He said they had returned with the assurance that APC was dead, and were determined to deliver 90 per cent of the votes because they believe in the leadership of Governor Wike.
Sun
Politics
PDP crisis: We don’t fight and go back – Wike
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has mocked the ousted National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, who was said to have danced when the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party passed vote of confidence on Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the embattled PDP national chairman.
Governor Wike said that decision by NEC would not dissuade him and others from insisting that the prevailing structural imbalance within the party must be addressed.
The governor spoke at the eleventh hour homecoming and reception organised for decampees from the various political parties who joined the PDP in Rivers State, which held at the Isaac Boro Park in Port Harcourt yesterday.
He said: “I was listening and watching, they said there is one man they call Secondus. They said he was dancing, celebrating that NEC gave their person vote of confidence. He forgets history. Ask him, the same NEC through Aliyu Babangida moved a motion of vote of confidence supported by the same person, Ndudi Elumelu. They gave you (Secondus) a vote of confidence. What happened? You left office.
“We don’t fight and go back. If you like, you can have as many 20 votes of confidence, it’s not my business. My business is to make sure the right thing is done, and the right thing must be done. Whether today or tomorrow.”
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He said that despite the heightening political aligning and negotiations that were going on, his administration has not abandoned governance in Rivers.
The governor explained that it was the love that he has for the state that has made him to remain devoted to providing good governance until the last day of his tenure.
“I’m not going to play party with the interest of my people. Rivers State is paramount to me first before any other person or group.
“So, the eyes can see what we have done. Up till today, we have never abandoned governance. So many people are already rounding up, taking the last they have. But, yet, we are still committed in commissioning, and flagging off projects.
“Because of the love we have for our people, we will continue to serve you till May 29, when by the grace of God, Siminialaye Fubara will be inaugurated the governor of Rivers State,” he said.
Wike commended the decampees for their courage to rejoin their political family, saying that it was true that there is no other political party that can win election in Rivers except the PDP.
“PDP is a household name in Rivers State. Let me assure you that we will all work with you. Nothing like somebody who has been there since and somebody who has just come back. The more the merrier,” he said.
The governor dismissed efforts by other political candidates as mere attempt to appear on the ballot because there is no hope of winning for them.
Wike disclosed that a new strategy would be adopted for the coming political season in which political ‘bigmen’ would be replaced with people who are domiciled among their people in various communities.
According to him, those who are domiciled with their people would be utilised to deliver their units and wards during the general elections.
Speaking, Rivers State PDP chairman, Desmond Akawor, said that the party was presenting a certificate to acknowledge the excellent performance of Governor Wike because he has surpassed their expectations.
Akawor stated that the decampees from the other political parties had witnessed unequal transformational performance of the governor in office.
Speaking on behalf of decampees from Rivers South East Senatorial District, a former member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Board of Trustees, Sam Sam Jaja, said that they had a regrettable unsuccessful political expedition while in their former parties, but had retraced their steps back to the PDP on self volition.
Jaja described Governor Wike as a compassionate, loving and graceful leader who was created to do good for the people.
Speaking on behalf of decampees from Rivers West Senatorial District, former Commissioner for Transportation in the Chibuike Amaechi’s administration, George Tolofari, said that they were happy to be back home in the PDP.
Similarly, a former chairman of Akuku Toru Local Government, Theodore Georgewill, apologised that they left PDP when they were most needed.
Politics
No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
Former Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has declared that no politician can win the Nigerian presidency in 2027 without the support of the northern region.
Speaking in a video interview in Kaduna, Baba-Ahmed, who appeared alongside Professor Usman Yusuf, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), emphasized that the North would soon define its political direction.
“In the next six months, the North will decide where it stands. If the rest of the country wants to join us, fine. If not, we will go our own way. One thing is clear: nobody can become president of Nigeria without northern support,” he asserted.
He lamented the state of the nation and urged northerners to resist divisive and deceptive politicians ahead of the next general elections.
“We want a government that understands our problems and can address them. After Buhari’s eight years, we became wiser. Now, we are in another government, and we are still crying. Is crying all we know how to do?” Baba-Ahmed asked.
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Reflecting on past experiences, he said the North had suffered greatly during the Boko Haram insurgency, which affected all groups Muslims, Christians, Fulani, Baju, and others highlighting the need for unity.
“Before Buhari became president, Boko Haram was bombing mosques, churches, Abuja, and Lagos. That was a time northerners had to unite. Today, no politician can just show up and expect northerners to fall in line. Who are you?” he questioned.
He warned against further marginalization of the North, noting that continued disregard for the region would have consequences.
“If they plan to rig the election, they should be careful. It won’t be good for Nigeria. The North is watching. Elders, masses, and interest groups will soon say ‘enough is enough.’ The injustice and sidelining must stop,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed also urged the region to look beyond identity politics, stressing that competence and integrity should guide voter decisions.
“We are tired of being deceived into voting based on religion or ethnicity. That era is over. We just want a right leader let him falls from heaven, we just want someone who will solve our problems,” he said.
He concluded by asserting that the northern electorate had learned hard lessons from past choices and would approach 2027 with a new mindset.
No candidate can win presidential election without the North – Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
Politics
Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024 — Obono-Obla
Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024 — Obono-Obla
Okoi Obono-Obla, former special adviser on public prosecution to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, says members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc led by Abubakar Malami have been plotting against President Bola Tinubu since April 2024.
He said some members of the bloc recently criticized the president and their purported plan to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress started less than a year into Tinubu’s administration.
Obono-Obla accused Malami of initiating the plan, adding that the former Attorney-General of the Federation should not be speaking for the CPC because he is not a founding member of the bloc.
“He has no right. Malami cannot speak for CPC. He came from PDP. He had even ran for election in 2007 under the platform of PDP,” Obono-Obla.
Recounting the early days of the CPC, he said, “I was among the people who put the political association known as CPC together.
“When we went to register that association as a political party, I was among the national officers who went to INEC to register that political association as a political party. That was in 2008. He was not there.
“I became the national interim adviser from 2008 to 30th December 2010. And then the party was already registered by INEC in 2010. We were going to have our first national convention.
“So they asked those of us who were interim officers and interested in contesting in the national convention to resign, and I resigned.”
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After the party was registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2010, Obono-Obla said he held the national deputy secretary in 2011, while Malami served as the party’s national legal adviser until the CPC was dissolved.
How Malami’s plot against Tinubu started
Obono-Obla revealed that some members of the CPC bloc started a move to undermine Tinubu’s government at a dinner in a hotel in Abuja.
“This thing did not start because President Bola Tinubu is not doing well,” he said.
“Last year, 28th of April, Emeka Nwajiuba, who was minister of state for education, he was also a member of the CPC merger committee.
“He’s from Imo state. He invited me for a meeting. He said, ‘Obla, come, we want to have dinner in a hotel in Maitama, Abuja, to celebrate Sallah.
“So I went, innocently. I didn’t know what they were going to do. I just went to have dinner.”
He said Malami, former CPC state chairmen, and individuals previously expelled attended the dinner.
“All those people were there, and something told me that this thing is political.”
According to him, the dinner quickly turned political as Nwajiuba and Malami criticised the Tinubu administration.
“That government was not yet up to one year in office. It was on the 28th of April, 2024. Then Malami spoke. Then the people they invited, some of them were very unhappy, they were angry.
“They said, ‘Look, we put you in government, ministers for eight years; you were very powerful.
“Somebody like Abubakar Malami, he was very powerful. ‘What did you do to help CPC as a party? What did you do to ensure that CPC is not marginalised? Why are you now coming to us?”
He said it became clear to him that the grievance was longstanding and politically motivated.
“They couldn’t say anything, and so they started planning this thing since last year. It’s not today,” he added.
Obono-Obla maintained that the recent move by some CPC bloc members against the President was planned.
“It’s planned, it’s not because the current president is not doing well. They have something that is disturbing them, and we don’t like it.”
Meanwhile, founding members of the CPCP, Farouk Aliyu, former minority leader of the House of Representatives and Osita Okechukwu, former director-general of the Voice of Nigeria, have refuted the claim that the CPC bloc within the ruling party plans to defect ahead of the 2027 elections.
The ruling party chieftains said the CPC bloc remains committed to supporting Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Malami, others in CPC started plotting against Tinubu in 2024 — Obono-Obla
Politics
Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027
Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027
Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has repeated his opposition to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition, stating that if Atiku runs in the 2027 presidential election, he will work against him once more.
Fayose, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the announcement in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.
“I publicly worked against Atiku, and I am saying for the second time, if Atiku comes again, I will work against him. It is time to learn our lesson,” Fayose said.
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He blamed the internal crisis currently facing the PDP on the party’s failure to adhere to its zoning arrangement, which he claimed was disregarded in favour of Atiku’s candidacy in the 2023 presidential election.
“After eight years of a Northerner, it is the turn of a Southerner, which could involve someone from the East, South West or South South,” he stated. “Those who gave or zoned power back to the North caused all these problems.”
Fayose stressed the importance of respecting power rotation, even if informally agreed upon, arguing that the refusal to support a Southern candidate undermined the unity of the party.
“You don’t have to like a Nyesom Wike or a Peter Obi, but there should be an unwritten, respected gentleman understanding of powershift,” he said.
Fayose threatens to work against Atiku in 2027
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