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Wike-Tinubu rift deepens over appointment of new INEC chairman
The appointment of Professor Joash Amupitan as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reportedly intensified tensions between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, widening divisions within the ruling administration.
Sources reveal that the disagreement has grown so sharp that Wike skipped Thursday’s Council of State meeting in protest, sending the Minister of State for the FCT in his place.
READ ALSO: SERAP demands govs, Wike reveal spending of ₦14trn subsidy savings
He was also said to have contacted some former Nigerian leaders, persuading them to boycott the meeting — a move that further underscored the growing friction at the top level of government.
The fallout traces back to the exposure of Wike’s alleged undeclared real estate assets in Florida, USA, by activist Omoyele Sowore. The revelation, which came shortly after Wike returned from medical treatment in the UK, reportedly caused turmoil within his political circle.
Wike reignited his feud with Governor Sim Fubara after the scandal, having earlier orchestrated his temporary removal from office.
However, his confrontation with Sowore escalated after he threatened the activist for labelling President Tinubu “a criminal.” Sowore responded by publishing additional documents detailing Wike’s hidden assets, drawing public outrage and the Presidency’s attention.
Presidential advisers reportedly began reassessing Wike’s loyalty, viewing him as unpredictable and politically risky.
Wike had lobbied for Justice Abdullahi Muhammad Liman of the Court of Appeal to become INEC Chairman, but the plan was dropped after security and credibility concerns were raised. Tinubu instead approved the appointment of Joash Amupitan, a respected legal scholar from the University of Jos.
Tinubu allegedly told close aides that Wike was “too unstable and untrustworthy” to influence the leadership of the electoral body.
In the aftermath, the President also instructed Wike to suspend his frequent media briefings, citing their confrontational tone.
Angered by the directive, Wike reportedly warned Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila that silencing him would “make Sowore too powerful.”
Amid growing distrust, Wike allegedly approached the Code of Conduct Bureau to update his asset declaration to include the properties exposed abroad but was told the documents had already been forwarded to the EFCC.
Insiders suggest that the Council of State meeting, which several former Heads of State boycotted, may have been influenced by Wike as a show of protest. The appointment of Amupitan was reportedly introduced unexpectedly during the session, leaving attendees with little choice but to approve it.
The incident marks a new low in the Tinubu-Wike relationship — one that has shifted from political cooperation to open hostility driven by power struggles and personal grievances.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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