charm was working and that he was truly invisible and invincible. Earlier, he had accosted a policeman who was openly taking bribe and dealt him a blow to the plexus. The rogue cop fled screaming “Chineke dem ghost from Atan don destroy me”.

        But the first sign that all might not go well on the home front came soon. There was Mama Igosun dressed like a local hunter swigging directly from a bottle of Seaman’s schnapps even as she swung to a 1930 classic by Denge in honour of one Maggie Macaulay.

    As Okon made to sweep past her thinking that all this was an elaborate bluff, the Amazon blocked his path and stated cursing his ancestors.

        “Ekolo, abi wetin you call yourself, you no dey greet your mother for dem village?” she hollered as she tried to collar Okon.

         “Move”, Okon thundered as he sidestepped. Mama Igosun was so taken aback by the vehemence and ferocity that she tripped and fell. Okon rushed towards her room.

        “Hen hen, o ti lo gbagbara, abi?” the old woman screamed as she sprang after Okon. Overconfidence overtook the crazy boy. Before he could look back, the irate woman dealt him a blow on the back with a frying pan.  The effect of the blow was electric. Okon wound up like a stung millipede and upon recovering his senses, he took to his heels with Mama Igosun in hot pursuit.

    An old classic republished by popular demand.

  • Significance of FCT Civil Service Commission in Nigeria’s administrative history

    Significance of FCT Civil Service Commission in Nigeria’s administrative history

    There is every conceivable reason to celebrate and properly situate the emergence and functional relevance of the Federal Capital Territory Civil Service Commission (FCT-CSC) in Nigeria’s administrative history, even if the significance of this is not obvious to any but an administrative historian or public administration researcher. In 2018, a legislative bill approving the establishment of the FCT-CSC was passed into law. Like the federal and state CSC, it was charged with the responsibility of the appointment, promotion, discipline and transfer of civil servants within the civil service system of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The eventual passing of this law has been long in the making, especially since the constitutional establishment of the Federal Civil Service Commission and the State Civil Service Commission raises the crucial issue of federal inclusivity and administrative effectiveness, especially for sub-national entity. But I am jumping ahead of my narrative already!

    In 1976, an act legislating the establishment of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was passed to law. There was also the establishment of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCTDA) to oversee the administrative necessities of not only transferring the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, but also of administering municipal services while also articulating the Abuja master plan with the objective of infrastructural development. Within the grand national vision, Abuja, more than Lagos, is meant to realize the federal vision of a centrally located and neutral geographical zone that could symbolically speak to Nigeria’s federal aspiration. My argument in this piece is that the significance of the creation of the FCT in 1976 has finally been realized with the establishment of the FCT-CSC as the frontline and constitutionally enabled administrative gatekeeping institution that will strengthen the subnational component in the collective desire for a change management dynamic that will enable the institutional reform of the civil service system in Nigeria. Abuja is the final plank in the overall systemic strategy to articulate a reform programme that captures the entirety of the Nigerian state and its administrative objectives.

    Coming in as the newest CSC, after more than seven decades since the founding of the civil service commission in Nigeria, the FCT-CSC is not only enjoying the privileges of grand attention to the emergence of a public service within a territory enjoying a mini-state status. It is also coming at a time when there is an ongoing and renewed enthusiasm about launching and consolidating an institutional and administrative reform to backstop the dynamics of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration. And under the able leadership of my colleague, Engr. Emeka Ezeh, as the Chairman, the FCT-CSC has fully capitalized on its newness to adopt and domesticate twenty-first century administrative and performance practices while also connecting with the FCSC’s strategic plan to exhibit itself as the poster CSC in the overall challenge of making Nigeria work through its civil and public service system as the institutional mechanism for grounding the performance of a developmental state in Nigeria.

    The emergence of the FCT-CSC participates in the global significance of civil service commission in administrative history. The idea of the civil service commission owes its contemporary understanding to the consistent efforts of the British government and its civil service to keep iterating reform measures that would make the system increasingly more efficient and functional. In 1854, two important administrative developments—the Report on the Indian Civil Service and the Northcote-Trevelyan Report—were the results of an intense interrogation of the civil service system, and the urgent need to safeguard it against abnormal and unprofessional recruitment practices whose terrible consequences undermined the efficiency the British government, through its civil service, to cater for the needs of her citizens.

    READ ALSO; Poor pastor or powerful pastor?

    The two reports outline the structure of a framework that will ensure (i) recruitment would be through an open and competitive examination that will facilitate an entry requirement that guarantees a merit system; (ii) new recruits would require a generalist education that will enable inter-departmental staff transfers; (iii) recruitment would integrate new entrants into a hierarchical structure of grades from the most mechanical to the most intellectual; and (iv) promotion and career progression would be on the basis of merit and not patronage or preferment. These four premises became the basis for the establishment of the Civil Service Commission in the United Kingdom. And they consolidated the earlier practice in the United States, through the Pendleton Act of 1883, which not only undermine the American spoil system, but the establishment of the significance of competitive examination as the criterion for ensuring entry into the civil service based on a meritocratic standard.    

    These are the global predecessors that ground the critical emergence of the FCT-CSC as a cogent dimension of the FCSC in Nigeria’s public administration. There are two fundamental reasons why the coming into reckoning of the FCT-CSC is a key feature in the annals of administrative and institutional engineering in Nigeria. First, establishing the FCT-CSC carries the overall burden of gatekeeping the professionalism and meritocracy of the civil service system in Nigeria. That objective cannot be achieved while leaving out a significant subnational part like Abuja. There are a lot of gaps and administrative impediments in MDAs that lack adequately and functional supervision from CSC that enable significant sharp practices and unprofessional relations that undermine the performance and productivity of the civil service. The political interference in the internal governance dynamics of the public service, the lack of a civil service commission, and the prebendal framework that creep into recruitment, all go to undermine the constitutional independence of the civil service. It enables certain corrupt tendencies, especially in the implementation of the federal character principle as a critical component of the diversity management praxis, that steadily chip away at the public spiritedness and the meritocratic basis of performance management in the civil service. Merit is often thrown away on the altar of political and administrative patronage.   

    The second reason for the significance of the establishment and operational functionality of the FCT-CSC is that it removes the gross injustice and arbitrariness of limiting the career management options of the civil servants who are really committed to their vocation. The zenith of the civil service profession is the position of either a permanent secretary or the head of service. Unfortunately, and for the last several decades, civil servants in the FCT have had to retire without the option of getting to the zenith of their career. Indeed, and within this unjust administrative and institutional practice, becoming a permanent secretary to the FCT has remained one of the juiciest posting in the Federal Civil Service; a posting that steps on the aspirations of those who have the capacities to become permanent secretaries or head of service in their own right. One can then begin to see how removing the FCT from the ambit of administrative and governance framework that conditions the understanding of a civil service system in the Commonwealth especially can limit the overall understanding of even the very aspiration for institutional reform in Nigeria. And so, with deep appreciation to the institutional thinking of the indefatigable Minister Nyesom Wike, the 2018 Act establishing the FCT-CSC, which has been aging due to lack of political will to jumpstart its implementation, has finally been resolved. The FCT-CSC has now fully connected with the FCSC and its strategic implementation plan to reposition the civil service system in Nigeria as a genuinely noble vocation that will serve as the administrative mechanism for performance managing the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

    In specific terms, the two-fold objective of the FCSC in achieving the above goal is, on the one hand, to gatekeep the public administration profession through a strict oversight on and implementation of a standardized merit system.

    This starts from the recruitment and entry modalities and down to the entirety of the diversity management framework, including the federal character principle. On the other hand, the FCSC is keen on transforming the CSCs into expert hubs that reflect a reformed public administration governance and human resource management professionalism that is crucially the backbone of the aspiration of the Nigerian state to become fully developmental. Overall, the FCSC aims to implement a strategy that calls on the collective cooperation of all stakeholders to restore competency-based human resource management in the Nigerian civil service and the public sector by extension.

    By fully aligning with the FCSC’s strategic implementation plan, in a similar way that states, like Abia, are enthusiastically already doing, we hope that in the years ahead—while the Renewed Hope Agenda keeps unraveling productively—we will be able to put the FCSC strategic plan in full implementation.

    The FCSC strategic plan is founded on four fundamental and correlated goals: (a) merit-based appointment that sees to institutionalize transparent, technology-driven recruitment aligned with federal character and meritocracy; (b) performance-driven promotion that will enable the system to link career progression with competence, measurable outputs, and accountability through modern performance management systems; (c) ethical transparency as the basis for strengthening fairness, firmness, and efficiency implementing disciplinary and ethical safeguards; and (d) institutional capacity development that instigate the civil service system to modernize governance, ICT, infrastructure, financial management, and staff welfare, as means of benchmarking globally acceptable HR practices.

    To arrive at a sense of direction that the FCSC needs to take in order to be able to adequately translate these pillars of institutional reform into implementational success, we deemed it fit, as a first order of business, to carry out some basic housekeeping diagnosis, including a PPESTLE—physical infrastructure, political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors—and SWOT—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—analyses to determine the capacity and capability of the FCSC to initiate the strategic plan. This was also followed (a) desk reviews on civil/public service commissions in different jurisdictions, and (b) wide consultations with stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations from the Commission. And as a second step, the FCSC has commenced putting in place reform imperatives around which her capability can emerge:

    1.           Appointment of a certified human resource expert professionals to head the secretariats of the service commissions across the federation at earliest time possible.

    2.           Deployment of an initial cohort of certified and retrained HR professionals, drawn from serving federal officers in the administrative officer pool, as pioneer core staff to serve in the FCSC for an initial minimum of five years in the first instance.

    3.           Fresh recruitment and solicitation of a critical mass of expert HR professionals under special arrangement to set up a new professionalized FCSC secretariat.

    4.           Renovate and totally overhaul the deplorable FCSC complex into an enhanced working environment for staff to provide enhanced working environment for staffn

    5.           Modernization of service commissions core operations and processes through computerization and digitization

    6.           Institution of monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems that allow Commissions’ proper oversight over the power delegated to the MDAs

    7.           Strengthening policy and research hubs within the Service Commissions to facilitate town and gown synergy that leverages research and intellectual capacities of public administration and policy scholars and practitioners for knowledge management and problem solving

    8.           Strengthening the Commission’s ongoing collaborative and partnership efforts with states’ CSC, regional and global communities of practice and service

    It is within the context of all these unfolding developments around the FCSC’s strategic and implementation plan that the significance of the FCT-CSC becomes all the more important. The FCSC in a word has another strategic partner that could strengthen her resolve in enhancing the professionalism and performance capability of the civil service to leap-jump the Renewed Hope Agenda into democratic reckoning.

    • Olaopa Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission & Professor of Public Administration Abuja

  • How power, politics policy flow in Tinubu’s carefully sequenced presidency

    How power, politics policy flow in Tinubu’s carefully sequenced presidency

    Having returned to Abuja from Abu Dhabi late on the previous Saturday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wasted no time returning to his desk at the State House. There was no ceremonial pause, no indulgence in the fatigue that naturally follows a demanding international outing. Instead, the President slipped seamlessly back into the rhythms of governance, setting things straight and pressing ahead with what has increasingly become his defining pursuit: the steady, deliberate construction of a functional Nigerian state.

    From Sunday onward, the week unfolded as a study in motion and method. Day after day, sometimes stretching late into the night, the President worked through meetings, briefs, and decisions with a tempo that suggested not urgency, but clarity. What stood out was not merely the volume of activity, but the way events appeared to align; each one flowing naturally into another, connected by an internal logic that made the entire sequence feel intentional rather than accidental.

    To the casual observer, this symmetry might have seemed coincidental. To the more attentive watcher of power, it revealed something else entirely: a presidency running on planning, timing, and an instinctive understanding of political sequence. In a system often criticised for improvisation and reactive governance, the Tinubu Presidency appears increasingly choreographed, not in the theatrical sense, but in the disciplined manner of a long-distance runner who knows exactly when to conserve energy and when to surge.

    Two meetings during the week captured this rhythm perfectly.

    On Monday, the President received the Governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, in a closed-door session at the State House. By Thursday, a similar audience was granted to the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde. On the surface, these were routine engagements between the President and subnational leaders. In context, however, they carried layered political meaning.

    Both visitors are governors from opposition parties. Both arrived in Abuja amid intense political noise. In Yusuf’s case, weeks of speculation had trailed him; whispers of a possible defection from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), countered by denials from his political mentor and rival narratives from party loyalists. In Makinde’s case, the controversy was more direct: public remarks distancing himself from the President’s 2027 re-election ambition, rooted in his fallout with former ally and current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. Yet, when the President received them, none of that noise appeared to matter.

    READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

    What mattered was that Kano had security and infrastructure concerns to raise. What mattered was that Oyo’s governor wanted to discuss national and subnational governance. In both instances, Tinubu listened. No grandstanding. No visible irritation. No partisan gatekeeping. The optics that emerged; smiles, cordial exchanges, relaxed body language, told their own story.

    It was a subtle but powerful message: this President does not confuse politics with governance.

    Makinde would later articulate it plainly. “The President is the President of Nigeria, not the President of APC,” he said, stressing that issues such as insecurity, poverty alleviation and citizens’ welfare had no party colouration. Tinubu did not need to rebut or amplify that statement. His actions already had. By opening his doors to opposition governors, one flirting with defection, the other publicly ruling it out, he projected a leadership style anchored in confidence rather than insecurity.

    In a political environment often defined by grudges and zero-sum calculations, this posture matters. It portrays Tinubu as a leader comfortable in his mandate, secure enough to engage critics and rivals alike, and mature enough to understand that national cohesion is built not by exclusion, but by conversation.

    This magnanimity, however, does not dilute his focus. If anything, it sharpens it.

    While the political class dissected the symbolism of those meetings, the President was already moving on another front, one that cuts to the heart of Nigeria’s economic recovery. On Thursday, Tinubu received the global leadership of Shell Plc at the State House. The outcome was not symbolism, but substance.

    What emerged from that meeting was a clear signal to global capital: Nigeria is back in the race.

    By approving the gazetting of targeted, investment-linked incentives for Shell’s Bonga South West deep-offshore project, the President demonstrated the same strategic thinking that defined his engagements in Abu Dhabi. These were not blanket concessions or fiscal giveaways. As Tinubu himself stressed, they were “ring-fenced and investment-linked,” designed to unlock new capital, drive incremental production, deepen local content, and generate jobs, without eroding government revenues.

    The numbers tell their own story. Since the issuance of executive orders to liberalise the oil and gas sector, Shell alone has invested over $7 billion in Nigeria in just over a year. Now, buoyed by renewed policy clarity and regulatory certainty, the company is signalling fresh investments of up to $20 billion in the coming years. Projects like Bonga North, shallow-water gas developments, and the proposed Bonga South West field are not abstract concepts; they translate into fabrication yards coming back to life, thousands of direct and indirect jobs, long-term foreign exchange inflows, and decades of sustained government revenue.

    What makes this sequence remarkable is not just the scale of the investment, but the timing.

    Only days earlier, Tinubu had been in Abu Dhabi, advancing Nigeria’s economic and diplomatic interests through high-level engagements and agreements. Barely had the jet touched down in Abuja than another economic gain was being engineered at home. Different venues, same objective. Different partners, same philosophy. Whether in foreign capitals or the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President’s focus remains constant: pushing Nigeria forward.

    This is where the threads of the week converge.

    The meetings with Yusuf and Makinde underscored a leadership open to dialogue, unthreatened by dissent, and attentive to the complexities of Nigeria’s plural politics. The engagement with Shell revealed a President equally relentless in economic statecraft, translating reforms into real investment flows. Together, they painted a picture of a presidency operating on multiple planes at once; political stability on one hand, economic expansion on the other, each reinforcing the other.

    It is easy to underestimate the discipline required to sustain this balance. Easier still to miss the planning beneath the surface. But when events line up with such regularity; opposition governors welcomed with goodwill, investors reassured with policy certainty, reforms yielding tangible dividends, it becomes harder to dismiss the pattern as coincidence.

    Tinubu’s Presidency, now firmly into its stride, is beginning to resemble a long-form strategy rather than a collection of episodic reactions. The reforms initiated early in his tenure are no longer abstract policy statements; they are bearing fruit, attracting capital, and reshaping perceptions. The political engagements are no longer defensive maneuvers; they are expressions of confidence.

    Beyond the headline-grabbing optics of bipartisan politics and boardroom economics, the President’s week was also stitched together by quieter, steadier acts that revealed the full texture of governance; ritual, empathy, symbolism, and institutional housekeeping.

    It began on Sunday with a pause for recognition. President Tinubu marked the 60th birthday of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, not as a ceremonial courtesy but as an affirmation of reform. In praising Adeniyi’s professionalism and the recalibration of the Customs Service under his watch, the President signalled once again his preference for results over rhetoric and institutions that work over institutions that merely exist.

    Monday bore a heavier emotional weight. Tinubu mourned the passing of Kano business patriarch, Alhaji Bature Abdulaziz, acknowledging the loss of a stabilising voice in Nigeria’s trading ecosystem. In the same breath, he condemned the chilling murder of a woman and her six children in Kano, directing swift investigation and prosecution, drawing a firm moral line between the sanctity of life and the brutality that threatens it. The day also carried a continental note, as he congratulated Solid Minerals Minister, Dele Alake, on his re-election as chairman of the Africa Minerals Strategic Group, reinforcing Nigeria’s renewed assertiveness in shaping Africa’s resource future. Condolences followed for the late Chief Imam of Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammad Bashir Saliu, a bridge-builder in faith and community.

    Tuesday sustained the rhythm of empathy and affirmation: mourning Christian patriarch Moses Adegbite, while celebrating Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, both for her birthday and her elevation within Lagos’ traditional hierarchy.

    By Thursday, the President returned to institutional focus, charging the new leadership of the Federal Character Commission to act as the nation’s conscience, even as he approved key ambassadorial postings to France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, quiet but consequential moves in diplomacy.

    Friday crowned the week with symbolism and validation: a chieftaincy honour for Rep. Kafilat Ogbara, and the Olubadan’s succinct verdict, if you know where Tinubu is coming from, you will understand where he is taking Nigeria.

    In the end, the week told a simple but powerful story. Nigeria’s President is not merely reacting to events; he is sequencing them. He is not choosing between politics and economics; he is managing both with a single-minded commitment to restoration. And perhaps most tellingly, he is doing so with a calm assurance that suggests he knows exactly where the country is headed, and how each step, however different it may appear, fits into the larger design.

    That sense of order, in a system long accustomed to drift, may yet prove to be one of the most consequential reforms of all.

  • APC and the Yilwatda doctrine

    APC and the Yilwatda doctrine

    Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda was elected National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 24 July, 2025.  Prior to this appointment, he was a Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, in Benue State, a Resident Electoral Commissioner for the same state, an APC governorship candidate for Plateau State, the Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council for Plateau State, and a Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

    In his acceptance speech as National Chairman, he said to the National Executive Committee of the party: “I pledge, without hesitation, that I will work with everybody in the party, I will unite the party, I will build the party, I will expand the party with you as the focus and the building block and the support that I will require to drive the party as needed by all of us so that we can fulfil the dream of Nigerians who have reposed their hope in the Renewed Hope Agenda.” This may be perceived as the general outline of his political article of faith or what may be called ‘The Yilwatda Doctrine’. In a number of speeches, Professor Yilwatda has defined aspects of this doctrine.

    The first aspect deals with leadership within the party in different states. In this regard, he declared on 2 January, 2026: “In all the states, … the state governors … lead the party.” In the specific case of Rivers State, he said that Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who joined APC on 9 December, 2025, is the leader of the APC, but that, in running the party, he would need to carry along other key stakeholders.

    Vice President Kasim Shettima had made a related point, at Governor Peter Mbah’s defection rally in Enugu on 14 October, 2025, when he said: “As per the APC convention and constitution, the governor is the leader of the party in the state. Your Excellency, you are now the leader of the APC family in Enugu State. I am the Vice-President, but the leader of the APC in Borno is Professor Babagana Umara Zulum. The President of the Senate is the Number 3 citizen, but the leader of the party in Akwa Ibom State is Governor Umo Eno. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the Number 4 citizen, but the leader of the party in Kaduna State is Senator Uba Sani, the Governor of Kaduna State. We are one family tied to a common destiny.”

    READ ALSO: Gov Abba Yusuf’s convoluted defection

    As Simon Sinek put it in a 13 April, 2010 article on the logistics of leadership, “There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us. We follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves.” Elucidating this point, Hidayat Rizvi said on 5 September, 2024, on her website: “Leaders typically hold formal positions of authority, recognized by titles and accompanied by the power to make strategic decisions. Those Who Lead, on the other hand, influence without formal authority, often inspiring teams and shaping outcomes through emotional intelligence and adaptability.”

    In Rivers State, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, is among ‘Those Who Lead’ both within his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and across parties, and he may be regarded as a special kind of “non-APC-member”. He has ceaselessly declared his commitment to the success of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the president’s second term election in 2027; he helped APC to win 20 out of 23 seats in the 30 August, 2025 Local Government elections in Rivers State; all the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected to APC on 5 December, 2025 are his loyalists; and he rallied both APC and PDP chairmen to attend his “Thank you tour” which held from December 2025 to January 2026. All of these indicate that Minister Wike has the capacity to impact both the APC governorship primary and the general elections in the state in 2027.

      The Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, who is himself a member of APC, added his perspective on the question of leadership, on 10 January, 2026, when he said to a group of elders: “I’m a governor, but I still have leaders. There is no local government [in which] I don’t have leaders. I have leaders. You cannot say because you are a governor, … you are all in all. Nooo! You must be loyal to your people, because we are just serving them.” In other words, there are leaders and there are ‘leaders’.

    Moreover, when, at the venue of the 2 October, 2018 governorship primary election of the APC in Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was asked why he was not supporting Governor Akinwumi Ambode for a second term, he said: “I brought Ambode to the people. He was a civil servant under me. He performed very well as a civil servant. And when he showed interest in politics after, … we gave him the opportunity. I introduced him to the party. The party accepted him. He became the governor. Now, if the party … says they want either a change or they want to reaffirm his governorship through open exercise [direct primaries], if they elect him today, so be it. You know, you remain relevant as a leader if you submit yourself once in a while to what your people want.”

    Asiwaju further noted: “If the party who made me the leader of the structure in Lagos says what they want, it’s only if you have followership that you are a leader in democracy. If I look back [and] I don’t find them again, if I don’t respond to them, if I fail to accede to their request, I would have failed the leadership test. … If this house that accommodates all of us is saying we’re facing one way … we’re supporting a change …, I have to abide by that. I have no choice.” In other words, ‘Those Who Lead’ can horse and unhorse ‘Leaders’.

    The second aspect of the Yilwatda Doctrine deals with automatic tickets. On 2 January, 2026, Professor Yilwatda declared: “I’m not the person to choose people in the primary election. Everybody undergoes primary election.” This means there would be no automatic tickets for new members of the party. So, all candidates must take part in the party’s primaries. In the specific case of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, the National Chairman said: “If Siminalayi emerges as the candidate of APC in Rivers State, I’ll stand by him. But if any other person emerges as candidate of APC in Rivers State, I’ll go with [that other person]. I go with candidates, not individuals. … So, when Sim picks a form, he’ll be an aspirant. If he emerges as a candidate, I’ll support him. If he loses, I’ll sympathise with him and go with the person that wins the primary election.”

                  This seems to be a dampener on the presumption that since Governor Fubara has defected to APC and FCT Minister Wike remains a non-member of the party, the minister’s capacity to stop Governor Fubara from securing a second term ticket has been undermined or eliminated outright, especially given the spat between Minister Wike and the National Secretary of APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, arising from the senator’s support for Governor Fubara. In fact, just a few days ago, Professor Yilwatda’s declaration that there would be no automatic tickets was reiterated by the APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, and an unnamed National Working Committee member, as reported in the 19 January, 2026 issue of The Punch. This means that, within the Yilwatda Doctrine, the people’s will will be supreme in candidate selection, supposedly through direct primaries, especially with the ongoing e-membership registration in the party.

    Meanwhile, the presumption of Minister Wike’s declining influence seems to have contributed to Governor Fubara’s rather unrestrained throwing of the darts of creative insults at his erstwhile benefactor. For example, through innuendos, Governor Fubara has recently called Minister Wike a rat and an ignorant barking dog. The governor had also earlier, on 11 July 2024, spoken of people who “come to the media and dance, [but] when they go behind, they cry.” This innuendo is related to Minister Wike’s disclosure in a 2 June, 2025 interview that “sometimes when I go back in my quiet moment, I play the video of speeches of the governor (Fubara), what he said, what he did to me, I weep.”

    In contrast to Governor Fubara’s applause-generating insults, Minister Wike has kept his message simple, consistent and resonant. The frequently-repeated message is that, for the 2023 governorship election in Rivers State, a mistake was made by supporting an ingrate who doesn’t keep to agreements; and that because “Agreement is agreement” and should be inviolable, Rivers State voters must not make that kind of mistake again; and so, Fubara must not get a second term as governor.

    The third article of the Yilwatda Doctrine is captured in the following declaration which he made on 21 January, 2026: “In 2027, as a party chairman, I will stand strong to defend the position that if you are not prepared to join us, you shouldn’t be given appointment. … If you know you are a technocrat, go and be a consultant, [rather than] taking political appointment and not going back to support the party that brought you to power. If all of us, …if all appointees, decide to become technocrats, the party will never return to power.” This disavowal repudiates the Pidgin English principle, “Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop.”

    In other words, the National Chairman believes that it is unethical to be benefiting from APC through political appointments without joining or working for the party to become stronger or win re-election. Indeed, one state legislature had in the past withheld approval for some nominees for appointment on the ground that those nominees had not used their prior political appointments positively for the party.

    The Yilwatda Doctrine rests on the following tripod: one, the governor is the leader of APC in each state that has an APC governor, but the governor must reckon with other stakeholders in the state; two, all aspirants would face party primaries, as there would be no automatic candidates for the 2027 elections; and three, in the spirit of giving back to APC, beneficiaries of political appointments cannot hide behind being technocrats to evade the moral responsibility to fully identify with and work for the progress of the party. Being critical principles of Nigerian democracy, it would be interesting to see how these principles would be sustainably applicable.