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N8trillion scandal: Obi digs in! *Tinubu has no further business in office
Unfazed by the riposte from the Presidency, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and supporters of the Federal Government, Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), has practically dug in on his call for President Bola Tinubu to quit office immediately.
It is either the President resigned his office outright or dumped the ambition of recontesting his position in 2027, Obi said while weighing in on the current controversy, where Tinubu is said to have spent a whopping N8.8trillion outside the budgetary provisions.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), raised the alarm last week through Christian Ebeke, its Resident Representative in Nigeria, saying the amount represented more than two per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), of Nigeria, a development Obi said reflected the worst form of government impunity.
Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, maintaining that the revelation had shown the level of massive corruption in government and the scant regard it had for due process, called on the National Assembly to institute proper investigation on the matter and take the most appropriate action.
Stating he had been vindicated for calling on Tinubu, few days ago, to resign his office, just like Kier Starmer, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, had just done for acts inconsistent with government’s good behaviour.
Hear him: “The grand corruption being revealed daily in this regime supports why the President should resign. The recent report from the IMF consultation further raises concerns about the scale of grand corruption under the Tinubu government.
“The IMF now reveals that about N8.83 trillion in expenditure undertaken in 2025 is not reflected in the budget. This expenditure is not budgeted and is therefore outside legislative oversight or administrative scrutiny.
“This is horrible. N8.83 trillion is approximately two per cent of our GDP and over 35 per cent of Nigeria’s 2025 N23.96 trillion capital project budget. In fact, the amount exceeds the actual capital funding released for 2025. It is more than the total combined budget for education (N3.52 trillion) and health (N2.38 trillion).
“If such an amount were properly utilised and accounted for, it could transform Nigeria’s health and education sectors. It could also foster the creation of hundreds of small industries, creating jobs for thousands of graduates and laying a solid foundation for economic development. But we cannot account for it.
“This is not an isolated incident; it is part of a pattern of grand corruption that characterises this administration. We have much to worry about concerning the state of corruption under President Tinubu. The type of corruption that involves blatant disregard for fundamental rules of public finance management poses a severe threat to national security and the stability of Nigeria.
“The capture of the Nigerian state and the plunder of its resources undermine the foundation of state stability, deepen poverty and risk state failure. With increasing poverty and an urgent need for major improvements in social and physical infrastructure, a responsible and responsive government would ensure that N8.83 trillion is wisely used to address these issues. But this is not the case with the Tinubu administration.
“A few days ago, I called on President Tinubu to resign from office due to incompetence, lack of capacity, lack of compassion and failure to deliver on his campaign promises. Some people thought this call was excessive, but with the daily revelations of widespread corruption in this administration and its total lack of commitment to the welfare and security of Nigerian citizens, the only reasonable action is for President Tinubu to resign.
“The breakdown of basic due process under Tinubu and the continuous evidence of rampant looting of Nigerian finances highlight the urgent need for greater accountability. It is now time for Nigerian citizens to step up within the law and hold this administration responsible. A new Nigeria is possible.”
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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