News

Tambuwal Hints at Running for President, Rejects Zoning

Published

4 years ago

March 23, 2022

Eric

The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday in Abuja kicked against the idea of zoning of the Presidency and cautioned the PDP to focus on winning elections.

He said the party would have the liberty to share power only after it had successfully won the 2023 elections at the centre and in the states.

Tambuwal said this when he met with former presiding officers of state Houses of Assembly and the House of Representatives in Abuja as part of wide consultation ahead of his official declaration to run for the office of President in 2023.

His position appears to be a clap-back on his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, who insists that the main opposition party should zone its presidential ticket to the South-South.

After its 95th National Executive Council meeting last Wednesday, the PDP had constituted a 37-member committee to make recommendations for the zoning of various elective positions ahead of the general elections.

Given only two weeks for the assignment, the committee is expected to submit its report next Wednesday.

But speaking on Tuesday, Tambuwal said, “Now, this is for the PDP. In the South, as of today, the PDP is in eight government houses. The APC is also in eight government houses, leaving one, Anambra. In the North, the APC is in 14 government houses and the PDP is in five government houses. And they (the APC) have the President.

“I’m giving you this analysis so that together, as leaders of our party, we can work towards winning the election, not zoning, not winning tickets. Yes, we can share tickets and everybody can take his piece and go to his zone. But you must plan to win the election. That’s the reality of it. It’s not anybody’s making. I didn’t make myself come from Sokoto. No, it’s God.

“So, we must accept these realities as a party and work with these realities to win the election. After that, we can now say okay, let’s share power. Win the election first. Don’t win zoning! Win the election and then we’ll come and share power.”

The presidential hopeful noted that as the APC did in 2015, the PDP must seek viable candidates with which it could win elections and not narrow its chances through a zoning arrangement.

According to him, had the APC presented a candidate from the South in 2015, it would have lost the presidential election.

The Sokoto governor stated, “The APC took their ticket to Katsina in 2015, where the last PDP President, Umaru Yar’Adua, who died in office in 2010, hailed from. Five years later, the APC, out of strategic thinking with Bola Tinubu and the rest of them, did this. I was part of it. We said we were looking for how to zone, but we must get power before we share it.

“I deliberately took the APC ticket to Katsina to give it to President Muhammadu Buhari. Yes, Atiku contested; Rabiu Musa contested and Sam Nda-Isaiah and Rochas Okorocha contested. But we knew where we were going, because we were determined to win.

“Let me tell you, had the APC given that ticket to someone from the South, in particular the South-South, we couldn’t have won. Go and check the election results of 2007. Buhari had 11 million votes before in 2003. But in 2007, he got seven million votes against Yar’Adua because they are from the same Katsina. For the PDP, I have a question. Are we looking at zoning or winning?”

According to him, the PDP must balance the calibre of candidates it hopes to front in the elections, arguing that the party could not afford to front two candidates from the same region or religion as that would be political suicide.

He said “The President and the Vice-President cannot come from the same zone. They cannot even come from the same religion. Am I right? If you have the President and the Vice-President as Muslims, that’s dead on arrival. In the current Nigerian situation, if you have both of them as Christians, that’s dead on arrival.

“So you must balance the ticket and sit down. We cannot do what the APC has done, especially this second term, because we believe in this country and we know this country. We understand the dynamics and complexities of Nigeria’s condition. Otherwise, how else will you look at the line-up in the Federal Government like Nigeria? President, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker, SGF, Chief of Staff, even chairman of the party, and no one from the South-East.

“We can’t do that. Where I am involved, that cannot happen. So, what we need is inclusiveness. We can then run the country.”

On his 2023 ambition, Tambuwal said he was the most qualified aspirant to clinch the party’s ticket and to lead the nation.

In his remarks, a former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said no opposition party bothers itself with zoning, but it must focus on winning elections.

He also taunted those advocating zoning to begin from their states saying, “Why come to the centre to talk about zoning? Are you interested in winning the centre and losing at home?”

The Punch

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

4 days ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

4 days ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.

News

IGP Disu Orders Ban on Illegal Checkpoints Nationwide

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

Eric

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has issued a sweeping directive to Commissioners of Police nationwide, ordering an immediate end to extortion, illegal checkpoints, harassment of citizens and other misconducts.

He declared that restoring public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force is now a top operational priority.

The order was contained in a signal to members of the police management team including Commissioners of Police (CP) and other operational commanders.

In the marching order, the IGP acknowledged the deep mistrust many Nigerians feel toward officers, describing it as “painful” and unacceptable.

He said citizens now fear encounters with the police as much as they fear criminals, warning that such a reputation cannot continue under his leadership.

According to him, the directive marks the beginning of a determined effort to rebuild discipline within the police and re-establish its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The order specifically outlawed the routine collection of money from motorists on highways, the operation of unauthorised checkpoints, and the practice of arresting citizens and forcing them to withdraw cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or Point of Sale (PoS) devices.

The IGP also condemned the use of officers for private duties in homes and businesses, describing such deployments as abuse of authority and a violation of existing presidential directives on VIP protection.

Officers were further directed to comply strictly with approved dress codes, remain clean-shaven and adhere to established uniform regulations.

The police boss warned that harassment of citizens in any form would no longer be tolerated, stressing that the Nigerian public is not the enemy of the Force but the reason for its existence. At the same time, he assured officers that the institution would equally defend them against intimidation or disrespect from members of the public, noting that the dignity of the uniform must be protected on both sides.

Holding command leaders directly accountable, the IGP said Commissioners of Police would henceforth be responsible for misconduct within their jurisdictions.

He ordered them to demonstrate measurable improvements in discipline within seven days or face formal queries and possible transfers where lapses persist.

He emphasised that supervisory failure would no longer be ignored at any level of leadership. To ensure compliance, the directive introduced new oversight measures, including independent monitoring of field operations and public reporting channels through which citizens can lodge complaints directly with Force Headquarters.

A Citizens Commendation System will also be established to recognise officers who demonstrate professionalism, with monthly honours to be drawn from public nominations across commands.

Describing the directive as a decisive turning point, the police chief said Nigerians have grown weary of promises and now expect visible change. He ordered all commanders to brief personnel under their authority within 72 hours and confirm compliance in writing, declaring that the process of cleaning up the Force has begun and will be sustained until public trust is restored.