Politics
Tinubu and Ganduje shouldn’t play with fire in Kano
Twitter: @farooqkperogi
The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the verdict of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that reversed the electoral triumph of NNPP’s Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State. I sincerely hope this assault on justice isn’t the spark that ignites an inferno in Kano—and in the country.
The signs had been evident since early October that a predetermination had been made that irrespective of the facts, the flawed, preplanned judgment of the election petition tribunal must be preserved at all costs.
For example, on October 6, the Head of the Legal Department of INEC in Kano State by the name of Suleiman Alkali wrote a curious letter stating that INEC, which had declared NNP’s Yusuf as the validly elected winner of the governorship election in Kano, was no longer interested in defending its declaration.
“I have been instructed by the commission headquarters that INEC as an umpire has no reason to appeal any judgment,” he wrote. “Consequently, the National Commission in charge of Legal Services and National Commissioner in charge of Kano zone directed that the appeal be withdrawn and all processes for all appeals should be forwarded to the Kano Office.”
In response to the jolt and outrage that the letter generated, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, said Alkali wasn’t authorized to write the letter, pointing out that the letter has “since been withdrawn and the officer reprimanded.” We weren’t told the nature of the “reprimand” because it was a lie.
That was exactly what played out when INEC acted in cahoots with Ahmed Lawan to steal APC’s Bashir Machina’s Yobe North Senatorial District primary win, which the Supreme Court affirmed in a shameless show of what I called judicial banditry.
(Retired Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammed quoted his colleague’s quotation of my abrasive censure of the Supreme Court in his parting shots at his colleagues even though he and his colleague didn’t give me credit— and slightly misquoted me. I said in a February 6 article titled “Lawan and Supreme Court of Shameless Judicial Bandits” that “Nigeria’s Supreme Court is, without a doubt, a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits. The highest bidder gets their judgement.” Dattijo used “voter” where I used “rotten.”)
Anyway, on September 5, 2022, an INEC lawyer by the name of Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, had filed an affidavit at the Federal High Court to discredit the result of its own election that had declared Machina as the winner of the Yobe North APC senatorial primary election.
In the aftermath of the shock and fury that attended this, Festus Okoye, at the time INEC’s National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee Festus, repudiated Ikpeazu’s affidavit and said, “the Commission will review its quality assurance protocols, including the preview by appropriate ranking officials of all processes filed on its behalf to ascertain their correctness in all material particulars with all reports and all information at its disposal before their presentation so that a situation like this is not repeated.”
Well, that situation was repeated in Kano in October this year, almost exactly a year later. It seems to be a well-practiced pattern. INEC first flies a kite, sees how high it flies, then crashes it. But the whole point is to prepare the minds of the public for what is being hatched so as to minimize its shock value when it finally materializes.
If the outcome of the Ahmed Lawan and Bashir Machina case is any guide, it means INEC is deeply complicit in Ganduje’s chicanery and plot to steal Yusuf’s governorship. It might also mean that the“judicial bandits” I talked about at the Supreme Court are waiting in the wings to feast on another stolen electoral dinner. I hope I am wrong.
The second indication that this appeal court judgment was a well-rehearsed theater came when the appeal court completed its deliberations on November 6 but deferred its judgment until November 17 and then requested that security be heightened in Kano in anticipation of the publicizing of its judgement. Only people in a dry run for the abortion of justice ask for anticipatory protection from their potential victims.
As I pointed out in my September 23, 2023, column titled “Why the Kano Verdict Can’t Stand,” it is apparent that former Kano State governor and current APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, has resolved to damn all consequences and use the federal might at his disposal to wrest the power that his party and his flunkey lost to Rabiu Kwankwaso and his son-in-law in the governorship election.
“APC appears intent to get back through judicial manipulation what it lost through the ballot box,” I wrote. “It’s a higher-order, more sophisticated, and less primitive version of the broad-day electoral heist they perpetrated in 2019 after former Governor Abdullahi ‘Gandollar’ Ganduje lost to the same Abba Yusuf.”
In a defiant disregard for potentially untoward consequences, Ganduje—of course, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s blessing—has decided to pull all strings to snatch judicial victory from the jaws of electoral defeat.
As I will show shortly, both the election tribunal and the appeal court are not even pretending to be fair in their judgments. They have already been handed a verdict and mandated to fish for evidence to justify it. The verdict, of course, is that NNPP’s Abba Yusuf must go and must be replaced by APC’s Nasiru Gawuna.
In rhetorical studies, we call that finalism, that is, a conclusion in search of evidence. Psychologists call it “motivated reasoning,” that is, tendentious interpretation intentionally designed to produce a predetermined outcome. Philosophers call that armchair hermeneutics, that is, reasoning that ignores the evidence.
The Daily Trust reported Justice Moore A. Adumein as predicating the nullification of Yusuf’s victory on the fact of his not being a member of the NNPP when he was nominated by the party. “As rightfully found, Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP at the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party and he was not qualified to contest the March Governorship Election,” Justice Adumein reportedly said.
Yet, in quashing the election of APC’s House of Representatives member Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso and reinstating NNPP’s Yusuf Umar Datti as the validly elected member to represent Kano’s Kura/Madobi/Garun Malam Federal Constituency seat, the same appeal court said two weeks ago that “the issue of membership of a political party is an internal affair, which no court has jurisdiction on,” according to the LEADERSHIP newspaper.
I had thought that this was settled law. As I wrote in a previous column, “A May 26 Supreme Court ruling also says rival parties have no right to question the validity of the internal decisions made by other parties unless they can prove that they suffered demonstrable harm as a result of the internal decisions another party took. So, the Kano governorship election tribunal’s verdict on this issue will be as dead as a dodo upon appeal.”
The question now is, why is NNPP’s Yusuf being held to a different standard? I get that Kwankwaso and Yusuf didn’t handle their victory well. Instead of being happy, their victory roused destructive vengeance and mean-spiritedness in them. But that’s no reason to steal their legitimately earned victory.
I am certain that NNPP will take this case to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court is guided by its precedents, which is never guaranteed, I have no doubt that it will invalidate the judgements of the lower courts.
But this is clearly not a legal issue. It’s a battle for political supremacy in Kano between Ganduje and Kwankwaso in which Ganduje is deploying the courts as cudgels to fustigate Kwankwaso.
My advice for President Tinubu is to be very watchful because this is really treacherous territory. Righteous anger over obvious injustice—on top of ongoing existential torment in the country—can spark violence whose consequence we can’t predict.
Source: Tribune
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
Ten communities that make up Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State are set for a showdown with their traditional rulers following the alleged suspension of the zoning arrangement for the Anambra State House of Assembly elections.
Recall that on April 7, 2022, the traditional rulers, in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), resolved that the House of Assembly seats for Anaocha I and Anaocha II constituencies would rotate among the ten communities, with each town occupying the seat for two terms.
The traditional rulers further resolved that the rotation would subsist irrespective of the political party through which lawmakers emerge, noting that the arrangement was aimed at ensuring that all ten communities have the opportunity to produce members of the State Assembly in the interest of equity and fairness.
However, the Anaocha Equity Forum, shortly after its meeting, expressed concern over the alleged suspension of the zoning arrangement.
Speaking, the Convener of the Anaocha Equity Forum, Mr. Valentine Okoye, said the forum would not take kindly to what it described as acts capable of destabilising the council area, adding that any such move would be resisted.
“This is a Memorandum of Understanding signed by our traditional rulers, and it has been respected until now. We in the Anaocha Equity Forum see this as a slap on the sensibilities of the ten communities that make up the area,” he said.
“We urge members of the public, political parties, and stakeholders to disregard the alleged position of the traditional rulers, as it does not represent the views and aspirations of our people.
“Our traditional rulers should be mindful of their roles as fathers of their respective communities. They should also understand that they would be held responsible for whatever backlash or consequences may arise from this recent position.
“We call on Governor Charles Soludo to call the traditional rulers to order so that the peace currently enjoyed in Anaocha Local Government Area will not be disrupted,” he stated.
The exit of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, two prominent opposition figures, has weakened the African Democratic Congress across both chambers of the National Assembly.
The National Democratic Congress, which received Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso on Sunday, recorded its biggest gains on Tuesday with the addition of 17 House members and a senator. Weeks earlier, its ranks expanded when Seriake Dickson, representing Bayelsa West, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to join the party.
The development comes a few days after several opposition parties resolved to present a single presidential candidate against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The wave of defection to the NDC occurred 48 hours after Obi and Kwankwaso, two of the ADC’s most prominent figures, formally exited the party. These moves have significantly altered the opposition landscape ahead of the 2027 general elections, setting the stage for shifting political alliances.
Additionally, the latest defectors, drawn from Kano, Anambra, Lagos, Edo, Rivers, and Kogi States, cited internal disarray within the ADC as a major factor that influenced their decision.
While reading their letters on the floor of the House, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary session, said the lawmakers blamed the party’s instability for their departure, noting that the crisis remained “unresolved starting from the ward to the national level.”
The defectors to the NDC are Yusuf Datti, Sani Adamu, Zakari Mukhtari, Kamilu Ado, Harris Okonkwo, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, Peter Anekwe, Emeka Idu, Ifeanyi Uzokwe, and Afam Ogene. Others include Lagos lawmakers Thaddeus Attah, Oluwaseyi Sowunmi, George Olwande, and Jese Onuakalusi, as well as Murphy Omroruyi from Edo and Umezuruike Manuchim from Rivers State.
In a separate move, Kogi lawmaker Leke Abejide defected from the ADC to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The coordinated nature of the defections is widely interpreted as a show of loyalty to Obi and Kwankwaso, whose switch to the NDC is already reshaping opposition dynamics.
Both men are influential political figures with strong regional bases—Obi in the South-East and Kwankwaso in the North-West—and their exit from the ADC appears to have triggered a ripple effect among lawmakers aligned with their political structures.
The ADC’s current troubles did not emerge overnight. In recent months, tensions within the party escalated over leadership struggles, strategy disagreements, and competing ambitions among top figures.
The situation worsened amid reports of irreconcilable differences between Obi, Kwankwaso, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was also a central figure in opposition coalition talks.
Efforts to build a united front ahead of 2027 reportedly broke down due to mistrust, zoning disagreements, and control of party structures.
Their eventual defection to the NDC marked a turning point. Seen as a more viable platform for consolidating opposition strength, the NDC quickly became a magnet for lawmakers and political actors seeking stability and clearer leadership direction.
With the departure of key figures and a steady decline in its legislative strength, the ADC now faces a daunting struggle to maintain political relevance.
The loss of national figures like Obi and Kwankwaso, combined with the defection of lawmakers across multiple states, appears to have weakened its structure and electoral prospects.
Only last week, the party boasted 24 members of the House of Representatives, but it is now left with six.
Once the dominant opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party may equally struggle to retain its status.
Though still officially the most formidable opposition in the House, the PDP currently has 29 members in the Green Chamber, down from 116 members in its ranks at the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in June 2023.
Barely a year to the inauguration of the 11th National Assembly, the Senate on Tuesday moved to tighten its internal rules, effectively narrowing the path to its most powerful offices and edging out a class of incoming lawmakers, including serving governors and former senators eyeing leadership positions.
In a move widely seen as pre-emptive, the red chamber, after about three hours of a closed-door session, amended Orders 4 and 5 of its Standing Rules, restricting eligibility for both presiding and principal offices to ranking lawmakers with defined legislative experience.
The amendments come amid growing interest by outgoing governors and political heavyweights, many of whom are positioning to enter the Senate in 2027 to contest for top leadership roles such as Senate President and Deputy Senate President.
Under the Revised Order 4, the Senate reinforced a strict hierarchy for the emergence of presiding officers, stating that “Nomination of senators to serve as Presiding Officers shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators and shall be strictly adhered to.
“The order of ranking are (i) Former President of the Senate, (ii) Former Deputy President of the Senate, (iii) Former Principal Officers of the Senate, (iv) Senators who had served at least one term of four years, (v) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives, (vi) In the absence of i to v, senators elected into the Senate for the first time,” it stated.
Beyond this ranking structure, the Senate introduced a more stringent provision in Order 5, effectively excluding first-time and non-consecutive lawmakers from contesting principal offices.
The amended rule states: “Any senator shall not be eligible to contest for any principal office of the Senate unless he has served as a senator for at least two consecutive terms immediately preceding nomination.”
The implication is far-reaching: senators-elect who were not members of both the 9th and 10th National Assembly would be ineligible to vie for key leadership roles in the 11th Assembly.
Presiding offices in the Senate include the Senate President and Deputy Senate President, while principal offices comprise Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Whip, Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip.
The rule changes come against the backdrop of an intensifying scramble for Senate seats ahead of the 2027 general elections, driven largely by governors completing their constitutionally allowed two terms.
No fewer than 10 state governors and several former governors are already angling to secure senatorial tickets, leveraging their influence over party structures to emerge as consensus candidates in their respective states.
At least 12 of the 36 state governors are in their second and final terms, with 10 set to complete their tenure by May 29, 2027.
The looming transition has triggered a wave of political realignments, with many seeking to maintain relevance and influence by moving to the National Assembly.
Eight of the affected governors are from the ruling All Progressives Congress, while Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party, and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed is aligned with the Allied Peoples Movement.
Those expected to exit office in 2027 include AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), alongside Makinde and Bala Mohammed.
Although Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma will complete their tenures in early 2028 due to off-cycle elections, both have been drawn into early permutations for Senate seats.
In Imo State, the political temperature has risen sharply following moves by the All Progressives Congress to position Uzodimma for the Imo West senatorial seat.
Party leaders in the state have already named him as the consensus candidate, even as the incumbent senator, Osita Izunaso, is reportedly seeking a return to the red chamber.
Last Saturday, APC leaders from the Orlu Zone (Imo West), led by the state chairman, Chief Austin Onyedebelu, purchased the 2027 senatorial nomination form for the governor, urging him to accept the ticket.
Onyedebelu, who presented the forms to Uzodimma’s Chief of Staff, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie, called for pressure on the governor to “accept the plea of Orlu people by filling the forms so that it can be submitted before the deadline of 5th May, 2026.”
The state APC has also warned other aspirants against contesting the seat, insisting that Uzodimma remains the consensus choice.
Complicating the contest, former Governor Rochas Okorocha equally purchased nomination forms in a bid to return to the Senate, a move confirmed by one of his aides, Darlington Ibekwe.
The Orlu Political Consultative Assembly further reinforced Uzodimma’s candidacy, declaring him the sole candidate for the district in what it described as a “total, unanimous, and irrevocable decision.”
The unfolding contest is also shaped by internal power dynamics within the ruling party.
Last month, President Bola Tinubu reportedly rebuffed attempts by National Assembly leaders to secure automatic return tickets for lawmakers, instead reaffirming the authority of state governors over candidate selection.
The stance has strengthened governors’ grip on party structures, enabling many of them to influence senatorial nominations as they prepare for life after office.
Against this backdrop, the Senate’s rule amendments appear designed to preserve institutional hierarchy and prevent an influx of first-time lawmakers, many of them politically powerful, from immediately taking control of the chamber’s leadership.
For ambitious entrants like Uzodimma and others plotting a return or debut in the Senate, the message from the red chamber is clear: experience within its ranks, not political clout outside it, will determine who leads in the 11th National Assembly.
By Okey Maduforo Awka
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra state has finally submitted the first batch of the list of Commissioners made up of 18 nominees to the Anambra State House of Assembly.
Recall that this reporter had predicted that the Governor would announce the list of his Cabinet members on or before the end of this week.
According to the Special Assistant to the Speaker of the Assembly on New Media Mr Franklin Osankwa , the Speaker Hon Somtochukwu Udeze has already sent the list to the Screening Committee of the legislature.
A breakdown of the list indicates that only four former Commissioners who worked with him during his first term in office were returned .
They include the Commissioner for Health Dr Afam Obidike , Professor Offonze Amucheazi Ministry of Lands , Mr Patrick Agba , Youth Development and Commissioner for Information Dr Law Mefor .
Similarly the list of Special Assistants and Senor Special Assistants and Advisers is being awaited .
No fewer than 10 state governors and former governors are actively working to replace incumbent senators ahead of the 2027 general elections, in what appears to be a sweeping political realignment reshaping Nigeria’s legislative landscape.
The sitting governors, whose tenure will expire by May 2027, are leveraging their control of party structures in their states to secure Senate tickets—largely through “consensus” arrangements.
At least 12 of Nigeria’s 36 incumbent governors are currently serving their second and final terms. Of that number, 10 will complete their constitutionally mandated eight years on May 29, 2027, setting the stage for a high-stakes political transition that is already unsettling party structures nationwide.
Eight of the affected governors are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Seyi Makinde of Oyo State belongs to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State is affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party, contrary to earlier claims linking him to the Allied Peoples Movement.
Governors expected to complete their tenure in 2027 include AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Muhammadu Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), alongside Makinde and Bala Mohammed.
Although Governors Douye Diri of Bayelsa and Hope Uzodimma of Imo will also finish their second terms, their exit dates fall in January and February 2028, respectively, due to off-cycle elections. However, their extended timelines have not excluded them from early succession and Senate calculations.
Last month, President Bola Tinubu, during a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly, rebuffed lobbying efforts by lawmakers seeking automatic return tickets ahead of the 2027 elections. Instead, he reaffirmed the authority of state governors over candidate selection in their respective states.
Sources familiar with the meeting revealed that senators had approached the President to seek assurances for automatic tickets.
“The meeting was to plead for automatic tickets, but the President insisted that governors, as party leaders in their states, must have a decisive say on who gets the ticket,” a source disclosed.
Less than 24 hours later, Tinubu convened another meeting with APC governors, where he reportedly gave them a free hand to conduct party primaries in accordance with the Electoral Act—either through consensus or direct primaries.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago confirmed this, stating that the President had effectively empowered governors to drive the primaries process.
Investigations across several states—including Yobe, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Ogun, Gombe, Bauchi, Kwara, and Imo—indicate a growing pattern in which party stakeholders endorse governors or their preferred candidates as sole contenders. In many cases, rivals are pressured to step aside, while primaries are either avoided or reduced to mere formalities.
In Yobe State, Senator Musa Mustapha (Yobe East) stepped aside to support Governor Mai Mala Buni after a stakeholders’ meeting in Damaturu. He also withdrew from the governorship race, pledging full loyalty to party leadership decisions.
Similarly, in Gombe State, former governor and Senator Danjuma Goje lost his bid for a fifth term following a zoning arrangement favouring a candidate aligned with Governor Yahaya.
In Imo State, Governor Hope Uzodimma has been endorsed as the consensus candidate for Imo West, despite the interest of incumbent Senator Osita Izunaso. The move has triggered tension, with former governor Rochas Okorocha also entering the race.
In Ogun State, the consensus model has broken down into open conflict, as Governor Dapo Abiodun’s Senate ambition has put him at odds with incumbent Senator Gbenga Daniel.
In Adamawa, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has emerged as the consensus candidate for Adamawa North, with the incumbent senator stepping aside in his favour.
Similar developments have been recorded in Nasarawa, Kwara, Delta, and Kogi states, where governors and former governors are positioning themselves to take over Senate seats—often displacing incumbents.
Meanwhile, in Cross River State, former governor Ben Ayade revealed he had been asked to drop his Senate ambition following high-level consultations, a decision he described as painful and unjust.
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