News
Atiku versus Obi: Is it a case of trust or smartness?
Watching Bolaji Abdullahi on Monday night while appearing on Prime Time, the public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television, gave me an inkling into the sentiments in the camp of Atiku Abubakar after it was handed over the remains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), following the exit of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Arguably, the ambition of the Waziri Adamawa to get Nigeria’s number one job – the Presidency – seemed surer and faster than any other option riding on the shoulders of the two heavyweights. So, the gripe, whining and grumbling is understandable.
From the countenance of the former Minister, it could be gleaned how inconsolable the former Vice President could be at the moment. Despite spirited attempts to conceal it, the pain was obvious. I wonder the tough job it would be for those close to the ex-VP to try and placate him. If he remains implacable, there is ample reason for it.
Now, it would be clearly unthinkable to believe that Atiku would see Obi as naïve – too much so not to have his own plans in winning on the political chessboard in which the two of them have been playing these past months or so – but all the same the manner the former governor played his hand, must have hit him like a thunderbolt.
He probably didn’t envisage the option – at least not too quickly too soon. The former VP must have believed that Obi would continue pecking at the bait of some faint pictures being painted within the party that somehow, he might secure the ADC ticket by some sort of providence, based on a genie springing out of the magic lamp.
He probably wanted Obi to cling to that hope no matter how forlorn until he was completely encircled and it became too late for him to untangle himself, let alone exit. My thinking was that Atiku not only wanted to hand Obi a fait accompli, but put him in a situation where he would be thankful to secure the position of a running mate.
Now, don’t be deceived by the talk that the VP position was Obi’s for the asking. No! Forget about that. By the time he picks the ADC presidential ticket, by beating Obi through whatever method – direct primaries or consensus, both of which were already wrapped up by the people he planted to do the job – the hawks would move in.
All manner of arguments would crop up around Obi’s suitability. Spruced up with dollars likely to start exchanging hands, the PDP scenario of choosing Ifeanyi Okowa instead of Nyesom Wike would play out. By that time, Obi would have been completely at their mercy.
If Obi wanted the position, he would be made to beg for it. Even if he declined, the public would have been fed about how he begged for it desperately but was not given.
By that time the APC lynchpins would have moved in to complete the job. They would come after Obi like locusts on a green field so much that by the time they would be done, nothing would be left outside mere stalks where some lushness existed earlier. It would have sounded the final death-knell from where he would never rise again.
But what the Waziri Adamawa failed to figure out, perhaps, was that the Obi he was dealing with was of a different make. It is not everyday you sat with someone who drove three different cars he bought with his own money before graduating from the university, became a landlord to corporate bodies including banks, while some of his classmates had to skip meals to survive or became Chairman of a bank at 33, when some of his mates were still moving from one office to the other in search of jobs.
Yes! It takes more than mere white matters in the skull to be counted among the 10 richest men in England before hitting your 35th birthday, especially coming from Africa – becoming the first governor to recover a mandate stolen from you by political hawks and scavengers – the first to run a sitting governor out of office after just 17 days to recover yet another mandate.
How could Atiku have forgotten so soon that this selfsame Peter Obi practically, in 2023, used his bare hands to stop a moving train – someone who without a single councillor, vanquished whole armies, who launched massive blitzkrieg from all sides against him. Indeed, but for the Mahmoud Yakubu and his INEC’s technical glitches, would Obi not be in the Villa today?
This was the same Obi who completely quietened the massive tempest that put Anambra, not only locally, but on a global map for the wrong reasons and tamed the monsters that broke loose and destroyed everything along the way. This was the same man Atiku and his men believed they could outsmart by pulling a wool over his face.
Naturally, it takes a lot to cross the many rivers and distant wildernesses to get to where Obi is today. It takes more than average intelligence, it takes a lot of grits, it takes foresight, it takes focus and it takes, ultimately – the hand of God. In a corporate world, where Obi played at its peak, split-second decisions are what make the difference. So, much so in politics too!
Now, come to the real meat of the matter. Was Obi wrong in ditching Atiku for the NDC in the manner he did? No fair-minded person is likely to answer in the affirmative. For months on end, many people begged the former VP to let go the quest for the ADC ticket. They remonstrated, they begged, but he wouldn’t relent.
Now, he is turning in all corners and complaining to everyone in sight. He is blaming everyone but himself. Has Atiku asked himself what is different between what he did in PDP, where against the grain of zoning arrangement argument, he still threw his hat into the ring.
Just like in the PDP, he wants to emerge as presidential candidate with a David Mark, another man from the North as National Chairman – just as he was presidential candidate in 2023 with Iyiocha Ayu as Chairman.
Does the world belong to Atiku? Whichever way it goes in 2027, Peter Obi will step out on the morning after smelling roses. I can’t say same about Atiku.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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