2027 - capitaltimesnews.com

CapitalTimesNews / 2 weeks

2 min read

Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has warned against the importation of mercenaries to destabilize Nigeria ahead of the 2027 general elections. The Governor made this statement when he received the President of the Northern Youth Association of Nigeria (NYAN), Comrade Godiya Adams Bogoro, and other Northern youth leaders. Chief Press Secretary to the Edo State Governor, Fred Itua, in a statement, quoted Governor Okpebholo as urging Nigerians to join hands to tackle insecurity and live peacefully as brothers and sisters. “Politics is around the corner, and crises have started showing up again. People cannot continue to use the youths as instruments of destruction for their own selfish gains,” Okpebholo said. Fred Itua further noted that the Governor emphasized the importance of Nigerian youths shunning violence and destruction. The Governor recalled the 2015 incident where mercenaries were allegedly brought into the country, stating that Nigerians should stand firm against such moves this time around. “We should know as youths that tomorrow belongs to us, and we should not allow ourselves to be used to destroy it,” Okpebholo added. Fred Itua also mentioned that the Governor thanked the Northern youth leaders for appreciating his administration’s efforts in resolving the Uromi incident. The Governor urged all Nigerians to collaborate to protect the nation, condemning the Uromi incident in totality. Fred Itua quoted Okpebholo as saying, “We urge all Nigerians to collaborate to protect the nation. As Nigerians, we love life and do not enjoy killings. These people who do all these things are not Nigerians.” The Northern delegation leader, Comrade Godiya Adams Bogoro, commended the Governor’s administration for its prompt response and commitment to ensuring peace and stability in Edo State. The Governor also hosted the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Edo State Chapter, where he admonished members to shun drugs and violence for a better future.

IJAW GROUP CALLS FOR WIKE’S DISMISSAL OVER ALLEGED ANTI-IJAW REMARKS

CapitalTimesNews / 1 month

2 min read

A political group, Ijaws for Tinubu 2027, has demanded the immediate dismissal of Nyesom Wike as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister following his alleged derogatory remarks about the Ijaw people. The group’s leader, Tamuno Esiri, made the demand in a statement released in Port Harcourt on Friday. Esiri stated that Wike’s comments could damage President Bola Tinubu’s chances of re-election in 2027. “We believe Wike is deliberately undermining the president’s support among the Ijaw people, who make up a majority in the Niger Delta,” Esiri asserted. He warned that Wike’s continued presence in the cabinet could destabilize the region and threaten both peace and democracy. Esiri also expressed doubt that Wike could deliver Rivers for Tinubu in the upcoming 2027 elections, suggesting that the former governor’s political influence had waned. Furthermore, Esiri criticized the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly for allegedly proposing bills that could destabilize the state’s political landscape. He issued a 14-day ultimatum for the lawmakers to support peace by allowing Governor Siminalayi Fubara to present the 2025 Appropriation Bill. Esiri emphasized that the Ijaw people are among the dominant ethnic groups in the Niger Delta, and Wike’s comments were strongly condemned. “If President Bola Tinubu is serious about securing a second term in office, he must act swiftly to remove Wike,” Esiri said.

2027 POLL: EL-RUFAI SLICES, DICES TINUBU, RIBADU, SANI (1)

CapitalTimesNews / 2 months

8 min read

By Ehichioya Ezomon Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, elder statesman, former Federal Commissioner, Leader of the Ijaw Nation, and Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), died on Monday, February 17, 2025, aged 97. Since his passing, the family home in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has become a melting port for “our leaders” to sympathise with the bereaved. What such a solemn occasion demands of the visitors is an expression of genuine sympathy and empathy mostly for the demised’s family members, friends and associates, the people of their tribal and ethnic nationality, State of origin and the entire country. This is done amid reminiscences of the life and times of the departed, especially a personality of Clark’s standing, an unpretentious patriot and nationalist, whose voice of reasoning and moderation on issues of equity, fairness, justice, and national cohesion rang loudly till he breathed his last on earth. Politicians – individually and severally – have been queueing to show their faces and pay last respects to the Patriarch of the Niger Delta. Friday, February 21, was “the turn” of a coterie of opposition members to pay a “condolence visit” to the Clark family. Peopled mainly by Northern politicians, and led by former Vice President and thrice Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the group postures for a political platform for an alliance, a coalition or a merger that can remove the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Tinubu from power in 2027. It’s debatable whether it’s Atiku that led the “condolence visitors,” but among the delegation was the new “enfant terrible” (a person who behaves in an unconventional or controversial way) of Northern politics, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, former Kaduna State Governor (2015-2023) and ex-Minister of the FCT. El-Rufai boasts of rallying, for the 2027 poll, a similar opposition movement that transformed into the APC in February 2013, and defeated then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Imbued with such a self-imposed responsibility, el-Rufai, at the condolence visit, veered into the politics of 2027 presidential contest, and craved for a North-South-South alignment to “rescue Nigeria” from the Tinubu administration. El-Rufai urged the people of Niger Delta to continue with the good work of Pa Clark, noting that he really played a fatherly role throughout his lifetime. “I think the legacy of E.K. Clark and the work he has done should remind us all of the importance of being courageous, standing up for justice and risking everything for Nigeria,” el-Rufai said. Reflecting on the historical bond between the North and South-South, and imploring political stakeholders to restore that collaboration for the nation’s survival, el-Rufai declared: “In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the North’s traditional political partners were from the South-South. Let us not forget that. Let us go back to that. Let us save this country because it really requires saving. We need a rescue operation.” As a pointer to whose trumpet the group blows, el-Rufai praised Atiku for his contributions to Nigeria’s economic development, particularly during his tenure as Vice President under President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999 to 2007). “Atiku was at the forefront of economic reforms that repositioned Nigeria during the Obasanjo administration,” el-Rufai said, adding, “Atiku’s role in attracting investment and restructuring the economy was crucial” – implying that an Atiku presidency will replicate what he did in government over two decades ago. El-Rufai’s solicitation reveals the actual purpose for the opposition visit to the Clark family: To capitalise on the emotional state of the bereaved, to score political points, and backing for a Northern presidency in 2027, unmindful of the zoning of the Presidency between the North and South of Nigeria every eight years. Embarking on an anti-Tinubu campaign, that the president hasn’t performed, and should be replaced in 2027, el-Rufai and his Northern colleagues make nothing of the zoning arrangement between the North and South that ensures equitable representation in a diverse society as Nigeria. For them, that “arrangement” was blatantly “breached” in 2011 when President Jonathan and the PDP refused the North to pick a Northerner to complete the “eight-year tenure” of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who died in 2010. Then-Vice President Jonathan from the South (and South-South) stepped in to complete the barely one-year remaining of Yar’Adua’s first term in office, and was supposed to pave the way for a Northerner to round-off the last four years of the Yar’Adua presidency. But Dr Jonathan refused to step down or step aside; and egged on by cheerleaders, he’s “coronated” as the PDP candidate, and subsequently won the presidential poll in 2011. If Northerners were mollified in 2011 to allow Jonathan to “usurp” the remaining four years of the Yar’Adua presidency, they didn’t condone a similar antic in 2015 when Jonathan wanted a “Third Term” – as critics put it, taking cognizance of his being sworn-in twice in 2010 (to succeed Yar’Adua) and 2011. Jonathan discountenanced his Oath of Office in 2010, whereas the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria states that, upon the resignation, removal or death of the President, the Vice President shall assume the position, to complete the term (not tenure), and could seek a second term if he hadn’t been sworn-in twice as President. Not surprising, Jonathan faced stiff opposition from within the PDP, especially in the North, during the 2015 election, to the extent that the party leadership in the region, and members of his campaign council sold out and betrayed him on Election Day. For instance, Atiku – who’d defected to, and run for President under then-Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007, and returned to the PDP before the 2011 election – led five PDP governors to walk out of the National Convention in 2014, and formed a factional New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), which later dissolved into the APC, to wrest power from the PDP and Jonathan in 2015. On the APC side as the main opposition, el-Rufai was a major actor in the scotched-earth campaign that prevented Jonathan from being re-elected in 2015. Going personal (as he does currently) el-Rufai, on

NIGERIA MUST REJECT DECEPTION AND CORRUPTION: WHY TINUBU AND RIBADU CANNOT BE TRUSTED IN 2027

CapitalTimesNews / 2 months
0
10 min read

Written by Salihu Garba-mama Aliyu (#SAGMA), Published on 6th January 2025 Our Intention: We are committed to promoting integrity, truth, and justice. We do not harbor hatred toward any of God’s creations—least of all, human beings. What we oppose is corruption, injustice, and all forms of tyranny and oppression. Our stance is rooted in a deep love for truth, justice, and mercy, and it is this unwavering commitment that guides our words and actions. Yes, it’s obvious, Nigeria stands at a crossroads. And the choice before us in 2027 is not merely about electing new leaders—it is about reclaiming our nation’s dignity, restoring integrity in governance, and ensuring that deceitful, corrupt, and opportunistic politicians are never trusted with power again. It will so foolish on our part to allow scorpion’s sting twice from the same hole. Today, we are once again exposing the dangerous attempt to whitewash the corruption-ridden past of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his ally, Nuhu Ribadu. We dismantle the lies, deception, and manipulative narratives designed to mislead Nigerians into believing that these men can offer credible leadership. This is part of our unwavering commitment to promoting democratic accountability, exposing corruption, and ensuring that Nigeria secures the quality political leadership it truly deserves in 2027 and beyond. Earlier, I played a key role in halting partisan criticism and personal attacks on air by political pundits in Adamawa who castigated Ribadu and his leadership style. My conviction then was that the time for politicking was over. As an indigene of Adamawa entrusted with the highly sensitive role of National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Ribadu should have been supported and encouraged to deliver on the critical task of ridding Nigeria of insecurity, including the scourge of banditry, Boko Haram, and the rampant kidnappings for ransom. However, we have now come to realize that Ribadu himself is part of Nigeria’s problem—corruption! Yet, while we expose his misdeeds, we must not generalize or tarnish the reputation of all Nigerian police officers, the institution from which Ribadu hails. Our fight is against corruption and bad leadership, not against individuals who uphold integrity in service to the nation. In my previous posts, including a rebuttal to Reno Omokri’s failed attempt to “launder the unlaunderable”—Nuhu Ribadu and his boss, Bola Ahmed Tinubu—I reaffirmed our determination to remain steadfast in this awakening journey until the ultimate goal is achieved: purging Nigeria’s leadership of corruption. This article builds upon that commitment, strengthened by newly available information, as we persist in our mission to expose and disqualify Ribadu and Tinubu as opportunists unfit for leadership—men Nigerians must unequivocally reject in 2027. Nuhu Ribadu: From Anti-Corruption Crusader to a Servant of Corrupt Masters Nuhu Ribadu once stood as a beacon in the fight against corruption. As the pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he earned public trust by taking on powerful figures involved in financial crimes. However, his descent into political servitude and hypocrisy has eroded his credibility, making him unworthy of any leadership role—especially as he sets his sights on the governorship of Adamawa State in 2027. One of Ribadu’s alleged transgressions, previously exposed in our articles, is his clandestine alliance with Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to undermine the Fombina Kingdom. He played a key role in the governor’s illicit scheme to balkanize traditional institutions, using them as commodities in a political black market. Through this corrupt arrangement, Ribadu reportedly facilitated the purchase of a royal throne for his younger brother from Fintiri’s auction of traditional authority. This betrayal of public trust and disregard for the sanctity of cultural heritage further cements Ribadu’s unfitness for leadership. Ribadu’s betrayal of the truth and trust is continuing unabated. This is evident in his recent denial of ever accusing Tinubu of corruption. However, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and other critics exposed his lies, stating that Ribadu directly accused Tinubu of corruption at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting when he was EFCC chairman. Why is Ribadu shamelessly lying now? Because he has chosen power over principles! Or is it the “serious amnesia” he is allaged to suffer from? The same man who once vowed to clean up Nigeria now serves as the National Security Adviser (NSA) to a man he previously investigated for corruption. This hypocrisy disqualifies Ribadu from any further public trust. Reading through the article titled “Ribadu – El-Rufai: Before Today, There Was Yesterday, and There’ll Be Tomorrow,” one cannot ignore its innocently dangerous attempt to romanticize political betrayal. It reduces real issues of corruption and power struggles to mere personal grudges and shifting alliances. While the author may have intended goodly to reconcile El-Rufai with his old friend Ribadu, a deeper analysis exposes an insidious manipulation of emotions—framing Ribadu’s past acts of sympathy toward El-Rufai as though personal kindness should override present political realities. This is a deliberate oversimplification. The article wrongly paints both men as victims of the same system, ignoring the glaring truth: El-Rufai actively worked to sideline Ribadu under Buhari, and today, Ribadu is complicit in Tinubu’s corrupt administration. By pushing a fatalistic view of politics, the piece subtly discourages Nigerians from demanding accountability—portraying corruption and betrayal as inevitable. Nigerians must reject this defeatist narrative. Ribadu’s loyalty to Tinubu is not an accident; it is a calculated alignment with corruption. And El-Rufai’s opposition to Ribadu should not be seen as an ideological purity; it is purely power struggle. The real lesson here is simple: never trust political actors who switch principles for survival—whether Ribadu, Tinubu, or any of their enablers. I will say it for the umpteenth time, our focus must remain on Nigeria’s well-being and its over 200 million citizens, not the political survival of individuals. Idolization of president Buhari in past should be an open book example in this regard. Going forward, we must separate personal relationships from matters of national governance. Four years ago, on October 3, 2020, I had the privilege of being among the invited guests at the wedding Fatiha between

AFDB PRESIDENT AKINWUMI ADESINA HINTS AT POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN 2027

Nicolas Adekeye / 3 months

2 min read

African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina has hinted at the possibility of running for the Nigerian presidency in 2027. Adesina, who is set to complete his second and final term as AfDB President in 2025, stated that he is ready to serve Nigeria and Africa in any capacity. Speaking on a Television program, Adesina explained, “Look, the only thing that makes me happy is nothing else than seeing the lives of people transform. That is what gives me satisfaction. As a result, I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.” When pressed on whether he would run for President of Nigeria, Adesina did not rule out the possibility. Instead, he emphasized his commitment to serving Nigeria and Africa, saying, “I will live as a Nigerian, and I will walk by the special grace of God. But that passport, that green passport, will be respected just like everyone else in the world.” Adesina, who served as Agriculture Minister in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, also spoke about his pride in being a Nigerian. He recalled an opportunity he had to obtain US citizenship, but rejected it, saying, “I remember telling a colleague of mine that this passport is a Nigerian passport, a green passport, that I cannot and will never trade it for anything.” Adesina concluded by referencing Davido’s song, “I’m unavailable, dem no dey see me,” and said, “But in the case where it comes to service of any kind, I would ask Davido to change that song, ‘I am available, they will see me.’ I will. I will be available to serve in God’s hands for anything that God has in store for my life.”

MINISTER EKPERIKPE EKPO DENIES PLOT TO SABOTAGE PRESIDENT TINUBU’S RE-ELECTION

Nicolas Adekeye / 3 months

2 min read

The Honourable Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. (Obongemem) Ekperikpe Ekpo, has denied allegations of being involved in a plot to sabotage President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election efforts. This comes after a malicious advert circulating in the media space, particularly in Akwa Ibom State, made baseless claims against the Honourable Minister regarding his working relationship with the Akwa Ibom State Governor, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno. In a statement, Spokesman for the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Louis Ibah, stated that Governor Eno is leading a peaceful administration in Akwa Ibom State and has no interference with activities that go on in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ibah also emphasized that Honourable Minister Ekpo is known by all as a loyal and dedicated member of the APC, and his commitment to the party and its ideals is unwavering. The Honourable Minister played a pivotal role in the formation of the Akwa Ibom Democratic Forum (ADF), a political platform that contributed significantly to the APC’s successes in the 2023 elections. Louis Ibah noted that Ekpo’s efforts led to the emergence of the Senate President and two House of Representatives members in the 2023 polls, and a Local Government Chairman and many councillorship seats in Essien Udim and Ika Local Government Areas in the just concluded LGA election in the state. Ibah stated that Ekpo remains resolute in his commitment to securing a landslide victory for President Tinubu in Akwa Ibom State, as well as the re-election of the Senate President, Chief Godswill Akpabio, and winning of more seats for the APC in the Houses of Representatives and State Assembly come 2027. The partnership between Honourable Minister Ekpo and Governor Eno has attracted multinational firms and multimillion-dollar investments to Akwa Ibom State, reviving dormant projects such as the Jindal Group of India’s commitment to offtake 450MMscfd of gas for their steel plant, and the launching of the Presidential CNG Initiative Programme with two certified conversion centers. Louis Ibah stated that Ekpo reemphasizes that his relationship with Governor Eno is based on his conviction that only through an atmosphere of peace and unity can development come to Akwa Ibom State.

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GOV OKPEBHOLO WARNS AGAINST IMPORTATION OF MERCENARIES AHEAD OF 2027 ELECTIONS

IJAW GROUP CALLS FOR WIKE’S DISMISSAL OVER ALLEGED ANTI-IJAW REMARKS

2027 POLL: EL-RUFAI SLICES, DICES TINUBU, RIBADU, SANI (1)

NIGERIA MUST REJECT DECEPTION AND CORRUPTION: WHY TINUBU AND RIBADU CANNOT BE TRUSTED IN 2027

AFDB PRESIDENT AKINWUMI ADESINA HINTS AT POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN 2027

MINISTER EKPERIKPE EKPO DENIES PLOT TO SABOTAGE PRESIDENT TINUBU’S RE-ELECTION

REDS REIGN AGAIN! LIVERPOOL FC CLINCH.

KWARA SOUTH IN CRISIS: COMMUNITY ADVOCATE.

CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP DEFENDS GOVERNOR MOHAMMED.

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