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Jonathan’s fate awaits you if you dismiss coalition, Suswam warns Tinubu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, must gird his loin immediately and find way of confronting the dangers posed to his office by the political coalition being built against him or face the fate of Goodluck Jonathan, his last but one predecessor, who took the path of ignoring the same arrangement against him.
This was the advice of Gabriel Suswam, former Governor of Benue State, as he weighed in on the political development in the country, including the bitter feud within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where leadership tussle has kept the party on a tailspin since 2023.
Suswam, a guest of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, on Wednesday, described the planned opposition coalition would produce the party to beat in the 2027 elections, adding that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should be worried.
Hear him: “This is not the first time you are going to have a scenario such as this. Nigerians, based on the economic policies of this administration, are very dissatisfied. There is no Nigerian that is not affected by the economic policies of this administration and so I believe that the coalition will be the party to beat, and so if I am in the ruling party I should be worried about it.”
The former governor spoke on the backdrop of Tinubu, dismissing the arrangement being put together by some opposition elements in the country, including Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, as well as Rotimi Amaechi and Nasir El-Rufai, former governors of Rivers and Kaduna States, respectively.
Tinubu, had last week, during the celebration of Democracy Day, on June 12, taunted the political parties in the country for being in disarray, saying they should put their houses in order rather than blaming him, while a week earlier, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), dismissing the initiative of coalition as dead on arrival.
During his address to Nigerians on June 12, delivered on the floor of the National Assembly, the President, had said: “Political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by examining their internal processes and affairs rather than fearfully conjuring up demons that do not exist. For me, I would say try your best to put your house in order. I will not help you do so. It is, indeed, a pleasure to witness you in such disarray.”
Upping the ante on Wednesday, during his one-day visit to Nasarawa State, where he commissioned some “legacy projects,” Tinubu again went the same way of taunting the opposition, telling his audience: “Those who have triggered the early politics in the perdition of the coalition suddenly, don’t pay them any attention; they are the political IDPs. Don’t give them a home; the hope is here.”
But reacting to such dismissive attitude, Suswam, recalled how, as then Governor of Benue State, he and other PDP leaders had dismissed the opposition merger that led to the formation of the APC ahead of the 2015 elections, only for the party (PDP) to suffer the consequential defeat.
“We were doing the same thing when we were in government, we were dismissing APC then completely. People didn’t just give them any chance at all but they won that election. A lot of APC members are interested in the coalition.
“We are in June and we have six months until 2026. Around March and April 2026, full political activities would have started, the party that is not together and does not look like it will put itself together cannot be part of that (2027) elections. I don’t see the PDP coming out of this quagmire anytime soon, and I want to contest the election, so I wouldn’t want to waste my time waiting and imagining.”
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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