Headline

Godfathers of Today’s Gubernatorial Election

Published

7 years ago

March 9, 2019

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The philosophy of godfatherism has remained a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s political terrain, and there is nothing in the offing that shows its end is near.

As the country goes to the polls to elect new governors and attempt to renew the mandate of quite a good number of others, it is imperative to note that political godfathers are playing prominent roles in the system.

It is worthy of note that most godfathers of this dispensation are mostly ex-governors, and in some instances a few of them are serving governors whose tenures will end on May 29, 2019.

It has become a culture for governors to plant their stooges in office while leaving – a move political observers have said is meant to keep their secrets secret. However, some of the governors, who are cut in this web, have maintained that the essence is to keep the ‘good works’ they started going. They reasoned that it would be best to let someone who will hear instruction to take over from them for sustainability.

In 2019, here is a roll call of godfathers who have direct impact in the governorship elections:

ROCHAS OKOROCHA

Okorocha is the outgoing Governor of Imo State, and a senator-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is successfully completing a two terms of eight years in office. He is presenting to the Imo people his son-in-law, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu as his replacement. Okorocha is not making a drama of his choice, and is almost forcing the Imo people to take his choice hook line and sinker.
Nwosu was former the Chief of Staff of the Rachas Okorocha Foundation and a former commissioner in the state. He is married to Okorocha’s daughter.

BUKOLA SARAKI

A medical doctor by training, Dr. Saraki has an intimidating political profile. In the first instance, he is the son of the former strongman of Kwara politics, Chief Olusola Saraki, and practically continued from where his father stopped.

Saraki was a two terms former governor of Kwara State, two terms senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, one of which he served as the Senate President among other intimidating political assignments he had undertaken.

In the Kwara guber election, Saraki is frontally backing Mr. Razak Atunwa under the PDP umbrella. He single handedly brought Ahmed Abdulfatah on board as the governor.

Saraki’s lordship over Kwara State may suffer a huge blow if he fails in his quest to make Atunwa governor as he has lost his seat in the senate following electoral defeat.

GODSWILL AKPABIO

Akpabio is a two terms former Governor of Akwa Ibom State. He defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in August 2018. His defection did notgo down well with his people, who rejected him at the polls as he also lost his seat in the senate to his elsewhile deputy, Chris Ekpeyong.

Akpabio is backing a former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere.

In 2015, he supported the incumbent governor, Udom Emmanuel to become governor, but the two fell apart following Akpabio’s defection to the APC. and Emmanuel’s refusal to join him.

RABIU KWANKWASO

He is the leader of the group, Kwankwasiyya Movement and a former two terms governor of Kano State. He supported and installed his deputy, Abdullahi Ganduje as governor in 2015. The duo has since fallen apart with each other following irreconcilable differences, leading to the defection of Kwankwaso to the Peoples Democratic Party.

In the 2019 election, Kwankwaso is backing Abba Kabir Yusuf of the PDP, and hopes to clip the wings of the incumbent governor, Ganduje, as far as Kano politics is concerned.

BOLA AHMED TINUBU

He is probably the longest serving godfather who bestows the politics of Lagos State like a Collosus. Tinubu, like those above, is also a two term governor, who ruled Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. Ever since he left office, Tinubu had not only had a hand in choosing who becomes the governor of the state, but is the sole decider of what whatever happens in Lagos politically.

Verifiable proof says he handpicked Mr. Babatunde Fashola who ruled after him as well as the outgoing governor who he also denied second term in office, Akinwunmi Ambode.

The choice of Babajide Sanwo-Olu was strictly his to make after he pulled the carpet off Ambode’s feet. Though today, a lot of people are challenging his lordship, he still remains the be all and end all of Lagos politics.

IBIKUNLE AMOSUN

Senator Amosun is also a two term governor of Ogun State, and has been elected senator for the nineth assembly. He has as his anointed a serving member of the House of Representatives, Hon Adekunle Akinlade. A member of the sixth assembly, Amosun is bent on ensuring that his candidate becomes governor after even to the extent of supporting him to another party when his party failed to give him ticket following an election loss.

OLUSEGUN OSOBA

Also a former governor of Ogun State, Osoba is solidly giving his support to millionaire oil magnate, Mr. Dapo Abiodun. He is pitched against the incumbent govenor Amosun whose tent is pitched with Akinlade.

Headline

Israeli Ambassador Accuses Iran of Spreading Terror, Sponsoring Extremist Activities in Nigeria

Published

2 days ago

March 6, 2026

Eric

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has accused Iran of sponsoring extremist activities in Nigeria and other parts of the world, alleging that Tehran supports groups aimed at destabilising countries while pursuing its hostility against Israel.

Freeman made the remarks on Friday while speaking during an interview on The Morning Show on Arise News.

The envoy claimed that Iran is the only country within the United Nations that openly expresses a desire to destroy another sovereign state, referring to repeated threats against Israel.

According to him, the Iranian government has, over several decades, supported militant groups and terror organisations around the world in pursuit of that objective.

Freeman alleged that Iran has backed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, adding that Tehran was also behind the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.

He further claimed that Iranian activities aimed at spreading instability have been observed across several regions, including Europe, Australia, and parts of Africa.

Speaking specifically about Nigeria, the Israeli ambassador alleged that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria receives backing from the Iranian government.

According to Freeman, statements of support from Iran’s leadership, including posts by Ali Khamenei on social media, have openly indicated such ties.

He said: “The issue here is about Iran. Iran is the only country in the world, in the United Nations, who expressly desires to wipe another country off the face of the earth. Iran has stated its very policy is to destroy Israel. Is to wipe Israel off the map is to make sure they kill every single person and no regime, no country that has an express desire to destroy Israel, and it’s not only an expressed desire.

“We’ve seen over 47 years, they’ve taken all the actions they can in order for that to happen. We’ve seen them sponsor terror organizations. They were behind October the seventh massacre of Hamas. We’ve seen them sponsoring Hezbollah. We’ve seen them acting in Europe. We’ve seen them acting in Australia. We’ve seen them acting in Nigeria.

“We’ve seen these people acting all across the world in order to spread disturbance for them to try and carry out their aim of destroying Israel, and Israel will not allow another country to have nuclear weapons when they’ve expressly stated they want those weapons to destroy Israel”.

“I think that it is well documented. We know that there are certain movements, for example, the Islamic movement of Nigeria is sponsored and is backed by the Iranian regime. This is not me saying this, we’ve seen that documented by the Iranian regime.

The Supreme Leader posted on X his support and his backing there. So that’s very open. And there are other areas as well that Iran is working for, destabilizing, not only Nigeria, but all of West Africa.”

Headline

Why Nigerians Must Reject INEC’s Revised Timetable – ADC

Published

1 week ago

February 28, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during the week, released a fresh elections timetable, with major amendments to accommodate the just passed and signed Electoral Act 2026 by the National Assembly and President Bola Tinubu respectively.

Following the repeal of the Electoral Act, 2022 and the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2026, which introduced adjustments to statutory timelines governing pre-election and electoral activities, the Commission has reviewed and realigned the Schedule to ensure full compliance with the new legal framework.

Accordingly, the Commission has resolved as follows:

Presidential and National Assembly Elections will now hold on Saturday, 16th January 2027 as against the earlier stated February 20, 2027
Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections will now hold on Saturday, 6th February 2027 as against the former date of March 6, 2027

Also in accordance with the approved Schedule of Activities, the electoral bidy noted in the revised timetable that:

Conduct of Party Primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from primaries, will commence on 23rd April 2026 and end on 30th May 2026.

Presidential and National Assembly campaigns will commence on 19th August 2026.

Governorship and State Houses of Assembly campaigns will commence on 9th September 2026.

As provided by law, campaigns shall end 24 hours before Election Day. Political parties are strongly advised to adhere strictly to these timelines. The Commission will enforce compliance with the law.

But in a swift reaction, the opposition coalition, African Democratic Congress (ADC), rejected the revised 2026–2027 general election timetable, describing it as a politically biased schedule designed to favour the re-election agenda of President Bola Tinubu, and calling on all Nigerians to speak up enmasse to reject the revised timetable.

The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Friday argued that the new deadlines and compliance requirements under the Electoral Act 2026 create near-impossible hurdles for opposition parties seeking to field candidates.

On February 13, INEC initially scheduled the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections for February 20, 2027, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were fixed for March 6, 2027.

The timetable, however, faced objections from some Muslim stakeholders who noted that the dates coincided with the 2027 Ramadan period.

Following the concerns, the National Assembly amended Clause 28 of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, reducing the required election notice period from 360 to 300 days, allowing INEC to adjust the election dates.

Subsequently, INEC released a revised schedule on Thursday, signed by its Chairman, Joash Amupitan, moving the Presidential and National Assembly elections to January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections to February 6, 2027.

Reacting, the ADC said the requirement that political parties submit a comprehensive digital membership register by April 2, 2026, effectively bars opposition parties from participating.

The party stated: “The African Democratic Congress rejects the updated 2026–2027 electoral timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission. What has been presented as a routine administrative schedule of the upcoming general elections is, in fact, a political instrument carefully structured to narrow democratic space and strengthen the incumbent administration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“According to the timetable, party primaries are to be conducted between April 23 and May 30, 2026, just 55 to 92 days from today. However, more significant is that, pursuant to Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act 2026, political parties are required to submit their digital membership registers to INEC not later than April 2, 2026.

“That is only about 34 days away. Section 77(7) further provides that any party that fails to submit its membership register within the stipulated time shall not be eligible to field a candidate. These are not routine administrative rules but are deliberately constructed barriers designed to exclude the opposition from participating in the election.”

The party further noted that Section 77(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 requires the digital register of members to contain name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, National Identification Number (NIN) and photograph in both hard and soft copies, while Section 77(6) prohibits the use of any pre-existing register that does not contain the specified information. It warned that failure to meet these requirements would lead to disqualification.

The ADC questioned the fairness of the digital membership requirement, noting that the ruling All Progressives Congress began its registration process in February 2025, long before the requirement became mandatory.

“It is not a product of foresight but insider advantage. They knew what was coming. They therefore had one full year to carry out an exercise that other political parties are expected to complete in one month, during which they must collect, process, collate and transmit large volumes of digital data to INEC under the threat of exclusion. This is practically impossible.

“Democratic competition is based on a level playing field that does not give any contestant an undue advantage. A system where one party exploits incumbency to gain a one-year head start on a requirement that other parties only became aware of when it was nearly too late is a rigged system.”

The ADC said it has joined other opposition parties in rejecting the Electoral Act 2026, adding that the INEC timetable is equally rejected as it appears designed to serve what it described as a self-succession agenda.

“Let it be clear that ADC will not take any action that appears to confer legitimacy on a fraudulent system. We are reviewing our options and will make our position known in the coming days,” the party said.

The party also called on civil society organisations, democratic stakeholders and Nigerians to scrutinise the timetable and demand fairness, stressing that democracy cannot survive when electoral rules are structured to produce predetermined outcomes.

The party has consistently accused the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) of scheming to silence the opposition as the 2027 General Elections draw closer, citing his manipulation of state governors and Assembly members from jumping ship, and settling with the ruling party.

Presently, the president’s party has a total of 31 out of 36 states governors, more than majority of the national and states Houses of Assembly.

A frontline publisher and chieftain of the ADC, Chief Dele Momodu, has warned that Tinubu is gradually transforming into full-blown dictatorship, stressing that his second term in office would turn state governors into ‘total slaves’.

Headline

Second Term for Tinubu Will Turn Governors into Total Slaves, Dele Momodu Warns

Published

1 week ago

February 28, 2026

Eric

Chairman, Ovation Media Group, and former presidential aspirant, Aare Dele Momodu, has expressed strong concern over what he described as growing political support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu among state governors across the country.

Speaking during an interview on News Central TV, Momodu said he was shocked by the level of backing the president is reportedly receiving, warning that Nigeria’s democracy could face serious risks if the current political trend continues.

The media entrepreneur cautioned that allowing Tinubu to secure a second term in 2027 could, in his view, lead to excessive concentration of power. He particularly criticized what he described as a growing wave of opposition figures aligning with the ruling All Progressives Congress> (APC).

Momodu referenced reports of opposition governors, including Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, allegedly moving closer to the ruling party, describing the development as politically troubling.

According to him, some governors are allegedly competing to demonstrate loyalty to the president ahead of future elections.

“The governors are fighting to ensure Tinubu wins a second term, fighting to be the biggest thug for him. If a man in his first term can capture the bodies and souls of Nigerians this way, imagine what he would do with a second term. It will be a full-blown dictatorship, and the governors will regret it as they become total slaves to him,” Momodu said.

He concluded by urging Nigerians to remain vigilant and actively protect democratic institutions, warning that unchecked consolidation of political power could threaten the nation’s democracy and future stability.

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