News
Why they are after Akpabio
By Clementina Diaka
In Nigerian politics, loyalty is not merely a virtue—it is a double-edged sword, a cross to bear, and sometimes, a noose. A loyal man will either be praised as a committed ally or seen as an obstacle to someone else’s inordinate ambition. In the latter case, such a man must be “removed.”
This appears to be the case in the ongoing saga between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who initially attributed her removal as Chairman of the Local Content Committee to sexual harassment, has now changed her tone – claiming she was sacked for “protecting Northern interests.”
When one places this narrative side-by-side with the comments of Bukola Saraki, Atiku Abubakar, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and some other Northern elements, the larger play unfolds. This is not an innocent drama of legislative disagreement. It is a carefully choreographed spectacle – replete with villains, pawns, and shadows.
At the heart of it stands Akpabio – a man accused, maligned, and marked. Not because he has broken any law or committed any proven wrong, but because he has stood firm beside President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And for that, he must be brought down.
There is, without question, a gathering of dissenters – former aspirants, serial losers at the ballot, political relics whose time has passed, but whose ambitions remain undimmed. They have no national vision to offer, no coherent philosophy to propose – only a festering grievance and a common enemy: the man who defeated them. Their aim is simple: to seize, through subterfuge and scandal, what they could not secure through the sovereign will of the people. And if power cannot be regained, then the next best thing is to make the country ungovernable.
The first phase of this plot is clear – harass and intimidate Akpabio into abandoning his friendly disposition with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Railroad him into making the Senate antagonistic to the Executive, thus making it impossible for it to deliver democracy dividends, thereby rendering President Tinubu vulnerable as 2027 approaches. In their crosshairs is Akpabio, and Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan appears to be the willing hired gun for the dirty job.
Why Akpabio? Akpabio is perhaps the most visible ally of Tinubu; a formidable defender of the administration due to his belief that the Legislature should cooperate with the Executive to enable it achieve meaningful results. They know that weakening Akpabio loosens the pillars holding up Tinubu’s house. And so, they reach for their weapons – not of war, but of whispers and smear campaigns, sponsored headlines, and strategic falsehoods. Among these, the most visible instrument is Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan – a willing tool for their evil enterprise.
They know that as long as Akpabio remains Senate President, Tinubu’s re-election bid will enjoy solid legislative backing. As Machiavelli put it, “He who guards the throne is more dangerous than he who sits upon it – remove the guardian, and the throne becomes a chair.” Akpabio is a major guardian of the Tinubu throne. Hence, the attacks from all angles.
Pawn in the Political Chess Game
Let us not be beguiled by sentiment. Senator Natasha, in this context, is not a lone voice of justice crying in the wilderness. She is no accidental heroine. She is a pawn in a larger political game – a game devised in the drawing rooms of desperate politicians who, unable to govern Nigeria, now seek to ruin those who do.
The names are not unfamiliar: Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, Peter Obi – the trio of ambition, bitterness, and illusion. They lost the 2023 election, not through fraud or manipulation, but through the expressed will of millions of Nigerians. Yet, rather than accept the verdict of democracy, they now seek to dismantle its very instruments. What better place to strike than the Senate? And what better target than its presiding officer?
This is not speculation. Their recent statements, social media antics, and strategic silences at critical moments reveal their hand. Atiku’s viral, unprovoked attack on Akpabio is no coincidence – it is part of the plan.
Natasha is not a loose cannon; she is a guided missile. The game plan is simple: manufacture crises from the most mundane matters, paint key figures as villains, and set the stage for a grand opposition showdown in 2027. Her sudden outburst in the Senate and carefully choreographed media blitz were the cold open of the movie. Now the sequence has been established, and the opening credits are rolling – featuring Bukola Saraki and company.
From a routine seating arrangement – a mundane legislative procedure – Senator Natasha has now conjured accusations of sexual harassment, threats to life, and elaborate conspiracies. The timing of this remembrance, suddenly arising a year after the alleged incident, is not only convenient; it is calculated. A smokescreen. A decoy. An attempt to stain a man’s name in the court of public opinion, where evidence is no longer required, and accusation is guilt enough.
There’s an old legal maxim: Give a dog a bad name and hang it. That, indeed, is what is unfolding. The Atiku-led clique is directing the movie. The volume of money pumped into this needless campaign to lure international media and embarrass the nation is staggering.
One day, it’s alleged insults. The next, sexual harassment. Tomorrow – who knows? Perhaps they’ll say Akpabio plans to auction Nigeria. The strategy is obvious: manufacture offence, amplify it through a compliant media, and weaponise it for political gain. But Nigerians are growing wiser—and wearier.
Even locally, all these unpatriotic efforts to create global embarrassment have yielded nothing. Nigerians are not fools. They know, as all people of discernment do, that justice cannot be built on lies, and democracy cannot thrive on deceit. The cry for accountability rings hollow when it emerges from a place of partisanship, not principle.
If Senator Natasha were truly pursuing justice, would she be flanked only by those with a declared interest in toppling the administration?
The Art of Giving a Dog a Bad Name
According to the ancient Nigerian proverb: “When an owl hoots in the night and a child dies in the morning, we all know who to suspect.” In this case, it is now clear: Natasha was never a bystander. She was a hired agent provocateur sent to destabilise the Red Chamber.
Before the unsuspecting public, a mere seating issue has now mushroomed into a web of accusations – sexual harassment, assassination plots, and shadowy threats – all conveniently aimed at one man. When we uncover the lies, she changes the script – hoping the audience forgets the plot.
This is a textbook case of “Give a dog a bad name and hang it.” The goal is to destroy Akpabio’s public image. First, he allegedly harassed her. Then, he sidelined her. What next? That he plans to privatise the oxygen Nigerians breathe?
Let us be clear: the Natasha debacle is a scripted drama to paint Akpabio as a villain and a threat to democracy. Ultimately, the goal is to weaken Senate leadership. But Nigerians are not being fooled – and many already see through the charade. History has taught us that in politics, those who cry the loudest often have the most to hide.
This episode is not about justice, democracy, or the protection of women – it is about power. Senator Natasha Akpoti, who has previously accused several men of sexual misconduct, is a well-placed pawn in a political chess game. Akpabio is simply the collateral victim. The true aim is to erode Tinubu’s support base and pave the way for an opposition comeback in 2027.
Those who cannot see this are either naive or willing accomplices in the drama.
If Natasha truly sought justice, she would not wage a media war in harmony with those who lost at the ballot and now hope to win through chaos.
As the Yoruba wisely say, “The rat cannot claim innocence when found near the pot of soup.”
The motives are transparent. The cast is clear. The only question is whether Nigerians will fall for the performance or stay focused on the real issues.
To Senator Akpabio, I say: take heart. The storm may rage, the winds may howl – but the tree with deep roots does not fear the tempest, and the eagle does not flinch at the storm. History is rarely kind to the mob – but it always remembers the man who stood tall when it was easier to fall.
- Dr. Clementina Daika is a Political Communication Strategist based in Plateau State
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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