President Goodluck Jonathan's accreditation on Saturday for the presidential election was delayed as three card readers failed to capture his biometric details.
Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, who arrived at the Otazi playground polling centre in his home town, Otueke, Bayelsa State, with his wife, at exactly 9:22 am, could not be accredited till after 10:00 am.
However, the same card reader had accredited some other voters before the President.
While waiting for a fourth card reader, a visibly sweating Jonathan urged Nigerians to be patient and ensure they all voted.
Calling the inability to be accredited a little delay, Jonathan told journalists that the elections nationwide should not be viewed through the perspective of only one incident of failed card reader.
Jonathan said: "President Jonathan is just one person, so if we have problem with one person, as far as the elections is going on well nationally.
"I’m not worried, there might be a delay, my interest is that we conduct a credible election.
"What I want to know is that what is happening across the country."
Jonathan, who also placed a call through to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, to find out what is happening nationwide, added: "I want to use this opportunity to commend Nigerians and congratulate them for coming out to elect the next President, Senators and House of Representatives.
"There maybe issues, but this is the first time we are using this technology of voters card and card readers, I just spoke with the INEC Chairman to know what is happening across the country, President Jonathan is just one voter so even if we have problems with my own card, as long as nationally the process is going on well.
"They may be a way to resolve the hitches but my interest is for us to conduct a peaceful and credible elections and i believe that no matter the hitches.
"Nigeria elections is an election that the whole world is interested in and my conviction is that the election should go on."
There had been complaints in various parts of Lagos concerning the challenges being faced by voters as well as the late commencement of the accreditation.
Mr. Ima Niboro,Director General of the News Agency of Nigeria, said he spoke with the Chairman of the INEC Professor Attahiru Jega, who he said gave approval for President Jonathan to be accredited “based on the register”.
Kaduna State :
Sambo's Accreditation Delayed by Late Arrival of Electoral Materials
In Kaduna, officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are yet to arrive Vice President Namadi Sambo's polling unit with election materials
But security men and several aides of the Vice President were already on ground expecting INEC officials to arrive for accreditation of the Vice President.
Already some of the voters who are waiting patiently for INEC officials to come for the accreditation scheduled to commence at 8am are becoming apprehensive and worried as nobody is telling them the reason for the delay.
As at 11:00 am when this story was being filed , it was observed that large number of voters trooped out impressively for the accreditation at the Kabala Doki , Ward 5 polling unit , but the delay in the arrival of election materials is stirring up tension.
However, in other polling units visited within Kaduna metropolis earlier, INEC officials have arrived with materials and have commenced accreditation process.
At WAFF Road, an accredited voted, Emmanuel Kyom told correspondents that he was impressed with quick and orderly manner the card reader and INEC officials are conducting the accreditation exercise.
It was also noticed that heavily armed and battle ready soldiers and policemen were seen at flash points notorious for violence as early as 7am.
For now, the accreditation process in most places visited by Huhuonline.com are peaceful and voters are on queue waiting to for their turn.
Rivers State
The state is under siege as armed men take over the streets of Port Harcourt and other parts of the state, shooting sporadically for two days running.
The Police in Rivers State in obvious connivance with the opposition PDP in the state have embarked on massive arrest of APC stalwarts in the state on trumped up charges.
The State Agent of the APC , Emma Deeyah was yesterday arrested at the state INEC office where he and others went for a briefing by INEC.
At GRA , close to the popular Casablanca area, armed men opened fire shooting in the air while other road users abandoned their vehicles and ran for safety. This was about 6pm yesterday.
At Rumuigbo and Wimpy areas of Obio/Akpor LGA, home of the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Nyesom Wike, there were shootings by armed youths who were seen chanting'PDP'.
In Andoni, the home of the defected Deputy Gov. Tele Ikuru and Prince Uche Secondus, the National Dep Chairman of the PDP, soldiers have taken over the place, intimidating supporters of the State Chairman of APC, Ibiamu Ikanya who is also from the area.
As at 5am today, at Obelle in Emohua LGA, police men were knocking on the doors of APC members to arrest them.
The fear of arrest as well as the presence of these armed men has contributed to the apathy that is witnessed now in the state.
As at press time,, voting materials are yet to arrive in all the 17 wards of Obio/Akpor LGA, home of Nyesom Wike and Tony Okocha who is the candidate of the APC for Obio/Akpor federal constituency. He is Amaechi's Chief of Staff after Wike
Edo State:
Army Stops Journalist from Travelling in Benin, Edo State
Operatives of Nigerian Army have begun what many are describing as the systematic intimidation of Nigerian journalists on Saturday morning in Benin, Edo State.
Journalists who set out to monitor the presidential and national assembly elections were barred from moving in their private vehicles by soldiers who insisted that they could only commute in official cars.
Gabriel Ordia of Galaxy TV and his crew were turned back from travelling to Edo Central senatorial district.
As at the time of filing this report, the Public Relations Officer of 4 Brigade, Nigerian Army in Benin, Captain Abubakar Abdulahi, who was called for intervention, promised to talk to the military operatives.
Some members of the public are however sceptical that the presence of the military operatives could intimidate electorates from coming out to exercise their franchise.
Card Reader: Oyegun, Others Yet to be Accredited
It appears the failure of INEC’s card readers to function is not isolated in Edo south senatorial district alone, as accreditation of eligible voters is underway in Edo central and north part of state.
All polling units in Edo south are yet to be accreditation of eligible voters as at 11:00 am.
National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief John Odigie Oyegun, who arrived at Ward 2 Unit 2 located in the premises of Civil Service Training School, GRA, by 11 am, was told by INEC staff that the the card readers were not functioning.
Addressing the press, Chief Oyegun called on the people to remain calm and wait peacefully, hoping that the situation will be resolved as soon as possible.
“We are keeping an eye on the situation. We will not allow the people to be deprived the opportunity to express their will," Oyegun said.
"I have heard that it is a generalised problem in Edo south. Messing up the process in Edo south will be messing up the result in Edo state.
"If it is a genuine technical problem which we hope will be resolved in a matter of minutes, because Edo south constitute 56 percent of the population of the state."
The process of accreditation was already in progress at Ward 7 Units 1 to 39, located inside Ologbosere Primary School, Upper Sakponba as the card reader issue was already resolved.
Rev. Eta Okon, confirmed that the card reader actually failed to work initially but that the issue has been resolved and he has been accredited.
Enugu & Gombe State : Bomb Blast Rocks Polling Unit in Enugu, Gombe
The entire Enugu State was thrown into panic on Saturday as an improvised explosive devices loaded in the white-coloured Honda car with registration number: KU J971 ABJ went off at a polling unit inside WTC primary school while accreditation of voters commenced on Saturday.
Nobody died in the incident, but it was learnt that the driver of the bomb-laden car got injured, but how he was evacuated from the car remains a mystery to security operatives at the scene.
The security operatives also said there were some unexploded explosives inside the car.
As at the time of filling this report, Police anti-bomb squad were at the scene trying to defuse the remaining unexploded bombs.
Prior to the explosion, it was learnt that the security operatives had defused two bombs at about 9.05 am.
As a result of this incidents, many residents have returned home in order to save their lives as they expressed fears that more of such incidents could be experienced.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Dan Bature, who visited the scene with top officers of the Force and journalists, advised residents not to panic as the Police was in control.
Journalists were however barred from taking photographs of the scene.
In the Gombe incident, it was learnt that the explosive was planted in one of the polling units.
Witnesses said one person was killed in the incident, but it is not known if the victim was a suicide bomber.
APC raises alarm over use of FG facility in Lagos
The APC has raised the alarm over suspicious, election-related activities being carried out at the Federal Government Press on Mobil Road, opposite Coca Cola, at Ajegunle, Lagos. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said workers at the facility were sent home early on Friday, apparently so it can be made ready for use today (Saturday, March 28th) for a ‘presidency’ assignment. ”A concerned Nigerian alerted us to these developments, and we wonder what a federal government facility can be needed for on election day if it is not part of the facilities designated by INEC for election collation purpose. ”We are therefore compelled to alert the security agencies to urgently put the Federal Government Press at Mobil Road in Lagos under surveillance, with a view to stopping any possible illegal activities that may be going on there on this election day.” APC said with the avowed desperation of the PDP to capture Lagos State at all cost, it cannot be trusted not to resort to underhand activities to manipulate the polls in the state, hence the alarm.
PDP Agent Arrested in Ikorodu For Possessing Spy Cameras
APC Agents Without Tags denied Entry to Polling Area
One of the agents of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Igbogbo area of Ikorodu Division has been arrested with a spy camera.
The cameras were hidden in his sunglasses and ball point pens.
Except in exceptional cases authorised by the appropriate quarters, the use of cameras at polling centres goes contrary to electoral laws.
Concerns have been raised by many that this rule is widely being broken.
Meanwhile, agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in polling booth 001, Ikorodu are not being allowed in the polling booth because they are not in possession identification tags.
Some of the agents, however are presenting letters of confirmation of their status, but officials insiste that they must produce identification tags.
The same situation is occurring in Cele area of Ikorodu Division where party agents without identifications are also sent out.
As at 10:30 am, accreditation had not commenced in a lot of places in Ikorodu as some of the smart card readers for the accreditation had not been programmed for the process.
In Aga and Borokini areas, all the card readers have failed and accreditation is terribly slow in the area.
Blockage of APC leaders phone lines
The opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) party said the phone lines of key APC leaders have been bombarded with calls from an unknown number with a view to rendering them useless on election day. The calls, which started in the early hours of Saturday, were so persistent that genuine calls could not come in while no calls could be made from the phone lines.
17 card readers stolen in Imo
Security was beefed up at both the INEC headquarters along Port Harcourt Road, Owerri by soldiers who cordoned the area after violence erupted by some youths who protested what they alleged as missing 17 Card Reader Machines in the area.
Borno State
Vehicles, Houses torched as PDP, APC clash, in Borno
Over 250 PDP and APC members and supporters in Borno state clashed at Marama town in Hawul Local Government Area of state, torching several houses and vehicles over an alleged “importation of Boko Haram insurgents” to disrupt elections in the state. The clash was triggered when the PDP supporters alleged that one of the Borno state commissioners stormed southern Borno with armed APC thugs to allegedly disrupt the elections. The two sides clashed with dangerous weapons, burning each other’s’ flags, posters and party buildings, including two Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) of the council chairman and the alleged Borno commissioner. It took the deployment of soldiers from Biu town to intervene and quell the bloody clash that did not result into loss of lives, as the wounded were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Gombe for treatment..
DELTA STATE:
Voting postponed in two LGAs in Delta
Voting was postponed in Ethiope Federal constituency comprising Ethiope East and West Local Government Areas of Delta State because of inadequate supply of voting materials. The distribution of voting materials by the Warri office of INEC ended at 8.20am.
EBONYI STATE:
Man arrested for Distributing Stolen PVCs in Ebonyi
A man identified as Ozoemena Odenta was arrested by police in Ikwo Division of Ebonyi state for allegedly distributing stolen PVCs in Ekawoke ward in the area. The suspect was accused to have stolen the cards, numbering over 300, from INEC officials during the last distribution exercise and disappeared, only to resurface on the election day with the cards, which he distributed based on his discretion to his loyalists.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, on Wednesday, arraigned self-styled relationship therapist Okoro Blessing Nkiruka, popularly known as Blessing CEO, before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, over an alleged fresh ₦13 million fraud.
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Blessing CEO was arraigned before Justice Yelim Bogoro on a six-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and retaining the proceeds of an alleged unlawful act amounting to N13 million.
The latest case brings to three the number of criminal charges currently pending against the defendant before different courts in Lagos.
According to the anti-graft agency, the charges arose from multiple petitions submitted by individuals and organisations, including the Nigeria Cancer Society. The petitioners alleged that the defendant solicited donations from members of the public through social media after claiming she was battling Stage 4 breast cancer and required financial assistance for treatment.
The EFCC alleged that several donors made contributions based on the representation, only for investigations to later reveal that the medical document she presented to support her claims was allegedly falsified.
The Commission further alleged that the donations, totalling ₦13 million, were obtained under false pretences and subsequently retained by the defendant.
The arraignment marks the latest legal challenge for Blessing CEO, who is already facing two separate criminal prosecutions before courts in Lagos.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, she was arraigned before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, over an alleged ₦69.15 million fraud. She was charged with obtaining money by false pretence and stealing.
The EFCC alleged that she falsely represented herself as the owner of a property located at No. 1 Tunbosun Osobu Street, Lekki, and induced Hope Chiropractic Health Clinic Limited to pay ₦69.15 million for a five-year lease. The Commission further alleged that she converted the money to her personal use.
She pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge. Following submissions by counsel, Justice Oshodi ordered that the arraignment proceed and remanded her in EFCC custody pending further proceedings.
The case was adjourned until July 16, 2026, for the hearing of her bail application and commencement of trial.
Earlier on Tuesday, Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, granted Blessing CEO bail in the sum of ₦10 million with two sureties in connection with a separate alleged ₦36 million property fraud case.
The defendant, who appeared in court wearing a long black gown over black trousers, is standing trial over allegations relating to the property transaction.
EFCC counsel Suleiman Suleiman opposed her request to remain in the Commission’s custody, informing the court that the agency’s detention facilities were already overcrowded.
In his ruling, Justice Dipeolu ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility pending the fulfilment of her bail conditions.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter until June 22, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
News
In the impatient age of quarterly capitalism, where executives are judged by immediate returns and investors demand instant gratification, patience has become one of the rarest commodities in business. Yet patience, more than brilliance or bravado, has always distinguished the true institution-builder from the mere opportunist. Few contemporary African businessmen embody this distinction more convincingly than Tony Elumelu.
As Heirs Insurance Group marks its fifth anniversary in June 2026, the milestone is significant not merely because of the company’s rapid ascent within Nigeria’s notoriously underpenetrated insurance sector, but because its story is, fundamentally, a meditation on endurance. Behind the celebratory speeches, growth metrics and corporate accolades lies a less glamorous but more revealing reality: the operational licenses that birthed Heirs Insurance took eight years to secure. Yes, you read it correctly. Eight years.
In most corporate boardrooms, eight years of regulatory limbo would have been sufficient to extinguish enthusiasm, redirect capital elsewhere and bury the idea quietly beneath the sediment of abandoned ambitions. Yet Tony Elumelu persisted. That persistence now appears less like stubbornness and more like strategic foresight.
The launch of Heirs Insurance in 2021 alongside the commissioning of Heirs Towers was never merely the unveiling of another financial-services company. It was the extension of a wider philosophical project that has animated Elumelu’s business career for decades: the conviction that African-owned institutions can achieve scale, sophistication and competitiveness comparable to any global peer.
Today, barely five years later, Heirs Insurance serves nearly two million customers across Nigeria. The Financial Times recently ranked Heirs Life Assurance seventh and Heirs General Insurance forty-first among Africa’s fastest-growing companies, a remarkable feat in a sector that has historically struggled for relevance in Nigeria’s economic life.
The statistics become even more impressive when placed against the broader context of the Nigerian insurance industry itself. Insurance penetration in Nigeria remains below one per cent of GDP, one of the lowest rates globally. In practical terms, this means millions of Nigerians continue to rely on informal family structures, religious solidarity and personal improvisation as substitutes for formal risk protection. Insurance, for many, remains distant, misunderstood or distrusted. It is precisely this structural weakness that Heirs Insurance identified as an opportunity.
Rather than replicate the orthodox models of legacy insurers—many of which remain trapped in bureaucratic inertia and elite urban markets—the company pursued a strategy built around accessibility, technology and scale. Digital onboarding replaced cumbersome paperwork. Mobile-first products lowered entry barriers. Microinsurance products targeted demographics long ignored by traditional operators. Insurance was repositioned not as an elite financial abstraction, but as an everyday instrument of economic dignity.
This was not accidental innovation. It reflected a broader understanding of Africa’s evolving economic realities. Across the continent, formal banking, telecommunications and digital commerce have expanded most successfully where firms adapted products to local realities rather than imported rigid Western templates. Heirs Insurance belongs firmly within this new generation of African institutions that understand scale emerges not from exclusivity, but from inclusion.
Equally significant has been the ecosystem advantage engineered through Heirs Holdings itself. Cross-selling synergies involving UBA, Transcorp and Heirs Energies have accelerated customer acquisition and institutional visibility in ways standalone insurers would struggle to replicate. It is an illustration of strategic integration rarely executed successfully within African conglomerates, where diversification often degenerates into incoherence. Under Elumelu, however, the architecture appears deliberate: finance, energy, hospitality and insurance reinforcing one another within a broader continental vision.
Yet perhaps the most important aspect of the Heirs Insurance story lies not in balance sheets or rankings, but in what it reveals about Tony Elumelu’s peculiar temperament as a builder of institutions. Modern business culture frequently glorifies disruption, aggression and velocity. Elumelu’s approach has often been more measured, almost old-fashioned in its emphasis on staying power. He has long understood that enduring institutions are not constructed through viral moments, but through sustained discipline, strategic patience and reputational consistency.
This philosophy has become increasingly rare in contemporary Africa, where political instability, policy unpredictability and weak institutions often encourage short-term extraction over long-term investment. The temptation for many investors is to maximize immediate returns while minimizing exposure to systemic uncertainty. Elumelu, by contrast, has repeatedly chosen the more difficult route of institutional permanence.
The eight-year wait for licensing is therefore not a footnote to the Heirs Insurance story. It is the story. For what distinguished the venture was not merely the availability of capital, but the willingness to remain committed during prolonged uncertainty. Capital, after all, is abundant globally. Conviction is scarcer. Operational leadership from senior Heirs executives such as Niyi Onifade and Wole Fayemi has undoubtedly translated vision into execution. But execution alone does not create institutions. Institutions emerge when leadership combines operational competence with philosophical clarity about purpose and time horizon.
Elumelu’s broader advocacy for raising Nigeria’s insurance penetration to three per cent of GDP similarly reflects a strategic understanding that no company can thrive sustainably within a weak ecosystem. The ambition is not merely corporate expansion, but sectoral transformation itself. If achieved, such growth would deepen financial inclusion, expand long-term domestic capital pools and strengthen economic resilience across households and businesses alike.
At a deeper level, Heirs Insurance also represents something symbolic within the African corporate imagination. For decades, African financial sectors were dominated either by foreign multinationals or by indigenous firms constrained by insufficient scale, technological weakness or governance deficiencies. The emergence of globally competitive African-owned institutions capable of combining technological sophistication with continental ambition marks an important psychological transition.
It is this larger symbolism that makes the Heirs Insurance anniversary noteworthy beyond corporate ceremony. Five years may appear brief in the lifespan of institutions. But within those five years lies evidence of something increasingly consequential in African capitalism: the emergence of patient capital guided not merely by opportunism, but by vision. Tony Elumelu’s enduring lesson is therefore deceptively simple. Institutions are not miracles. They are acts of sustained belief.
In an era intoxicated by immediacy, Heirs Insurance stands as a reminder that the most important revolutions are often quiet ones; built patiently, painstakingly and almost stubbornly over time until what once seemed improbable becomes inevitable.
In The Spotlight
Nearly three weeks have passed since 39 schoolchildren and eight of their teachers were abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. Three weeks of rain, hunger, fear, and unimaginable trauma. Three weeks of parents living in a purgatory of hope and despair. Three weeks of children sleeping on wet forest floors while their governor behaves as though time is an infinite luxury. This is not merely a failure of security. It is a failure of leadership.
Governor Seyi Makinde has responded to this crisis with a detachment so baffling, so cavalier, that it borders on dereliction of duty. At a moment when every second counts, when every drop of rain falling on those children is an indictment of the state, Makinde has chosen bureaucratic caution over moral urgency. The children are still in captivity. The governor is still dithering. And the people of Oyo are left wondering: What exactly is he waiting for?
For two weeks, hunters, traditionalists, OPC, Agbekoya, and Sunday Igboho’s network; people who know the forests, who understand the terrain, who have rescued victims before, have offered their help. They have asked for nothing but the governor’s permission so they are not later branded as “non state actors” or “bandits.” Makinde has not only refused them; he has refused to even acknowledge them. Not a meeting. Not a briefing. Not even the courtesy of a public statement.
This is the same governor who once distanced himself from Igangan’s rescue operation, only to watch as non state actors succeeded where the state failed. One would think that experience would have taught him humility. Instead, he has doubled down on a strategy of paralysis disguised as prudence. The hunters say they are ready. The OPC says it is ready. Agbekoya says it is ready. Igboho’s men say they are ready. But the governor; the one man with the constitutional authority to greenlight action is not.
Let us speak plainly. These children are not in a safe house. They are not in a guarded compound. They are in the forest, exposed to the elements, sleeping on mud, drinking whatever water they can find, and living under the psychological torture of armed captors. Every day that passes is a day of dehydration, hunger, illness, trauma and the risk of death. What is the governor’s plan? What is the strategy? Where is the urgency? The silence from Agodi is deafening.
Yes, Nigeria’s security architecture is federally controlled. Yes, state governors are constrained. But constraints are not an excuse for complacency. A responsible leader does not shrug helplessly while children are held hostage within his own state. A responsible leader does not reject help from those who know the terrain better than any police unit dispatched from Abuja. A responsible leader does not pretend that “everything is under control” when the evidence of collapse is everywhere.
In the last few days alone, there have been more kidnappings in Ibadan, more killings across the country and more evidence that criminals now operate with impunity. The truth is simple: the government has been overwhelmed. And Oyo State is not an exception; it is a symptom, but Makinde’s failure is not just tactical; it is moral. Leadership is not measured by press statements or security meetings. It is measured by the willingness to act decisively when lives hang in the balance. Makinde’s refusal to mobilize every available resource, including local actors with proven track records is not caution. It is criminal negligence. It is a betrayal of the children, their parents, and the people of Oyo State.
Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has become a political football. Ethnic blame games. Religious narratives. Partisan point scoring. Meanwhile, criminals do not ask for your tribe before abducting you. They do not check your religion before shooting. They do not care who you voted for. This is not a Fulani problem. This is not a Christian or Muslim problem. This is not a PDP or APC problem. This is a national emergency. And in Oyo State, it is a humanitarian emergency, and the Governor must act now!
Governor Makinde must authorize vetted local hunters, OPC, Agbekoya, and other community groups to join the search. He should create a joint command structure that separates genuine volunteers from charlatans, and provide logistical support to all rescue teams. Makinde should stop pretending that the current strategy is working; and demand federal reinforcement with urgency. He should prioritize the safe return of the children above all else. Nothing else matters until those children are home. The parents of Oriire do not need speeches. They do not need condolences. They do not need promises. They need their children. And the governor who swore an oath to protect them must stop hiding behind bureaucracy and start acting like the chief security officer he claims to be. History will not remember the excuses. It will remember the children, and what he did, or failed to do, to save them.
Opinions
In The Spotlight
“Thank God it is over”
“Yes oh. Now, Arsenal players and their fans can now allow all of us to rest. They have their Premier League trophy. PSG have taken the Champions League. History made on both sides. Heroes made.”
“Who is talking about Arsenal or PSG? Why is it that you, Nigerians are always so unpatriotic? Before you think of your own country, you are more concerned about what is happening in other parts of the world. When I say it is over, I am referring to the party primaries that have just been concluded in Nigeria’s political space. The INEC deadline expired on May 30.”
“Oh, I see. But it is not correct to say it is over. The correct thing to say is that Nigeria is now on a path to a new beginning, a return to high-wire politics that could have serious implications for the future. The end of the primaries is merely the commencement of warfare which Nigerian politics is.”
“Yes. Yes. I know that there will be fall-outs. After all, there have been very loud complaints about the mode of the primaries, consensus arrangements that marginalized many eligible participants and direct primaries that were openly rigged, shamelessly too. And I dare say, no party is innocent.”
“Well, well, well, I have not heard of any complaints from the African Action Congress which chose Omoyele Sowore by popular acclamation, Accord Party which announced Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) that selected former Governor Donald Duke, Governor Seyi Makinde’s Allied People’s Movement, Action Democratic Party where you have Aliyu Bin Abbas, and of course the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) which produced Peter Obi. In these parties, the choice of the flagbearers has been relatively peaceful. It is only in the APC, the PDP, and the ADC that we have had controversies.”
“Not true. There have been issues in all the parties. And this is the point that Minister Wike was making during his media chat on TV yesterday. He said those politicians in ADC and NDC who claim they know how to run Nigeria are all liars, because ordinary party primaries they could not even organize successfully.”
“Are you still taking that one serious?”
“But he has a point. No opposition party has been able to show that their party is better than the APC. We are faced with the same of the same. Wike is right to laugh at them.”
“Peter Obi, the ADC Presidential candidate has promised to generate 10, 000 MW of electricity in 4 years of the single term that he is proposing. He will also empower MSMEs and address youth unemployment. That is something different.”
‘I beg. Is power generation the problem? Electricity is a value chain. How about transmission and distribution? How about tariffs, liquidity? Leakages, wastages. And where were you when failed aspirants in the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the Labour Party (LP) were asking for a refund of monies paid into the party’s coffers. In Imo State, one APC aspirant wept openly and on social media claiming that he had spent over N100 million to buy forms for the House of Representatives slot only for the party to impose a woman who never bought any form. He said it will never happen.”
“Did you say an APC aspirant?”
“Yes, from Owerri”
“If he knows what is good for him, he will keep quiet and sulk in silence. The ticket belongs to the party. Even the aspirant that challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the APC Presidential ticket is now singing his praise. And what does your Imo friend want the 14 lawmakers in the Lagos State House of Assembly who have been sent away to do, and all the Ministers who resigned their positions to run for one elective office or the other. Maybe only one of them succeeded. The Godfather system that they run in the APC simply means you have to obey and accept whatever you are given by the powers-that-be.”
“But that is not democracy. That is tyranny.”
“Who told you there is a universal model of democracy?”
“There are principles.”
“I know. Take the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) founded by countryman Senator Seriake Dickson. The party is now the beautiful bride. That is why Peter Obi and Dr Kwankwaso left the ADC and ran there.”
“Wike says Peter Obi is a food-is-ready politician! He will run to any party that others have worked hard to build.”
“Don’t mind him. They are all the same. What I am saying is that for you to join the NDC, you have to go to Seriake Dickson’s house. To get an expression of interest form, you also have to go to his house. Major meetings are also held in his house, except may be the party’s convention and that must have been due to reasons of space. That too is democracy. And look at Wike. He gave a directive to events owners and hoteliers in Abuja not to allow any “illegal political groups” to use their premises, otherwise their licenses and land titles will be revoked. The David Mark faction of the ADC fought back but the Turaki faction of the PDP ended up holding their event at an open field. I guess that too is democracy.”
“No, that is against the principles of fair play and equal access. But what do you think will happen now?”
“To be honest, I see a lot of confusion. So much uncertainty. Out of 22 registered political parties, only 11 have announced their Presidential candidates. I doubt if anyone has made any submissions to INEC
by the deadline of May 30. The deadline for moving from one political party to the other was set at May 10. Long after that deadline, we have now seen politicians moving from one party to the other. Babachir Lawal for example has dumped the ADC. Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has moved out of the APC in protest to join the NDC.”
“I believe this is because of the two conflicting judgements in the Federal High Court. Abuja Division. Youth Party vs INEC by Justice Mohammed Umar and SDP vs INEC by Justice James Omotoso. INEC has since gone to the Court of Appeal and has applied for a stay of execution. Meanwhile, everything is in abeyance. Even the lawyers are taking one side or the other, offering conflicting interpretations.”
“Whether we like it or not, Nigeria’s 2027 general elections will be determined by the courts, not by the voters. Look at the confusion in the parties, especially the ADC which has three factions, three Presidential candidates – the Nafiu Bala Gombe faction with Chris Uba, the Kachikwu faction with Dumebi Kachikwu and the David Mark-led faction with Atiku Abubakar. Then the PDP with two factions, two Presidential candidates – the Wike faction with Senator Sandy Onor and the Kabiru Turaki faction with President Goodluck Jonathan.”
“I don’t even understand why President Jonathan will allow anybody to drag him into this state of confusion. He is an international statesman. He is a man of stature, widely respected locally and internationally. He should stay above partisan politics.”
“Wike says nobody drags anybody into politics. It is only when you show interest that people will come and offer you what they think you want.”
“The way you keep quoting Wike this, Wike that, I hope there is nothing. You better don’t waste your time. Wike no send anybody oh. But I agree with you on President Jonathan. He is legally eligible, constitutionally and by all means as recently decided by the Federal High Court of Justice Peter Lifu. But it is not advisable for him to get involved in the PDP crisis. There are two Federal High Court cases in contention: the Court of Justice Uche Agomoh in the Ibadan Division, and the court of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik at the Abuja Division on the basis of which INEC recognized the Wike faction. Wike served President Jonathan as Minister of State over 10 years ago. No. No. No. He cannot be seen to be dragging anything with his own subordinates. He is too distinguished for that.”
“But in the United States, President Trump left office and he still came back and was re-elected. In Ghana, President Mahama left and returned.”
“The situations are not so similar. President Tinubu vs President Jonathan. It will look too messy. It will be too complicated. There is also the constraint of time. We are just about seven months to the elections. Not enough time to mobilize.”
“I think that there is even more than enough time. With the right momentum, 24 hours is a long time in politics. I imagine that with the seven months gap ahead, many politicians will even run out of cash. Many will sell their grandparents homes to keep up with the unrelenting pressure of campaigns and politicking. I even hear that it is Tinubu sponsoring Jonathan. But if I were President Jonathan, and I want to dare everything, I will choose a man like Nasir El-Rufai as my running mate.”
“Stop making suggestions that will not work and do not make sense. Why would President Jonathan want to dare everything? He is not that kind of person. He will not do anything to disorient the country because of personal ambition. He is a leader, not a food-is-ready politician.”
“Then let him issue a strongly worded statement to dissociate himself from partisan politics. No, thank you are three simple words in English. Let him come and say that he is not running for office in 2027.”
“Okay then, let us just sit down and look. But by the way, did you go to Ijebu Ode for the Ojude Oba after Sallah?”
“No. But I followed everything on social media. Very impressive as usual. The colour. The Equestrian displays, the pageantry and the paraphernalia, even in the absence of the Awujale. I like the fact that the festival is community-based and family-based as well and many families stood up to be counted: the Adesoyes, the Kukus, the Adeshiles, the Ashirus, and there was enough space for the traditional societies, the Regberegbes to promote Ijebu nationalism. The good thing is that other Ijebu communities are beginning to have similar celebrations: in Ososa, Ijebu Igbo, and Ago-Iwoye for example. Nigerians have a way of stealing laughter from the jaws of despair. Think of the Durbar in Ilorin and the Bariki Sallah celebration in Bida All good.”
“I also enjoyed the Ojude Oba, I liked seeing the King of Steeze, Farooq Oreagba and his son in action. But what I could not figure out was one woman who showed up this year, Toyin Olushile, whom they called the Queen of Steeze, all the way from New York City. She had a big tobacco pipe in her mouth and she was puffing smoke into the air like a locomotive train. I did not find that funny. The Ojude Oba should not be used to promote smoking of any type. There are children involved and they are watching.”
“Well, it was all part of the show. But talking about children, this past weekend was a sad one for me.”
“Me too. I watched the video of Mrs Alamu pleading for help, from captivity, and my heart sank. I saw her husband, a Professor, kneeling down and pleading with the Oyo State Government to do something to rescue all the 46 children and teachers in captivity, and I felt for him. In Borno state, Askira Uba Local Government, 45 students were also abducted. Same day, May 15, in the same coordinated fashion. Something sinister is happening.”
“Governor Seyi Makinde has tried. He went to the community to empathise with the people. The Federal Government has also sent a delegation. What I do not understand is why the state and the Federal Government had to respond separately. They could have co-ordinated their efforts. Nobody should play partisan politics with human lives. Governor Makinde went to the community on Saturday. The Federal Government delegation showed up on Sunday in a helicopter. The politics was too obvious.”
“Yes. Both the states and the Federal Government should always work together. Human lives are at stake in Oyo, in Borno and other parts of the country.”
“I really couldn’t enjoy the UCL Champions League final.”
“Forget about Champions League. The Super Eagles were playing in the Unity Cup finals against Jamaica at the Valley Stadium in London, the same day. They defeated Jamaica, 4 -0. You are here talking about Arsenal and PSG.”
“Congratulations to the Super Eagles. Gunners ForEver!”
“How about Enugu Rangers?”.
“Rangerrs. Who are they?”
“They won the Nigerian Football League.”
“Oh. Sorry. Never heard of them.”
“Of course”.