Yesterday, I joined other presidential candidates to sign the first National Peace Accord for the 2027 Presidential Elections.
*Obi
My signing of the accord is a reinforcement of my continued commitment to insisting that we, as candidates, must conduct ourselves in a way that reflects the office we aspire to. Leaders must eschew all forms of violent rhetoric and rein in their followers to do the same.
By Adekunle Adekoya
Again, the matter of fuel subsidy has dominated national discourse in the last few days, with President Bola Tinubu, former vice-president and ADC presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, NDC presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi and a host of others have had not a little to say about the issue.
The matter was reignited when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said that if he should be elected, he would return subsidy on fuel energy. Expectedly, presidency officials descended on him, and in the exchanges that followed, harsh, near-uncivil words were used. The exchanges went as far as dredging up the matter of over $16 billion spent on the power sector during the Obasanjo administration. It just shows how deeply the issue of subsidy is affecting lives.
By Olu Fasan
In 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu sowed the seed of the political humiliation of Christianity in Nigeria. As a presidential candidate, Tinubu concluded that Christianity was of such low electoral value that no northern Christian could help him win the presidency. Thus, he picked a fellow Muslim as his running mate.
It worked. However, the seed that Tinubu planted is now being watered by Islamic bigots who are citing the “success” of the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket as evidence of Islam’s numerical superiority over Christianity in Nigeria and, thus, asserting that Muslims should continue to dominate national leadership, a view recently advanced by Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, an Islamic supremacist.
Unfortunately, the seed planted by Tinubu and being watered by Islamic zealots is growing, as the Tinubu presidency mollycoddles the Islamic jingoists while traducing Christian leaders whose only sin is speaking truth to power, as evidenced by the recent treatment of Catholic bishops who visited President Tinubu to alert him to the parlous state of the nation.
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, head of the delegation, told the media that the Catholic bishops visited the president because “the nation is bleeding.” Responding, Daniel Bwala, special adviser to President Tinubu on policy communication, said Cardinal Onaiyekan “sounded more political than spiritual.” Another presidential aide, Temitope Ajayi, the president’s senior media assistant, accused Cardinal Onaiyekan of “abuse of clerical privilege.” But the presidency said not a word on Sheikh Jingir’s incendiary comments.
But why did the presidency close its eyes to Jingir but was quick to condemn the Catholic bishops? Well, because Jingir’s message to Muslims to “raise the flag of Islam” and vote for the Muslim-Muslim ticket again in 2027 was music to President Tinubu’s ears, as opposed to the Catholic bishops’ jarring warning that Nigeria is “bleeding” under him.
As a heuristic, “confirmation bias” tells us people tend to embrace information that supports what they want to hear and dismiss information that contradicts it. So, it’s not surprising the presidency ignored Jingir’s pro-Tinubu inflammatory outburst but swiftly condemned the Catholic bishops’ criticism of the president. Yet, Jingir is a monumental danger to religious harmony in Nigeria and should be denounced for his provocative outbursts!
Think about it. Recently, on August 8, at a mass wedding organised by the Kano State government for 1,500 couples, Sheikh Jingir said the “outcome” of Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023 demonstrated the numerical superiority of Muslims in Nigeria and called for its repeat in 2027. “So, here I am calling on you, please everyone should get their voters’ cards ready,” he said. “Let us show the world that those unbelievers who claim they outnumber us in Nigeria are lying.” Describing Nigeria as “a Muslim-majority country,” Sheikh Jingir stressed: “I’m calling on people to come and let us do Muslim-Muslim again.” Now, if you think such combustible comments could only come from a less urbane man, you would be wrong.
Nasir el-Rufai, the highly educated and seemingly sophisticated former governor of Kaduna State, said the same thing in 2023. In a viral video, el-Rufai attributed Tinubu’s victory in 2023 to the Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying Tinubu “knew he had no option” but to pick a fellow Muslim as his running mate; otherwise, “he would lose the election.” El-Rufai said Tinubu’s victory showed Christians lacked electoral value in presidential politics in Nigeria, and mocked the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, which had “kept quiet” and “remained mute” since Tinubu’s victory. “There is no liar that can say he will do politics of Christianity and win the election,” he said, adding, “So, if we keep bringing Muslim-Muslim tickets, everything will go smoothly for us Muslims.”
At the heart of Jingir and el-Rufai’s comments is population. They both believe that Muslims are more numerous than Christians in Nigeria and that Muslims would always determine the winner in any presidential election. Of course, President Tinubu believes the narrative too. He picked Kashim Shettima as his running mate in 2023, and retains him for 2027, not because Shettima is a “genius,” as he claimed, but because he believed, and still believes, only a Muslim-Muslim ticket could win him the presidency and re-election.
Indeed, earlier this year, Tinubu’s wife confirmed that her husband’s Muslim-Muslim ticket was a deliberate and calculated political decision. In February, the first lady told The Free Press in the US: “Let’s face it, the Muslims are more than us (Christians). If a southern Muslim wants to run for president, politics is a game of numbers. You have to pick another Muslim; you can’t pick a Christian.”
But there was nothing in the results of the 2023 presidential election that showed empirically that most Muslims supported Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket. Of the 24 million Nigerians who voted in the election, only 8.8 million, or 36.6 per cent, voted for Tinubu: an overwhelming 14.6 million, or 63.39 per cent of voters, rejected him.
A controversial victory secured under a plurality electoral system, not a majoritarian one, cannot justify a conclusion that Nigerians supported a Muslim-Muslim ticket or that a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket would always prevail. Yet, el-Rufai bragged, “So, if we keep bringing Muslim-Muslim tickets, everything will go well for us Muslims.” And Sheikh Jingir boasted, “Let’s do Muslim-Muslim again.” He was confident the formula would always win, thanks to the Muslims’ “numerical strength.” Such a perverse narrative, if unchecked, could fuel religious tension in Nigeria.
In their book Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know, John Campbell and Mathew Page state that “the official consensus is that Christians and Muslims each make up about half of the population,” adding that “former military head of state Murtala Muhammed famously voiced this fifty-fifty formula as conventional wisdom.” The conventional wisdom necessitated maintaining a balance of power between Islam and Christianity on the basis that neither religion is dominant over the other.
For that reason, the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe in the 1993 presidential election was deemed an aberration. In his memoir A Journey in Service, General Ibrahim Babangida wrote, “Abiola, a southern Muslim, defied conventional wisdom by picking another Muslim as his running mate for the June 12 presidential election.” Babangida’s comment confirms there was, indeed, such conventional wisdom.
Some would, indeed, argue that competence should trump religious balance in national leadership. But in that case, would a Christian-Christian presidential ticket be treated equally to a Muslim-Muslim ticket? Well, not by the Muslim North. Asked on Arise TV if the North would accept a Christian-Christian ticket, Farouk Aliyu, an APC chieftain, said, “Based on the North I know, the North will not be comfortable with a Christian-Christian ticket.”
So, it’s not about competence or meritocracy, it’s about perceived religious supremacy. Thus, as President Tinubu’s wife made clear, her husband did not opt for a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023, or replicate it for 2027, because of competence but rather because, as she put it, “Let’s face it, the Muslims are more than us (Christians),” even though there has never been a nationwide religious census in Nigeria.
The American founding fathers realised that one could not create fair voting systems without measuring the population. Hence, Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution states that Congress should carry out a census in “such manner as they shall by Law direct every ten years.” But Nigeria’s last nationwide population census took place in 2006.
Furthermore, while the UK reviews its electoral constituencies every eight to 12 years, Nigeria rarely changes its electoral constituencies. Yet, based on frequently rigged elections, we are told that Islam is more populous than Christianity, and that the age-old practice of balancing the interests of both faiths should give way to the political subordination of Christianity to Islam.
Perversely, some excuse Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim presidency because his wife is a Christian. But “First Lady” is not a constitutional position; “Vice President” is. Thus, having a Muslim president and a Muslim vice president humiliates Christianity politically. Tinubu planted the seed; Islamic zealots are watering it. But denying Christianity parity of status in Nigeria’s political firmament is dangerous; it’s a ticking religious time bomb!
*Dr. Fasan is a commentator on public issues
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
As should be expected in this political silly season, politicians will maximise the window to test wild narratives and launch personal attacks aimed at distracting voters from the substantive issues that confront them. There is nothing particularly wrong with that as long as such antics are within the ambit of the law. But most Nigerian politicians like stretching the limits of such propositions.
The result is that politicians are now banning others from straying into their self-appropriated fiefdom with impunity, knowing that there will be no consequences. To be fair, such bullying tactics didn’t start today. But it has worsened because political buccaneers, who exploit public office for personal gain, would rather break bones than play by the rules. In this malfeasance, Edo State takes the cake.
In recent days, deadly attacks have struck Benue, Plateau and Niger States, three contiguous states in Nigeria’s North-Central region.
In Mangu, Plateau State, at least 23 people were officially reported killed in the Jwak Maitumbi attack, while residents put the toll above 30. More than 45 houses were reportedly destroyed.
I had the privilege of joining some presidential candidates and their representatives as a guest and panellist at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
*Peter Obi speaking at the NBA conference in Port Harcourt
Our discussion focused on how to rebuild Nigeria and make it
work for its resilient, hardworking, and long-suffering people.
I reiterated my long-held view that the poverty and hunger Nigerians face today are largely the result of years of mismanagement and corruption by leaders entrusted with our commonwealth.
By Dele Sobowale
Vanguard recently published pathetic pictures of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Expressway; and Punch revealed to us what happens to the Lagos-Calabar Expressway, not even 15 per cent completed, each time there is a heavy downpour in the Lekki peninsula.
The road becomes so flooded, it becomes barely usable. Morning shows the day. If Tinubu-Umahi’s legacy road already shows evidence of long-term stress, pity the Nigerians who will ply that road ten years from now.
A nation that tolerates unverified academic credentials at any level of leadership, regardless of who is involved, risks destroying the very standards upon which a society is built. The issue is not about an individual. It is about standards, accountability, and the values we choose to pass on to the next generation.
We cannot continue to excuse blurred, missing, questionable, or unverified credentials simply because they belong to someone we support. The process through which people attain positions of responsibility matters greatly. How we get into leadership is as important as what we do with leadership.
The killings in Ungushi, Sokoto, where 32 Nigerians reportedly lost their lives, and the recent attacks in Ukum, Benue, where more lives have been lost and several others injured, are deeply painful.
These are not just numbers. They are parents, children, farmers,
and breadwinners whose lives have been cut short, leaving families devastated
and communities in fear.
We cannot continue with a cycle of killings, condolences, promises, and inaction. The government at all levels must prioritise addressing insecurity.
MY ADDRESS TO MARK THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 2027 PRESIDENTIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGNS
21 August 2026
Dear Compatriots,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026, marked the official start of the campaign period for the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
There is no doubt that this is a defining moment for our democracy. This moment gives Nigerians the opportunity to assess the records, ideas, and plans of those seeking their mandate to lead their country at a time of grave uncertainty in our rapidly changing world.
I consider myself quite privileged to be one of those seeking your mandate to deal with these challenges facing our country.
I enter this contest with one firm conviction: Nigeria can work,
and Nigeria must work.
Nigeria faces several serious challenges. Some of them are indeed of existential proportions.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Nigerians are an excitable lot. It is, therefore, not surprising that the outcome of the August 15 off-cycle Osun governorship election is generating so much buzz. To be sure, the outcome calls for celebration because for the first time in a long while, the will of the people prevailed in an election.
And it prevailed not because attempts were not made by the powers-that-be to replicate the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election heist. Till date, the beneficiary of that abracadabra, an open sesame of sorts, sits comfortably on the purloined mandate while the actual winner is languishing in political purgatory.
By Owei Lakemfa
It appears the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil passed before the US–Iran war, was one of the most urgent tasks of humanity. The United States has, for six months, been unable to re-open this vital artery, which handled 100–140 commercial ships daily. Then, like magic, Oman and Iran reached a consensus to reopen the strait.
*Trump in the Middle East
Oman, a tiny country of 5.4 million people spread over a 309,500 square kilometre area, is one of the closest allies of the US. It was the first Arab nation in the Arabian Peninsula to sign a trade and diplomatic agreement with the US. That was 193 years ago. In the on-going US–Iran conflict, Oman has suffered many Iranian strikes, including on the ports of Duqm and Salalah, the industrial areas of Sohar, Mina Al Fahal and Bukha, radar and ship-detection infrastructure, and hits on commercial and oil tankers navigating the Gulf of Oman.
By Lanre Ogundipe
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) remains one of Nigeria’s most enduring nation-building institutions. For over five decades, it has fostered national integration, promoted cultural understanding and encouraged young Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to the country’s development.
However, preserving the legacy of the NYSC requires more than celebrating its achievements. It demands a willingness to confront its shortcomings and reform areas that no longer serve the realities of contemporary Nigeria.
By Adekunle Adekoya
Just as I was preparing to write this column, news filtered in that President Bola Tinubu has assented to the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) Bill, 2026, paving the way for the establishment of a dedicated economic regulator for Nigeria’s port sector.
*Tinubu
The news was sourced from a post on the Facebook page of Dr. Pius Akutah, Executive Secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers Council. The enabling law for this new agency was titled Nigerian Port Economic Regulatory Agency Act, 2026. Meanwhile, in 2014, the Federal Government had designated the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as interim economic regulator of the ports pending enactment of a substantive law.
By Femi Falana
On June 12, 1994, Chief M. K.O. Abiola declared himself President on the basis of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which he won fair and square. General Sani Abacha’s military junta arrested him and charged him with treasonable felony at the Federal High Court.
While he was held incommunicado in a military custody for 4 years, Chief Abiola was subjected to horrendous psychological and mental torture. Even though Chief Abiola had severe health challenges, he was denied medical attention by the maximum dictator.
His parlous medical state was confirmed on April 27, 1998 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who had visited Nigeria at the instance of President Nelson Mandela and met with the imprisoned Chief Abiola. The revered priest reported that Abiola’s health and living conditions were severely deteriorating and called for his urgent release to enable him to take care of his failing health. The call was ignored by the military regime.
By Olu Fasan
Some Nigerians commit the delusional sin of believing that once a state institution has the word “independent” prefixed to its name, it is, indeed, independent.
They believe that critical state agencies created by statute or the Constitution to ensure security and law and order, to guarantee justice and rule of law, to safeguard electoral integrity and democratic norms and to fight corruption and malfeasance in public office do, in fact, discharge their responsibilities dutifully without fear and without favour, deliberately removed from presidential control.
By Dianam Dakolo
A ruler's twisted judgment is what immediately becomes apparent when the US$13 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway comes under close scrutiny. A project never canvassed by any community along the entire stretch covered, from Lagos to Cross River State!
For, as one-time Governor of that
State, Donald Duke, disclosed on national television on August 5, "There
is already a road to Calabar.... I have driven along it several times....If the
road is poor, fix it."
The only possible explanation for the project, which was awarded through 'restricted bidding' to a company in which the ruler has substantial interest, in violation of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, was provided in the comments of the former Cross River Governor: "
By Adekunle Adekoya
I really don’t think there is anybody living in this country at the moment that is satisfied with the state of affairs. Don’t let me bore you — everyone knows where it’s pinching hardest — whether in the cost of transportation, or the risen and rising cost of food, or near-unaffordable accommodation, sky-high cost of fuel energy (gas, petrol, diesel), insecurity, etcetira. If there is anybody as yet untouched by these, such a person, or group of persons must be doing things we can’t do, or know not how to do to make money. As a result, people are worried, and perplexed at the state of affairs.
This Friday morning, not a few people would have woken up from disturbed sleep caused by an empty stomach, and worse, they can’t even see the prospects for a breakfast, no matter how little. So, when top clerics of the Catholic Church, specifically the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria sought and obtained an audience with the president on this undesirable state of affairs, I think they were doing a duty to seek better options for all of us, irrespective of our diverse faiths.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Listening to President Bola Tinubu’s response to the plea of Nigerian Catholic Bishops that he should make the yoke of Nigerians lighter, I couldn’t help but remember the Biblical story of King Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles 10:1-15.
After the death of King Solomon, Rehoboam, his son, went to Shechem to be crowned king and the whole assembly of Israel supplicated: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Rehoboam asked for three days for consultations. And, indeed, he consulted, first with the elders who had served his father during his lifetime.
“How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked. “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever,” they riposted.
By Olu Fasan
Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Nigeria’s irrepressible first lady, recently made two controversial interventions on the country’s socio-economic situation. First, she told the jobless to start selling akara, roasted corn or kuli-kuli to eke out a living.
Then, she admonished rich young musicians to help the poor. She received a torrent of criticism for the comments. Yet they contain a kernel of truth and a fundamental flaw. I explore both here, arguing the remarks are more deeply flawed than valid.
