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The real danger in Tinubu’s ‘bishopsgate’ scandal
In one of my encounters with the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu I asked him if he would take the same decisions which he did as a young man including those before, during and after the Nigerian-Biafra civil war.
Vintage Ikemba. He looked at me deeply and laughed heartily before replying. “How would you expect me to do things the way I did it as a young man?” By then he was already 70. Remember he was just 33 when he led Biafra to war. I got the message. Perhaps, there wouldn’t have been the war if Ojukwu and Yakubu Gowon were older. Recall that Gowon, who led the Nigerian side was just 32 too.
So, no doubt, age is an important factor in leadership. Indeed, it’s critical. I’m sure President Muhammadu Buhari wouldn’t be this crying disaster if he had got into the office early enough. I could always swear that this is not the Buhari I sat down with in his Kaduna home in 2007. I still recall vividly the enchanting experience of that meeting as we discussed Nigeria for hours inside his sitting room.
I could still recall the peaceful ambience of his home in and out. I remember the beautiful trees and ornamental birds, the hilarious laughter that punctuated the entire session of the interaction. Above, I recall his passion for Nigeria.
When I juxtapose with the persona then depicting a man completely at peace with himself and his environment, there seems no way of contemplating, let alone comprehending the Buhari of today that has promoted nothing less than complete chaos. As I watch Nigeria galloping toward the edge of the precipice, while he sits, watches and picks his teeth contentedly, I begin to wonder what would have happened.
Then the nickel drops. Age! There couldn’t be a more credible explanation. Okay, agree that he’s nepotistic. Accept that he’s a religious bigot. Agree that he’s displayed these traits all along. What about corruption? What about allowing terrorists practically fart in his face and dare him to do his worst.
How would a Buhari in his full elements, allow Nigeria practically crumble under his watch with terrorists running riots and posting such scandalous escapades as have beset Nigeria of recent?
It won’t happen. I could swear that with a younger Buhari those killers and terrorism would have become history like the Maitasine sect, which has since been confined to historical references.
But, age, with the concomitant companion – illness, has replaced not only the physical, but the mental agility to weaken the lion in man and the result is the Nigeria we have today – a sorry, bleeding carcass.
Because he now has to rely on people to do what he ought to do himself, the result is that he has left the Nigeria in the hands of vultures, who, apart from running rings around him have
descended on the Nigerian like carcass and having a feast. A snippet knowledge of the pillaging going on under his nose at the moment, would leave anyone dizzy.
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And not that Nigerians were not warned. I could still recall the strenuous efforts Ayo Fayose, former Governor of Ekiti State made to tip off the country ahead. But the quick riposte from some vocal quarters, was that the mouth of the “Osokomole,” was smelly.
Instead of heeding the warning and despite the early signs that foretold of the approaching doomsday, Nigerians fell to the trap. Now GMB has transmuted to PMB and everywhere is cataclysm. Today, Nigerians are paying the heavy price that comes with that fatal decision.
Even Aisha, the President’s wife, seems to have resigned to fate, after shouting herself hoarse. Early enough, she was the first to squeal about the Aso Rock cabal. Poor woman, she had expected Nigerians to fight and reclaim the country from those who hijacked her husband and wouldn’t let go of their vice grip. At a time, she even wondered whether there were no men in Nigeria. But the men she had in mind were either too scared to wade into the situation or too compromised to act. So, Nigerians, are now left to stew in their juice.
Therein lies the danger of that abominable spectacle on Wednesday. There is no further evidence to prove that Tinubu is no longer the man he used to be than that disgraceful outing. A whole Tinubu going to the streets to recruit some people no better than urchins and dress them as bishops just to score a point? No! Never! The man is gone!
For sometime now, there have been talks that the old brigade, the true warriors with whom he went to battle in his heydays are all gone. Most of them are said to have left Bourdillon, either because they have become too big having secured bigger jobs or the man they gave their skill and loyalty to has changed from what he used to be.
The Olorunnimbe Momoras, the Dele Alakes, the Tokumbo Afikuyomis, Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola, Akinwunmi Ambode, Lai Muhammed, have all gone their different ways leaving a huge vacuum in the vortex of Tinubu’s much-advertised brain power. They were the real strategists.
Now what is left, are at best the dregs – a mixture of the crumbs of the old order, and new recruits, mainly opportunists whose commitments are at best suspect and at worst ignoble – some of them, leaches, unlike their predecessors, who burnt their fingers and endured the heat of the kitchen at the early stage of cooking – drawn either by the aroma the delicacies wafting through the Bourdillon windows or the bullion vans that drive in and out of the expansive compound.
Else the old order, would hardly commit the hara-kiri of Wednesday. Such bungling! In the first place, why go for bishops, when there are millions of other low-ranked clergy men that are real and authentic who could be hired in their thousands for a sprinkle of cash for the same purpose and the same effect they wanted to create at the event.
Every person conversant with Christianity knows that the rank of bishop is quite high and only very few people, toy with the idea of elevating themselves to the position. Fewer still try to robe themselves with vestments of bishops, even with the madness of church owners today? Okay, how many bishops do you have in Nigeria? How many them are not known? It’s like parading yourself as a Cardinal or Pope and saying you won’t be discovered.
The real Tinubu, when he earned the title of Jagaban, would have gone for a real thing at whatever cost. Even one bishop that is authentic, would have sufficed. But the blinking imbeciles that now work for him, think they needed 30.
Outside the established churches, like the Catholics, Anglicans, are there up to 30 bishops in Nigeria? The real Jagaban we know, would also have brought in Muslim clergy for balance. Or what message would he want to pass that only the Christian faith was represented in such numbers without their Muslim equivalent? These are the gaps, the old order at Bourdillon, would have sealed.
But look the mess now! Look at even the response when the lid was blown open to reveal the can of worms. Imagine the lame talk by the media handlers. Imagine insisting that they were real – the same people who were trailed at every stage by the prying lenses of Nigerians in this mobile phone age – bishops, carrying chairs in the hall, struggling to find seats – the handlers couldn’t even make reservations for them – bishops changing their outfits in the middle of the road, sharing money and even mounting on okada. Haba!
So, the greater danger is not in Tunubu becoming President, but after that what next? Like Buhari, this is no longer the Tinubu Nigerians used to know. Apart from not being in superlative health, as has become evident with his recent public outings, it is now obvious that the Asiwaju, is now battling with the vagaries of age and aging.
Mind you, age is not a curse. It’s even one of the riches life could offer. What is bad is when the favoured doesn’t apply it to good measure or misuses it. That is the case here.
Now, this is a candidate with the most integrity-challenged quotient at the moment among those in contest for the presidency in 2023.. This is a man with serious question marks on the credential he presents to the public on each stage of his life -his real age, ancestry, educational background and many more. Who else outside complete idiots, brainless morons and outright criminals, would want to add to these ugly credentials at the moment in the political life of the Asiwaju, as has been done by his current handlers?
You might have heard how the supposed bishops were complaining of being short-paid, how they were given N40,000 instead of the N100,000 they were promised and agreed on..
This is the manner Nigerians would be short-changed by the time these hoodlums find their way into the Presidency. In other words, don’t think you’d be dealing with Tinubu, these are the men that will be in charge. That’s the real tragedy, the real danger! Have Nigerians not been stung by a bee to be wary of the housefly? Need more be said?
Igboanugo, a journalist, wrote from Lagos
Posted by Sunny Igboanugo | 23 July 2022, 12:40pm |
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Tuesday, called out the Federal Government of attempting to destabilise the party following Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s defection, alleging pressure on Joash Ojo Amupitan, INEC Chairman, to interfere in its leadership.
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, who made the allegation in a statement, detailed how a March 28 letter by some Senior Advocates, purportedly representing an expelled member of the party, is being used to push INEC to invalidate party actions and alter its structure before the court rules.
Stressing that part of the grand plan to destabilise the only viable opposition party left in the country was to use the electoral commission to cause havoc, over a matter that was in court, the party promised to resist it using all constitutional means,
The full statement reads:
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has observed a coordinated attempt to pressure the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), and destabilise the David Mark-led leadership of the party.
The decision of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to join our party has understandably sent jitters through the ruling party. Since then, top officials within the Federal Government have renewed their onslaught against our party, in a bid to discourage other high-profile figures.
This conspiracy is centred on a legal dispute that is now being pushed beyond the courtroom. In a letter dated March 28, 2026, a team of Senior Advocates of Nigeria is asking INEC to enforce a curious and peculiar interpretation of a Court of Appeal ruling regarding what constitutes “status quo ante bellum.”
In the said letter, the writers even went ahead to threaten the INEC chairman with arrest if he does not grant their request within seven days. They want INEC to invalidate party meetings, remove recognised officials, and hand over the affairs of the party to a specific individual, even though the case itself has not been fully decided by the courts. Obviously, what the authors of this vexatious letter are attempting to do is to pressure INEC to take sides and grant them what no court in Nigeria has granted.
For the avoidance of doubt, Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe, who is claiming to be aggrieved over the ADC leadership, was never the Chairman of the ADC. And, perhaps more significantly, Nafiu Gombe had earlier resigned his position alongside other members of the National Working Committee. He has also since been expelled from the party. Therefore, any attempt to recreate a “status quo” that upgrades his position to National Chairman of the ADC at any point in time is, at best, fictitious.
What we are witnessing is a convergence of legal pressure and political intent by a ruling party that is unsettled by the growing appeal of the ADC. But Nigerians can see what is happening.
No amount of pressure, no manufactured confusion, and no distortion of legal processes will stop what is already in motion. The ADC is growing. Nigerians are joining. A credible opposition is taking shape.
We call on INEC to remain guided by the Constitution, resist all forms of pressure, and uphold its duty as an impartial umpire.
This is bigger than the ADC. It is about whether Nigerians can freely choose a different path. And that must not be compromised.
In the early hours of Monday, January 26, 2026, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, stormed Onitsha Main Market, reputed to be the biggest enclave for trading and other commercial activities in West Africa, on what he called on-the-spot assessment.
It was a military-style display, reminiscent of the Muhammadu Buhari-Tunde Idiagbon, best-forgotten taskforce days, when soldiers, without warning swooped on markets, broke into their owner’s shops and practically sold available goods to the public at giveaway prices – many their cronies, in the guise of forcing their Essential Commodities policy.
In like manner there and then, the governor ordered the immediate closure of the market after accusing the traders of harbouring criminal intents and engaging in economic sabotage that costs the state a whopping N8billion in lost revenues. To boot, he even warned not only to close the market on a permanent basis, but if need be, even bulldoze it to the ground, should the traders remained recalcitrant in their decision.
Hear him: “Each Monday, we’ll come and inspect. If people are not in their respective shops, it will be shut down again. If you like I don’t mind shutting down this Main Market for the remainder of this year. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere and trade, but if you’re here, we’re not going to allow this plain economic sabotage. Also, we suspect whoever closes their shops to have some criminal intents.”
From the outset, we must state that what the world saw in that spontaneous encounter and subsequent days as the issues therein remained on the front burner, has little place in democracy, neither does it reflect sound, people-oriented leadership under the ethos of what has now been accepted across the globe as the best form of government.
Now, the last time we checked, Soludo is neither a military General nor even a soldier, but a highly-decorated academic, whose influence in the knowledge industry spans beyond education institutions, government – he was formally Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – to international reckoning – consulting for some of the highest global bodies, including the United Nations.
Now, how does this selfsame global icon, reduce himself to a local dictator, dishing out orders as in regimental commands rather than employing that power of persuasion, which distinguishes brainpower – the emblematic factor of his training from raw strength of dictators in the gun business?
How does it fit? Do concepts like immediate effect and automatic alacrity form part of the recommendations Soludo makes to those global institutions he consulted for? Certainly no! So, why introduce them as his own governance template? That is the confusing, if not the disturbing part.
Is it not becoming clearer now? Is this military-style tendency not finding expression in the audacity captured in that ghoulish spectacle last year, where one Jennifer Elohor Edema, the young lady serving Nigeria under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, was stripped down to her birthday suit by some youths, visibly inebriated on influences of some brain-damaging substances, who were working for Soludo’s government?
By the way, when last did anyone hear anything about those criminals, outside the initial apparent crocodile tears at government places in Awka? Has anyone heard of any form of punishment? Have they been arraigned in court? If yes, what is the state of the trial?
In the instant case, we particularly detest the governor’s attempt to feign ignorance of the issues behind the conduct of the traders or his efforts to bury them under the veneer of righteous anger. To so do is deceitful, arrogant, if not self-serving – elements that seem to have, so unfortunately, formed part of the governance structure in Anambra State, as in most other states across the country, including the central government.
The issue here, if Soludo needs be reminded, is about the fate of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), currently serving life sentence at a facility in Sokoto, to where he was sent by Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Of course, the governor was right in claiming that the dangerous security situation in the state has changed for the better and that Anambra is no longer the killing field it was until recently. Obviously, the blood-thirsty terrorists responsible for the carnages witnessed in the state, including those ostensibly aimed at enforcement of the sit at home orders, seem to be on holiday and from the look of things are no longer returning.
So, if the governor says security or insecurity of the traders is no longer the big issue, he has a foundation to so state. At least for the first time in recent years, Christmas was celebrated in the entire Igboland with the usual fanfare under the robust atmosphere devoid of fear. That alone gives credence to the extent of these changes.
But that is not the end of the story. Kanu’s fresh ordeal seems to have introduced a new chapter to the entire saga. Now, the current sit-at-home option appears no longer out of fear of being attacked or killed, but the willingness of the traders to donate every Monday, in solidarity with the IPOB leader. This was evident in the Tuesday demonstration, where the message of the traders who thronged the streets of Onitsha, was clearly delivered with renditions like – Nnamdi Kanu is another saviour.
Therefore, Soludo, must be a complete novice or pathologically naïve to claim he is not aware of this new sentiment. But he is neither of the two. There is no way the governor would not have been seized of the compelling emotions around him.
So, for him to put up that show on Monday, is nothing but a gambit tailored towards gaslighting the public. His feigned anger against the traders for not opening their shops is as manipulative as it is deceitful, just as argument thereto regarding the economy implications is as puerile as it is spurious.
It is demonstrative of lack of emotional intelligence, as it showcases the absence of the required synergy between the government and the people, a phenomenon that has become characteristic in the South East in recent years, where a huge gulf and trust deficit exist between the people and those who lead them.
It is indeed laughable when South East governors, including Soludo, lay claims to the current calm in Igboland, when on the contrary, many of them are accused of being collaborators, either as active agents of being complicit through their conspiracy of silence.
Who does not know that the late President Muhammadu Buhari, was the vector that transported that killer disease to Igboland? Dan Nwanyanwu, National Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), has remained relentless in establishing this fact most pungently in the past and even quite recently.
Soludo, in his chest-beating mode, gives the impression that he somehow sprung a genie out of the magic lamp to create a sudden miracle that turned the parlous security situation around. No! It was the death of Buhari that ended the blitzkrieg in the South East. Simplicita!
Where was this genie when during the Buhari days, when the Aguata Local Government headquarters, where he comes from was razed to the ground or when a swathe of Ihiala and adjoining areas in the state became a hunting ground for the rampaging terrorists, codenamed Unknown Gunmen.
He was only content in the open and shut attitude of dismissing the carnage they wrought as the handiwork of Kanu’s Eastern Security Network (ESN), even when the group swore on their father’s grave that they were not involved.
Indeed, if there is ever going to be anything good in the government of President Bola Tinubu, it is the fact that he is not as hungry for the blood of the Igbo man as Buhari, who never hid the fact of his desire to continue the civil war against Ndigbo, more than 50 years after.
Had Tinubu, who upped the ante in the marginalisation of Ndigbo in many ways, escalated this penchant by toeing the line as part of his continuation of the Buhari legacy, which he promised Nigerians, he might have renewed the military contract Asari Dokubo claimed to have with Buhari.
Yes, though he never revealed details of the so-called contract, its nature could be gleaned from the manner the people were dying wotowotowoto, as the Niger Delta warlord, himself gloated about some years back.
He even backed his gloating up in that viral video, with a display of an AK-47, boasting how he would use the weapon to cure Ndigbo their “madness.” Is it not surprising that in all his public comments, neither Soludo nor his South East colleagues ever mentioned this obvious threat to his people.
So, nobody is deceived by the governor acting like Idi Amin of Uganda, who went berserk because he could not get more money printed from his central bank. Nobody is moved by his threat to even bulldoze that market. He is only being clever by half, if not acting a script.
It does not remove the fact that he and his colleagues suddenly went mute, then and now and remained tongue-tied at a historic moment when Ndigbo are battling to extricate themselves from the soggy, foggy, belly of the whale, like the biblical Jonah, as they are in Nigeria today. It does not belittle the fact that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a metaphor for that horrible situation.
It is even worse that Soludo, arguably the most intellectually-gifted governor in Nigeria today, would be introducing some ethnic, sectional or indigene-based sentiments into the matter by trumpeting that those pursing the sit at home drive are not from Anambra. What a shame!
Who cares? Instead of such obtuse, infantile, if not asinine suggestion, would it not be more apposite for him to conduct a census in the entire Anambra, Aguata, his local government, Isuofia, his community and even the Soludo family to determine the number of Igbo people that are happy with the fate of not only Kanu, but Ndigbo in the hands of his friends in high authority today?
We hear that the traders have caved in. So, by Monday, expectedly, they would return to their shops – though definitely against their will. Soludo, would have scored another point and proven himself a strong man. But is it not a crab that makes itself king in shallow waters? Times shall tell!
John Chuma Nwosu, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the November 8, Anambra State Governorship Election, on Monday, joined other faithful in the Catholic Church across the world to celebrate Valerian Maduka Okeke, the Archbishop of Onitsha and the Metropolitan, on the day the renowned cleric turned 72.
Nwosu, himself a staunch Catholic, former Seminarian and Assistant Secretary to Francis Cardinal Arinze, who was a one-time Archbishop of the same diocese, before moving to the Vatican, where he is now one of the top leaders in the church, declared that Okeke, remained not only a true servant, but an example of God’s voice on earth.
He wrote: “Today, I join the Catholic faithful across the globe and the entire Christian community in Nigeria to celebrate His Grace, Most Rev. Valerian Maduka Okeke, the Archbishop of Onitsha and Metropolitan, on the glorious occasion of his 72nd Birthday Celebration.
“Your Grace, you are a perfect example that God indeed manifests Himself in diverse ways. You represent a demonstrable illustration of selflessness, piety, humility and holiness and through you, God has once again shown that the tortuous way of the cross will eventually manifest in the triumph of humanity.
“Your life of devotion, wisdom, and unwavering commitment to the service of God and humanity stands as a shining example of true leadership — the kind that inspires us to build a more just, peaceful, and progressive society. You have been a moral compass to our people, guiding us towards values that uplift and unite.
“As we celebrate you today, I am reminded that the kind of selfless service you embody is exactly what our beloved Anambra needs — leadership rooted in compassion, faith, and integrity. It is this same spirit that fuels my commitment to serve our people under the great umbrella of African Democratic Congress (ADC). You are indeed a custodian of faith, a messenger of God, a gift to humanity.
“May God continue to bless and keep you, Your Grace, granting you long life, strength, and divine wisdom to shepherd His flock and to keep inspiring a generation of leaders determined to build a better future.
“Your life remains a light to Anambra and beyond. Congratulations once again. Happy birthday, Your Grace!
“With deepest respect and warm regards.”
John Chuma Nwosu (ADC Gubernatorial Candidate )
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