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Obi to decide on ADC alliance after Anambra polls – Tanko

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1 month ago

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Yunusa Tanko, serving as the National President of the Obidient Movement, indicated that Peter Obi plans to finalize his decision about officially aligning with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) once the Anambra state gubernatorial election on November 8 concludes.

In a recent interview, Tanko addressed comments from Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, who encouraged leaders of various coalitions to exit their existing political groups and formally enroll with the ADC.

READ ALSO: ADC taps Obidient movement as key force for 2027

Tanko pointed out that the ADC had previously offered Obi an extension to thoughtfully assess his pathways forward, making clear that the one-time Labour Party contender for the presidency faces no pressure to depart from his existing affiliation until the suitable moment arrives.

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“The waiver still stands for us. They made the announcement but didn’t change it. If other people are joining them, it is okay. Very soon, our principal will make his position known.

“We agreed it would be after the Anambra November election, which has not taken place yet. After all, people, including the media, saw us campaigning for Moghalu in Anambra. So, there is no way we could jettison it until we finish that election.

“As far as we are concerned, it is more logical. Besides, the ADC didn’t give any ultimatum. Obi can only make his position known after the Anambra election. But presently, he is out of the country delivering a paper,” Tanko stated.

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Abia, S’East: In defence of Benjamin Kalu

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2 weeks ago

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October 29, 2025

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By Ben Benson-Okoli Esq

Succinctly put, politics is about power, influence and control. In his treatise, “Prince,” Niccolo Machiavelli argued that politics is about acquisition, maintenance and exercise of power though he sees deceit, violence and manipulation as part of the methods politicians often employ.

Aristotle was even more emphatic. To him, it is the art and science of running a state. In a broader sense, it is about contestation for ideas and power.

It was this contestation and the geo-political imbalances in our polity that threw us into the convulsions that consumed over three million lives and left the remainder gasping for breath and survival. It was for that reason that after 13 years of suffering the consequences of trying to save the Igbo people from what he called slavery that the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ezeigbo gburugburu) threw himself into the arena to push them into the centre of governance.

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This strategic move was undertaken by him because the Triple “Rs” put in place by Yakubu Gowon, the Head of State, who prosecuted the Biafran war had not worked, his vision then, being to align his people to the centre, utilising a strong regional base.

That was the basis of Ojukwu joining the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In his own words: “I joined NPN to bring the Igbos into the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics, since I was the one that pulled them out in the first place.”

Today, the same lot seems to have fallen on another illustrious Igbo son – no doubt with the same consequences of being misrepresented or misinterpreted – The Rt Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu. Recall that fresh from exile, Ojukwu had sought to represent Ndigbo at the Senate but lost out.

It was not that he lost, not the least to little-known, Edwin Onwudiwe, but a clear scrutiny of that outcome showed that contrary to the claim that it was the machination of the then big wigs in the NPN who didn’t want him at the Senate for obvious reasons, it was actually his people that were used to scuttle the ambition.

In other words, it was not an Alhaji Musa that manned and superintended the polling units, but either Mr Okoro, Mr Okonkwo or Mr Okeke. So, it was a conspiracy of his own people – a war from home and a war we must defeat to progress.

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The next big opportunity to reintegrate Ndigbo into the mainstream is here once again. This captures the advocacy and current efforts of Kalu. The emergence of this deep thinker and conscious mind at this time in our history, therefore does not seem ordinary, but rather a divine intervention. Given the shortcomings we have suffered as a people and circumstances of the birth of the biblical Benjamin, the Deputy Speaker will seem a divine gift. His political career, his antecedents, how his paths were cleared and the sweatless journey to becoming the leader of his people against all odds, bear eloquent testimony to the unseen hands behind the man with grace.

Clearly, the man carries grace, and like they say, woe betide him that fights a man with grace. Even with all that, nothing has troubled our polity in the recent time more than the uproar, controversy and furore raised by the seeming competition and contestation between Kalu and Alex Otti, Governor of his home state, Abia.

No doubt the governor has achieved some appreciable milestones but the Deputy Speaker stands out, even at that as the man behind the mask. As a great student of Napoleon Bonaparte, he is a firm believer that politics of diplomacy and robust engagement is the best way to recover lost grounds and shortest route to the reintegration that his people yearn.

If you consider all he has achieved, including the Peace in the South East Project (PISE-P), the South East Development Commission (SEDC) and the many Federal Government’s unusual presences in the South East, you will agree that this transformational leader has out- performed all the leaders who came before him put together in terms of bringing the dividends of democracy to his people.

Again, one of the demonstrable indications of this model of political engagement is his work to secure freedom for Nnamdi Kanu and restore peace in the region. Yes, he may not have carried placards nor appeared on the gallery like others but like Bonaparte, he daily works behind the scene to persuade President Tinubu to have MNK delivered to him and other Igbo leaders. This is sure to happen.

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Regrettably, rather than lend our support to this brilliant mind, many of us have by our actions and inactions, made his job a lot difficult. The insinuation that the highest-ranking Igbo man in our national politics is in competition with anybody in the South East, including his Governor, is the purest example of the ejiri mara (trademark) politics of our people, and which must be rejected.

This is the reason the recent diatribe credited to the governor, which is aimed at this political icon ought to be considered as most unfair thing to say the least. BOK is very deliberate in his vision, focus and actions, which is reflected in the attention South East is now attracting from the federal authorities unlike in the past when it was totally ignored in the scheme of things.

What then is the sin of BOK? Is it in insisting and truthfully so, that his productivity would be greater and his negotiating strength stronger with his base overwhelmingly behind him?

The impression that BOK wants to remove the Governor that he has helped and still helping to develop Abia State by the huge resources that he is attracting is quite unfortunate, because neither the impression nor the sentiment is correct.

Incidentally, this false alarmist thinking may have gained traction, given that this is the first time that the state is enjoying the dividend of democracy since its creation.

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Sadly, the governor seems to be leveraging on the ignorance and the weakness of the people to demand the reversal of roles, notwithstanding the established hierarchy that donates that position to BOK. For instance, the manner in which a statement BOK made in the closet before his kinsmen, has been magnified, misinterpreted and taken to the market place to depict him as the enemy of the state despite attracting infrastructure, projects and appointments more than any other leader, living or dead.

Indeed, it is regrettable that while Kalu is celebrated nationally and internationally, attempts are being made to undermine him in his own base. God forbid! Yes, Otti has awakened a new dawn but it must be said that there is one illustrious son that has the magic wand that must be acknowledged as well. Ndi Abia need this leader, Otti needs him even the more, to smoothen his path to greatness and greater Abia. The conversation must now shift to whether it won’t be to the collective good to give Abia to BOK, the critical support he requires to penetrate the Federal Government even the more.

In closing, like Napoleon Bonaparte 1786-1821, the French emperor and General whose victories over Australia and Russia singled him out and made him the master of Europe, what BOK is telling his people is – it is my design to lead you into the fertile plains of the world…….. There, you will find honour, glory and wealth. That journey may have begun since June 13, 2023, when the lot fell on him to lead his people.

Now is not only the time to think, but time to act!

 

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Benson-Okoli, is a journalist and lawyer. He writes from Abuja via benchinee@yahoo.com

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Leadership like fire: Akpabio’s path to greatness

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2 weeks ago

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October 27, 2025

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By Sufuyan Ojeifo
History, in its long and patient arc, is a master storyteller. Its finest tales often begin with conflict rather than applause, with accusation rather than acclaim. Before the garlands and the gratitude, there is the crucible, the fire through which greatness is tested and purified.
The recent wave of false accusations against Nigeria’s Senate President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, belongs to this ancient pattern.
Far from diminishing him, they place him squarely in the historical company of giants like Socrates, Mansa Musa, Patrice Lumumba, and Nelson Mandela, whose trials became the prelude to vindication.
In every civilisation, those who dared to challenge convention were first rewarded with suspicion. Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was condemned in 399 BC on the charge of corrupting the youth and defying the gods.
Whereas, his true offence was the audacity to question the complacency of his city. He unsettled the powerful and embarrassed the comfortable. The state silenced him, but not his truth.
Today, the same Athens that sentenced him to death has his statue in its squares, while his false accusers are completely forgotten, condemned by history to nothing more than an ignoble footnote.
Socrates’ calm dignity before false judgement still echoes across millennia, a reminder that time is the ultimate judge of moral worth. Akpabio’s silence in the face of lies carries the same wisdom: that one does not wrestle with shadows when history itself is one’s witness.
Nigeria’s Senate President now finds himself walking a road well-travelled by men whose lives became lessons in perseverance. Like Socrates, Akpabio has been accused not because he has failed his people but because he has dared to lead differently.
Indeed, his reforms, his capacity to command loyalty, and his influence in both national and regional politics have unsettled old networks of privilege. Yet his focus remains unwavering, on legislation that strengthens governance, on national stability, and on the quiet labour of statecraft. In a country often distracted by noise, Akpabio embodies the rare discipline of purpose.
In another era, across the deserts of the Sahara, Mansa Musa of Mali experienced a similar misunderstanding. When he embarked on his legendary pilgrimage to Mecca, he displayed the wealth of his empire with generosity that startled the medieval world.
To some, it was extravagance. To history, it became evidence of unmatched vision. His empire flourished through learning, commerce, and faith. His name still shines centuries later, unblemished by the gossip of his age. Likewise, those who misread Akpabio’s grand development strides mistake ambition for arrogance. They fail to see that behind the public works and the national projects lies the spirit of reconstruction, a man rebuilding systems, not just seeking applause.
Patrice Lumumba’s ordeal in the 20th century brought the tragedy of false accusation to its most brutal form. The first Prime Minister of an independent Congo was accused of sowing division and branded an extremist. As the world now knows, his crime was clarity, the insistence that Africa’s freedom must not be dictated by foreign powers. His enemies silenced his voice but could not extinguish his vision.
Today, Lumumba’s name inspires every generation that seeks to reclaim African dignity. The same pattern of vilification, born of fear and envy, trails every reformer. When Senator Akpabio’s detractors peddle falsehoods, they reveal more about their own insecurity than about his record. It is the familiar resistance of the old against the birth of the new.
South Africa’s long night under apartheid produced another target of defamation: Nelson Mandela. For decades, he was called a terrorist and enemy of the state. Yet, in his quiet cell, he found the strength to forgive those who condemned him. When he emerged, he transformed his nation without bitterness. His victory was not only political; it was also moral, a triumph of the human spirit over injustice. Mandela’s story teaches that the mightiest response to falsehood is patience.
Without claiming a direct similarity of their situations, Senator Akpabio’s restraint, his refusal to engage in personal recrimination, reflects Mandela’s lived philosophy; that true leaders answer falsehood with performance, not theatrics.
It is tempting to view each accusation against Akpabio in isolation as a passing political quarrel. Yet to do so would be to miss the deeper rhythm of history. Great leaders are not defined by what is said about them in the heat of their time, but by what is remembered of them when the noise has faded.
The allegations that swirl around Akpabio today are not evidence of guilt but signs of significance. Insignificant men are not worth defaming. As the musician 2Baba once sang, “If nobody talks about you, then you are nobody.” The very ferocity of the attacks against Senator Akpabio is proof of his stature and the disruptive power of his vision.
Reflecting on this lineage of misunderstood greatness, one sees that accusation is often the final refuge of the threatened. Akpabio’s career, from transforming Akwa Ibom State into a model of modern governance to repositioning the Senate as a stabilising institution, represents a continuity of purpose that even his critics cannot deny.
Akpabio has brought maturity to national politics, forged collaboration across divides, and demonstrated that leadership can be firm without being fractious. His calm under pressure and his devotion to national unity have become the quiet pillars of Nigeria’s democratic consolidation.
Clearly, these attacks are not the measure of the man but the echo of his impact. The history of leadership is littered with names once maligned and later sanctified. Socrates’ trial became the cornerstone of philosophy. Mansa Musa’s misunderstood generosity defined a golden age. Lumumba’s persecution gave Africa a martyr. Mandela’s imprisonment forged a moral compass for humanity. Senator Godswill Akpabio stands among them, a contemporary figure walking through the same furnace of falsehood towards the same horizon of vindication.
To see Akpabio merely as a politician under attack is to miss the larger story unfolding. His journey is a lesson in patience, endurance, and the power of moral steadiness in the face of hysteria. As Nigeria searches for stability and renewal, Akpabio’s conduct offers something rarer than rhetoric: a model of composed leadership that refuses to be baited into bitterness, let alone the flitting satisfaction of viral outrage. He is writing, through action rather than argument, a chapter that future historians will read with admiration.
The crucible of false accusation, then, is his initiation into greatness. Every great leader must pass through the fog of misunderstandings before emerging into the sunlight of vindication. For Senator Akpabio, that sunlight is inevitable. When the passions of the present have cooled, and the record of reform stands tall against the smallness of slander, Nigeria will see him for what he truly is, a nation builder tested by fire, a visionary misunderstood in his own time but destined for vindication in the fullness of history.
Posterity, which has already cleared the names of Socrates, Mansa Musa, Lumumba, and Mandela, will do the same for the Uncommon Transformer. For in the grand tribunal of time, truth always wins its appeal.
● Sufuyan Ojeifo is the publisher and editor-in-chief of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper.

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The unbreakable Akpabio: Strength in the face of falsehood

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3 weeks ago

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October 21, 2025

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By Eseme Eyiboh
In the grand theatre of Nigerian public life, where noise often masquerades as news and envy parades as activism, one truth remains constant: the measure of a leader’s vision is often revealed by the weight of the storms they must weather. The recent deeply personal attacks aimed at the President of the Senate, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio,GCON merely affirm his impact. They are the inevitable rumblings that follow the footsteps of those who build, for greatness has always attracted turbulence. It is the familiar rhythm of leadership in a country where change unsettles those too comfortable with decay.
Every student of history understands this pattern. From Nigeria’s founding fathers to the reformers who shaped later decades, the same principle applies: the hands that build will always invite the stones of envy, even from within their own families. Senator Akpabio stands in that lineage of nation builders who have chosen the difficult path of service over applause. The attempt to malign his reputation through fabricated allegations has only refined his public image, revealing the steel beneath the smile. What was meant to be a wound has strengthened him. What was designed to divide has instead united both his family and a wider circle of admirers who see through the fog of falsehood.
To understand the hollowness of the attacks, one must return to the beginning. His character was not forged in the vanity of politics but moulded in the discipline of a God-fearing home. The Greater Akpabio Family of Ukana Ikot Ntuen, Essien Udim, nurtured in him from childhood the virtues of kindness, respect, and a strong aversion to violence. These are not borrowed principles but the moral roots of his existence. The family’s recent statement reaffirmed what the nation already knows: that Akpabio’s life has been guided by faith, integrity, and a sense of service to humanity. From son and student to Commissioner, governor, minister, and now Senate President, the same quiet strength runs through his story. His life is a continuous narrative of purpose and compassion. The caricature painted by detractors collapses under the weight of that reality.
In their carefully worded declaration, the Greater Akpabio Family condemned the actions of those spreading falsehood and reaffirmed their unity and discipline as a family bound by respect and honour. They reminded Nigerians that this was not a matter for vengeance but one of principle. The family’s message was clear and unshaken: “Any attack on Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio, GCON is an attack on us.” That single line, calm and deliberate, turned a personal smear campaign into a collective stand for truth. The family spoke not merely for kinship but for values, faith, order, and unity, that define their legacy and, by extension, the character of their most prominent son.
To be clear, the Akpabio journey is not an accident but of deliberate ascent. As Governor of Akwa Ibom State, he transformed what was once a sleepy corner of the Niger Delta into a beacon of infrastructure renewal and civic pride. As Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, he confronted decades of frustration and corruption with focus and will. As Senate President, he has brought calm, order, and renewed discipline to the National Assembly, guiding it in partnership with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu towards a season of national stability and reform. His leadership, measured and firm, speaks of a man who values results over rhetoric. His record is written not in slogans but in roads, hospitals, schools, and laws that continue to shape lives.
This moment, therefore, offers a mirror to Nigeria itself. On one side stands a man engaged in the difficult, often thankless business of governance. On the other, a chorus of distraction, disgruntled voices that echo not from conviction but from envy. The choice for the public is simple: to chase the noise or to stand by the substance. The family’s vote of confidence in him reflects the choice many Nigerians have already made, to side with the builders, not the breakers; the doers, not the destroyers.
In every generation, there arises a leader whose trials become their teacher. For Senator Akpabio, adversity has always been a forge, not a fetter. From his earliest days in public life, his philosophy has been constant: that strength is born of struggle and that faith, when tested, yields endurance. His calm demeanour in the face of provocation reveals a leader who understands that true authority is not loud but steady, not reactive but grounded. Without an iota of doubt, when he chooses silence over outrage, it is not a weakness. It is wisdom, the wisdom of one who knows that truth does not need to shout.
His family’s declaration carried a profound message that transcends the moment: that greatness must be protected not with bitterness but with dignity. They reminded Nigerians that their son’s patriotism and discipline have been consistent hallmarks of his life. They reaffirmed his aversion to violence, his faith in God, and his unwavering service to family, state, and nation. This statement, emerging from the heart of Ukana Ikot Ntuen, is a national affirmation of character. It symbolises what every Nigerian family should aspire to: unity, discipline, and the courage to stand for what is right even when malice roams free.
The question is never whether a leader will face adversity. It is always a question of when. Adversity, for the true leader, is a refining fire. It purifies, clarifies, and dignifies. Senator Akpabio’s life embodies this truth. He has faced storms before, political intrigues, false accusations, and bitter envy, and each time, he has emerged stronger. The same grace that carried him through those trials sustains him now. Like fine steel shaped by fire, his spirit grows only more resolute.
As Nigeria navigates its own complex season of renewal under President Tinubu, leaders like Akpabio stand as pillars of steadiness. His focus on legislative order, national cohesion, and collaboration between the arms of government reflects his understanding that progress is built, not decreed. He represents the quiet strength of leadership that seeks to heal rather than divide, to build rather than destroy.
So let the noise rage, as it surely will. In the end, it will recede like waves retreating from a rock they could not erode. What will remain is the enduring image of a man who met adversity with calm, who answered malice with composure, and who transformed personal attack into public inspiration. His faith in God, his loyalty to family, and his belief in Nigeria’s promise remain unbroken.
There is no doubt whatsoever that history will not remember the noise. It will remember the work. It will recall the man who stood firm when others faltered, who faced fire, and emerged refined. In that enduring record of service and courage, Senator Godswill Akpabio will stand not as a man untested, but as one proven by the very trials that sought to break him. His leadership endures because it is rooted in conviction, tempered by faith, and guided by an unshakeable belief in the better angels of our nation’s destiny.
• Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh 
Special Adviser, Media/Publicity and Official Spokesperson to the President of the Senate

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