News
Obi: One tenure? So be it! *I’ll stabilise Nigeria in two, fix it in four years
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has maintained that he does not need more than four years to fix Nigeria and therefore would be content to spend just one term as President to put it on the track to growth and development.
In fact, he said he only needed a period of just two years to stabilise the country from the wave of economic stagnation and distabilisation, security crises and social injustice, currently plaguing it due to poor leadership responsible for the lack of growth and positive development over the years.
Ibrahim Umar, spokesman of the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), who conveyed the position of the former Governor of Anambra State, in a statement from Abuja, on Monday, quoted him as saying Sunday night, when he appeared on X space to answer questions from his numerous supporters that Nigeria had remained in its current prostrate state due to poor leadership.
Obi, who acknowledged being involved in the ongoing coalition talks with prominent Nigerian politicians, including Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, with whom he paired in 2019 as Vice Presidential candidate, was quoted as saying: “I believe in rotation of government between North and South I implemented it Anambra as a governor. If there is any form of agreement that will restrict me to four years in office, I will comply with the agreement and be ready to leave office by 28th May, 2031. I will bring stability in Nigeria within two years in office.
However he left a caveat on the issue of coalition, saying: “If the coalition is not about stopping the killings in Benue, Zamfara, how to revive our economy, how to make our industries productive, how to put food on the tables of Nigerians… Count me out. Nigeria is currently at war.
“We need to do something about it. I urge Nigerians to see the need to rescue this country with me. I will bring stability in Nigeria within two years in office. Leaders of Nigeria should sit down in Nigeria and fix Nigeria.”
Regarding the nebulous situation of affairs at the LP, the platform on which he prosecuted the last election, he explained that he and several party leaders were working round the clock to get the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to endorse the Nenadi Usman as the Acting National Chairman of the party, based on the Supreme Court ruling.
Obi, who had in a separate statement, lampooned President Bola Tinubu’s current visit to St Lucia, stressed his position, saying: “In two years, Tinubu has not spent one night in any state in Nigeria apart from Lagos, yet he is going to spend eight nights in St Lucia, a place smaller than Ajegunle.
“St Lucia is about the size of the 10th largest city of Nigeria, Ilorin. President Tinubu has never slept a night in any state of Nigeria outside Lagos since the assumption of office in 2023. PBAT to stay in St Lucia for 10 days.”
To his numerous supporters, he assured that the next presidential election in 2027 would be different from that of 2023, where he claimed that he was massively rigged out, adding: “We will do things differently in 2027. We will follow a non-violent approach and insist that the right thing will be done before the result announcement in Abuja. Our votes in 2027 will count, and we will ensure they count.
“Three things to follow up with in the first 100 days… prioritise on security, education and poverty eradication; cut costs and shun corruption. My family will not be involved in corruption. Funds to be channelled into key critical sectors.
“My Presidency will ensure there is a strong opposition in party politics. There will be no defection of elected officials to other parties when I am in charge.
“Imagine in this country, People are dying in Benue, Borno, [and other parts of the country], and our leaders are commissioning Bus Stops and holidaying.
“To bring order in governance, I will prioritise security, education and pulling people out of poverty. To do this is by cutting the cost of governance and fighting corruption from day one.
“My past speaks loudly for me. Wherever there was an issue in Anambra State, I was there physically. Anybody who wants to serve should be ready to put even their life on the line for the lives of Nigerians. Nobody abroad takes you seriously if you don’t have a stable government.”
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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