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Court Restrains ‘Sex Toy’ Senator, Abbo, from Seeking Reelection

Published

3 years ago

January 11, 2023

Eric

An Adamawa State High Court sitting in Yola, on Tuesday, nullified the nomination of the senator representing Adamawa North, Ishaku Abbo, over his expulsion from the All Progressives Congress officials in his ward.

The presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Danladi, held that the senator, having been expelled at his ward, was not entitled to enjoy the privileges of membership to seek nomination under the party or re-election.

Danladi noted that the embattled senator and APC were bound by the resolution of the Mubi North Local Government Council executives dated October 7, 2022, which expelled the lawmaker.

APC council executives from Mubi North, at a meeting on October 7, deliberated and expelled Senator Ishaku Abbo, after they said he was found wanting for anti-party activity, following his condemnation and opposition to the same faith ticket of the APC.

Dissatisfied with the state working committee’s handling of the disputed expulsion, Abdullahi Suleiman and Yusha’u Usman of Kolere and Sabon Layi wards, Mubi North LGA, respectively, sued the senator and sought, interpretation regarding his status in APC, sequel to the disciplinary action taking by the party at the council.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the court, restrained APC under which the Senator was seeking re-election from recognising him as its candidate, saying that he could not validly be the candidate of the party in the forthcoming general election.

It is however, not clear, if the court judgement will be able to stop Abbo, whose name appeared on INEC’s final list of candidates contesting the forthcoming National Assembly and presidential elections, slated for February 25, 2023.

Abbo’s counsel, Barrister Evarastus Odo, said the senator will determine the next move, if he’d appeal the judgement.

Earlier, during the court proceedings, Justice Danladi said the senator had ample time to put forward his defense but refused to show respect to the court, hence the court’s decision to show him the way out of the party.

He further held that the action of the plaintiffs in suing the senator was not an internal affair of the party as claimed, and that they had locus standi to institute the action against Abbo, since they were registered members of the party.

The Punch

Featured

Akume Leads Nigeria’s Delegation to Jesse Jackson’s Funeral in US

Published

4 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has approved a five-person delegation to represent Nigeria at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist and former presidential candidate who died at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago.

Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is the leader of the delegation, according to a press statement from the Presidency on Wednesday.

Other members are the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa; the Special Presidential Envoy for Global and Pan-African Affairs, Brian Browne; and the Senior Special Assistant, Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.

The delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.

In an earlier tribute, President Tinubu described Reverend Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa.

“He was a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa. He played a leading role in the campaign for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress leaders. He won critical support for sanctions against the then apartheid government,” President Tinubu wrote.

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Tinubu Nominates Oyedele As Minister of State for Finance, Moves Anite-Uzoka to Budget Ministry

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has announced that “President Bola Tinubu has nominated Taiwo Oyedele as the minister of state for finance, replacing Doris Anite-Uzoka.

“Mrs Anite-Uzoka will now move to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as the Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.

“President Tinubu has today conveyed the nomination of Mr Oyedele to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“Until President Tinubu nominated him as a minister, Mr Oyedele from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

“Mr Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

“He attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accountancy and finance. He attended Oxford Brookes University and earned a BSc in applied accounting.

“He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Mr Oyedele spent 22 years of his working career at PwC, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

“Mr Oyedele is also a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.”

Featured

Defection: Atiku’s Son, Adamu, Resigns As Adamawa Commissioner

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Adamu Abubakar, the first son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has resigned as Adamawa State’s commissioner for works and energy development, days after Governor Ahmadu Fintiri defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Abubakar’s resignation letter, dated 2 March 2026, was addressed to the governor through the Secretary to the State Government. He gave no reason for his departure.

The timing is pointed. Fintiri announced his defection to the APC in a statewide broadcast last Friday, saying his cabinet and the PDP’s state structure had moved with him. Within 24 hours, 22 commissioners and special advisers publicly announced they were following suit. Abubakar, whose father remains one of the PDP’s most prominent national figures, was not among them.

In a statement issued Monday night, Abubakar’s media aide Abdulaziz Jauro said the former commissioner thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged continued loyalty to the administration’s developmental agenda. He also expressed gratitude to his father “for granting him the moral support and blessing to serve the people of Adamawa State” — a line that, read in context, suggests Atiku was consulted on the decision.

Abubakar said his resignation was not a withdrawal from public life. “This does not mark the end of his commitment to public service,” the statement read, “but rather the beginning of new avenues for developmental collaboration.”

The resignation leaves unresolved the question of whether it reflects a political break with the governor over his defection or a personal decision unconnected to the broader party realignment now reshaping Adamawa’s political landscape.