Politics
You’re reckless for wishing Nigeria’s break up, Tinubu blasts Obaseki
Tinubu was reacting to comments by Obaseki that Nigeria would break up should the APC win the next presidential election.
Obaseki had also reportedly described the APC as a failure, alleging that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration now prints money and gives to states as their monthly share from the Federation Account.
“While inaugurating the Edo State chapter of the already-destined-to-fail Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Campaign Council yesterday in Benin, the underperforming, ever loquacious Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki betrayed his oath of office by wishing for the break up of our country because of his brand of crass partisanship”, Tinubu stated.
Tinubu in the statement by the Director, Media and Publicity of his presidential campaign council, Mr Bayo Onanuga noted that Obaseki told “his band of jesters that Nigeria will break up if our party, the All Progressives Congress wins the 2023 presidential election”.
He said he and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima have demonstrated their combined capacities and competencies as Governors of Lagos and Borno States where they both provided purposeful and transformational leadership.
Speaking about Obaseki, Tinubu said; “For a man who swore an oath of allegiance to the sovereignty and unity of Nigeria to be a purveyor of ill-will towards the same country because of partisan politics smirks of total irresponsibility and recklessness unbecoming of a governor who has a constitutionally sanctioned duty to preserve the unity and indivisibility of Nigeria.
“It is worth stating that we are not in any way surprised about Obaseki’s outburst about Nigeria’s breaking. He is, by nature, a divisive, obnoxious and toxic human being that lacks introspection and contemplation expected of a person occupying the office of a governor. He is obviously a man bereft of any iota of emotional intelligence and perhaps a misfit for the role he currently occupies.
“At his ill-fated event in Benin yesterday, Obaseki also repeated the earlier false claim he made in April 2021 on Nigeria’s debt and his accusation that CBN was printing money to share directly to state governments, as if state finance commissioners hauled the billions of naira that is due to them by cash from Abuja every month. Only a disconnected and diseased mind could imagine this scenario that Obaseki concocted. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele debunked his lies in a manner that portrayed him as a nitwit, cheap liar and busybody who was just playing to the gallery. What a pity for a man who claimed to have financial background”.
Tinubu stated that the CBN has never printed money to pay Federal Allocations to states as claimed by Obaseki.
“This much was publicly stated by the Governor of CBN and Minister of Finance. In any case, there is nothing strange or unusual in a sovereign nation printing money when it has to be done because it is one of the core mandates of Central Banks all over the world as lender of last resort”, he said.
Tinubu explained that nations embark on such moves when they are in difficult fiscal situation, as the whole world has been confronted with since 2019 with COVID-19 pandemic that put the global economy on tailspin.
He said sovereign nations had to do what they needed to do in response to an existential crisis as COVID-19 ravaged economies, shut down factories and companies.
Tinubu said Obaseki while playing his politics without honour and integrity, didn’t remember to tell his crowd that Edo State benefited and took advantage of all the CBN/FGN windows and interventions via loans, restructuring of loans.
According to him, the policy has helped to save Edo and the other 35 states from economic cataclysm “because of their terrible fiscal positions, which made many of them unable to pay salaries and pensions for months”.
“This same Obaseki, along with other governors under the banner of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, has been putting pressure on CBN and Minister of Finance for more moratorium on their due obligations to CBN.
“We advise Obaseki to stop his scaremongering and concentrate on how to save his faltering, failing, disconnected and unpopular Government in Edo State. He should stop abusing his office and stooping so low into the dirty gutter of bitter politicking and crisis-baiting. After more than 5 years in office, Obaseki does not have any landmark achievement in Edo State other than paying those on whose shoulder he rose to political relevance in Nigeria with evil. One of his mentors, the energetic Governor Nyesom Wike has expressed the deepest regrets in ever helping Obaseki to retain power in Edo State.
“It is quite amusing when Obaseki said PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar will rescue and rebuild Nigeria. We want to ask them how? How can the same people that destroyed the country and created the mess which the APC-led Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is working day and night to clean up, rescue Nigeria? It is the height of absurdity that Obaseki would recommend to reasonable Nigerians that his party could add new value to Nigeria after it superintended over the looting of over $5b in arms procurement contracts when Boko Haram ravaged the country. How can a party that has failed to build its National Secretariat in 16 years despite raising over N26billion build anything, including our nation?. And of course, nothing is expected from the same people who wasted $16billion to procure darkness for Nigerians in 16 years.
“Obaseki should know by now that Nigerians do not want to have anything to do with his party and Atiku. And the signs are there for all to see: Obaseki’s PDP cannot even rescue itself from internal implosion”, Tinubu declared.
Aggrieved aspirants in Taraba, Kano, Jigawa, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Rivers and Plateau states are mobilising petitions and posapc-screening-crisis-deepens-ahead-of-2027-primariessible legal challenges over the outcome of the party’s screening exercises.
The screening process, designed to prune the number of aspirants ahead of party primaries, has generated controversy in multiple states, with several disqualified hopefuls preparing to seek redress through appeal committees.
In some states, protests have already erupted, while party stakeholders warned that attempts to impose candidates could trigger defections, anti-party activities and deepen internal divisions ahead of the primaries.
Taraba: Backlash Over Senator Lau’s Endorsement
In Taraba State, the endorsement of Senator Shuaibu Isa Lau reportedly backed by party stakeholders after the screening exercise, sparked fierce backlash, especially in Taraba North Senatorial District.
Stakeholders and youth groups rejected the endorsement, accusing the senator of poor performance.
A stakeholder from Karim Lamido LGA, Paul Penuel, described the senator’s tenure as “a complete failure,” insisting there was no record of impactful projects or measurable achievements to justify another term.
Another constituent, Dickson Kwinde, warned that repeating what he termed a “costly political mistake” could alienate voters.
Similarly, the Coalition of Concerned Youths and Voice of the Proletariat in Karim Lamido also rejected the endorsement.
Party sources disclosed that some aggrieved aspirants had begun preparing petitions alleging procedural irregularities, manipulation by political godfathers and attempts to impose consensus candidates without proper consultation.
Kano: Consensus Deal Sparks Protest
In Kano State, over 20 aspirants seeking Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly tickets were reportedly screened out despite earlier consensus arrangements.
Among those affected were former Head of Service, Usman Bala; former lawmaker, Sha’aban Sharada; Muhammad Zango; Danyaro Yakasai; Abbas Abbas; Shehu Driver and Abdulkarim Abdulsalam Zaura in the Kano Central Senatorial contest.
However, APC Publicity Secretary Auwal Soja confirmed that six aspirants eventually stepped down for former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau after a reconciliation meeting.
Despite the arrangement, protests persisted, with a group known as Coalition for Better Kano faulting Shekarau’s endorsement and warning against sacrificing loyalty for political expediency.
Efforts by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to reconcile aggrieved aspirants reportedly suffered setbacks after key stakeholders boycotted the peace meeting.
Jigawa: Disqualification Triggers Defection
In Jigawa State, the fallout from the screening exercise resulted in resignation and defection.
Former Speaker of the Jigawa State House of Assembly, Isah Idris, resigned from the APC after he was disqualified and replaced by another aspirant.
In his resignation letter, Idris lamented what he described as the party’s departure from its founding principles before defecting to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Another former Speaker, Idris Garba, and serving lawmaker Abubakar Sadiq were also edged out, heightening fears of deeper cracks within the state chapter.
Benue: Zoning Dispute Emerges
In Benue State, about 40 aspirants were reportedly disqualified during the screening of House of Assembly hopefuls in Makurdi.
The disqualifications generated anger among supporters who accused the party of violating zoning arrangements and excluding certain blocs from representation.
Supporters warned that failure to address the grievances could hurt the party electorally during the general elections.
Kogi: Aspirants Allege “Commando Arrangement”
In Kogi State, protests and accusations of authoritarianism followed allegations that nomination forms were selectively distributed to preferred aspirants under what critics described as a “Commando arrangement.”
A party chieftain, Chief Femi Olugbemi, accused the state leadership of abandoning democratic principles and sidelining aspirants with strong grassroots support.
The controversy has fuelled fears of mass defections and legal disputes within the state chapter.
Anambra: APC Expels 30 Members
In Anambra State, the APC expelled 30 members, including Senate and House of Representatives aspirants, for instituting legal action against the party.
The state Publicity Secretary, Valentine Iyiegbu, said the expulsions were in line with the party constitution.
According to him, the affected members could only be reconsidered if they withdrew their court cases against the party.
Kaduna: Consensus Crisis Intensifies
In Kaduna State, controversy erupted over moves to impose consensus candidates for National Assembly positions, despite peaceful House of Assembly screening exercises.
The crisis is particularly intense in Kaduna Central Senatorial District, where former lawmaker and activist Shehu Sani is reportedly being favoured as a consensus candidate.
The arrangement has been rejected by former Speaker Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani and activist Yarima Shettima, who warned against political manipulation and backroom deals.
Ebonyi: Aspirant Resigns Over Consensus Arrangement
In Ebonyi State, disqualified candidates also expressed dissatisfaction with the process.
An aspirant for Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, Chief Christian Nwali, resigned from the APC in protest after losing out in the consensus arrangement adopted by the state chapter.
Nwali, an ally of Works Minister David Umahi, announced his resignation with immediate effect.
Rivers: 65 Aspirants Disqualified
In Rivers State, no fewer than 65 aspirants were disqualified by the APC House of Assembly Screening Appeal Committee.
The committee chairman, human rights lawyer Abdul Mahmud, disclosed that only 33 aspirants were cleared ahead of the primaries.
Mahmud revealed that the panel had already received multiple petitions from aggrieved aspirants, many of whom complained that their disqualification was only discovered through social media posts rather than official communication from the party.
He advised the party to improve its communication process in future exercises.
Plateau APC Braces for Fallout
In Plateau State, the APC is reportedly preparing for possible fallout following reports that several House of Assembly aspirants were screened out ahead of the official release of results.
Party insiders fear that unresolved grievances could trigger further divisions within the state chapter ahead of the primaries.
By Okey Maduforo Awka
The former member that represented Anambra East and West Federal Constituency Chief Chinedu Obidigwe has denied a social media handle where he was said to have made Prof Charles Soludo the Governor of Anambra state.
Obidigwe further stated that the report did neither emanate from him or from his Media Aides urging the party not to believe what he called attempt at setting a negative agenda in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Obidigwe who is an Aspirant of the party for the Anambra East and West Federal Constituency accused enemies of the party being sponsored by opposition parties to creat problems .
According to the Media Assistant to Obidigwe Mr Dominic Okagbue in a statement;
“The attention of Hon. Chinedu Benjamin Obidigwe has been drawn to misleading and unfounded claims/propaganda being circulated on various social media platforms through a pseudo account, alleging that Obidigwe said he installed the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, as Governor in 2021”
“We wish to state, without any iota of equivocation, that such a statement never emanated from Hon. Chinedu Obidigwe. It is a desperate move by his political enemies who are bent on tarnishing his image as a tool and technique to advance their unmerited aspirations”
“Obidigwe, in 2021, was merely an electorate with just one vote. Even though he voted for the Governor and APGA, the question remains: can one man’s vote make a Governor?”
“Governor Soludo was elected and made Governor through the collective votes of Ndi Anambra, both in his first and second terms. We therefore call on the reading public to disregard such rumours and treat them as faceless and unfounded allegations geared towards the character assassination of an innocent man” he said.
A former Kano State Governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Rabiu Kwankwaso, says northern political leaders conducted a deliberate assessment of potential allies before settling on Peter Obi as the most capable partner to prosecute the 2027 presidential campaign.
He dismissed concerns about a hidden power struggle between his camp and Obi’s.Politics
Kwankwaso made the disclosure in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, offering one of his most detailed accounts yet of how the North-Southeast political alliance within the NDC was formed.
“I looked around together with our leadership in the north to say, okay, who do we think is capable? Who can come and work together with us honestly so that we can move this country? Along the line, we realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it. That’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
Kwankwaso, a two-term former governor of Kano State and the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in 2023, leads the Kwankwasiyya movement, a grassroots political force with deep loyalty across Kano and parts of northern Nigeria.Nigeria travel guide
He left the NNPP amid internal disputes before joining the NDC alongside Obi earlier this month.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and drew massive youth-driven support across the South and urban centres, though he did not win.
Both men formally joined the NDC on Sunday, May 3, defecting from the crisis-hit African Democratic Congress.Politics
At the party’s national convention on Saturday in Abuja, Kwankwaso backed the NDC’s decision to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the South, describing it as a step toward fairness, healing and national cohesion.
Responding to a question about whether the alliance concealed a quiet rivalry between both camps, Kwankwaso argued that friction between principals and their deputies was a product of greed, not structural tension.
“The problem people are having, especially leaders, is that they are too greedy to the extent that they begin to have issues. There is so much to do. You don’t have to fight your deputy,” he said.
He said his record as a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, and later as governor of Kano State, showed that political partnerships could hold under pressure.
“I had an opportunity to work with my speaker and we worked very well. I was in Kano for eight years despite the difficulty of my then deputy governor. We were able to work for eight years amicably to the extent that I handed over to him,” he said.
Kwankwaso extended the argument beyond his personal experience, saying the same principle applied at the federal level.
In the Senate and other places, in the NDDC, we worked amicably with people. There is so much to be done and that’s why you have even ministers, other executives, advisors and so on. I don’t see from my experiences of the past why deputies or vice would fight with the president or governor,” he said.
He grounded the alliance in Nigerian political history, tracing a lineage of productive North-Southeast partnerships from the first republic to the present.Nigeria travel guide
“Right from the beginning, this sort of alliance has been in existence. Now we are going back to what Tafawa Balewa did during their time,” he said.
He also referenced the collaboration between former Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and leaders of the NCNC, as well as that of former President Shehu Shagari and his vice president, Alex Ekwueme, in the second republic.
“So also in the second republic, immediately after the war, our leaders, Shagari and others, worked very closely with the southeast, with Alex Ekwueme as his vice president. They are our friends. We want to work together with them,” he said.Politics
Kwankwaso also noted that subsequent administrations had shifted power-sharing away from the South-East, a pattern he suggested the current alliance was correcting.
“There was a change during the third republic where for many obvious reasons an election was annulled and the government under the military decided to bring in Shonekan from the South-West.
Even after that, the military and other leaders worked together and brought in Chief Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West again. Even Bola Tinubu probably is a beneficiary of all that,” he said.
He was emphatic that the choice of Obi was not driven by regional sentiment alone.
“It wasn’t just because we are going to the South-West just because of the South-West. No. We realised that Peter Obi is at the forefront of it and that’s why we all accepted to work together,” he said.Political candidate profile
The movement of both men into the NDC has triggered a wave of defections, with senators, House of Representatives members and political blocs aligned with their former coalition gravitating toward the new party, rapidly reshaping calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance pairs Kwankwaso’s northern grassroots structure and disciplined voter mobilisation with Obi’s national youth engagement and urban electoral momentum, positioning the NDC as one of the main opposition platforms set to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2027
Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso has dismissed suggestions that his exit from the African Democratic Congress has created a damaging split in the opposition.
He said he and Atiku Abubakar may yet work together before the 2027 general election.
Kwankwaso spoke in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, responding to concerns that his move to the Nigeria Democratic Congress alongside Peter Obi had effectively divided the opposition into two competing blocs ahead of the polls.
“Now, we may still work together before the election. I personally, and I think even Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues,” he said
He said the ADC was contending with three major unresolved problems that he believed would make it difficult for the party to field candidates, without specifying what those issues were.
“Whether they will be able to field candidates in that party or not is just a matter of time. It’s not like we had a primary election,” he said
The remarks come after Atiku recently claimed on Arise TV that Kwankwaso’s popularity was confined to Kano State and further divided there by Governor Abba Yusuf.
Atiku, who is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, also described himself as the most popular politician of northern extraction, saying none of his contemporaries, including Kwankwaso, Aminu Tambuwal and Nasir El-Rufai, commanded a voter base across the North as wide as his.
Kwankwaso did not engage the slight directly, but made clear he bore no grudge.
“Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me. I have no issue with that. I think we are past that level now,” he said.
He challenged those predicting a vote split in Kano to wait for the election result before drawing conclusions.
“Let’s wait for the election and see whether votes are split in Kano or not,” he said.
Kwankwaso also acknowledged a history of working with Atiku, recalling that he served as the former vice president’s northern coordinator during the 2019 presidential election.
“There was an election in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the north. We worked for him,” he said.
He traced his broader relationship with Atiku to the 2015 APC presidential primary in Lagos, where he placed second behind Muhammadu Buhari, with Atiku third.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expelled 30 members of the party for instituting legal actions against the party.
The affected members include some aspirants for the National Assembly, and their expulsion may disqualify them from participating in the party’s primary elections.
Disclosing this shortly after the meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party, the State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sir Valentine Iyiegbu, told reporters that the decision was in line with Section 21, Subsection 5 of the party’s constitution.
“The party discussed those who took the party to court, and many of them are contesting for the House of Representatives tickets of the party,” he said.
“The matter comes up tomorrow, and the SEC stated that what the party constitution stipulates would be followed, which is outright expulsion from the party under Article 21, Subsection 5.”
“The SEC actually ratified their expulsion because they did not exhaust all the internal avenues provided by the party to resolve their grievances,” he added.
Iyiegbu noted that the only reprieve available to the expelled members would be for them to withdraw their court cases.
“It is only when the matters are withdrawn from the court that the party can consider listening to them,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s primary elections, he explained:
“In the case of those contesting for the tickets of the Federal House of Representatives, all the eleven positions have aspirants, while for the Senate, the three positions are also being contested. The screening committees were here to perform their duties,” he noted.
The party also ratified the appointment of a five-man Primary Elections Committee headed by Sir Izuchukwu Okeke, the State Organising Secretary of the party.
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