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Tinubu can’t lead Muslim prayers! *He’ll face northern rejection *He thinks he’s Yoruba god – Hajiya Naja’atu
Hajiya Naja’atu Muhammed, was the Director of the Civil Society Directorate in the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), before she quit the job a fortnight ago on the ground that the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu did not have what it takes to be President and it would go against her conscience to be part of selling him to Nigerians for the job, being fully aware of his poor physical and mental state of health. In this interview, culled from The PUNCH, the firebrand activist, who had since joined the campaigns of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, gives further reasons of why a Tinubu presidency remained a danger to Nigeria. Excerpts:
At what point did it occur to you to part ways with the APC presidential campaign council, where you oversaw civil society organisations?
Let me tell you what really happened. In the first place, I did not support Tinubu as a presidential aspirant; my support was for Professor Yemi Osinbajo from day one. In fact, I had sent emissaries to Osinbajo to come out and contest, that he is relatively young, well educated, proactive, and brilliant. We noticed that each time Buhari leaves the country; we regain some semblance of sanity, including the value of the Naira.
When Tinubu emerged, he emerged in the most corrupt way. I knew how delegates were given money to go and vote, but it was not just to go and vote; the name Asiwaju was written on each ballot paper. They were only paid to go and drop it in the box. For that reason alone, I had no interest in that primary election. Yes, I was in the APC, but I couldn’t even liberate myself at that point in time. I waited, but I never attended any of the meetings, and I was not interested in anything.
One day, Hon Faleke called me. I didn’t know Faleke from Adam. I was on a flight when he called to introduce himself. And then he said, “Please, ma, we want you to be on the campaign council; we want you to be a director.” I said no, why? I don’t want to be the director of your campaign. He started saying, “Please, ma,” and I said no. “You are embarrassing me,” because it is not good for anybody to be begging you; it is very embarrassing, and if you don’t accept it, you appear to be arrogant. He asked why I didn’t want the appointment. I said because I haven’t sat with Tinubu, I haven’t seen him, he hasn’t told us what he had for us up North, and at this point in time and at my age, I cannot be a zombie. He kept pleading with me, and we agreed half way.
So, he said, “Okay, ma, by the time you see Asiwaju, if you are not satisfied with what he has to say to you, then you can opt out. We agreed on that. After that, I saw a call several times, which I did not answer, and then they sent me a text saying that Asiwaju wanted to talk with me, and I said I would be waiting.”
So, what did Tinubu say to you on the phone?
He said, “Hajiya, please forgive me, but I respect your stance on not accepting my appointment. However, I want you to hear me out. Can you come over to London?” I said yes. That night, I purchased my ticket, and I took a Lufthansa flight the next day to arrive in London the day after. That same evening, I was taken to Asiwaju by one Ibrahim Masari, and we sat down.
You finally met him in London?
Exactly, I said, “Sir, what have you got for us up north? What is your blueprint for our situation? He said he didn’t have a blueprint. I said, “Sir, how can you rule without a blueprint? He said the reason is because he would be stepping on too many toes, and they might kill him. I thought that was silly. I said, sir, if you don’t have a blueprint, then how do you rule? By the time you get power, there will be a lot of distractions. So, he said, if I have anything that I want to include in his manifesto, I should go ahead.
What did you do thereafter?
I sat with my elders; you know that we have been networking for the salvation of the country for quite a while now. We sat down and came up with a brochure on the Almajiri, agriculture, the economy, and out-of-school kids. But I was not allowed to see Asiwaju again. I was still in London, so I called Ibrahim Masari, and he said, “Sorry, your proposal cannot be said because Governor Nasir El-Rufai has already told them that all the North needs is the state police.”
I came back to Nigeria, and it took an eternity to even inaugurate the campaign council. The person that was helping the campaign council is the secretary, Senator Mohammed Hassan. Meetings are held in his house. He sponsors the meetings, buys the refreshments, and gives everything, but nobody has received anything.
After a while, Faleke and Senator Hassan asked us to come up with a budget. We set up a technical committee and got to work. We came up with a document and handed it over to Faleke, but nothing happened.
Asiwaju was not accessible. It is easier to see Prophet Mohammed because, during his time, if he doesn’t see you, he goes looking for you. Buhari was accessible to the lowest of the low when he was contesting. I had never seen anything like that. To see Tinubu, you have to lobby, but I can’t condescend to that level. In all this, however, I persisted, so what did I do? I said, “Okay, let me look for the who’s who of our northern leaders in the APC. For about three months, I was shuttling to get us to sit and give Asiwaju the position of Northern Nigeria, but they refused to sit.
Why did you insist on making demands for the North?
Before the South-West decided to support Buhari in 2015, they gave him a blueprint of demands. That was how Babatunde Fashola got three or four “jumbo” ministries. Go and check; the highest amount Buhari gave to the North-West, his own region, is 12 per cent of his total budget. The biggest beneficiary of Buhari’s government because of their deal with him is the South West.
Meanwhile, I was getting overtures from Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, and I kept rejecting them because I didn’t want to come across as a hypocrite. Obi and I wanted to meet, but we were both very busy, and I outright refused to meet with Atiku. I am quite close to Kwankwaso, and this is even beyond politics. I knew what he did as governor of Kano State. He prioritised education, provided an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, and rehabilitated drug addicts.
What stopped you from joining the Obi or Kwankwaso’s camps when you decided to leave Asiwaju?
I respect Obi very highly. He has been the rallying point for the youth in this country. However, both Obi and Kwankwaso are handicapped now. They started their parties too close to elections, and they don’t have structures. So, no matter how hard you try, it is difficult to make it.
Our experience is similar to that of Buhari. Nobody has ever been as popular as Buhari in Northern Nigeria, but why does he keep losing? He was getting his 15 million votes consistently, but he never made it until he got a bridge to cross to the other side. Unless and until Obi and Kwankwaso get across that bridge, it is going to be difficult. The Obi and Kwankwaso movements, if properly managed, can outlive them.
You had a personal encounter with Tinubu in London. What’s your assessment of him in terms of preparedness and readiness for the job?
I saw him firsthand in London. He was sleeping most of the time. He cannot stay for ten minutes without dozing off. Sometimes, Pa Bisi Akande supported him like this (shrugs off her right shoulder). It is so frustrating! He didn’t even understand what I was saying. The man is not mentally alert. I asked some of those around him, as well as some of our clerics, who claimed that having a Muslim-Muslim ticket is a Jihad. I asked them, “Can you allow Tinubu to lead you in prayer? Can you allow Tinubu to be your Imam? If you say yes, I will join you. But they said no, so I asked why? They said because he is sick.
APC has a candidate that cannot be deciphered, a man that the chairman of the party helped to be able to hold the party’s flag. Let us not crucify Tinubu because of his ill health, but we should also not sacrifice the lives and properties of over 200 million people because we want to be sympathetic to a sick person.
You once described the APC candidate as an emperor. What makes you see him in that light?
He claims he made Lagos what it is today. He claimed that Lagos and the entire South West revolve around him. How else should I qualify him, if not as an emperor? Who gives him that right? How did he manage to get that right? Over 20 years after he left the governorship, why? Why was Akinwunmi Ambode removed? Ambode was doing a great job. He was removed because of the emperor.
The campaign council dismissed your claims that Tinubu has no plans for the North, stating that in his manifesto, there are specific programmes of action for the region.
These people don’t even know the difference between a manifesto and a blueprint. I can tell you that I have a menu in my house. I want to have rice and I want to have beans; that is the menu. How do I cook the rice and beans? That is the blueprint, and Tinubu does not have that for the North. He’s too superficial because he told me he wouldn’t make a blueprint until after the election. Is that impossible?
Culled from The PUNCH
From Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former President, came a mild rebuke to Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, who in assessing the quality of his six-year tenure as Nigerian leader, all but dismissed him as “inexperienced.”
Atiku, a guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, last week, told his host that Jonathan was inexperienced, saying his tenure was marked by notable missteps.
“I know Goodluck Jonathan very well. He is a decent young man, but also inexperienced, and I believe that contributed to his inability to manage the affairs of the country, particularly when he was faced with challenges,” Atiku, currently chasing the number one job the former President exited in 2015 for the seventh time, said.
But in a measured riposte at the 2025 Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria awards ceremony in Abuja on Monday, Jonathan, while acknowledging that he must have made some mistakes, argued that errors were inevitably with human beings as only God could be perfect,
Reacting to Atiku’s remarks, he told his audience: “So not too long ago, a very senior politician said, ‘Oh, Jonathan was too young and probably that’s why he made mistakes.’
“If I made mistakes, yes, nobody who becomes a governor or a president will say you did not make mistakes. Even when you promote yourself to the level of a god, you become a deity.
“All human beings must make mistakes. I became president in 2010 at the age of 53. I left in 2015 at the age of 58, and they say I was too young. Must it have been 100 years before I ran the affairs of the state?
“I’m talking to diplomats, so I can say that during my period, I knew what I did for us to appear in the UN Security Council two times… If I were so naive, I don’t think I would have been able to navigate through that process.”
Jonathan also spoke on regional affairs, warning that political instability remains a major obstacle to economic growth across West Africa. He stressed that without stable governance systems, meaningful development in the sub-region would remain elusive.
“We cannot progress economically if we are very unstable societies politically,” he said.
Jonathan noted that while the founders of ECOWAS envisioned strong economic cooperation, persistent political crises have hindered progress, particularly in enforcing democratic standards among member states.
“That means that ECOWAS must interfere with the internal affairs of the states, and the issue of sovereignty becomes a problem,” he said.
Jonathan urged leaders in the region to work collectively towards stability, saying, “The heads of states of ECOWAS must continue to work together and agree on concrete terms and make sure that the sub-region is politically stable.”
He added that economic integration efforts would falter without solid democratic institutions and called on Nigerian diplomats to properly document foreign policy experiences for future leaders.
Paying tribute to ECOWAS founders, including former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, Jonathan described the creation of the bloc in 1975 as a bold and necessary step toward regional unity and economic integration.
Gowon, who was also honoured at the event, recounted the origins of ECOWAS, linking its formation to post-war diplomatic engagements across West Africa.
According to him, “It was as a result of the various efforts of all Nigerians when we went through a very difficult period, and I had to go to the various countries to say thank you.”
He said discussions with regional leaders at the time led to a shared vision for broader cooperation.
“Why don’t we also think about having something that we can at least have in agreement for all of us when we are working together?” he said.
Gowon emphasised that ECOWAS was the product of collective effort rather than individual ambition, crediting government institutions and civil servants for its success.
“This would not have been possible without the support of all the staff of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development,” he stated.
He added that the recognition bestowed on him should be shared widely.
“The honour that is being done to me today should really go back to all the staff that worked so hard to make sure that this became a reality,” he said.
Also speaking, the President of the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria, Joe Keshi, highlighted the importance of honouring excellence in diplomacy, noting that the awards celebrate dedication and service to Nigeria and the continent.
“Diplomacy is one profession where success is often invisible, reflected not by news coverage, but by maintained stability, prevented conflicts, cultivated partnerships,” he said.
Keshi noted that the event coincides with the 50th anniversary of ECOWAS, describing the organisation as “a bold experiment in regionalism,” and urged diplomats to adapt to evolving global challenges.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Waheed Shaibu, also praised Gowon, describing him as a symbol of national unity and visionary leadership.
He said the recognition offers a chance to reflect on a legacy “defined by visionary leadership, courage, and unwavering commitment to the unity, stability, peace, and progress” of Nigeria.
Shaibu added that Gowon’s leadership reflected “patriotism, resilience, and a profound sense of duty,” while commending ARCAN for its continued contribution to diplomatic discourse and Nigeria’s global engagement.
After months of official hiatus, the Federal Government, on Tuesday finally got on the way with the trial of those fingered in the alleged plot to oust President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through a coup, including Timipre Sylva, former Minister of State for Petroleum.
The move, which apart from the former Governor of Bayelsa State, came with the filing of a 13-count charge before the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the alleged plotters including Mohammed Ibrahim Gana, a retired General in the Nigerian Army, Erasmus Ochegobia Victor, a retired Naval Captain, Ahmed Ibrahim, a serving police inspector, Zekeri Umoru, Bukar Goni, and Abdulkadir Sani.
Sylva, whose name surfaced as one of the plotters when the news first broke and believed to be the major financier of what would have led to another military government in Nigeria after the last ended in 1999, was listed as being at large – on the run.
The charge, filed on Monday by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), accuses the defendants of offences ranging from alleged treason and terrorism to failure to disclose security intelligence and money laundering linked to terrorism financing.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants conspired in 2025 “to levy war against the state to overpower the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, an offence punishable under Section 37(2) of the Criminal Code.
The Federal Government further alleged that the defendants had prior knowledge of a planned treasonable act involving one Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma’aji and others, but failed to alert authorities.
Furthermore, the defendants were also accused, according to the charge, of, while “knowing that a treasonable act was intended to be committed, did not give information thereof with all reasonable despatch to either the President… or a peace officer.”
They were also accused of failing to take preventive steps and “did not use any reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of the offence”.
Beyond treason, the defendants are facing terrorism-related charges of conspiracy under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as they “conspired with one another to commit an act of terrorism in the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim and Zekeri Umoru were specifically accused of attending meetings linked to the alleged plot “in a bid to further a political ideology which may seriously destabilise the constitutional structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The charge also accused the defendants of providing support for terrorism, alleging that they “knowingly and indirectly rendered support” to facilitate acts of terror.
The prosecution alleged deliberate suppression of intelligence, stating that the defendants “had information which would be of material assistance in preventing the commission of the act of terrorism but failed to disclose the information to the relevant agency as soon as practicable”.
Financially, several defendants were accused of handling funds linked to terrorism financing, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Bukar Kashim Goni allegedly “indirectly retained the aggregate sum of N50,000,000, which forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, to wit: terrorism financing”, while Abdulkadir Sani allegedly retained N2m from a similar source.
According to the charge, Zekeri Umoru “without going through a financial institution accepted a cash payment of the sum of N10,000,000″ and also retained an additional N8.8m suspected to be proceeds of terrorism financing.
Inspector Ahmed Ibrahim was also accused of taking possession of “the sum of N1,000,000, being part of proceeds of terrorism financing”.
Alleged Coup Plot, Protests
After the Federal Government cancelled the parade to mark Nigeria’s 65th independence anniversary on October 1, 2025, reports had claimed that the move was linked to an alleged coup attempt.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) dismissed the claims, however, saying the parade cancellation had nothing to do with the alleged coup attempt.
In January 2026, the DHQ confirmed that there was an attempt to overthrow President Tinubu.
The DHQ Director of Defence Information, Samaila Uba, said investigations showed some military personnel were involved in the alleged coup plot.
According to Uba, the officers have been detained and would be arraigned before military judicial panels.
Last month, families of the military officers detained over the alleged coup plot appealed to Tinubu to allow the suspects to be tried in an open court.
Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore protested alongside the detained officers’ families. They also asked for access to the alleged coup plotters.
From the seat of the Presidency, came what indicates a clear and open support for the camp in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) fighting David Mark, National Secretary and Rauf Aregbesola, National Secretary, respectively.
The signal came from Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff (CoS) to President Bola Tinubu, who practically threw his weight behind Leke Abejide, one of the arrowheads wedging the war that could see the main opposition party in Nigeria not presenting a candidate for next year’s presidential election.
Against the backdrop of allegations that Aso Rock has been fuelling the various crises in the major political parties, Gbajabiamila, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and a key ally of President Bola Tinubu, all but clearly stoked the fire by egging the Kogi lawmaker on to launch a fiercer onslaught against the Mark leadership.
Urging Abejide, who had sworn that he would do everything to ensure Tinubu’s re-election not to leave the ADC, through which he won his election to the National Assembly in 2023, but to stay back and fight rather than exiting the party, the ex-Speaker praised him for his resilience so far.
Abejide, who on his own, has thrown his weight behind Nafiu Bala, former Deputy National Chairman of the ADC, now laying claims to Mark’s position was one of those sacked at the convention organised by the Mark group last week.
But Gbajabiamila, who used the Kogi lawmaker’s birthday celebration on Monday to announce his support publicly, while hailing his political trajectory and resilience, including winning his election under the ADC – a relatively less-fancied platform in 2023.
His words: “For a man to contest in a place like Kogi, under a relatively unknown party, and win back-to-back elections, it tells you who that man is. You did not only secure re-election but also helped expand the party’s influence by bringing in other candidates. You’re a committed party man and a fighter.
“My charge to you is to stay in that same party. Fight them. Scatter them. Hold on to your party. Do not abandon them. We like what you are doing. Hold on to your party. Do not abandon it. Continue what you are doing. Win your election there. Nobody can take your party away from you.”
After the hammer from the Mark group, alongside Kingsley Temitope, Obinna Norman, Kennedy Odiong, and Stella Chukwuma, over the allegation of anti-party activities, Abejide dismissed his sack as null and void, coming from a “suya convention.”
Jonathan to Atiku: I don’t play God *I still achieved, though imperfect
BREAKING: FG opts for open court trial of coup plotters against Tinubu
ADC: Fight, scatter them! *Presidency goads Kogi lawmaker on Mark’s leadership
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