The crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from over as the sacked National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has appealed his destitution by the Federal High Court amid the intrigues and backdoor maneuvers with President Goodluck Jonathan battling former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the conscience of the party and the 2015 Presidential ticket.
These are certainly trying moments for President Jonathan and not the best of times for the PDP. While its leadership is still grappling with the crisis of confidence plaguing the party over the stalemate in the quest for a new Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman and acceptable executive committee in Adamawa State, the Federal High Court in Abuja sacked its National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, from office providing the National Working Committee (NWC) with the badly needed pretext to replace him with his Deputy, Solomon Onwe, in an acting capacity.
The unfolding crisis is a litmus test for President Jonathan’s leadership as he has been called in to play expected and unexpected roles in the course of which his protégé; Dr. Bamanga Tukur has come under attack from PDP Governors who want him sacked as national chairman; his preferred candidate for the BoT chair, Chief Anthony Anenih has been totally rejected while Jonathan’s position as President and leader of the PDP is being called to question. The battle lines have been drawn and the stage set for a major political showdown as Jonathan has decided to take the battle to Obasanjo’s home turf - to seize control of the party in the South-West from Obasanjo. Since history is written by the victors, the outcome of this crisis will be one for the record books.
Genesis of the Crisis
It all began with a meeting of the 98-man body of the BoT to elect a chairman to replace Obasanjo who resigned last year. The signs were ominous when it became evident that for the first time, the BoT would pick its chairman through a contest. Second Republic Vice President and first BoT Chairman, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, and his successors, including Obasanjo, emerged through consensus; which was almost the norm, until the emergence of OBJ, which created some bad blood among party faithful.
Obasanjo, had in the twilight of his administration, failed to get the National Assembly to endorse his tenure elongation project. After that misadventure, Obasanjo, driven by the desire to still remain relevant after his presidential tenure, instigated an amendment to the PDP constitution to ease his emergence as BoT chairman. That was the joker that knocked out the then incumbent BoT chairman, Tony Anenih in 2007. On account of this, OBJ practically snatched the job from Anenih.
Following a protest by principal officers of the party in the National Assembly, the draconian provision was expunged from the PDP constitution. OBJ resigned in anger and frustration in April 2011 after holding the post for about four years with the excuse that his international engagements have become more demanding. Sources however tell Huhuonline.com that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua introduced some radical changes in the conduct of affairs of the party that demystified and consigned the position of BoT chair to political irrelevance.
As a matter of fact, former Senate President Ken Nnamani who was one of those who spearheaded the campaign that led to the amendment of the PDP constitution in 2009 had cause to complain about the way things were done and his position was supported by the late Yar’Adua. A PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled at noon at the headquarters in Abuja was delayed for over five hours because the “leader of the party” then President Yar’Adua was running late. Huhuonline.com learnt that when the meeting finally started, a furious Nnamani barred his mind, making it crystal clear to anyone who cared to listen that using the title “leader of the party” for any president produced by PDP was misleading because such a title was anathema to the PDP constitution. “The leader of our party is the national chairman while state chairmen of the party are the leaders of the party at the state level and down the ladder,” Nnamani said to a standing ovation. Yar’Adua commended him for the bold explanation and added that it was not enough for anybody to call himself or herself leader. It is on record that since that meeting, OBJ has never attended any other NEC meeting.
The Ghost of 2015
Article 12.76 of the PDP constitution provides for the BoT as an organ of the party and the same section provides that a member of the organ shall not be less than 50 years while the chairman and the secretary of the organ shall serve a single term of five years. In the countdown to the BoT meeting, something strange happened. Perhaps it was deliberate, perhaps accidental, but election billboards appeared in the business district of Abuja calling on Jonathan to stand for re-election in 2015. This opened the political season of the New Year.
Jonathan’s Spokesman Reuben Abati improbably claimed that the President’s political team had no involvement. Aso Rock insiders told Huhuonline.com that Jonathan is unlikely to announce his intentions until late 2014. The probability is that Jonathan will seek the candidacy of the PDP, even if he has to face opposition from northerners.
It was against this backdrop of 2015 that the BoT meeting held at the Presidential Villa, presided at by Jonathan. Huhuonline.com learnt that a group within PDP advised Jonathan to endorse a South-South aspirant for the BoT post because that will oil his 2015 machinery. Jonathan subsequently threw his weight behind Chief Tony Anenih, but the PDP Governors declined to support him.
The Governors are divided on the issue as many of them believe that allowing the BoT chairman to emerge from the same zone as Jonathan will be a masterstroke that will make it practically impossible to wrestle the presidency from Jonathan. Anenih, fondly called ‘Mr. Fix it’ has not been able to fix a lot of things lately in PDP, particularly in Edo State, his home. Some analysts said his recent appointment, as chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) board, was a strategy to placate the man.
As negotiations and horse trading intensified, other PDP top brass amongst them former Senate President, Ken Nnamani supported by the legislators and Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, the former Deputy National Chairman of the party threw their hats into the ring thereby further polarizing the political arena. When the curtains came down, at least 12 candidates were postulating for the BoT chair. From the South East included: Alex Ekwueme, Ken Nnamani and the publisher of Champion newspapers, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.
From the South-South came Chief Tony Anenih and Chief Don Etiebet. The aspirants from the North Central geo-political zone included former PDP national chairman, Rtd. Colonel Ahmadu Ali while the South West had former PDP Deputy National chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun. Others are Senator Bode Olayinka, Chief Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Onyeabor Obi, Chief Harry Akande and Chief Shuaibu Oyedokun. With these razz mattazz of candidates, the battle of egos for the conscience of the PDP was launched and nobody can easily predict how and when it will end.
Political Calculations, Intrigues and Maneuvers Galore
Amidst the conflicting assertions and claims, OBJ held most of the aces as he is approbating and re-probating at the same time. OBJ worked behind the scenes to ensure that the meeting to elect the BoT chairman was postponed because of his indecision on who to support as his candidate for the position. It is believed that he wants to pick his own candidate, regardless of what the other members think.
There is the belief that the Presidency and PDP leaders preferred Anenih, at least to compensate him for the loss of the same position in 2007. At a meeting held at the residence of Bamanga Tukur, it was suggested that all the other candidates should step down for Anenih because he enjoys the respect of the party top brass and would be a great asset in the 2015 election. But they declined. If the possibility of having Anenih (who comes from the same geopolitical zone as the President) as BoT chairman; is slim; if Anenih, with all the influence he wields within PDP is having such opposition on account of where he comes from, then the case of Chief Don Etiebet can be best imagined.
Huhuonline.com equally learnt that most of the party members would prefer Alex Ekwueme; having served in that capacity before, and as someone who contributed immensely to the founding and building of the PDP, Ekwueme was in the position to help the rebuilding process, which the party leadership has so much canvassed. But at 80 years, Ekwueme is tottering on the borders of senile decay. It is equally believed that the party has given Ekwueme a sensitive assignment of leading 53 other prominent PDP members to carry out reconciliation and that is enough to engage his attention.
For Ken Nnamani, many see him as a man who can effect radical changes and his record speaks volumes. It was during his tenure as Senate President that Obasanjo burnt his fingers when he wanted to secure the tenure elongation, which came to be known as ‘Third Term’ project. The singular role he played as a factor to thwart Obasanjo’s ambitions worked against him, especially among Obasanjo’s loyalists in the BoT. Sources said that Nnamani is also counting on his colleagues in the National Assembly who are members of BoT to do the magic. One other way that Nnamani could buffer his case is to leverage the support of his colleagues from the South East, Ekwueme and Iwuanyanwu to back him. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a one-time PDP presidential aspirant feels that he has paid his dues in the PDP and that it is time for him to lead the conscience of the party.
OBJ loyalist and former PDP chairman, retired Col. Ahmadu Ali has indicated interest in the BoT chair but OBJ is uncertain if it will be a wise political decision to allow someone from the North to hold the position. Ali’s candidacy appears to be the most controversial of all. Most of the PDP members see him as an extension of Obasanjo’s administration a surrogate that is over 100% committed to OBJ’s course and would do anything for him. They feel that if truly Ali is vying for the position, then it is a matter of presenting to the party, a pig in pork. Ali’s candidacy is not opposed only by those from the South West that feel that they have been marginalized in the PDP equation, but also by those in his own region. There is a strong feeling that the Senate president is vehemently opposed to the candidacy of Ali, as his being the chairman of BoT will adversely affect his own political influence.
If by some strange happenstance Ali becomes the BoT chairman, the implication is that the North would be adding another strategic position to its kitty. Currently, they are holding the office of the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the General Secretary of the party, the national chairman of the party, the secretary of the BoT and the publicity secretary of the party. It will therefore, become apparent that the entire North will hold the PDP making it near impossible to stop them from taking the presidency in 2015.
But the South West is stiffly opposed to his candidacy. They are supporting one of their own, Alhaji Oyedokun and are persuading OBJ to withdraw his support for Ali and invest on Oyedokun, whose last office was National Deputy Chairman of the party some five years ago and has been in hibernation since then. Coming from the South West, OBJ is being persuaded by the party leaders in the zone to drop Ali for Oyedokun, being a kinsman. With the cry of marginalization from the South West, many are guessing OBJ will be the pillar on which Oyedokun can anchor his aspiration. Some BoT members argued against Oyedokun citing his brief sojourn outside the party after he led a group to operate a parallel PDP called ‘The Original PDP in 2006.’ OBJ dislodged the group.
With all these geo-political calculations, it is evident that if Jonathan is nursing an ambition to seek re-election in 2015, he has to demonstrate deft political shrewdness because his opponents are making the ground very swampy and slippery and extremely difficult for him to muster sufficient support that would earn him a second term in office.
OBJ & GEJ: Clash of the Titans
A sprawling view of Abeokuta lies prostrate from his hilltop mansion, a metaphor for the clout of its owner, a man whose sheer strength of character held an impossible Nigeria in the palm of his hand for eight long years. It is not for nothing that he is called Baba, yet another aphorism for some sort of a hard-to-get-to-know paterfamilias, whose offspring would usually approach with great trepidation, not knowing exactly what to expect.
Long after he left office, as President of the Federal Republic, General Olusegun Obasanjo’s home is still like a pilgrimage abode, with hordes of visitors, trooping in and out, to hold court for one reason, or the other - Baba’s opinion, influence and wise counsel, still count. The man is, indeed, an enigma. Playful, as a kitten, wise, as an oracle, hard, as a tornado-nail, and wily, as a fox, you have to watch your step - every step of the way - with the General. OBJ is the one man now standing between Jonathan and the 2015 elections.
The relationship between OBJ and GEJ has been anything but cordial. OBJ is insisting that for any reconciliation between him and the president to be meaningful, on the election of the BoT chairman, the president, as the leader of the party, must avail him the privilege to nominate and present his successor. That was the condition he gave Jonathan for participating in the reconciliatory moves initiated by the president to shore up the diminishing cordiality between them that had rapidly degenerating into verbal wars and invidious political maneuvers.
Huhuonline.com learnt from sources that OBJ also requested that his successor must be of South West extraction, but at the time of the election, OBJ had not found a credible candidate from the South West that would effectively represent the zone and manage the affairs of the party at that level, so he absented himself and ensured that the election did not hold.
Facing the battle for his own political survival, GEJ has decided to call off the bluff by taking the battle for the soul of the PDP to OBJ’s home State of Ogun, with a view to wrestling the party from the grips of Baba. GEJ considers the South-West as strategic to his presidential ambitions in 2015 and the general elections. The South-West may not produce a presidential candidate for the PDP in 2015 but block votes from the zone could determine the eventual winner of the presidential election. To which end, the PDP leadership headed by Tukur is planning to organize a fresh congress in the South-West to definitely replace Oyinlola. This explains why even though Oyinlola is battling his destitution in court, Tukur went ahead and replaced him with his successor since GEJ does not want him to return as national secretary.
The PDP, in Obasanjo’s home state, is divided into two factions with Baba supporting the Senator Dipo Odujurin- led executive, while business magnate, Chief Buruji Kashamu is backing the Adebayo Dayo-led executive. The Kashamu-led faction initiated the legal battles with the Obasanjo-backed faction, which culminated in the removal of Oyinlola. GEJ is building strategic alliances with strange political bed-fellows in Ogun State. Former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has been having unfettered access in the Presidency. GEJ recently appointed one of Daniel’s loyalists, Alhaja Salimot Badru, as a member of the Federal Capital Development Authority. He has also nominated an ex-convict and PDP warlord, Chief Olabode “Bode” George, as a member of the Adamawa State Reconciliation Committee. Both Daniel and George are at loggerheads with Baba.
Things Fall Apart…
After the BoT passed up the opportunity to elect its new chairman because of its inability to choose name a consensus candidate from the dozen aspirants, a special committee to appropriately realign membership of the BoT to ensure credibility of the planned election was created with Professor Jerry Gana as chairman. The committee was given three weeks to submit its report.
But even before Gana and his committee could go to work, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party threw a spanner in the works by recanting itself on its earlier sack of the PDP Adamawa State Executive Committee, recalling them after caving in to pressure from the party’s governors. Tukur was absent from the NWC meeting that took the decision. It was a face-saving move for the NWC, which the governors were threatening to sack and replace with a caretaker committee if the sacked executives were not reinstated.
The recall of the committee reignited the supremacy battle between Tukur and the Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, which formally began in October 2012 when the NWC dissolved the Adamawa State party executive, chaired by Alhaji Umaru Kugama, replacing it with a nine-man caretaker committee headed by Amb. Umar Damagun. In dissolving the executive last year, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh had announced that its members “flagrantly disregarded and shown serial disobedience to the decisions of NWC.” He accused the dissolved exco of conducting illegal local government elections and submitting a list of candidates to the Adamawa State Independent National Electoral Commission without obtaining clearance from the NWC.
The dissolution was a slap on the face of Adamawa Governor Nyako who tried in vain to reverse the decision. Face with a fait accompli, Nyako referred the matter to the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF). The NGF led by its chairman Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State then joined Nyako in seeking a reversal of the sack and after they were rebuffed, they decided to handle it the tough way. They told Jonathan in no unflattering terms that Tukur the PDP national chairman must resign! Tukur was not their candidate during the party’s convention but was imposed on the party by the President. To save face, Jonathan ordered the NWC to reverse its earlier decision and disavow Tukur.
Esau’s voice, Jocob’s Hand
In the face of the strong-arm tactics by the governors, Jonathan came under pressure from hardliners within his own camp who asked him to call the governors’ bluff by disbanding the Nigeria Governors’ Forum saying it had become a vehicle for confusion. A statement issued by the chairman of the Nigerian Renewal Group, consisting of young professional men and women members of the PDP, noted “with great concern the discordant tunes emanating from the ruling party, the PDP. We are concerned because the governors elected on the PDP platform, who constitute the majority, have practically abandoned their primary responsibilities in their various states. They have turned themselves into an unholy pressure group and trade union under the inglorious Governors Forum.”
“Indeed, we view the Governors Forum as a club for idle talk and mischief making. Our stand is validated by the recent gang-up of PDP Governors against the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. We hold no brief for the elder statesman, but we are worried that if these governors are not checked, they will soon hold the nation’s political apparatus to ransom. That will not augur well for good governance and democracy,” the statement read in part.
Armed with renewed confidence, Jonathan decided it was time to take the bull by the horns. The President is believed to have influenced the decision of the court to sack Oyinlola from office. And to put paid to this assertion, Jonathan instructed Tukur to go ahead and replace Oyinlola with his Deputy, Solomon Onwe even though Oyinlola’s lawyer had filed an appeal for a stay of execution of the non-declaratory judgment. Tukur then washed his hands off in a tepid statement saying his action was in fulfillment of the PDP constitution, explaining that the party had no hand in the removal of Oyinlola as its National Secretary.
Stressing that there was no rift between Tukur and Oyinlola, the party said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we want to say unequivocally that there is no personal rift between Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as the National Chairman of the Party, and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola to warrant the sensational headlines that have been published in newspapers on the issue. In any event, reports have indicated that Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has appealed the Court judgment and the NWC wants to say that as soon as the appeal is decided, the party will, in the same way as it did in the case of the Federal High Court ruling, obey the appeal decision.
After replacing Oyinlola, the party’s leadership headed by Tukur made a spectacular U-turn on its perceived rush to get Oyinlola out of the way by filing an application for stay of execution of the court judgment which sacked Oyinlola from office. Investigations showed that as Tukur had adopted strategies to ensure that Oyinlola did not return as national secretary, most members of the National Working Committee were determined to save him. As part of measures to seize the control of the party in the South-West from Obasanjo and the PDP governors, Tukur planned to hold a congress in the South-West, where Oyinlola’s replacement would be picked. But Huhuonline.com understands that while the PDP chairman is loyal to Jonathan, most members of the NWC are backed by PDP governors and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Meanwhile, as the horse-trading continues, Tukur has secured the backing of PDP lawmakers after the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal and Emeka Ihehioha paid him a solidarity visit and pledged their support for the party’s transformation agenda. Tukur assured the South West geopolitical zone that it would not lose in the distribution of benefits.
The End Game
The crisis rocking the PDP will make or break Jonathan’s 2015 presidential ambitions. There will be winners as well as losers but the political equation will never be the same again. Already, the governors elected on the platform of the party have called for the immediate convening of the National Executive Committee meeting of the party where they are planning to pass a vote of no confidence on Tukur. They have also endorsed the decision of the NWC rescinding the dissolution of the PDP Adamawa State Executive and reaffirmed their recognition of the Kugama-led executive elected in March 2012 and endorsed by the national convention.
To add insult to injury, 10 of the 12 members of the NWC disowned the action of the party’s Chairman, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, on the crisis rocking the Adamawa State chapter of the party. Tukur, who is from Adamawa, is alleged to be preparing one of his sons as the governor of the state in 2015. The NWC members, led by the party’s Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja, said ongoing local government and ward congresses in the state were not authorized by the NWC. They also restored the Executive Committee of the party in the state, which was sacked by the NWC last October 17.
Jonathan: the end justifies the means
As the melodramatic elements of this unfolding crisis reach a rising crescendo, Jonathan must make a decision. He can choose to stand by the embattled and beleaguered Tukur and alienate the NWC and the NGF or ditch Tukur as part of a grand bargain with the NGF that will secure him the 2015 PDP ticket. The governors have nothing against Jonathan; he has incurred their wrath because of his stubborn support for Tukur. There has been no love lost between Tukur and Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako since the former assumed the chairmanship of the party March last year.
There are no easy options but the best case scenario will be for Jonathan to pick the next PDP national chairman from a non-PDP state. PDP governors are too powerful and they exert much influence in the polity. It is political suicide to ignore the power play between a national chairman and his governor. In the North-East where the PDP currently zoned its chairmanship, only Borno and Yobe states are non-PDP states. It makes good political sense for Jonathan to abandon the embattled Tukur and go for a younger candidate without as many enemies as Tukur.
In the coming weeks, Tukur will know his fate. Already, Jonathan is under pressure to abandon Tukur to his fate and to consider picking Tukur’s successor from Borno or Yobe, in order to avoid the usual power tussle between the party’s national chairman and his state governor. The question is whether Jonathan is prepared to abandon his friend at his greatest moment of need. The answer is obvious: in politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies; only permanent interests.
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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”.