Connect with us

News

2023 And The Toughtened Top Dog In Tinubu

Published

3 years ago

on

 

By Bala Ibrahim.

If there is anything that played prominent in the build up to this particular general election is the word sentiment. Yes, sentiment, which the dictionary describes as a held or expressed opinion, had hoodwinked many people, such that some of them lost their senses of good judgement, alongside the quality of thinking rightly or wisely. As the results of the Presidential election continue to trickle in, two lessons are revealing themselves relevantly, viz: the pleasure of taking the path of the truth and the pains that could follow fallacy or falsehood.

My friend, Ameenu Ayama had written a fantastic article, in fact, an award winning essay, captioned, THE PLACE OF NORTHERN CHRISTIANS IN NATIONAL & NORTHERN POLITICS IN THE POST-2023 ERA. Because of the failure of some people, particularly the northern Christians, to position themselves on the path of the truth, religious sentiment was played wrongly, and that misguided judgement is now coming with some unpalatable consequences. A portion of the consequences of the misguided judgement was captured by Ayama, thus:

“Northern Christians have shown themselves to be a people whom the larger Muslim population in the North would never trust with to act as their representative or with political power, even on a sub regional level. No national politician worth his salt such as Tinubu will ever trust them or their leadership again”.

Atiku Abubakar and his co-travellers in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, thought they could reap from the misjudgement of our friends, the northern Christians, but because like them, the PDP played treacherous to the zoning arrangement, which would have equitably taken power to the south, they couldnt escape the wrath or anger of those who see their action as a betrayal of trust. In simple terms, they are now going through the pains that follow fallacy or falsehood.

Advert

As I write this article, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is positioning itself to commence releasing the results of the election, but already, from the exit poll, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has undoubtedly been portrayed as a tough dog. Although voting is still ongoing in some states, due to reported violence, Tinubu and his supporters have reasons to remain smiling, based on the opinions of those who voted.

Elections: Amnesty International tasks security agents to respect citizens’ rights

If we go by the provision of the electoral law, that the President of Nigeria is elected using a modified two-round system, and to be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive a plurality of the votes and over 25% of the vote in at least 24 of the 36 states, alongside the opinion poll of people after leaving their polling stations, including the expressed opinion of President Muhammadu Buhari, there is enough reason to believe that Nigerians have danced to the widely held opinion, that power should shift to the south.

The opinion of people that voted in Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Kastina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Gombe and Bauchi, are expressly in favour of power shift. With the exception of states like Adamawa and Taraba, where sentiment was used against common sense, the general mood is to respect the arrangement of power shift. The implication of course is that the tough dog in Tinubu has been toughened.

I don’t want to delve much on the issue of Kano, which is Nigeria’s richest reservoir of crude votes, and the rationale behind Kwankwaso’s stance, but as an APC apologist, I would say to him, THANK YOU MADUGU. Yes, a big thank you to Kwankwaso for depriving Atiku and the PDP, the luxury of playing political polo in Kano.

In 2019, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, got 391,593 votes from Kano, which represents 21.1 per cent of the total votes cast in the state. He lost to Buhari, who scored nearly 1.5m votes, or 78.9 per cent of the total votes cast. With Kwankwaso, a son of the soil in the race now, Atiku’s show in Kano would surely be a show of shame. This would toughen the tough dog in Tinubu, who Buhari said, is poised to be the next President of Nigeria.

Kwankwaso and his supporters may not be in favour of power shift, and I am not challenging them on that, but depending on how Kwankwaso play his cards in the coming gubernatorial elections, he has the chance to make or mar his political future. If he plays rightly and wisely, by taking a borrow from the idiom, he who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day, his political future can be prosperous.

But should he miscalculate, like the northern Christians did, the consequences could be politically disastrous, particularly because, in Nigeria, there is no guarantee to permanent political loyalty. Also, the President in waiting is a politician with prescience, and one that is known to deliberately plan and calculate well, how to get what they wants, regardless of the status of who he wants it from. The political sagacity of Tinubu is such that he can make easy, political conversion.

Related Topics:

News

Rivers APC Chapter Rejects Moves to Impeach Fubara

Published

3 hours ago

on

January 8, 2026

By

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

 

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally rejected ongoing moves to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, warning that such action would destabilise the state and damage the party’s image.

Nigerian Tracker News earlier reported that the political crisis rocking Rivers State deepened on Thursday as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Oduh.

The move followed a plenary session presided over by the Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, during which the Majority Leader, Major Jack, read a notice of allegations and claims of gross misconduct levelled against the governor.

No fewer than 26 lawmakers were said to have signed the notice, which the legislators alleged was in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

Amaewhule announced that the notice would be served on Governor Fubara within the next seven days, in accordance with legislative procedure.

Similarly, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Linda Stewart, read out a separate notice of allegations and gross misconduct against Deputy Governor Ngozi Oduh.

In a press statement issued on Thursday and signed by the Rivers APC spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju, the party said its leadership had taken note of the “unfortunate developments” emanating from the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Advert

While acknowledging the constitutional independence of the legislature and its role in checks and balances, the APC said it could not support an impeachment process against a governor elected on its platform.

“Our position as of today on this matter is that we solemnly reject the resort to an impeachment process against our Governor and his deputy,” the statement read.

The party warned against allowing internal disputes associated with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to spill into the APC, describing such a development as unacceptable.

Addressing claims that the impeachment threat is linked to budgetary issues, the APC recalled that during the period of emergency rule, a budget of ₦1.485 trillion was transmitted to the National Assembly by the President in May 2025 and subsequently approved by the Senate on June 25, 2025, and the House of Representatives on July 22, 2025.

According to the statement, the budget was designed to run for one year until August 2026, noting that the governor is not constitutionally compelled to present a supplementary budget if he is satisfied with the existing appropriation.

The party also cited constitutional provisions allowing a governor to spend for up to six months into a new fiscal year.

The APC leadership therefore urged members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, particularly its lawmakers, to resist what it described as “pressures from outside the Assembly chambers” aimed at destabilising the government.

“We will do everything possible to ensure that the Government of Rivers State, which is an APC government, is not destabilised through fratricidal disagreements,” the statement added.

The party called on the lawmakers to immediately discontinue the impeachment process, warning that proceeding with it could tarnish the APC’s image and undermine governance and development in the state.

“Let our state remain a democracy and not a politicocracy,” the statement noted.

The latest development comes amid the lingering political rift between Governor Fubara and his predecessor and political benefactor, Nyesom Wike, which has continued to polarise the state’s political structure.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) had stated that Wike would “certainly be under” his successor, Fubara, should he decide to join the party, underscoring that leadership positions are tied to current office.

The APC Director of Information, Bala Ibrahim, made the comments during an interview on Trust TV.

Continue Reading

News

How Fubara engaged social media influencers to tarnish image of FCT Minister, Wike -Group reveals

Published

6 hours ago

on

January 8, 2026

By

 

 

 

Concerned Rivers People, CRP has revealed how Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara engaged social media influencers to tarnish image of the Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the CRP’s Director of Communication, Robinson Uke where he stated that:

“Bloggers engaged by public officials to influence politics in Nigeria has become the norm as we are aware of deliberate moves by Fubara to denigrate the hardworking FCT minister before Mr President.

Advert

“This obviously will not fly as we are also aware that some bloggers equally turned down mouth watering offers declaring that the minister has not in any way attacked the Rivers Governor either directly or indirectly.

Uke explained that: “All the FCT minister has said is that an agreement is an agreement, Fubara should swallow his pride and respect the agreement.

“This he has not done yet he is lavishing hard earned tax payers money of the state on social media influencers across the country without an Appropriation Act to back his spending.

“This development raises ethical concerns, as it undermines transparency and accountability in governance.

” The Nigerian government has responded by demanding approval for sponsored posts, citing concerns over misinformation and manipulation.

“We want to specially thank those bloggers who are standing by the truth and refused to be used by the drowning Fubara who has betrayal flowing in his DNA.

“To Fubara we wish him the best of luck in his political sojourn as an African proverb says a child who refuses to allow his mother to sleep, the child too will not sleep.

Continue Reading

News

JUST-IN: Rivers Assembly Initiates Impeachment Proceedings Against Fubara

Published

6 hours ago

on

January 8, 2026

By

 

 

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Rivers State House of Assembly has begun impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Oduh.

During plenary presided over by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, according to a live broadcast on Channels Television on Thursday, the Majority Leader, Major Jack, read out the notice of allegations and gross misconduct against Fubara.

“The governor does not even want to present any budget, because if he wanted to, he would have brought it all this while. Siminalayi Fubara is a mistake. Rivers state has never had it this bad,” the Speaker said.

Twenty-six members of the Rivers State House of Assembly signed the notice, which they alleged was against the Nigerian Constitution.

Amaewhule said the notice will be served to Fubara in the next seven days.

The Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Linda Stewart, also read out the notice of allegations and gross misconduct against Oduh.

Advert

Relying on Section 188 of the Nigerian Constitution, Jack reeled out seven points of alleged gross misconduct against Fubara.

Some of the accusations include the demolition of the Assembly Complex, extra budgetary spending, withholding funds meant for the Assembly Service Commission, and refusal to obey the Supreme Court on the financial autonomy of the house.

After Jack laid his notice before the Speaker, who said the notice would be served to the governor in seven days, the deputy leader, Linda Stewart, also brought forward a notice of gross misconduct against Odu.

According to the report, some of the allegations against Odu included reckless and unconstitutional spending of public funds, obstruction of the House of Assembly from performing its constitutional duties as outlined by the 1999 Constitution, conniving to allow unauthorised persons to occupy offices without proper screening by the legitimate House of Assembly.

“Siminalayi Fubara and Ngozi Odu are nothing but a threat to our nascent democracy. If they are allowed to remain in office, I do not know what will become of our democracy. They are moving about from place to place, spending taxpayers’ money without approval,” the Speaker added.

Other allegations were that she approached another group of people for budgetary approval instead of the legitimate Rivers State House of Assembly, seizure of salaries and allowances accruing to the RSHA and the Rivers State Assembly Service Commission.

The move is the second attempt by the lawmakers to impeach Fubara and his deputy, following a similar one in March 2025.

In the notice signed by 26 members of the Rivers Assembly at that time, the lawmakers accused Fubara and Odu of gross misconduct after the governor fell out with the immediate governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.

Following escalating tensions in the oil-rich state, President Bola Tinubu intervened and declared a state of emergency.

The president suspended Fubara, his deputy and the Rivers Assembly and said the development is “required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

Continue Reading

Trending