Politics
Impeaching Buhari is as impossible as it was with Obassnjo, APC Chiefs
Ethnic and religious sentiments are bound to frustrate plans to remove President Muhammadu Buhari from office, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe has inferred.
He spoke against the background of what he admitted as the ethnic considerations that overshadowed the only serious plot ever taken to remove a president of Nigeria from office during the first term of the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency in 2002.
Ogunlewe, an All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain in Lagos State spoke on Arise Television on Thursday where he, however, sharply contrasted with another APC chieftain, Mr Adegoke SAN who affirmed that the Muhammadu Buhari government has grossly failed in its basic responsibility of protecting lives and property in Nigeria.
While Senator Ogunlewe blamed members of the National Assembly for not stemming the spate of insecurity, Adegoke on his part put the blame squarely on Buhari, saying that he could not leave the head to blame the neck for not thinking.
Ogunlewe spoke from a background of experience. He was elected to the Senate in 1999 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, AD and was a close associate of the former and popular Lagos politician, Funso Williams.
Following the then Governor BolaTinubu’s dominance of the party structure in Lagos towards the end of his first term, Ogunlewe and Williams exited the party to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Ogunlewe was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as minister of works and became a thorn in the flesh of Governor Tinubu. He remained a chieftain of the PDP until just after the 2019 election when he defected to the APC.
Speaking against the background of the insecurity in the nation and the recent call by the minority elements in the Senate for Buhari to leave office, Ogunlewe in the interview smacked his former party stalwarts saying that their efforts would be in vain.
Speaking on the challenges involved in removing a president, he said the presiding officer, that is the Senate President or the Speaker would be pivotal to such a decision.
“The role and conviction of the presiding officer, the Senate President is very important. If he is not convinced that the process should go ahead, it is dead on arrival. So, he is the presiding officer and there is hardly anything anyone can do on the voice of the presiding officer.”
Noting the domineering influence of the Northern caucus and the ethnic flavours involved, he said:
“When it comes to impeachment and northern interest, it is a different kettle of fish entirely. They (northern caucus) would hold meetings at night and override you because they have the majority. So it is better for them to make the noise but my view is that it is just impossible.”.
Noting the ethnic factors that played out in the 2002 impeachment threat raised against Obasanjo in the Senate in 2000 and then more seriously in the House of Representatives, in September 2002.
Saturday Vanguard reports that the House of Representatives had prepared for the impeachment process by first appointing Hon. Farouk Lawan as the spokesman of the House who regaled the nation with several impeachable offences against Obasanjo.
Hon. Nduka Irabor, though seen at that time as part of the brain box of the House, had, however, called for caution from all sides saying that Obasanjo was like a Bull in a china shop who must be managed well in the interest of the nation.
Speaking of that plot against Obasanjo in the Senate, Ogunlewe said:
“It was externally motivated. Some power blocs wanted him out. We were only 19 AD Senators and the ANPP was also there. We were in a very bad minority and they held meetings at night and decided to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo and they already had the numbers, the two-third majority to do so and they were in the process of consummating it on a Thursday morning and our leader, Senator Mojisola Akinfenwa called us together and asked “how do we save Olusegun Obasanjo, being from the Southwest of Nigeria and we said, ok, let’s abort the plan for Thursday and give us time before the next Tuesday and see how we could salvage the situation and that was what we did.
“Immediately that was done, we now sent an emissary to tell him the position of things and as bad as they were and that he should go and see the Emir of Kano where Na`abba (Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Naabba) came from and see all the traditional rulers in the Southeast where Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, (Senate President) came from so that they could douse the tension and call their people.
“The people in the National Assembly consult very well at home and that was what Obasanjo did and they had to contact those external people and that was why he was able to escape. But if not for the decision of the AD Caucus to inform him (Obasanjo) of the position of things he would have been impeached. But that is not what is happening now.”
Upon that claim, he affirmed that “the majority APC members will never allow an impeachment in the year of election.”
According to him the impeachment of Buhari irrespective of his guilt would be an indictment of the ruling APC which has the majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Ogunlewe, remarkably, said that President Buhari had not committed any impeachable offence.
The former lawmaker even while admitting several security breaches and failures in governance, put the blame on the National Assembly.
According to him the legislators failed in their duties by apportioning more money for the military instead of the police. He said that the focus on the military is what has caused the insecurity in the land to fester.
“Things began to wobble when the National Assembly concentrated on the military at the expense of the police. It is the duty of the police to protect the citizens within the country but everybody shifted attention to the military, gave them more money including $1 billion at the expense of the police,” Ogunlewe submitted.
Adegoke, also an APC chief and leader, however, disagreed sharply with Ogunlewe, saying that the issues were beyond partisan politics. According to Adegoke, the Buhari led government has failed in its fundamental duty of securing lives.
“I am a member and leader of the APC in my own right and I do not think we should reduce everything to politics, we must speak the truth. If my children were the ones abducted, if my wife was the one being violated, if my family members were attacked and if I were the one daily being subjected to threats along the roads of Makurdi, Adamawa and different parts of the country, would I be comfortable to still give pass mark to somebody elected to guarantee my security and guarantee the security of my family?
“The fact that it has not affected us so much in Lagos does not mean that we should close our eyes to what is happening to other people in other parts of the country.
“If these were the things we condemned President Jonathan for and under our own party’s leadership we have not been able to achieve it, let us be honest to ourselves, whoever ought to have resigned should resign and get out office and let someone else do the work.
“We have our president jetting out of the country at every opportunity, sightseeing, moonlighting. I don’t think that is a proper government that we deserve in Nigeria or in any part of the world.”
The learned silk while urging Nigerians to put aside tribal sentiments in the consideration of the assessment and fitness of Buhari in office, said:
“We must be honest to ourselves, there is no nation, no group of people who will be satisfied with the kind of insecurity playing out in the nation today. However, we must realise that Nigeria is a funny country where all manners of primordial sentiments infiltrate into public discourse.
“We cannot rule out the influence of religious considerations becoming the cornerstone of some peoples thinking.”
Adegoke, however, surmised that the lawmakers would not assess Buhari without putting sentiments of tribe and religion into consideration.
“I do not believe that the majority of them do have the capacity to critically consider this issue from a detached point of view.”
In his opinion, the APC, chief, however, summarized Buhari as having failed saying he should take the fall.
“I do not think that it is right to put the blame at the door of the National Assembly in this instance. There is no way you leave the head and be blaming the neck for what is going wrong in the thinking process of a human being. I believe that the president has fallen below par, he has performed well.
“We elected Mr President in the belief that as a former general in the army, as someone who has led this country before that he had a solution to the insecurity problems we were having under President Jonathan. We all trooped out, I was among those who trooped out when students in Northern state of Borno were abducted and if today we are talking of this problem in a grosser dimension definitely it would be mischievous for me to join the group of people who would be giving Mr President pass mark and condemning someone else. The bulk stops at the president’s table.
“If there is a challenge confronting him, making it impossible for him to perform his duty, this ought to have been made known to Nigerians.
“No matter who voted for him or who did not vote for him, the fact that he emerged the first and the second time as president means that Nigerians invested their expectations, their hopes in his regime. And as at this moment if we are still talking of Boko Haram terrorists, bandits invading Abuja and knocking on the door of the president telling him we are coming to abduct you, definitely that government cannot be said to have done well, it is a failed government.”
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld a Federal High Court judgment restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising state congresses conducted by committees appointed by the David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a split decision of two to one, the three-member panel affirmed the earlier ruling of the Federal High Court, holding that the congresses organised under the caretaker committee violated an existing court order.
Justice Okon Abang, who delivered the lead judgment, ruled that there was no basis to set aside the restraining order issued by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on April 29.
The appellate court also upheld the lower court’s decision barring the caretaker leadership from interfering with the functions and tenure of the party’s duly elected state executive committees.
According to the court, the ADC Constitution vests the responsibility for conducting state congresses in the elected state executive committees, not the national caretaker leadership.
Justice Donatus Okorowo concurred with the lead judgment, while Justice Abba Mohammed dissented, arguing that the matter was an internal affair of the political party and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the courts.
The suit was filed by aggrieved members of the ADC, who challenged the legality of committees established by the David Mark-led caretaker leadership to conduct state congresses. They argued that the appointments breached the party’s constitution, insisting that only duly elected party organs had the authority to organise state congresses.
In its earlier ruling, the Federal High Court held that the four-year tenure of the ADC’s State Working Committees and State Executive Committees remained valid until fresh congresses and a national convention were properly conducted.
Justice Abdulmalik further ruled that neither the 1999 Constitution nor the ADC Constitution empowered the caretaker committee to appoint committees to conduct state congresses.
While noting that courts generally refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of political parties, the judge held that judicial intervention is justified where constitutional or statutory provisions are alleged to have been breached.
Affirming the lower court’s decision, the Court of Appeal declared the state congresses and national convention conducted by the David Mark-led caretaker leadership null and void for being carried out in defiance of an existing court order.
The appellate court stressed that once a dispute raises constitutional issues, it ceases to be merely an internal party matter and becomes subject to judicial review.
Consequently, the court dismissed the ADC’s appeal, upheld all the orders of the Federal High Court, and awarded ₦10 million in costs against the party.
By Chinedu Sabastine
A pro-Yoruba women group, operating under the banner of Yoruba Women in Politics (YWIP), has applauded the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Benjamin Obi Nwoye, for strengthening the party across the Southern part of Nigeria barely three months he assumed office.
They said: “Dr. Benjamin Obi Nwoye is a very honest and open person. He has done considerably well,” the group said.
He was also praised for displaying high democratic ideals and delivering electoral victories for the ruling party in Southern Nigeria.
Chairperson of the women group Mrs. Dorothy Akinyele, in a statement issued in Akure, the Ondo state capital on Saturday applauded Nwoye “for his loyalty, strength of character, and consistency of purpose to the cause of democracy.”
They expressed delight and satisfaction “with the high degree of determination so far exhibited by Nwoye to applying the principle of fair play in treating all party members and asserting independence and neutrality in most cases.”
The highly revered South West women body also commended Nwoye “for deepening the party’s structures in the South-west, South-South and South-East, empowering women and youth and building a stronger APC and a more inclusive future for Nigeria.”
In particular, the women lauded Nwoye “for mobilizing support for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election, preserving the progressive ideals upon which the APC was built and curtailing the abuse of democratic norms in the ruling party.”
According to them, “Dr. Benjamin Obi Nwoye is level headed, has milk of human kindness flowing in his veins and committed to the success of President Tinubu and the party in 2027 and beyond,” YWIP said.
It therefore, described Dr. Nwoye as “the influential exponent of national unity,” extolling him for ensuring a smooth internal
Democratic process in his home state Enugu, the coal city state.
The Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has dismissed a public debate challenge from the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, saying the minister must first become a presidential candidate before seeking such an engagement.
Obi made the remark during an interview with media entrepreneur Chude Jideonwo, where he responded to Umahi’s challenge following his criticism of the condition of Nigerian road.
The former Anambra State governor argued that presidential debates are reserved for candidates seeking the nation’s highest office, insisting that Umahi does not fit that category.
According to Obi, the controversy over the poor state of the roads had already produced results, noting that his criticism prompted repairs.
“If he is inviting me to a debate as a presidential candidate, then he has to become a presidential candidate first,” Obi said.
Drawing an analogy with international football, the NDC presidential flagbearer likened Umahi’s challenge to a team that failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup inviting a qualified team to a match.“The World Cup is going on now. You cannot stay outside and invite a team that qualified for the World Cup to come and play against you simply because you think you are good. No. There is a qualification process,” he added.
Obi maintained that leadership should be measured by performance rather than rhetoric, suggesting that the repairs carried out after his criticism underscored the importance of holding public officials accountable.
His response comes days after Umahi declared that Obi posed no political threat to President Bola Tinubu or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), while challenging him to a public debate over the state of federal roads and infrastructure across the country.
Ada Ogbu, who made the clarification in a statement posted on her official X account on Saturday, was responding to Keyamo’s ultimatum demanding that Obi apologise to airport officials, pay a ₦25,000 parking fine or face action by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).Executive Branch
Ogbu, who described herself as an eyewitness, maintained that she was among those who accompanied Obi to the airport on Saturday, July 4, and categorically denied the minister’s claim that the politician was driven by a police officer.
“As a member of the team that accompanied His Excellency @PeterObi to the Abuja airport on Saturday, July 4, I can state categorically that he does not have a police officer as his driver in Abuja. Therefore, if airport CCTV captured a police officer entering the driver’s seat of a vehicle, that vehicle could not have been Mr. Obi’s,” she stated.
She further argued that the incident highlighted by Keyamo was different from the one Obi narrated during his interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo.
According to her, Obi’s frequent travels across the country have exposed him and his aides to repeated hostile treatment by airport personnel.Government
“It is also important to note that Mr. Obi travels through as many as ten Nigerian airports every week. Over time, there have been several acts of hostility directed at him and members of his team by airport personnel across different locations,” Ogbu said.
She concluded that the aviation minister had referenced an entirely separate incident.
“Based on the account shared by the Honourable Minister, it is clear that the incident Mr. Obi referenced during his interview with @Chude did not occur on the date or at the airport cited by the Minister. They are plainly two different incidents.”
Her reaction comes hours after Keyamo released CCTV-based findings from an internal inquiry into the airport incident, insisting Obi must publicly apologise to airport workers and pay the prescribed parking fine within one week or risk further action by FAAN.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday formally retained Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
This was as political parties made last-minute moves to beat the Independent National Electoral Commission’s deadline for the submission of presidential and National Assembly candidates.
The ruling All Progressives Congress presented the nomination forms of Tinubu and Shettima to its National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, in Abuja for onward transmission to INEC, effectively ending months of speculation that the President could replace his deputy with a northern Christian.
The development came as INEC confirmed that it had received the presidential and vice-presidential nominations of the African Democratic Congress, Nigeria Democratic Congress, Social Democratic Party, Action Alliance, African Action Congress, Peoples Redemption Party and Young Progressives Party.
Meanwhile, several other political parties continued uploading the names of their candidates ahead of the commission’s Saturday midnight deadline.
The electoral commission had fixed July 11, 2026, as the deadline for political parties to upload the nomination forms of their presidential and National Assembly candidates through its online nomination portal in accordance with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
The submission exercise, which commenced on June 27, covers Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E for presidential, vice-presidential, Senate and House of Representatives candidates.
According to the timetable released by the commission, political parties are expected to begin uploading the names of governorship and State House of Assembly candidates from July 18, with the exercise ending on August 8.
INEC is scheduled to publish the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates on August 1, while those of governorship and state assembly candidates will be displayed on August 29 to allow members of the public raise objections where necessary.
The commission also fixed August 22 as the deadline for the withdrawal and substitution of presidential and National Assembly candidates, while governorship and state assembly candidates have until September 19 for withdrawal or replacement in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The July 11 deadline marks one of the most critical stages in the build-up to the 2027 general elections, as only candidates validly nominated by political parties through primaries monitored by INEC are eligible for submission.
The commission had repeatedly warned political parties against submitting the names of candidates different from those who emerged from duly monitored primaries, insisting that any nomination outside the provisions of the Electoral Act and its regulations would be rejected.
Against this backdrop, the APC used Friday’s presentation ceremony to publicly affirm its presidential ticket, signalling that it would head into the 2027 contest without altering the Muslim-Muslim ticket that secured victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Following President Tinubu’s emergence as the APC’s presidential candidate during the party’s convention, political discussions had intensified over whether the President would retain Shettima or opt for another running mate to broaden the party’s electoral appeal.
Those speculations gathered momentum in recent months amid reports that the ruling party was considering a northern Christian as vice-presidential candidate to address concerns over religious balancing.
Friday’s submission, however, ended the uncertainty, with the APC formally presenting Tinubu and Shettima as its flag bearers for the 2027 election.
The nomination documents were presented on behalf of the President by his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ibrahim Masari, during a ceremony attended by members of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, the National Assembly, the Federal Executive Council, the APC National Working Committee, state chairmen of the party and APC governorship candidates.
Earlier, the APC National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu, described the event as the formal presentation of the duly completed nomination forms of the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
Argungu noted that President Tinubu had earlier secured the party’s presidential ticket through what he described as a transparent primary election, and urged party members to remain united ahead of the 2027 polls.
He also commended the President for what he described as the achievements of his administration before formally handing over the nomination documents to the APC National Chairman for onward submission to INEC.
Speaking on behalf of APC governors, Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, reaffirmed the governors’ support for President Tinubu and the party leadership.
“We are delighted that this event is coming after a well-organised and thoroughly supervised primary process. We reiterate our commitment to continue supporting President Tinubu and the party,” he said.
Uzodimma said the APC remained committed to internal democracy and inclusiveness, adding that the governors would continue mobilising support for the President across the country.
“We will continue to support him in the larger interest of Nigerians and to take the country to greater heights. To the National Working Committee, we reaffirm our support. Together, we are going to deliver victory for President Tinubu and ensure the party wins all elective positions, including the National and State Assemblies,” he added.
Receiving the nomination forms, APC National Chairman, Prof. Yilwatda, described the event as a reflection of the confidence reposed in President Tinubu by millions of party members across the country.
According to him, the President’s endorsement by members of the party demonstrated widespread support for his administration and its policies.
He stated, “Today is a reflection of the wishes of over 12 million members of the APC who overwhelmingly voted for Mr. President as the party’s candidate for the 2027 presidential election. We are proud that APC members across the country cast over 12 million votes for Mr. President and overwhelmingly endorsed him.
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