Our Vanishing President Jets Out Again!

By Steve Osuji 

Let it be stated that I am ashamed of my president. Yes my president and supposed president of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Tinubu. It’s not because he’s not good looking. I am not particularly good looking myself. It’s not because he’s not from my ethnic group. No. My best friends and benefactors are not of my tribe.

I am ashamed of my president because he never gets anything right. He is what we used to call a bumblebee in those early school days. But worse is that he doesn’t seem to know nor does he care. He carries on like someone so much out of his depth, out of his league and doing all the wrong things.

Let’s buttress with a few examples. Yesterday, my president reportedly jetted out of Nigeria again. ‘Reportedly’ because we are not quite sure of the situation, (we are not quite sure of anything anymore since he became our president).

According to his media aide, he’s going away on vacation for three weeks after about six months of hectic work at home (really? We hardly see him. He never talks to us!).

Now he’s away for about 21 days. He didn’t handover to the vice president. They say he will be attending to work even from his vacation outposts. President Tinubu has never, ever handed over to his able vice president, Kashim Shettima. Not once in all of three years. Obviously doesn’t trust Shettima. He keeps him at arm’s length and only sends him on ceremonial events. This must explain why Kashim never smiles. He must be very unhappy.

So why do we bother to have a deputy if he’s never good enough or trusted to be able to handle state affairs. Yet Kashim has been picked yet again to be running mate in the second term bid.

Back to the supposed three weeks leave. Only unserious presidents would leave his country and travel to another president’s domain for all of three weeks. Imagine Trump or Macron or Ramaphosa in Nigeria for three weeks. Even John Mahama of Ghana would never spend three weeks supposedly vacationing in Nigeria. Unless of course he’s sick and needs special medical care. Even then, there are good hospitals in Ghana that tend to their president.

On an impulse, I made a quick check of John Mahama’s holiday destination and it reveals that the Ghanaian president spends his holidays exploring local eco-tourism destinations within Ghana such as Crown Forest Resort and Eco Safari. Ramaphosa vacations Mauritius. Not in London or Paris.

You see why president Tinubu is not likeable. Nigeria probably has the highest number of designated forest reserves in West Africa.

Oyo State alone has nine, with the Old Oyo National Park being outstanding. Sambisa is a large forest reserve. It’s now the haven of bandits. Imagine Tinubu holidaying in Kainji Lake National Park. Would bandits dare to lodge therein with him? Wouldn’t the place come alive for other compatriots to go enjoy vacations? But sorry to say that Tinubu has proved to be a bumblebee.

It has to be the most obtuse thing any president would do: to spend weeks holidaying in another country kept well by another president.

But here we are, the president of Nigeria, the giant of Africa travelling to another president’s country and spending 20 days and Nights. 

How can anyone be proud of such a president?

And President Tinubu is always doing this. In the habit of jetting off at every opportunity. His aides told us he has been around at home for about six months in a stretch doing hectic chores in Nigeria.

How come we’re not aware of his presence and hard work? No impact whatsoever. He doesn’t talk to us. We hardly see him. He wasn’t even at the FEC last Wednesday. But he met APC governors later that day to charge them to capture, sorry, deliver their states in January’s general election.

Talking about the president doing hectic work in the last six months, but to what end? We felt no positive impact. Hunger continues to decimate Nigerians while our president keeps insisting all is well. The north of Nigeria is currently under a holocaust of hunger… Our president has no clue what to do. He doesn’t even seem to be aware the calamity he has brought upon the hoi-polloi by his bumble-fumble!

What has dominated the media in the last six months are the killings and abductions in Benue, Niger, Borno and Kogi highway. Bandits now take battles to our military bases then we boast about repelling them. Our military has forgotten that terrorists are supposed to be decimated and completely exterminated. The roads to Kogi are the new frontiers of kidnappers. EXPRESSO hears that the press can’t keep pace anymore with the marauders. Some unspecified numbers of Youth Corps members were abducted just one day before the president jetted out. He couldn’t care less. Let the dead bury their dead, he must have said to himself, if indeed anyone dared to reveal the ‘dirty’ need to him.

Perhaps, the most memorable event of the period is the failed road between Benin and Agbor.

It’s so bad Al-Jazeera did a number on it. The world watched in shock. They must have wondered whether Nigeria was still a country or a failed state!

Our compatriots went through hell including spending two nights on a journey of 8 hours. We didn’t hear a word from our president. Our lout of a works minister wouldn’t take responsibility. He kept insulting us with childish Tom N Jerry tales about concessions and concessionaires. But who gave him permission to concession a federal highway to his cronies who made away with N14 billion according to him?

We also see petrol prices soar to about N1,300.00 while Nigeria engages in her peculiar malady of exporting refined petrol and crude oil as well as importing the importing the same products all at the same time.

This is a special madness that has afflicted Nigeria since Tinubu came to office. 

Opacity has become the norm in the oil sector headed by him. It seems President Tinubu likes to operate under the shadow of darkness.

His dud certificates have been raging in the news again as he bids for a second term while the CIA and FBI again affirmed that our President is their PRIZED ASSET. And not even the US Department of Justice (DOJ) can make the CIA/FBI to release my president’s perfidious files.

My President is held at the mercy of the CIA and I am supposed to be proud? Yoruba say the crown doesn’t go astray, but this crown is missing. Nigeria’s sovereign is in the hands of the CIA.

Which other sitting President is the property of foreign powers?

Let me close by saying that MY PRESIDENT IS A SECURITY RISK TO ME. I AM ASHAMED OF HIM.###

*Osuji was former editor of The Guardian, THISDAY and New Age

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Peter Obi: President Tinubu Goes On Holiday Again!

President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu has once again left Nigeria for another holiday, this time beginning a three-week vacation in Europe.

Peter Obi: President Tinubu Goes On Holiday Again!

President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu has once again left Nigeria for another holiday, this time beginning a three-week vacation in Europe.

Tinubu And The Agony Of Road Users In Delta–Edo Axis

 By Christian Chime 

It is shameful that major roads in the heart of oil producing states such as Delta and Edo are in a sorry situation with government leaving road users and residents of the areas wondering if actually they are part of Nigeria.

The Auchi-Abuja road which leads to Delta State, especially from Uromi-Ubiaja leading to Asaba, the Ebu-Illah Road roads are critical arteries linking various major cities in Edo, Delta, the entire South-South and South-East to the rest of the country, have totally collapsed.

Also, the Ubiaja Ewohimii road that leads to Onicha–Ugbo, Asaba-Benin Expressway has been totally cut off while the Uromi- Igueben road leading to Agbor is also write off.

Tinubu And The Agony Of Road Users In Delta–Edo Axis

By Christian Chime 

It is shameful that major roads in the heart of oil producing states such as Delta and Edo are in a sorry situation with government leaving road users and residents of the areas wondering if actually they are part of Nigeria.

The Auchi-Abuja road which leads to Delta State, especially from Uromi-Ubiaja leading to Asaba, the Ebu-Illah Road roads are critical arteries linking various major cities in Edo, Delta, the entire South-South and South-East to the rest of the country, have totally collapsed.

Also, the Ubiaja Ewohimii road that leads to Onicha–Ugbo, Asaba-Benin Expressway has been totally cut off while the Uromi- Igueben road leading to Agbor is also write off.

Nigeria: Will The Judiciary Condone Forgery?

 By Dele Sobowale

“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall” – Lord Mansfield, 1705-1793

“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side” – James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891

Until now, there was no reason to raise the question about substantial justice untainted with legal subterfuges – like the Supreme Court decision which declared a fourth place finisher in an election the winner; after awarding him more votes than INEC announced were counted. The Nigerian judiciary, since that judgment, had steadily reduced public confidence in the Third Estate of the Realm. We are in the season again when justice would be tested to the limit. 

Peter Obi: Those Seeking to be Addressed as “His Excellency” Must Behave Excellently

 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. 

Welfare Of Nigerians And Politics Of Fuel Subsidy

 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.

Sheikh Jingir: Tinubu Strips Christianity Of Political Relevance In Nigeria

 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.

*Tinubu prays with fellow Muslims 

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.

2027: Vote ‘Right’ Or Be Banished?

 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.

Peter Obi: Nigeria Cannot Become A Killing Field!

 *Obi
What is happening to our country?

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.

Peter Obi: Nigeria Has Everything It Needs to Prosper

 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.

Fed Govt And Dave Umahi’s Roads To Hell

 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.

Peter Obi: Poisoning The Soul Of Our Society By Making Excuses for Unverified Certificates

 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.

*Obi

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. 

Peter Obi: Let's End This Cycle Of Killings

 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.

Peter Obi On The Commencement Of 2027 Campaigns

 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.

Osun Election: Matters Arising

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. 

*Adeleke

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.

Remaining Sane In An Increasingly Insane World

 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.

Let National Service Begin With Dignity, Not Suffering

 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.

Millions of graduates have proudly passed through the scheme, making it a symbol of unity and shared national purpose.

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.

More Government, Less Service, More Hunger

 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.