Politics
‘Drug conviction’: Tinubu now begging Atiku not to go to court – PDP
Emissaries are being sent to the camp of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC), not to follow through its threat to go to court to prove that Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a convicted drug baron, and to stop him from being elected Nigerian President on that score on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Kola Ologbodiyan, spokesman of the PDP-PCC, made the revelation on Wednesday, while affirming that the party was already putting together all its papers to push on with the matter, insisting that it would be dangerous for a person like the former Governor of Lagos State to preside over Nigeria as the number one citizen.
A guest of The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on Arise Television, Ologbodiyan, who did not reveal the PDP response to the emissaries, said however wondered how such a rapprochement could work, when Tinubu himself, whom he described as the leader of the pack, was the main instigator of the aggression against Atiku and the PDP campaigns.
Responding on how far the case the APC Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), filed by the spokesman, Festus Keyamo, had gone, he said: “To the best of my knowledge in the campaign, I’m not aware, because as at last night, I don’t think that we have been served and nobody has told me that there are court documents that are hanging around our campaigns of service. But I’m also aware that on the Colombian matter and the drug-related issue, concerning the forfeiture of $460,000 and the fact that a court convicted Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, our people are in court.
“I’m also not unaware about emissaries being sent around on the need for issues to be resolved amicably and for the campaigns to continue. I’m also not unaware about some people running around in the court to find out where the matter is.
“When I said that emissaries are being sent, it is directly proportional to the fact that emissaries are being sent to our campaign on the need to leave all those issues and concentrate on the campaigns on the need to create a harmony between the Atiku campaign and Bola Ahmed Tinubu campaign.
“We’re also aware of the people going around the courts to go and search where the matter is being filed. But they should wait for it, whether Nigerians will allow a convicted personality to be their President. At any rate, the songs on the street are clear to listeners and even the campaigns as you can see gradually, the campaign of Tinubu has collapsed, internally and outwardly. So, we’re not bothered about those allegations. We’re not bothered about getting hirelings and going around to hire blackmailers to come after Atiku.
“We’re not bothered. Aitku was Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who has been investigated, and not one indictment has been found, and not one conviction has been found. But when the Tinubu people come out to the public arena to speak, what I normally ask myself is that do these people have a process of checking themselves? Do they do due diligence upon themselves before they come to the public arena?”
Accusing Tinubu of being the architect of the attacks, he said the Atiku campaign would never shirk the responsibility of defending him, having been the major victim of the attacks, adding that the former VP, remained the candidate of Nigerians, whom everybody was rallying around to make their President.
Dwelling on the issue of emissaries, he added: “I can repeat it over and over that emissaries are being sent. There’s no argument about that – that you people should drop all these allegations and all that. However, the leader of the pack, at every opportunity will still go after Atiku Abubakar. Speak to Nigerians on what you want to do. Come to Arise TV and let Nigerians ask you questions. Choose to even go to TVC and let Nigerians see you engaging in 10-minutes debate. They’ll run away, they can’t bring up their principal.”
President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, clapped back at Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the 2023 presidential election, for dragging his name into the ongoing crisis within the African Democratic Congress (ADC), saying he has nothing to do with it.
In a state laced with mockery and triumphalism, against the backdrop of the current crisis that has erupted within the folds of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Tinubu, lashed out at Obi for failing to build a strong structure for his political needs.
Tinubu, who conveyed his position through Bayo Onanuga, his spokesman, pointed to a trail of recent political developments in the camp of the former Governor of Anambra State, saying he was no way connected, as being alleged by Obi’s supporters.
Using his X platform, titled: My response to Peter Obi’s media people,” the presidential spokesman wrote that it was wrong for some politicians to make Tinubu a “whipping boy” for political problems they created themselves.
He wrote: “I wonder why all these incompetent politicians are turning President Bola Tinubu into their favourite whipping boy.
“The President has nothing to do with Obi’s abandonment of the Labour Party or the jam he appears to have run into in the ADC.
“After using the Labour Party to vie for the highest office in the country, Obi dumped it in a classic case of use-and-dump.”
Blaming the former governor for to demonstrate leadership in resolving the internal crisis in the Labour Party (LP) and for relying on the support base of the Obidient Movement rather than building a political structure, he accused him of looking for ready-made platforms.
His words: “Instead, he went to the embrace of his IPOB base, the so-called Obidient movement, which is more active online. You would think the man would transform the movement into a political party. But no, he didn’t do any such thing. He is just incapable of building an organic party of his own.
“Because he knows he needs a political structure to realise his doomed dream of winning the presidency, he shopped for a cooked soup to partake in the ensuing party. The peripatetic politician moved to the hijacked ADC, an SPV bought by Atiku Abubakar from Ralph Nwosu.
“No due diligence appeared to have been conducted by the new owners, and thus, the nightmare they are confronting today. What is the connection of Tinubu with the ADC crisis? Absolutely none. Whatever problem they have is self-inflicted.
“Obi and his co-travellers need to get their acts together, clear the mess in their new party, and then compete for the presidential ticket. Let them go and settle with Nafiu Gombe and other disenchanted ADC members.
“As of now, Obi, without being made a candidate, is inconsequential for 2027. The fact that he came third in 2023 does not mean he will have the same showing in 2027, if he ever becomes a candidate of any party. 2023 is not like 2027.
“President Tinubu is an incumbent with many achievements to flaunt, most of which Obi has been blind to acknowledge. First things first. Let the man become a candidate first. All this blackmail against the President is sheer baloney, a very unfair attempt to besmirch his democratic credentials.”
African Democratic Congress (ADC), may have its ranks swollen by gaining its first governor if Bala Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi State, eventually joins the coalition, which is fast gaining momentum as the major challenger of President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC).
Reports say the governor has indicated his intention to join the now main opposition party on Thursday, weeks after an alleged failed attempt to pitch his tent with the ruling APC over some irreconcilable differences.
The report, which said the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, hinted at the defection on Tuesday while hosting some ADC leaders, including Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), at the government house in Bauchi, pointed to the parlous situation in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he had earlier held sway as a prominent leader.
Recall that Mohammed was and is still Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, where only himself and Seyi Makinde, his Oyo State counterpart are now remaining after the tsunami that swept away many of their colleagues alongside many other heavy heavyweights in the party.
With the PDP, ostensibly firmly in the vice grip of Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed and others, who have shown resentment towards the camp, have been left with little option other than quit.
The governor was quoted as saying: “We have found ourselves in a very serious situation. I have done everything possible to ensure reconciliation, but it has not worked.
“We set up committees at both the national and state levels to explore all options, including even the All Progressives Congress, but sadly, we discovered that we are not wanted there.”
Hinting further that ADC appeared to be the acceptable platform for him, Mohammed who stated that he had not concluded discussions, said David Mark, ADC National Chairman, had extended an invitation to him and his supporters to join the party after extensive consultations.
He added: “I’m here this morning with a delegation from the ADC headquarters, where my mentor, my boss, Senator David Mark, is leading, and he has sent an olive branch to reconnect me with the umbilical cord of the opposition, where I have always emerged from.
“Certainly, as a leader in the PDP, we have found ourselves in a very serious ambivalence, where our party is headless. Of course, I have pursued all avenues for reconciliation, but it has not worked.
“Our people are putting me under extreme pressure, and we have set up two committees – one in Abuja at the national level, because of my position as a leader of the party, and one here to look at where to go.
“We left all our options open, including the APC itself, but certainly we have discovered that we cannot be where we are not wanted. We have to find a place within the opposition.
“That is where our fate and political destiny is taking us. And the ADC appears to be a very enduring and more acceptable platform among the people who are engaging with me so far.”
Stating that consultations were still ongoing, and that a final decision would be communicated by Thursday, he maintained that inclusivity remained key to whatever direction is taken.
His words: “We are very conscious of the timeline. Everything will be concluded by Thursday so that we will be on the same page and not exclude ourselves from participation. And so, you will hear a firm commitment from us by Thursday, when we would have met in Abuja. That was why I said I have to carry everybody along.”
The governor, while stressing that due diligence was key before any political realignment is finalised, stated that engagements were ongoing with stakeholders across the PDP at both levels to ensure a smooth transition and avoid missteps.
“For now, I would say this is our preferred destination, but we have not concluded in a way that allows us to deepen stakeholder engagement and collaboration so that we do not make mistakes. That is where we are,” he said while expressing appreciation for the outreach by the ADC, describing it as timely given the PDP internal challenges.
Emphasising that political strength ultimately rested with the electorate and not party structures alone, he added: “We believe in winning elections, and elections are contested and won at the polling unit. We are not afraid of anyone.
“We have done all we can in terms of self-preservation, political accommodation, and participation, but it is not working. Therefore, we must now confront the challenges of this existential option being presented to us by the ADC.”
The much-advertised move to the All Progressives Congress (APC) by Abba Kabir Yusuf, Kano State Governor, gathered momentum on Friday, with the resignation from New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), alongside a swathe of top political figures from the state.
Among those moving out of the party founded on the back of Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of the state, reportedly included eight members of the National Assembly, 21 members of the House of Assembly and 44 chairmen of Local Government Areas in the state.
Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa, the governor’s spokesman, who conveyed the move said his boss had already sent a letter of resignation to his ward to intimate the Chairman of Diso-Chiranchi Ward of the NNPP in Gwale Local Government Area, with effect from January 23, 2026.
The letter was quoted as saying: “I write with a deep sense of gratitude to formally notify the leadership of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) of my decision to resign my membership of the party,” the Governor stated in the letter. This decision takes effect from Sunday, 25 January 2026.
“In recent times, the party has been confronted with persistent internal challenges arising from leadership disagreements and ongoing legal processes, many of which are presently before the courts for judicial determination.
“The growing disenfranchisement among party members has created deep divisions within the party structure, resulting in cracks that appear increasingly irreconcilable and have generated uncertainty at both state and national levels.
“After careful reflection, and without prejudice to the party’s capacity to resolve its internal challenges, I have come to the conclusion that my resignation is in the best interest of the people of Kano State. This decision is taken in good faith, without any ill will, and with a continued commitment to peace, unity, and the progress of Kano State.
“I remain sincerely appreciative of the opportunity given to me by the party, its leadership, and members across Kano State to be part of its political journey since 2022, as well as the support, goodwill, and cooperation extended to me during my time in the party.”
Kabiru Zubairu, the NNPP Secretary of Diso-Chiranchi Ward, who confirmed receipt of the resignation letter, said: “I wish to concur with His Excellency on the lingering crisis in our party. Though we are trying our best to contain it, we have no option but to accept the resignation of one of the most performing governors produced by the NNPP.”
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