₦airaland Forum

I AM APC. AND I STAND WITH WIKE.

I am an APC member. I want APC candidates to win. But on this particular dispute, I agree with Nyesom Wike.

Wike has never promised APC governors that he would abandon his political network, surrender his allies or deliver every governorship and legislative seat to APC.

His commitment is specific: support President Bola Tinubu. That distinction matters.

APC governors have every right to campaign aggressively for APC candidates. But those candidates must organise, persuade voters and earn their victories. Wike does not owe any governor a Senate seat, governorship or House seat simply because he supports Tinubu.

And this is where Abdulmumin Jibrin’s argument on Channels Television resonated with me: a politician operating outside APC can still broaden Tinubu’s presidential coalition without surrendering every other political interest.

That is not necessarily betrayal. That is coalition politics.

Wike brings relationships and political networks extending beyond APC’s formal structure. Whether one likes his methods or not, those networks have political value.

So my position is uncomplicated: I support my party.I support APC candidates.

But I do not believe supporting Tinubu automatically gives APC governors ownership of every political structure supporting the President.

Let the governors campaign. Let them organise.Let them win their own battles.

Wike’s job is not to carry everybody’s political luggage. I AM APC.And on this issue, I stand with Wike.
Partnership is not entitlement.

WIKE & APC GOVS AGREE ON TINUBU. THE WAR STARTS ON THE NEXT LINE OF THE BALLOT

The increasingly noisy quarrel between Nyesom Wike and APC governors is being presented as a crisis inside Tinubu’s 2027 coalition.

I think Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin’s intervention on Channels Television’s Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye exposed a more interesting reality:

THEY MAY ALL WANT TINUBU TO WIN — BUT THEY DO NOT ALL NEED THE SAME THING FROM THE ELECTION.

That distinction changes everything.

The APC Governors Forum says it will support APC candidates at every level and rejects any coalition capable of weakening the party or its candidates.

Perfectly understandable. An APC governor wants the complete package:TINUBU FOR PRESIDENT. APC FOR GOVERNOR. APC FOR SENATE. APC FOR HOUSE. APC FOR STATE ASSEMBLY.

But Tinubu’s immediate presidential interest is narrower. He needs PRESIDENTIAL VOTES. A ballot cast for Tinubu by a PDP, APGA, Accord or independent-minded voter counts exactly the same as one cast by a lifelong APC member.

That is where Wike enters.

Wike has never promised to deliver every office to APC. His position is explicit: his Rainbow Coalition exists to mobilise across party lines for Tinubu, while PDP and other parties remain free to contest governorship and legislative elections.

And that is essentially what Jibrin defended on Politics Today.

His argument was that Wike provides a political warehouse for politicians who might otherwise oppose Tinubu entirely. Force them to abandon their own local interests, and some may simply take their presidential votes elsewhere.

Jibrin therefore argues that forcing Wike under APC governors would be unfair, just as forcing governors under Wike would be unfair. His solution is coordination, not political annihilation.

That is the real conflict. What benefits Tinubu presidentially may not always benefit an APC governor locally.

A Wike ally can vote Tinubu and still defeat an APC senator. Tinubu gains a presidential vote. The APC candidate loses an election.
Both things can happen simultaneously.

So perhaps the mistake is assuming that TINUBU’S INTEREST, APC’S INTEREST and EVERY GOVERNOR’S INTEREST are automatically identical. They overlap. They are not identical.

APC wants Wike’s votes. The governors understandably want those votes delivered with APC loyalty attached.

Wike’s answer is effectively: YOU CAN HAVE MY PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT. YOU CANNOT AUTOMATICALLY INHERIT MY POLITICAL STRUCTURE.

On this particular dispute, I , CharlesCNG stand with Nyesom Wike.

On this dispute, I stand with Nyesom Wike.

APC governors cannot outsource their political work to him and then complain because his coalition does not hand them every office. Wike owes no governor a governorship, Senate or House seat; their job is to organise, campaign and win their own elections.

Wike has become a significant political asset to the Tinubu administration, bringing networks and alliances beyond APC.

As an APC member, I want my party to win everywhere, but those victories must be earned—not demanded from Wike. If he expands Tinubu’s presidential support, APC governors should do the rest. That is partnership, not entitlement.

DADDY FREEZE & THE OBIDIENT PROBLEM: CAN OBI CONTROL HIS OWN POLITICAL MOVEMENT?

That question naturally leads to two more: WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT A LEADER WHO CANNOT CONTROL HIS OWN POLITICAL MOVEMENT? IF PETER OBI CANNOT CONTROL OBIDIENTS, CAN HE CONTROL NIGERIA?

DADDY FREEZE ASKED A QUESTION. THE MOB ANSWERED WITH INSULTS: WHY DOES OBIDIENT POLITICS ALWAYS TURN DISAGREEMENT INTO INTIMIDATION ?

Daddy Freeze may be wrong about Peter Obi’s wife’s handbag.
You can challenge Daddy Freeze’s facts, but you cannot insult your way out of his question. That should be elementary democratic behaviour. If the ₦250 million handbag valuation is unverified, say so. That is debate.

But trying to abuse, intimidate or socially punish everybody who interrogates Peter Obi is something else entirely. And unfortunately, Daddy Freeze is nowhere near the first person to complain about it.

The list has become embarrassingly long:

Pastor Poju Oyemade was descended upon online after warning young Nigerians against investing enthusiasm in a “poorly planned project.” Peter Obi himself eventually appealed to his supporters to tolerate contrary views.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye was attacked after comments perceived as favourable to Tinubu. Obi publicly called the attacks “most unacceptable” and condemned name-calling and abuse.

Wole Soyinka [/b]was serially trolled after criticising Datti Baba-Ahmed’s post-election rhetoric. Soyinka called the atmosphere intolerant and “fascistic”;
[b]Sam Omatseye alleged that he received telephone death threats after publishing his controversial “Obi” column.

Kenneth Okonkwo, once one of Obi’s loudest television defenders, was branded a “mole” after criticising Obi’s leadership. Obi himself had to tell supporters to stop insulting him.

Atiku Abubakar became the target of such hostility within the opposition coalition that Dele Momodu publicly complained about “bullying”; Obi subsequently again warned supporters against abusing Atiku and other coalition leaders.

Reno Omokri [/b ]has gone much further, alleging threats against himself and his family, including people tracing his residence and jogging route in Britain. In 2025 he formally petitioned the police over another alleged death threat. These remain allegations, but they are serious ones.

[b]Charles Soludo criticised Obi and was subjected to vicious attacks. Arthur Eze questioned Obi’s chances and was savaged.
Kenneth Okonkwo, once one of Obi’s loudest defenders, criticised his leadership capacity and his igbo paternity is questioned. Obi Cubana and Cubana Chief Priest faced accusations of betrayal for supporting Tinubu.

Datti Baba-Ahmed now attracts hostility for questioning Obi’s political direction. And now Daddy Freeze is being abused merely for asking questions.

To the typical obidients , every south east governor that does not support obi becomes become “criminals,” “thieves,” “stupid,” “foolish,” “useless” and “slaves.” Billionaires become “useless.”

A journalist like Seun Okinbaloye can stop being merely a journalist asking Obi difficult questions and become “that Yoruba boy.” That is where political intolerance begins turning into tribal warfare.

IF YOU ARE IGBO AND YOU REJECT OBI, YOU BECOME A TRAITOR. IF YOU ARE YORUBA AND YOU QUESTION OBI, YOUR ETHNICITY BECOMES PART OF THE CHARGE.

IF YOU ARE A FORMER ALLY WHO LEAVES, YOU BECOME A MOLE.

And now Daddy Freeze says a simple set of questions has produced abuse rather than answers.

At what point does a movement ask itself whether this method is actually helping the man it claims to support?

Peter Obi has publicly told his supporters before to stop insulting people who disagree with him. Yet the culture continues.

That raises a leadership question. If your followers repeatedly behave in ways you condemn, and your intervention does not alter the culture, how much influence do you actually have over the political movement carrying your name?

History offers an ugly warning about this kind of FASCIST OBIDIENT political instinct. Hitler had his Brownshirts. Mussolini had his Blackshirts.

Obidients are obviously not YET equivalent to those violent paramilitary organisations, and online trolling is not the same thing as fascist street terror. But the underlying democratic warning remains relevant:

WHEN A POLITICAL MOVEMENT TRIES TO MAKE DISSENT PERSONALLY COSTLY, IT IS NO LONGER TRYING ONLY TO WIN THE ARGUMENT. IT IS TRYING TO INTIMIDATE PEOPLE OUT OF HAVING ONE.

if Peter Obi hopes to govern 230 million Nigerians, his supporters must first demonstrate that they can coexist with Nigerians who disagree with Peter Obi.

aswani:
I do feel bad for Peter Obí at this stage that his lack of communicative acumen is slowing wilting him on a public stage.

Why not either do recorded interviews so the part where you stumbled and fumbled can be removed or only do in house interviews.

I hope he can redeem himself but I suspect it would take too much to shed his no style no substance image that he has lately portrayed.

His media team need to be fired.

I largely agree. At this point, Peter Obi increasingly looks like his own most effective demarketer.

The problem is no longer merely hostile interviewers (ojy okpe is not hostile and actually tried to help obi severally) or unfriendly media.
Too often, each unscripted appearance seems to expose another weakness in communication, policy articulation or command of detail, reinforcing the very doubts his supporters are trying to dispel.

If his media team understands his weaknesses, they should be protecting him from formats that magnify them: prepare him properly, sharpen his answers, reduce unnecessary improvisation and insist on disciplined messaging.

You cannot keep blaming the audience for noticing what the candidate repeatedly puts on display.

ogolemati:
not everyone has time for jargons .this one pains you

Must you respond to everything I post?

If, as you claim, all I write is “jargon,” then why do you keep showing up to respond to it? Why not simply scroll past?

You are behaving like someone who keeps complaining that the music is terrible, yet never leaves the dance floor.

If my posts are truly meaningless to you, ignoring them should be easy.

But if you feel compelled to respond almost every time, perhaps the “jargon” is doing something after all.

Because if all I write is nonsense, what exactly does it say about the person who keeps returning faithfully to argue with the nonsense?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING”? DAN ULASI, LET’S TAKE A DRIVE THROUGH THE SOUTH-EAST

Chief Dan Ulasi has every right to support Peter Obi and argue that President Tinubu has not done enough for the South-East.

But when he declared on AIT’s Kakaaki: “ There’s nothing this government has done in the South-East. Absolutely nothing.”

he moved from opinion to a statement of fact. And facts can be audited. So, Chief Ulasi, let’s take a drive.

Start in Enugu and head towards Onitsha.
There is the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, an inherited federal project whose reconstruction the Tinubu administration has continued.

Then stop at Eke-Obinagu.
There stands a 350-metre dual-carriage federal flyover linking the Enugu-Ebonyi corridor, awarded in 2024 under Tinubu and substantially completed by 2026.

Apparently, “absolutely nothing” now comes in reinforced concrete.

Continue towards Port Harcourt.
The Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway is undergoing federal reconstruction, including sections in Abia.

Still nothing?

Then leave the road and enter a railway station.
In 2024, passenger operations resumed on the rehabilitated Port Harcourt-Aba railway. The completed 62.8-kilometre section was subsequently handed over to the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Important distinction: Tinubu did not originate that project. He inherited it. But governments inherit projects. The relevant question is whether they abandon, fund, advance or complete them.

The train is running to Aba. Somebody should perhaps inform the train that it does not exist.

Now drive to Ebonyi.
There you meet the Cross River-Ebonyi-Benue-Nasarawa-Abuja Trans-Sahara Superhighway, a Tinubu-era project with concrete construction physically underway.Not a campaign promise. Heavy equipment. Concrete. Kilometres.

Then leave roads and railways entirely.
Tinubu signed the South-East Development Commission into law in 2024. It now has a management structure headed by Mark Okoye. In 2026, the administration also launched the South-East Vision 2050 blueprint and approved a South-East Investment Company.

Now we can have an honest argument.

Has Tinubu done ENOUGH? Debatable. Should projects move faster? Absolutely.

Does the South-East deserve more infrastructure and appointments? Fair argument.

But “ not enough” and “absolutely nothing” are not synonyms.

“Nothing” requires the road to disappear. The flyover must disappear. The train must disappear. The Ebonyi highway must disappear. The SEDC must disappear.

Again , i ask ,Chief, absolutely nothing?

Support Peter Obi if you wish. Demand more from Tinubu if you believe the South-East deserves more. You may even dislike him so intensely that you struggle to see anything positive in what he does.

But facts do not disappear because politics is emotional. Votes are opinion.
Roads are physical evidence.

You can argue that the plate is not full. YOU CANNOT SAY THERE IS NO FOOD WHILE YOU ARE STILL CHEWING.

INTERVIEW AUTOPSY: ABDULLAHI AHMED LET DATTI TALK — THEN THE CONTRADICTIONS STARTED TALKING

Trust TV largely got this one right. Abdullahi Ahmed listened, followed up and challenged Datti Baba-Ahmed’s biggest claims. But several explosive allegations still needed one more thing: receipts.

By CharlesCNG

What exactly is going on at Trust TV with all these Idrises and Ahmeds?

Only a few days ago, Hamza Idris was sitting across from Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. Now I switch on another Trust TV political interview and find Abdullahi Ahmed sitting across from Datti Baba-Ahmed.

At this rate, Trust TV may soon need to display a family tree before Daily Politics begins.

For the avoidance of doubt, Hakeem and Datti actually are brothers. But jokes aside, something more important connects those interviews:

THE INTERVIEWERS WERE ACTUALLY LISTENING.

That was Abdullahi Ahmed’s biggest strength in this conversation.

Datti presented one of the strangest paradoxes in the 2027 discussion. He repeatedly insisted that Tinubu does not have enough votes to win. Yet the same Tinubu has supposedly “overpowered everybody.” Nigeria, Datti said, now “belongs to Tinubu,” and if Tinubu wants to be declared in 2027, “only God Almighty can stop it.”

So Tinubu cannot win — but apparently only God can stop him from winning.

To Abdullahi’s credit, he heard the contradiction. He asked whether Datti was effectively saying Tinubu had become inevitable. He also pressed him on the disturbing suggestion that an opposition candidate could win and still lack somebody “to declare him.”

That is good interviewing.

Abdullahi’s other strong moment came after Datti spent considerable time diagnosing Nigeria’s problems — corruption, insecurity, elite capture and procurement abuse. The interviewer asked the obvious question: WHERE IS THE PRESCRIPTION?

That mattered because Datti himself had just declared that “talk is cheap.” Yet when pressed for the solution, his answer was essentially: Nigerians should take back their democracy, and “how you take it is your business.” And therein lies an increasingly familiar problem with this crop of opposition figures.

They are extraordinarily fluent in THE PROBLEM and remarkably evasive when the conversation reaches THE SOLUTION.

Ask what is wrong with Nigeria and you get a dissertation. Ask precisely what they would do differently—what policy, what mechanism, what numbers, what timeline, what trade-offs—and suddenly the microphone becomes very heavy.

Datti also gave Tinubu more credit than many critics like to admit. He said Tinubu did not merely plan for power; he organised for 16 years. That is an important admission. It also sits awkwardly beside his description of Tinubu’s rise as something like a political lottery. If a man organises for 16 years and eventually wins, that is not lottery. That is strategy.

Still, Trust TV should have pushed one step further. Datti says Tinubu influences opposition parties.

WHICH PARTY? WHICH CANDIDATE? WHAT EVIDENCE?

Tinubu supposedly lacks the votes. SHOW US THE ELECTORAL ARITHMETIC.

An opposition candidate can supposedly win and not be declared. WHO WILL STOP THE DECLARATION — AND WHERE ARE THE RECEIPTS?

That is the difference between a good interview and a forensic one.

INTERVIEW AUTOPSY VERDICT: ABDULLAHI ASKED THE QUESTIONS. DATTI PROVIDED THE PARADOXES.

Stay tuned for the next daily edition of INTERVIEW AUTOPSY by CharlesCNG — where we dissect the claims, test the answers, expose the contradictions and ask THE QUESTION THAT NEVER CAME.

Chidibe212:
According to a report by Vanguard Newspapers on Thursday, September 10, 2026, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged to tackle corruption within Nigeria’s fuel subsidy system if he is elected president.

Obi said his administration would prioritize eliminating corrupt practices linked to the management of fuel subsidies, with the goal of reducing the amount Nigerians pay for petrol. According to him, addressing the weaknesses and irregularities within the subsidy framework could significantly lower the cost of petroleum products and, in turn, reduce the financial pressure on households and businesses.

The former presidential candidate explained that corruption surrounding subsidy funds has contributed to the high cost of fuel in the country. He argued that greater accountability and transparency in the administration of subsidy resources would create room for the government to reduce petrol prices.

Obi further maintained that cheaper petrol would have effects beyond the filling station. A reduction in fuel prices could lower transportation expenses and eventually influence the prices of goods and services, many of which are affected by the cost of moving people and products across the country.

He emphasized that his proposed strategy would focus on identifying and eliminating the practices that make fuel more expensive for consumers. Rather than allowing corruption to consume resources intended to support the petroleum sector, he said his government would seek to ensure that such funds are properly managed for the benefit of Nigerians.

Obi stressed that making petroleum products more affordable would be an important component of his economic agenda if he assumes office. He maintained that Nigerians are currently paying too much for fuel and that removing corruption from the subsidy process could help reverse the situation.

In Obi's words: “I will remove corruption from subsidy. When I remove it, petrol and every other thing will go down. We are buying fuel at high cost.”

His position reflects his broader argument that improving transparency and reducing financial leakages within government systems can help ease economic hardship. By targeting corruption in the subsidy process, Obi believes the government could create conditions that would make fuel more affordable while also reducing some of the wider costs associated with transportation and everyday living.

https://news-af.feednews.com/news/detail/e73aa43af33a43c55020072d54f41ab3?client=news

This man is beginning to sound like a complete joke.
PETER OBI, WHAT EXACTLY IS YOUR FUEL SUBSIDY POLICY?

Just days ago, Peter Obi told Ojy Okpe that his policies and Atiku’s are essentially aligned.

Now Obi says: “I will remove corruption from subsidy. When I remove it, petrol and every other thing will go down.”

Fine. But WHAT EXACTLY IS THE POLICY? Is Obi proposing to restore fuel subsidy? If NO, what “subsidy” is he removing corruption from?

If YES:And how will he prevent the corruption, smuggling and fraudulent claims that plagued the old system?

Atiku has already spoken about a targeted/capped subsidy. Obi says their policies are similar. So is that Obi’s policy too?

By September 2026, “I will remove corruption” is not a fuel policy. It is a slogan.

The question is simple:SUBSIDY OR NO SUBSIDY? If subsidy, HOW MUCH, FOR WHOM, AND WHO PAYS?

Peter Obi, please define the policy.

ogolemati:
I don't read ooh.once I see your write up I know it won't be reasonable so nothing to read ooh .just quote.am I expecting any reasonable write from someone that is not in charge of his . you know na make your senior brother no ban.

🤣🤣🤣 Another Obidient who “doesn't read” my posts but somehow NEVER misses one.


You don't read. But you see the write-up. You recognise the author. You click Quote.

You compose a reply.

“WE DON'T READ. WE JUST NEVER MISS A POST.” 😂

INTERVIEW AUTOPSY: OJY OKPE KEPT ASKING PETER OBI THE QUESTION AFTER HIS ANSWER HAD LEFT THE ROOM


Peter Obi promised “no holds barred.” Ojy Okpe took him seriously — repeatedly dragging him back from corporations, comparisons and declarations to the question actually being asked.

Before interviewing Peter Obi, Ojy Okpe extracted a promise.

Would he answer every question, “no holds barred”? Obi replied that if you choose to be a public figure, “you must answer all questions.”

Ojy apparently wrote that down.

When Obi accused the former INEC chairman of working for his opposition in 2023, she immediately asked: “Do you have proof?”

Then again: “What’s your proof?”

Obi’s answer eventually became: “Everybody knows… he knows in his heart.”

Ojy should perhaps have gone one step further: everybody knows is a political phrase, not an exhibit.

Then came Atiku. Would Obi step down in a genuine coalition?

Instead of a simple yes or no, we entered corporations, CEOs, institutions and shareholders.

Ojy asked again.

Later, when Obi told her, “This is not TV conversation,” Ojy produced perhaps my favourite line of the interview: “ I[b]t is. We’re on.[/b] ”

Exactly. Her strongest work, however, came on security and subsidy.

When Obi promised to deal with insecurity “decisively,” Ojy asked what he would actually do in the first week. When he moved into comparisons with America, she stopped him:

“Let’s keep the comparison aside. I’m asking you a direct question.”

When Obi suggested satellites should make kidnappers locatable and hinted that “something is wrong,” she asked whether he was suggesting government complicity.

On subsidy, Obi tried to say he and Atiku were essentially saying the same thing.

Ojy stopped him again: “No, no, no. You’re not saying the same thing as Atiku.”

That is interviewing. But some receipts escaped.

Obi said he does not know who funds the NDC, despite saying its accounting is transparent to him. HOW?

He said 2023 is finished and Nigerians should not dwell on yesterday — then later declared that “as long as I live” he will maintain that he won 2023.

HOW CAN YESTERDAY BE FINISHED AND STILL BE REPEATED FOR LIFE?

And although Datti Baba-Ahmed’s stunning claim that Obi cannot improve Nigeria featured in Ojy’s introduction, that proximity question largely disappeared from the main interview.

AUTOPSY VERDICT: OJY ASKED THE QUESTIONS. OBI SOMETIMES ANSWERED THEM. BUT AS USUAL EVADES MANY.

AND WHEN THE ANSWER TRIED TO ESCAPE, OJY USUALLY WENT AFTER IT.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Peter Obi is beginning to wear out even some of his staunchest supporters. Ojy Okpe of ARISE News appears to be a case in point.

Please watch out for the next daily episode of Interview autopsy by CharlesCNG.

ogolemati:
how do yarimo do this union recruitment.like how do you guys work 7 days a week no rest .na wa ooh abi na robot

🤣🤣🤣 But wait o!

How do you Obidients manage to READ and RESPOND to our supposed “₦30k APC data-boy posts” seven days a week?

No weekend. No public holiday. No annual leave. No lunch break. 😂 At this point, I am beginning to suspect APC may be paying the wrong people.

If we are the employees, how come you people are the ones who never miss a shift?Abi Obidient Union no get labour law? 🤣

My brother, if Yarimo recruited us, then Peter Obi must have recruited you as our 24/7 Quality Assurance Department.

Because every time we post, you people inspect, audit, comment and certify it immediately. Seven days a week. No rest. No salary. Pure passion. Na that last part dey pain me. 😂😂😂

HIGHESTPOPORI:
Did Obi win SS in 2023 with any Gov ? Keep hoping on Govs to deliver votes for tinubu ,no be only endorsement

I almost feel sorry for you people because you genuinely believe the South-South of 2027 is still frozen in February 2023.

Nobody said governors simply put voters inside their pockets and deliver them like parcels. The point is that THE POLITICAL CONDITIONS THAT PRODUCED OBI'S 2023 SOUTH-SOUTH PERFORMANCE HAVE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY.

In 2023, APC had only ONE South-South governor.The PDP itself was fractured over Atiku's candidacy and zoning. The G5 rebellion was largely driven by the argument that after Buhari's eight years, PDP should not produce another northern presidential candidate. Even PDP governors were refusing to campaign for Atiku.

Cross River's outgoing APC governor, Ben Ayade, was so politically vulnerable that he LOST his own senatorial election to the PDP.

That was the environment in which Obi arrived as the new, exciting third-force candidate with the element of surprise.

2027 is a completely different battlefield. APC's political infrastructure across the South-South has expanded enormously, while Obi is no longer the unknown insurgent candidate of 2023. Everybody now knows him. His strengths, weaknesses and political record have been dissected for four years.

And just this month, ALL SIX South-South governors collectively endorsed Tinubu for 2027. Does endorsement automatically equal votes? Of course not.

But only somebody doing kindergarten electoral analysis would argue that GOVERNORS + PARTY STRUCTURES + INCUMBENCY + FOUR YEARS OF REALIGNMENTS + A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN MACHINE have no electoral consequences.

Your biggest mistake is assuming Obi's 2023 vote is sitting in a bank account waiting for him to withdraw in 2027.

Votes don't work like fixed deposits.
I will go further: I wouldn't automatically assume Obi will even reach 25% in every South-South state in 2027.

You are preparing for 2027 with a photograph of 2023. Unfortunately for you, the people in the photograph have moved.

Streetinvestor2:
How will obi case tire you. When the 30k as data boy job is because of him.He has indirectly provided u with a job as you can not go and learn a skill
We know the drug baron has no achievement after 3 yr plus to campaign on .So your job is to create topics on obi or Atiku on daily bases about thr interview. When will you call on drug baron to come for one interview on arise or channel so we can see him lick the micro phone..lol.He is so brain dead that they are trying to pump so much booster into him right now in Europe. I hope it won't be body bag loading finally as we equally have boko H as SW president vp

My dear Obidient Excuse Distributor, see what Peter Obi has reduced you to.

I wrote an entire article asking ONE simple question: why couldn't your presidential candidate categorically say he would not step down? You responded with ₦30k, data boy, drugs, microphones, Europe, health and body bags.

Everything except THE QUESTION. 😂 This is why I enjoy debating you people. Once Obi's contradictions enter the room, argument jumps through the window.

Forget Tinubu for 60 seconds. Forget my job. Forget my data. Forget Arise. Forget Europe.

YOUR CANDIDATE was asked whether he could step down for Atiku. Why couldn't he simply say:

“NO. I am the NDC presidential candidate. I am running for President.” That is all.

Your insults cannot answer it.

And the funniest part? You say I need Obi for content while YOU apparently need Tinubu to explain Obi's inability to answer a question about OBI'S OWN CANDIDACY. That is advanced Obidient mathematics.

I said Obi was indecisive. You became angry, wrote an epistle—and provided Exhibit A.

Please continue. You are doing unpaid publicity for my article.

THE CEO IS STILL LOOKING FOR HIS SHAREHOLDERS, AND THE SHAREHOLDERS ARE NOW FIGHTING IN MY COMMENT SECTION. 😂

Streetinvestor2:
So if obi steps down.You think it will make SS and SE vote your drug baron. It means Atiku will be declared winner by 12 noon as he is the second option and only option left

Why are you joining the South-South and South-East together as though they are one electoral bloc?

Let the 2023 figures educate you. Tinubu's votes in the entire SOUTH-EAST: Abia — 8,914 Anambra — 5,111 , Ebonyi — 42,402
Enugu — 4,772 ,Imo — 66,406 TOTAL: 127,605.

Now compare that with Tinubu's SOUTH-SOUTH vote: Akwa Ibom — 160,620 , Bayelsa — 42,572 , Cross River — 130,520
Delta — 90,183 , Edo — 144,471, Rivers — 231,591 TOTAL: 799,957.

Tinubu got more than SIX TIMES as many votes in the South-South as he got in the South-East—and that was in 2023.

So please stop carrying the South-South inside Peter Obi's political handbag.

And 2027 is not 2023. The political landscape has shifted dramatically. Just days ago, ALL SIX South-South governors collectively endorsed Tinubu's re-election for 2027. So your arithmetic that "Obi steps down = Atiku wins by 12 noon" is not electoral analysis.

It is wishful thinking with a wristwatch.

Tinubu became President in 2023 with just 127,605 votes from the entire South-East. Your real problem is not whether the South-East will vote for Tinubu.

Your problem is explaining where Atiku suddenly gets the millions of additional votes required to defeat him—especially when you are casually donating the entire South-South to the opposition as though six states came packaged with Peter Obi's nomination form.

THE OPPOSITION’S RETIREMENT WAR: KWANKWASO TELLS ATIKU TO GO HOME — ADC FIRES BACK

Rabiu Kwankwaso has finally said aloud what many in the opposition have been circling around: ATIKU SHOULD STEP ASIDE.

His message was blunt. Atiku should return to his traditional role as Waziri Adamawa, and if Peter Obi and Kwankwaso win, “they will take care of him.”

That last phrase was politically clumsy. ADC chieftain Chile Igbawua, appearing on ARISE News’ Prime Time with Charles Aniagolu, immediately attacked the tone and rightly challenged Kwankwaso’s speculation about Atiku’s health.

Where is the medical evidence? Fair question.

But once you remove the health argument and the patronising “we will take care of him,” the real political question remains: WHY MUST ATIKU STILL BE THE MAN? ADC says Atiku won its primary. Correct.

But that answers who should represent ADC. It does not automatically answer who gives the entire opposition its strongest chance against Tinubu.

That was where Charles Aniagolu kept pressing. Atiku has tried repeatedly. What makes 2027 different?

Igbawua’s answer was essentially: this is now his time. That is belief. It is not strategy. Then Aniagolu raised the harder historical point. In 2023, after eight years of Buhari, substantial forces within PDP argued that power should rotate south.

Atiku still ran. PDP fractured. Tinubu won. Now, four years later, the opposition is again talking about unity while Atiku is again being asked to yield.

Different party. Same argument. HERE WE GO AGAIN. Aniagolu then introduced the Tinubu comparison.

Tinubu helped build the APC coalition in 2015, accepted Buhari as presidential candidate, deployed his political structure behind him and waited. He did not insist that opposition victory had to carry his own name on the ballot. That is political strategy.

Could Atiku now become the elder statesman who puts his structure behind another candidate and is remembered as the man who finally unified the opposition? That is the question ADC has not answered. Instead, the positions are hardening.

Atiku is staying. Obi is staying. Kwankwaso says Atiku should retire. ADC says Atiku does not need to retire. G100 says everybody should unite.

Wonderful. The opposition has finally agreed that sacrifice is necessary. Unfortunately, every candidate believes the sacrifice should be somebody else.

Tinubu may not even need to divide them. They appear perfectly capable of doing that themselves.

Before the opposition can defeat Tinubu, it may first have to defeat the one ambition nobody wants to surrender: THEIR OWN.

Amumaigwe:
Obi is only stretching the nightmares being inflicting on the APC and I am enjoying it. You will lament forever

Actually, Obi is stretching the nightmare for you Obidients.

This is September 2026. The election is in 2027. Your candidate has a party, a presidential ticket and a running mate, yet he still cannot give an unambiguous answer to the simplest question: “Are you definitely contesting?”

That is not political strategy. That is indecision.

Leadership requires courage, clarity and decisiveness. A man asking Nigerians to entrust him with the Presidency should not still be speaking in riddles about his own ambition, platform and political direction this late in the game.

If Obi is running, let him say: “I am running. I will not step down.”

If he cannot be decisive about his own presidential ambition, why should Nigerians trust him to be decisive about Nigeria?

The nightmare isn't APC's.

It is yours—you have a presidential candidate who still sounds undecided about being a presidential candidate.

OBASEKI SAW THE CLIFF. TINUBU PULLED THE BRAKE.

There is something almost mischievous about Bayo Onanuga resurrecting Godwin Obaseki’s old warning now.

Sometimes the strongest defence of a government is not what its supporters are saying today, but what its opponents were saying yesterday.

In April 2021, long before Tinubu became President, Obaseki warned that Nigeria was in “huge financial trouble.” He pointed to weak revenues, mounting debt and a government increasingly struggling to finance itself.

His controversial claim that about ₦60 billion had been created to supplement government allocations was disputed by the Federal Government, although then-CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele defended central-bank financing during periods of severe fiscal difficulty.

The important point is the date: 2021. There was no President Tinubu. No “subsidy is gone.” No Tinubu exchange-rate reform. No BAT to blame.

The patient was already coughing.

Yet some commentary conveniently begins Nigeria’s economic history on May 29, 2023, as though Tinubu inherited a healthy economy and decided to dismantle it.

Before 2023, almost everyone agreed that fuel subsidy was unsustainable, multiple exchange rates were distorted, revenues were inadequate, debt servicing was dangerous and CBN deficit financing could not continue indefinitely.

We all wanted reform. Then reform arrived.

Suddenly, reform became wickedness. WE WANTED SURGERY, PROVIDED NOBODY BROUGHT A KNIFE.

Tinubu chose the politically dangerous route: subsidy removal, foreign-exchange reform and curtailing monetary financing of government deficits. Revenues and allocations subsequently improved, but Nigerians also paid a painful price through inflation, higher transport costs, food prices and the naira adjustment.

That pain is real and should never be dismissed. But saying THE TREATMENT WAS PAINFUL is different from saying THERE WAS NEVER AN ILLNESS.

The fire extinguisher did not start the fire.

Tinubu can legitimately be criticised over sequencing, social protection, implementation and whether government itself has sacrificed enough. But Obaseki’s 2021 warning makes it difficult to argue that Nigeria’s economic problems suddenly began with Tinubu.

Now comes the harder part.

Stabilisation cannot be the final achievement.

Macroeconomic statistics cannot eat dinner. Higher revenues and stronger reserves must eventually translate into jobs, electricity, infrastructure, cheaper logistics and rising real incomes.

If Phase One was: STOP THE BLEEDING,

Phase Two must be: MAKE NIGERIANS FEEL THE RECOVERY MORE.

Obaseki diagnosed the disease. Tinubu inherited the patient. The medicine has been bitter.

Now Nigerians, having paid heavily for reform, are entitled to its dividend.

That is Tinubu’s next—and perhaps most important—test.

LegendHero:
He give no fok about any Christian. All he’s doing is to placate his Northern lords in hopes they will vote for him who they termed a kafir.

Obi fear the north so much. Not sure if it’s a psychological issue from the civil war defeat

I wish he knows that the north can see through his sudden emergency love for the north.
Obi is amazingly foolish politically.

OJY OKPE GAVE PETER OBI A SIMPLE CHANCE TO END THE SPECULATION — HE LEFT THE DOOR OPEN

The NDC has given him the ticket. A running mate has been named. Campaign season is here. So why does Peter Obi still sound like a man whose candidacy remains negotiable?

Peter Obi is an extraordinary political character. Sometimes I think if you gave him a perfectly boiled egg, a teaspoon and five quiet minutes, he could still turn eating it into a constitutional conference on who should crack the shell.

Honestly , Peter Obi matter don tire me.

By September 2026, whether Peter Obi will contest the 2027 presidential election on the NDC ticket SHOULD BE SETTLED BY NOW!!. The party has nominated him. Rabiu Kwankwaso has been named as running mate. Campaign season is here.

Yet Ojy Okpe asked him two simple questions. Would he step down for Atiku in an opposition alliance? If push came to shove and there was a genuine coalition, would Peter Obi step down?

If the matter is settled, the answer should have been equally simple: “No. I am the NDC presidential candidate. I am contesting.”

Instead, we got corporations, CEOs, shareholders, institutions and party processes. Obi argued that such a decision was no longer his alone because the parties would have to decide collectively.

Technically correct. Politically confusing.

And especially curious for perhaps Nigeria’s most personality-driven political movement. The Obidient movement did not remain behind when Obi left Labour. It followed him to ADC and then NDC. The vehicle changed. The passengers followed the driver.

So when the question suddenly becomes whether Peter Obi can surrender Peter Obi’s presidential ticket, the CEO discovers the shareholders.

Obi’s recent appearance around Seyi Makinde only makes clarity more important. It proves no secret deal, but in an atmosphere already filled with speculation about opposition realignments, ambiguity is terrible messaging.

If Obi is definitely contesting, say so. If the ticket remains negotiable, say that too.

But by September 2026, the candidate should not still sound like an aspirant.

OJY OKPE GAVE PETER OBI A CHANCE TO CLOSE THE DOOR. HE LEFT IT AJAR.

RUFAI OSENI: DOES ARISE NEWS HAVE A JOURNALIST-INCENTIVE PROBLEM?

THE OUTRAGE–AMPLIFICATION LOOP: WHEN TV CONFRONTATION BECOMES DIGITAL CURRENCY

WHO IS WATCHING THE WATCHDOG? By CharlesCNG Rufai oseni Files part 5

Perhaps we have been asking the wrong question about Rufai Oseni. Beyond bias lies something potentially more important:

WHAT GUARDRAILS DOES ARISE NEWS HAVE TO ENSURE THAT THE SOCIAL-MEDIA REWARDS OF CONFRONTATION DO NOT BEGIN TO SHAPE THE JOURNALISM?

Rufai is no longer merely an Arise presenter. He is a MULTI-PLATFORM POLITICAL-INFORMATION BRAND: broadcaster, commentator, social-media personality, podcaster and co-founder of Voice of the People Media.

That changes the economics of television confrontation. An argument on Morning Show doesn't die when the programme ends. It escapes the studio and acquires another life online.

I call it THE OUTRAGE–AMPLIFICATION LOOP: TV CONFRONTATION → DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT → VIRAL CLIPS → PERSONAL VISIBILITY → MORE FOLLOWERS → GREATER DIGITAL AUTHORITY.

Now add THE PETER OBI ONLINE VIEWS HARVEST.

Obi commands an extraordinarily energetic online constituency. Produce content that confirms its political worldview and the amplification can be formidable.

THE STUDIO PRODUCES THE CONTENT. SOCIAL MEDIA AMPLIFIES IT. THE PRESENTER ACCUMULATES DIGITAL CAPITAL.

Consider one example. In May 2026, Rufai shared a video presented as former minister Isa Pantami crying after losing an APC governorship ticket.

FactCheckHub found the claim MISLEADING. The footage was actually from a 2024 religious sermon. But Rufai's post had already exceeded 10,000 views.

POST. AMPLIFY. VIEWS ARRIVE. FACT-CHECK COMES LATER.

You cannot build a reputation interrogating other people's facts while becoming careless about those you distribute. And this is where ARISE NEWS enters the dock. WHERE ARE THE EDITORIAL GUARDRAILS?

When your anchor is simultaneously interviewer, commentator, influencer, podcaster and recurring protagonist in viral political confrontations, who separates PERSONAL DIGITAL INCENTIVES from BROADCAST JOURNALISM?

Social media has changed journalism's reward system. THE QUIET INTERVIEW MAY EDUCATE. THE FIGHT TRENDS.

THE DETAILED EXPLANATION MAY INFORM. THE GOTCHA CLIP TRAVELS.

Rufai may be sitting behind an Arise News desk, BUT THE CONTENT DOES NOT STAY THERE.

So WHO IS WATCHING THE WATCHDOG? now requires another question: WHO IS WATCHING THE ALGORITHM THAT REWARDS THE WATCHDOG?

Because when outrage becomes content, content becomes engagement and engagement becomes personal digital capital, journalism needs guardrails.

Otherwise, the journalist eventually stops merely reporting the political theatre. HE BECOMES PART OF THE SHOW. LIKE RUFAI OSENI .

Some people have been scammed! And many are being scammed unknowingly.

“PETER OBI DIDN’T GO TO BENUE TO CAMPAIGN. HE WENT TO CREATE CONTENT—AND CAME BACK WITH EXACTLY WHAT THE ALGORITHM ORDERED: CAMERAS, CONTROVERSY, SYMPATHY AND VIRALITY.”

“PETER OBI’S BENUE TRIP LOOKED LESS LIKE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNING AND MORE LIKE A CONTENT SHOOT: ARRIVE, CREATE THE MOMENT, HARVEST THE SYMPATHY, FEED THE ALGORITHM.

I am beginning to wonder whether Peter Obi wants to win the Nigerian presidency or win the Nigerian internet.

Watch the sequence.

MONDAY: Peter Obi, himself a presidential candidate, appears at the campaign-office launch of Seyi Makinde—ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE—and announces that Makinde is qualified to be President.

Imagine Coca-Cola attending Pepsi's launch to announce that Pepsi is perfectly qualified to quench your thirst.

TUESDAY: Peter Obi is in Benue for what he describes as a “purely humanitarian” visit to Yelwata.

His convoy gets blocked. The obstruction was wrong and should be investigated. But immediately another familiar Peter Obi storyline explodes across social media:

PETER OBI THE VICTIM. And there is a pattern worth interrogating.

Peter Obi visiting victims. Peter Obi donating money. Peter Obi travelling economy. Peter Obi carrying his bag.( Helping tubaba to carry his!!) Peter Obi eating modestly. Peter Obi being prevented from entering somewhere. Peter Obi being attacked.

Peter Obi being misunderstood. CAMERA. HEADLINE. SYMPATHY. VIRALITY. REPEAT.

And this is where I have a problem. Charity is admirable. Visiting grieving Nigerians is admirable.

But once a presidential candidate repeatedly performs these acts in the presence of cameras, photographers, aides and a sophisticated social-media machinery, the public is entitled to examine not merely the charity— BUT THE POLITICAL COMMUNICATION SURROUNDING THE CHARITY.

Peter Obi understands the Nigerian internet exceptionally well. His Obidient movement built one of the most formidable political engagement machines Nigeria has seen online. Research into the 2023 election found Obi dominating enormous portions of the digital political conversation.

PBut someone needs to explain to an obviously very confused Peter obi difference between CONTENT CREATION and PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNING.

Content creation asks: WHAT WILL TREND? Campaigning asks: WHO WILL VOTE FOR ME?

Content harvests engagement. Campaigns harvest VOTES.

Peter Obi should stop campaigning for the headline and start campaigning for the voter. Peter Obi is running for President of approximately 230 million Nigerians, not President of Nigerian X.

Because election day has no algorithm. NO LIKES. NO RETWEETS. NO PITY PARTY. INEC COUNTS VOTES.

NEXT:THE PETER OBI ONLINE VIEWS HARVEST: FOLLOW THE CLICKS AND YOU MAY UNDERSTAND THE COMMENTARY. Pls stay tuned with CharlesCNG.

RUFAI OSENI, ROTUS AND THE JOURNALIST WHO KEEPS ENTERING THE STORY.

WHO IS WATCHING THE WATCHDOG? RUFAI OSENI FILES PART 3 By CharlesCNG

Something increasingly strange is happening on Arise News. Rufai Oseni no longer merely interviews the argument.

Too often, he appears determined to JOIN IT. And that distinction matters.

The latest exchange involving Rufai and Arise Business Editor Rotus Odirri provides another useful case study. If somebody presents figures you believe are wrong, journalism provides a wonderfully simple remedy: PRODUCE YOUR OWN CORRECT FIGURES.

Rufai may even be RIGHT about the underlying economics. That is not the point. A journalist does not become more correct by becoming more theatrical. If you dispute Rotus's figures, PUT YOUR COUNTER-FIGURE ON THE TABLE. Give us the source. Show us the calculation. Journalism is supposed to illuminate the argument, not merely win the exchange.

Show the source. Explain the denominator. Do the calculation. Let the audience decide. You don't dispute somebody's numbers and effectively send HIM away to calculate your objection for you. That is not the journalistic Standard

That is not fact-checking. That is theatre. And theatre, unfortunately, produces wonderful social-media clips. A raised voice becomes a clip. An interruption becomes a clip. A confrontation becomes a clip.



I cannot prove Rufai deliberately behaves this way for clicks. But we can certainly ask whether television virality is beginning to reward precisely the wrong instincts in journalism.

Because Rufai's increasingly combative style has become part of his brand. And that creates another uncomfortable question: IS RUFAI OSENI INTERROGATING THE OPPOSITION'S CASE—OR SOMETIMES MAKING IT FOR THEM?

Interrogate Tinubu brutally. Challenge his statistics, ministers and spokesmen. But THE STANDARD MUST TRAVEL WITH THE MICROPHONE. Give Atiku, Obi and the opposition the same treatment. If your aggression consistently travels in only one political direction, stop calling it tough journalism. IT IS SELECTIVE TOUGHNESS DRESSED AS JOURNALISM.

This is where Arise News itself enters the conversation. Where are the EDITORIAL GUARDRAILS?

A serious newsroom should protect its journalists from government intimidation. But it should also protect its journalism from becoming personality television.

Recent criticism following Rufai's confrontation with Lere Olayinka raised exactly this danger: the journalist should expose weak claims without becoming another combatant in the fight.

Even Rufai's factual confidence deserves editorial checking. Africa Check examined a previous Arise economic discussion and found him correct about poor budget performance but incorrect when he claimed Nigeria's crude-oil exports had fallen 50 percent.

That is precisely why confidence must never substitute for evidence. Rufai is intelligent. Rufai is courageous. But those strengths do not place him above journalistic discipline.

The objective of an interview is not for Rufai Oseni to defeat the guest. It is for THE AUDIENCE TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE.

And when the presenter repeatedly becomes the headline, perhaps Arise News should ask itself a question more important than ratings: WHO EXACTLY IS THE STORY HERE?

Because journalism begins to lose something precious when the watchdog stops watching the fight— AND STARTS THROWING PUNCHES.

WHO IS WATCHING THE WATCHDOG? By CharlesCNG . SIMPLY WATCH OUT FOR NEXT ON THIS DAILY EPISODES

THE SOUTHERN KADUNA CASE FILE ON EL-RUFAI: WHEN A GOVERNOR WOULD RATHER WIN THE ARGUMENT THAN WIN THE TRUST

If you want to understand one of Nasir El-Rufai's greatest leadership failures, study his relationship with Southern Kaduna and significant sections of Kaduna's Christian population.

The recurring problem was simple: confronted with distrust, El-Rufai too often appeared to choose confrontation over reassurance.

In 2016, amid horrific killings, El-Rufai said his government had traced some Fulani involved in retaliatory violence to neighbouring countries and offered compensation intended to stop further reprisals.

He had an explanation: previous investigations recommended outreach, and the conflict involved ethnicity, land, criminality and historical reprisals—not simply religion.

But imagine being a community burying its dead. You want PROTECTION. ARRESTS. JUSTICE. Then your governor announces compensation to people connected to retaliatory violence. Whatever the security rationale, responsible leadership required extraordinary sensitivity.

Instead, El-Rufai became embroiled in confrontation with Southern Kaduna leaders, including Senator Danjuma La'ah.

Then came religion. Defending his Muslim-Muslim ticket before 2019, El-Rufai said even if he selected “the Pope,” 67 percent of Southern Kaduna Christians would not vote for him.

A governor facing a distrustful minority could ask: “WHY DON'T THEY TRUST ME, AND HOW DO I REBUILD THAT TRUST?”

El-Rufai's response sounded closer to: “THEY WOULDN'T VOTE FOR ME ANYWAY.”

In 2020, amid further killings, he criticised “reckless statements” by some religious leaders. They may indeed have been reckless—but communities burying their dead needed reassurance before another argument.

Then his government restructured traditional institutions, including chiefdoms and nomenclatures. El-Rufai had administrative justifications, but many Southern Kaduna communities saw those institutions as symbols of identity, history and hard-won recognition.

Again, the question was not merely: “DO I HAVE THE POWER TO DO THIS?” But: “DO I UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS TO THESE PEOPLE?”

That is the El-Rufai problem. Obasanjo. Atiku. Ribadu. Shehu Sani. Uba Sani. Southern Kaduna.

Different disputes, remarkably similar pattern: DISAGREEMENT → CONFRONTATION → ESCALATION → WAR.

Intelligence is not wisdom. Administrative competence is not emotional intelligence.

Southern Kaduna did not need a governor capable of defeating them in an argument. THEY NEEDED A GOVERNOR THEY COULD TRUST WITH THEIR FEARS.

That is El-Rufai's Southern Kaduna case file. And it is not a flattering one.

Kalashnikov49:
Anybody that YORUBA hate..is because they align well with IGBOs.

IBB
ABACHA
YARADUA
OBASANJO
JONATHAN.

are hated by YORUBA, not because of ruling or Governance standard, because they worked well with IGBOs.

Dont TYPE long gibberish, it shows you need to mumble incoherently to sound articulate. Which ypu are DEFINITELY not.

What you have not understood is how deep and complicated the Yoruba–Northern political relationship is.

It is almost like husband and wife: quarrel violently in the morning, negotiate again by afternoon.

IBB annulled June 12—one of the greatest political injuries inflicted on the South-West. Yet northern political forces were instrumental in the emergence of Obasanjo in 1999.

Abacha became deeply unpopular in the South-West over June 12 and Abiola, yet one of his closest civilian associates was the Yoruba businessman Arisekola Alao.

Study Shehu Musa Yar’Adua's political machine too. Important Yoruba politicians, including Dapo Sarumi and Bola Tinubu, belonged to that network, which challenged the old Jakande establishment in Lagos.

So this theory that Yoruba politics is simply “anybody who works with Igbo people becomes our enemy” is historically unserious and blatantly foolish.

One great strength of Yoruba politics is RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT and political emotional intelligence. Fight today. Negotiate tomorrow. Lose one coalition. Build another.

Too much South-East political discourse does the opposite: disagreement becomes ethnic grievance, grievance becomes permanent hostility, and reconciliation becomes betrayal.

Politics cannot work that way. Since 1999, the South-West has produced Obasanjo as President, Osinbajo as Vice-President and Tinubu as President through different national coalitions.

Yet you complain about marginalisation while insulting entire regions whose cooperation you may eventually need. Perhaps Yoruba people are not your problem.

Perhaps the lesson is simpler: POLITICS REWARDS PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO MANAGE RELATIONSHIPS.

EL-RUFAI: HIS MOUTH ENTERED THE EVIDENCE BEFORE HIS ENEMIES DID

There is something almost Shakespearean about Nasir El-Rufai's latest troubles.

His supporters increasingly present him as the victim of a vindictive political establishment determined to destroy him. Perhaps. But there is another possibility worth considering: WHAT IF EL-RUFAI'S BIGGEST POLITICAL ENEMY HAS SOMETIMES BEEN EL-RUFAI HIMSELF?

Consider the controversy over intercepted communications involving National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.

If El-Rufai was reckless enough to go on national television and say, in substance, that “we listen to their calls,” while discussing the tapping of the NSA's phone, he cannot subsequently behave as though his enemies manufactured the entire controversy.

Whatever the courts eventually determine about any criminal allegation is a separate matter. But the politically damaging words came from El-Rufai himself.

HIS MOUTH ENTERED THE EVIDENCE BEFORE HIS ENEMIES DID. And that brings me to something I have observed about El-Rufai for years:

ARROGANCE. TOXICITY. RECKLESSNESS.

Look at the extraordinary graveyard of political relationships surrounding this man.

Olusegun Obasanjo. Atiku Abubakar. (later reconciled) , Nuhu Ribadu. Shehu Sani. Uba Sani , Tinubu ,PDP and so many , many they are uncountable.

These are not merely random opponents he encountered across a political battlefield. Some were presidents, bosses, colleagues, allies, associates or people with whom he once shared significant political relationships.

Again and again, yesterday's relationship somehow becomes tomorrow's war. And when the relationship collapses, El-Rufai rarely appears genetically equipped for ordinary disagreement. Everything becomes scorched earth.

The temperature goes immediately to 100 degrees. No brake pedal. No reverse gear. No small fight.

Then came the recent extraordinary spectacle involving his own sons.

Bashir El-Rufai publicly attacked his elder brother, Bello El-Rufai, accusing him of betrayal and reportedly using deeply degrading language against him.

Obviously, children are responsible for their own behaviour. A quarrel between two adult sons cannot be presented as proof of their father's character. But politically, I couldn't help noticing something familiar about the METHOD: Maximum escalation. Scorched earth. Take no prisoners. Bashir sounded like an El-Rufai political press conference with Wi-Fi.

And this is why I struggle with the recurring attempt to portray Nasir El-Rufai as the perpetual innocent victim of everybody else's wickedness.

How many relationships must end in explosions before we are permitted to examine the man standing repeatedly at the centre of the crater?

At some point, the question must stop being: “WHY DOES EVERYBODY KEEP DOING THIS TO EL-RUFAI?”

And become: “WHAT IS IT ABOUT EL-RUFAI THAT KEEPS PRODUCING THESE DESTRUCTIVE FALLOUTS?”

Intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom. Brilliance is not temperament. Courage is not recklessness. And being the smartest man in the room does not require repeatedly reminding everybody else that you believe you are.

El-Rufai is unquestionably one of Nigeria's most consequential political figures of his generation. He is intelligent, experienced, articulate and extraordinarily combative.

But those strengths can become liabilities when accompanied by an apparent inability to manage disagreement without converting former associates into mortal political enemies.

That may ultimately be the great El-Rufai paradox. A man capable of fighting almost anybody— who sometimes appears incapable of NOT fighting everybody.

And in this latest controversy, before Tinubu, Ribadu, the police, prosecutors or any supposed political enemies could fully make their case against him, El-Rufai had already done something remarkable: HE OPENED HIS MOUTH. AND HIS MOUTH ENTERED THE EVIDENCE BEFORE HIS ENEMIES DID.

Kalashnikov49:
Leave YORUBA propaganda merchants.

They know that the North and SE/SS have good alignment, but they used LIES and propaganda to paint a picture of civility and high morales which has been exposed to be a fraud.

The fact remains that EL RUFAI being incarcerated will snowball into things they cant phantom.

That is why I continuously tell them that

SOUTHERN UNITY was NEVER alive but is now permanently DEAD.

Even BUHARI choose two IGBO VP candidates before Osibanjo became VP. IF IGBOS didnt support Obasanjo and Yaradua, an IGBO man woulf have been the PRESIDENT by NOW and RONU noise will be paying vhildren #3,000 with asoebi and Caps to gather for ORGANISED protests.

I sincerely missed Abacha...he had their full antifote.

Please don't go there.

You are trying to turn every political disagreement into a Yoruba-versus-Igbo conspiracy, and that is exactly the kind of thinking that has repeatedly damaged Nigerian opposition politics.

Northern distrust of parts of the South-East political establishment did not begin with Tinubu, APC or some imaginary Yoruba propaganda machine. It has deep historical roots going back to the First Republic, the Sardauna era, the military crises and the civil-war period.

Whether those perceptions are fair today is another question, but pretending Yoruba people invented them is simply historically unserious.

And this constant habit of blaming Yoruba people for every political setback affecting the South-East has become exhausting.

You even dragged ASO EBI into it. Why are you bothered by how Yoruba people spend their own money, celebrate, dress or organise themselves socially? Are they borrowing the money from you?

That is exactly the problem with this politics: grievance keeps replacing strategy.

Meanwhile, the North and South-West have built political relationships over decades through negotiation, coalition and repeated electoral cooperation. Politics is about building bridges, not endlessly insulting the people whose votes you may eventually need.

Perhaps the more useful question is not: “WHAT HAVE YORUBA PEOPLE DONE TO US?” But: “WHAT POLITICAL STRATEGY HAS ACTUALLY WORKED?”

Since 1999, Yoruba politicians have produced two presidents and a vice-president through different national coalitions. Yet you are the one complaining about marginalisation while simultaneously insulting an entire region and declaring “Southern unity” dead.

Maybe that contradiction deserves some reflection.

And please leave Abacha nostalgia out of it. Nigerians across different regions suffered under that dictatorship.

Ethnic resentment is not a political programme. At some point, strategy has to replace grievance.

manmade:
self confession is a very strong evidence against the Maker, if elrufai could be so foolish to indict himself that he unlawfully tapped into the phone lines of NSA and was eave dropping on his calls , he shouldn't put the blames on anyone

Self-confession can be devastating evidence against its maker.

If El-Rufai was reckless enough to go on national television and say, in substance, that “we listen to their calls,” and that someone tapped the NSA’s phone, then he cannot turn around and behave as though somebody manufactured the controversy for him. He supplied the words himself.

And that, to me, is classic El-Rufai. ARROGANCE. TOXICITY. RECKLESSNESS.

Three traits that have followed his political relationships for years.

Look at the trail of broken relationships and vicious public quarrels: Obasanjo. Atiku. Nuhu Ribadu. Uba Sani. Shehu Sani. People who were once allies, colleagues, protégés or political associates eventually becoming objects of bitter warfare. Even Ribadu and El-Rufai, once close allies in the Obasanjo years, have ended up in an extraordinary public confrontation.

Then look at the recent spectacle involving his own sons.

Bashir El-Rufai publicly attacked his elder brother, Bello El-Rufai, accusing him of betrayal and using extraordinarily degrading language against him.
Bashir sounded like an El-Rufai political press conference with Wi-Fi.

That is why I find this attempt to portray Nasir El-Rufai perpetually as an innocent victim rather difficult to swallow.

At some point, when one man repeatedly ends up in ferocious conflicts with former friends, former allies, successors, senators, presidents and even people once considered political family, perhaps the question should stop being:

“WHY DOES EVERYBODY KEEP DOING THIS TO EL-RUFAI?” And become: “WHAT IS IT ABOUT EL-RUFAI THAT KEEPS PRODUCING THIS KIND OF DESTRUCTION?”

In this particular case, nobody forced him to discuss intercepted NSA communications on television.

HIS MOUTH ENTERED THE EVIDENCE BEFORE HIS ENEMIES DID.

AMINDA:
If you say Elrufai's ordeal is penance for making Tinubu president, then I agree with you and I'm sure he is also happy to undergo it so he will come out brand new. But that is his only crime. He was the only person Tinubu practically knelt down to beg and he is also the only person Tinubu is desperate to keep out of the 2027 electioneering. E get why. Tinubu and his lackeys have still been unable to make any charge stick on him so this is no karma. Tables will turn and Elrufai will have his remontada. And if not, the debt will be carried forward. Heads or tail, Elrufai won't lose.

El-Rufai “made Tinubu President”? Please stop rewriting 2023.

If El-Rufai made Tinubu President, he performed the miracle almost everywhere EXCEPT HIS OWN KADUNA STATE.

Under El-Rufai, APC lost Kaduna to Atiku in the presidential election. PDP swept ALL THREE senatorial seats and reportedly took 10 of the state's 16 House of Representatives seats. One conspicuous APC survivor was El-Rufai's own son, Bello, in Kaduna North.

That is not the electoral footprint of a man who “made Tinubu President.” In Kaduna, El-Rufai was arguably more liability than kingmaker.

And Southern Kaduna tells an important part of that story. Years of bitter political and religious tensions under El-Rufai left APC deeply unpopular there. In Kaduna South Senatorial District, APC finished THIRD in 2023—behind PDP and Labour.

So spare me this mythology that Tinubu owes his presidency to El-Rufai. Tinubu won the presidency DESPITE losing Kaduna, not because El-Rufai delivered it.

He governed Kaduna by repeatedly emphasising fault lines that a political leader should have been trying to bridge. Now Uba Sani has spent considerable political capital rebuilding relationships, particularly in Southern Kaduna, that had deteriorated badly.

And this is precisely why many of us in APC regard El-Rufai's departure as GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH.

THE OPPOSITION'S 2027 PROBLEM: NIGERIANS ARE SUFFERING—SO WHY ISN'T APC COLLAPSING?

The opposition, judging from the things many of its supporters say, seems genuinely confused by a political phenomenon playing out before us every day.

Their argument often sounds almost mathematical: Nigerians are suffering. Therefore Nigerians are angry. Therefore they will vote against APC.

Therefore Tinubu will lose. Except reality has refused to cooperate with that equation.

Since May 2023, petrol has risen from roughly ₦185–₦195 per litre to multiples of that price. The naira has depreciated dramatically. Food and transport costs have surged, and household purchasing power has taken a beating. These are facts.

If elections were simply referendums on economic pain, APC should already have collapsed. But where is the collapse?

APC says millions have joined its digitally verified membership register. It won Edo, retained Ondo, took 12 of the 16 seats contested in the 2025 legislative by-elections, and even in its Osun defeat still secured 444,815 votes—45.2 percent of the total—against a formidable incumbent governor.

Meanwhile, the largest anti-government protests of this administration—the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests—were geographically uneven and rapidly lost momentum.

Something else is equally striking: despite the severity of the economic adjustment, Nigeria has experienced remarkably limited sustained nationwide industrial disruption, with fewer NLC/TUC strikes and almost no prolonged nationwide ASUU strikes compared with recent years.

That does not prove Nigerians are happy with Tinubu. They plainly are not happy with many aspects of the economy. But that is precisely the puzzle.

Petrol multiplied in price. The naira depreciated dramatically. Living costs surged. Yet we have not seen a corresponding collapse of APC, prolonged nationwide industrial paralysis, sustained nationwide street revolt, or—so far—an obvious mass transfer of political allegiance to the opposition. WHY?

That is the phenomenon this series intends to investigate.

It means something more interesting: ECONOMIC SUFFERING AND ELECTORAL REJECTION ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

Between hardship and changing one's vote lie several questions: Who do voters blame? Did they believe the reforms were necessary? Are conditions improving or worsening? And, perhaps most importantly, do they trust the alternative?

The political journey is not simply suffering to defeat. It is:

PAIN → ANGER → BLAME → TRUST IN AN ALTERNATIVE → ELECTORAL TRANSFER.

Break that chain anywhere, and suffering may remain suffering without becoming an opposition vote.

Nigeria is not unique. An IMF study examining elections across 66 democracies found that painful reforms can be electorally dangerous, but the punishment is conditional. Timing, economic recovery, political ownership, compensation and the credibility of alternatives all matter. Some reforming governments were destroyed; others survived and even increased their support.

That is the puzzle I call THE PAIN–PUNISHMENT PARADOX.

Perhaps the opposition's biggest mistake is assuming that hardship automatically manufactures opposition voters. It doesn't.

A Nigerian can hate today's petrol price and still distrust those promising to replace Tinubu. Elections do not simply ask, “Are you suffering?”

They ask: “Who do you trust to do better?”

And unless the opposition answers that question convincingly, it may discover that it can successfully persuade Nigerians that they are suffering—and still fail to persuade them to vote for it.

This series will examine why that happens, beginning with The Electoral Clock: Why the Timing of Painful Reforms May Matter Almost as Much as the Pain Itself.

UBA SANI: “NO PRESIDENT HAS DONE MORE FOR THE NORTH THAN TINUBU” — HERE ARE THE RECEIPTS

Governor Uba Sani made a statement on ARISE Prime Time so sweeping that it deserves more than applause or outrage.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today, I can tell you, he has done more than any leader for Northern Nigeria.”

Then he doubled down: “No president has done to the North in terms of development as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done in the last three years.”

And Uba insisted he was speaking from “data and statistics.” That is a huge historical claim. So forget the adjectives for a moment. Open the ledger.

Here are some of the receipts behind Uba Sani’s argument:

• ABUJA–KADUNA–ZARIA–KANO ROAD

The Federal Government puts the redesigned 350km dual carriageway at about ₦764 billion. Work is ongoing, with outstanding Section II works officially scheduled for completion on November 12, 2026.

• KADUNA–MANDO–BIRNIN GWARI ROAD

The Tinubu government has awarded the reconstruction of this strategic 122km corridor for ₦178.116 billion. This is not just another road.

Birnin Gwari became virtually synonymous with banditry and isolation. The Federal Government says improving security has allowed construction to return to the corridor, with the road expected to reconnect farming communities, commerce and the shortest route linking parts of the North to the South-West.

• ₦1 TRILLION KADUNA LIGHT RAIL
The Federal Government approved funding for a 50km Kaduna metropolitan rail system: 30km from Rigachikun to Sabon Tasha and another 20km from Millennium City to Rigasa. Estimated value: ₦1 trillion.
This is still a project to be delivered, not an achievement to be prematurely commissioned in a newspaper headline. But the approval itself is substantial.

• FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES, KACHIA

Tinubu directed the takeover of the forfeited Nok University assets and their conversion into the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia.The Presidency explicitly described this as fulfilment of a promise to Southern Kaduna.

• FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE, KAFANCHAN
Southern Kaduna also got a newly established Federal Medical Centre in Kafanchan, with Tinubu appointing its pioneer Chief Medical Director in 2025.

• THE BIGGER NORTHERN ROAD PORTFOLIO

And Kaduna is not the whole story.

The federal works portfolio also includes the ₦824 billion Sokoto–Gusau–Funtua–Zaria corridor, Zaria–Hunkuyi Road, Kano Northern Bypass, Kano–Jigawa section of the Kano–Maiduguri highway and other major Northern projects.

This is why the lazy slogan that “Tinubu has done nothing for the North” is arrant nonsense.

Does this automatically prove Uba Sani’s much bigger claim that Tinubu has done MORE for Northern Nigeria than every president before him? No.

That would require a proper historical comparison with Buhari, Jonathan, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo and earlier administrations — adjusting for project size, inflation, completion, population and actual economic impact.

Projects are receipts. “More than every president before him” is an audit. But after putting this many receipts on the table, Uba Sani has at least earned the right to ask his critics a question:

If Tinubu has done “nothing” for the North, what exactly do you call ₦764 billion here, ₦824 billion there, ₦1 trillion rail, ₦178 billion Birnin Gwari road, a new federal university, a new federal medical centre and an expanding Northern infrastructure portfolio?

Uba Sani may still owe us the historical comparison.

But those insisting Tinubu has abandoned the North now owe us something too: An argument that survives the receipts.

Streetinvestor2:
You are bloody lier. I was not interested in osun election as that region no dey my interest. I don't have time to go dig out the post and this is not the first time I made this statement. I saw your post showing the apc guy winning in osun on a platform. I even thought it was true till I saw other platform that adeleke was winning. I am not jobless to go begin digging up ur post.Are u going to say this is the first time I have said such to you concerning the osun election

You are STILL talking? 😂 YOU accused me of posting a fake Osun result. I responded by producing MY ACTUAL POST. Instead of producing this imaginary fake result, your rebuttal is now: “I remember seeing it.” “I don't have time to dig it out.” “I am not jobless.”

My brother, YOU MADE THE ACCUSATION. The burden of proof doesn't migrate to me because your evidence has suddenly gone missing.

I have produced the post. You have produced your MEMORY. And even with documentary evidence staring at you, you still prefer your recollection.

Behold: THE EVIDENCE-RESISTANT OBIDIENT MEMORY MERCHANT. This is Obidient epistemology at Olympic level: “I saw it.” WHERE?
“I can't find it.” PRODUCE IT. “I am not jobless.”

BUT YOU'RE CERTAIN? “Absolutely!” 😂😂😂

If I posted a fake Osun result, FIND IT. Screenshot it. Quote it. DESTROY ME WITH THE EVIDENCE.

Until then, “I remember” is not evidence. Repeating an allegation after I have produced the documentary record doesn't make you more convincing.

It merely makes you LOUDER THAN YOUR EVIDENCE.