A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Uche Nwosu, has played down the possibility of an Igbo man taking over from President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni has declared that he won’t be part of the coalition being spearheaded by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Cracks may be underway in the camp of the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The presidency has mocked former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over the massive defection which has hit the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP). It said the coalition, being spearheaded by Atiku was bound to lose. This came after former Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, and his successor, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori dumped the PDP. Responding to the defection on X, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, wrote that the coalition was bound to collapse. “Potential allies, including former running mate Ifeanyi Okowa and defunct CPC members, are giving his leprous group a wide berth. Atiku is a loser again,” he stated. Also, in his reaction on X, a presidential aide, Tunde Rahman said the future looked so bleak for Abubakar’s coalition. He wrote, "Today, he got his biggest shocker ever. His 2023 election running mate, former Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and Okowa’s successor, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, dumped the sinking PDP ship and hopped aboard the APC plane, and by inference, crossed over to the PBAT side. “Indeed, the counting of PDP governors crossing over to APC has begun. Isn’t Atiku’s coalition dead on arrival? As my people will say, the glimpses of a Saturday that will be good will manifest from Friday."

Former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has mocked ex-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, over the defection of his then running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa. This came after Okowa, in a shocking decision, moved to the ALl Progressives Congress, APC, alongside his successor. In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, said he has now been vindicated. He said; “It is another endorsement of the president’s good governance and commitment to the development of the country.” He added, “I commend Dr Okowa and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori for this heart-warming decision, which must have been informed by good governance and commitment of President Bola Tinubu to the oneness and development of Nigeria. “That is what I have always told people to come out and say, not when they have problems and begin to run up and down. “They have come out at the right time to show support for the President so that the people of Niger Delta can benefit more from the government, and I commend them. “I am particularly happy that what I saw before the 2023 presidential election, others are now seeing and are joining the Renewed Hope train.” He called on other Nigerians to follow suit and declare their support for Tinubu.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Joe Igbokwe has claimed that all the people of Southern Nigeria will back President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027. He spoke amid ongoing massive defection of politicians into the All Progressives Congress, APC. The latest was the governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, who have both dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the APC. At least three other Southern governors are expected to join soon. In a post on his Facebook page, the APC chieftain claimed that even states controlled by the opposition parties will support the APC during the election. "No one single state in Southern Nigeria, no matter the party it belongs to, will vote for any other party except APC in 2027. "Please know this and have inner peace. It is what it is", he wrote.

President Bola Tinubu and the suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, held a secret meeting during his working visit to Europe. This was, according to The Africa Report, which disclosed that the meeting was at the instance of Governor Fubara. Although presidency sources have not spoken on the report, it was gathered that the meeting, held without Nyesom Wike, a gladiator in the Rivers crisis, was significant as it was the first personal meeting between the two leaders since the state of emergency declaration. Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, is said to be worried over the possible outcome of the meeting. Tinubu’s national broadcast on March 18, cited “months of intense political instability” that had “paralysed governance” and “threatened national stability.” The President appointed a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice‑Admiral Ibok‑Ete Ekwe Ibas as sole administrator. According to sources, the meeting was aimed to ease the persistent tensions and find a solution to the lingering crisis. The duo reportedly discussed restoring a functional government in the oil‑rich state, officials say. Sources close to the presidency indicated that the meeting explored options for Fubara's possible return to power.

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George, has accused former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of scheming to get the party's presidential ticket for the 2027 election. Atiku, who has been PDP flagbearer for two consecutive times, is believed to be nursing same ambition in 2027. The elder statesman, who spoke on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Tuesday, dismissed Atiku's coalition moves. He condemned the former presidential candidate for meeting non-members of the party for coalition talks, while abandoning the key members of the PDP. Bode George was particularly miffed over Atiku's recent visit to former president Muhammadu Buhari. He said, “Those who are now forming mega party, what is the purpose of that mega party. You’re a member of a solid organization, you want to pull out. "You are meeting with Baba Buhari, Is he a member of our party? Have you discussed your mega something with anybody else? Do you think is a private fiefdom? "Is PDP a private company? Nobody owns PDP. You bring it within the party. Let us discuss it. Once it is approved, then you move. You don’t just flip flop because of your personal ambition." On Atiku’s visit to Buhari, the PDP chieftain blasted the ex-vice President for taking his coalition campaign to Buhari, who, according to George, beat him ‘like a little kid’ in the 2019 presidential election. “Look at general Buhari shaking hands with these guys. Is he a member of our party? We presented you against him, and he flopped you like like a little kid, and then you are running there. "And if you look at the congregation of those who visited Buhari, they are all from one side, who are the others from our party? No, it’s not done that way. "In fact, my conclusion was, What is this man trying to do with this mega party? Is he trying to divide Nigeria from the north and then the south?" While reaffirming his stand on zoning, George said: "Is it a private fiefdom? Who was the former president? Was it not General Buhari? Where did he come from? Did he come from Yoruba land or Igbo land? "All we are saying is that we have a system of eight years of presidency in the north and eight years of presidency in the south."

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze has dismissed as fabrication of falsehood, the claim by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike that former Rivers Governor, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi plotted crisis in Rivers State when he held sway as Minister of Transportation under the Buhari presidency. According to Wike, the former Minister of Transportation, actively worked with the federal government to make Rivers State ungovernable during his tenure as governor. He described a turbulent period in which he was assigned 12 Commissioners of Police within just three months, suggesting deliberate efforts to destabilize his administration. He further alleged that his security was withdrawn at 11:30 p.m., a move he claimed was unprecedented for any sitting governor. Wike added that while he stayed back in Rivers to manage the crisis, Amaechi remained in Abuja, detached from the turmoil unfolding in the state. Reacting through a statement made available to NATIONAL POST,Eze said the FCT Minister, as a serial betrayer and unrepentant liar is one Nigerian whose public image remains a sad reminder of the oozing rot in our government. He represents the reality of a massively corrupt, totally dishonest, characteristically unstable, dangerously inept and failed leadership the country grapples with. Eze noted that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi is a distinct specie of politician not given to violence and never supporting events that create atmosphere of insecurity in a bid to curry political relevance unlike Wike who perpetrated crisis, initiated killing and maiming and instigated the destruction of communities during his own administration as Governor, using non-state actors. Eze recalled that the administration of Wike as Governor was notorious for communal clashes, incessant killings, serial kidnappings and other heinous crimes which cumulatively earned the state under his watch the hotspot of sundry criminal activities. During the 2015 election, it "is public knowledge the heinous crimes committed against humanity at the behest of the FCT minister sitting as Governor. People were slaughtered freely, families lost loved ones, it was a bazaar of bloodbaths and to this day, the scar losses and agony deaths of husbands and fathers with promising futures resides perpetually in the hearts of those who were forced into widowhood and orphanages to drive home the ambition of Wike. "The records of how he used Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, the infamous Rivers Police Commissioner whom he later deserted and left to rot in his foolishness, to cause havoc in Rivers State and make the environment ungovernable are there already placed before the world. "The facts of how he used, unceremoniously, five Members of the State House of Assembly to attempt to impeach Governor Amaechi, contrary to the Constitution of Nigeria, are there for any to read. "If there is any iota of truth in the claim of the FCT Minister, one is forced into wonderland to take a deep reflection of how Amaechi pioneered the refund of billions of Naira in debt owed the state by the federal government from projects executed by Peter Odili and same Amaechi during his time as Governor. "As Minister, Amaechi aid efforts to ensure the money was released to Wike, who in turn looted the entire funds and shared the remainder in his usual spendthrift, to various states to further his useless presidential ambition. "In this regard, the Nation Newspaper by January 13th 2021 reported and I quote, "Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says the state has received the N78 billion it spent on the construction of federal roads in the state. President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the refund in June 2020. Sadly, there is no account of how this huge fund influenced by AMAECHI to be released to Nyesom Wike was utilized. "It was widely reported that on October 21st, 2022, President Buhari conferred on Wike “Distinguished Award in Infrastructure Delivery” and if Buhari government was against Wike as he claimed, how come the same Buhari Government honoured Wike with this award though knowing that such an award was dubious and unmerited," he said. Chief Eze called on the public, to, as usual, discard such an erroneous illusory precipitation by a loquacious fellow who lacks capacity to control his tongue before the microphone.

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has vowed that genuine members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC), will stop at nothing to kick out any government that brings pain and impoverishment on the masses. The CPC members are loyalists of former president Muhammadu Buhari and have been divided over support for President Bola Tinubu. While some of them are part of the coalition to unseat Tinubu, others are backing the president. However, Lawal told The PUNCH every genuine CPC chieftain who has the interest of the Talakawas— the poor and vulnerable— at heart, will stop at nothing to “kick out any government that brings pain and impoverishment to the people like the Tinubu administration” in 2027. He said, “These guys have given us a reason to come against them because the CPC is a Talakawa Movement. “It’s a movement that has at heart the needs and feelings of the lower class. That is our ideology, which we learned from Buhari. “The primary aim is how to serve the disenfranchised, discriminated people in the society, which this government has taken as a religion to cause suffering and marginalisation. It is as if the sight of a poor person annoys them. So they want to starve them to death. “Now if you are an original CPC person, it will pain you. It will push you into action involuntarily to change this type of system that is out to destroy and marginalise the underprivileged in society. That is what Buhari stands for. That is who we are and what we learned from him.” On Buhari’s blessing, he said, “First of all, we don’t need his (Buhari) blessing. We only needed to tell him what we wanted to do because we were adults. It is also not like we will go and tell Buhari to follow us. Of course, we are mature and intelligent people. “Even if Buhari says, hey, gentlemen, I will join you. It is our responsibility to say, No, Oga please keep off. You are too big for us. We don’t want to involve you. You are part of this government. Please remain there until you are fed up.” He said those still supporting Tinubu were merely scrambling for political appointments.

Ahead of the 2027 presidential election, a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to President  Bola Tinubu, North Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has declared that the Northern region will no longer be deceived into voting based on ethnicity or religion. It could be recalled that religion played a major role in the build up to the 2023 presidential election, with President Bola Tinubu, then candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, running Muslim-Muslim ticket despite public outcry. Tinubu later won the election. However, in a video interview he granted in Hausa language alongside a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, Baba-Ahmed disclosed that the North will in the next six months unveil their preferred candidate for the 2027 presidential election. According to him, no politician can win the presidency in 2027 without the support of the region, just as he bemoaned the state of the nation. He said, “In the next six months, the North will decide where it stands. If the rest of the country wants to join us, fine. If not, we will go our own way. One thing is clear: nobody can become president of Nigeria without northern support. “We want a government that understands our problems and can address them. After Buhari’s eight years, we became wiser. Now, we are in another government, and we are still crying. Is crying all we know how to do?” While lamenting the challenges facing the North, Baba-Ahmed said: “Before Buhari became president, Boko Haram was bombing mosques, churches, Abuja, and Lagos. That was a time Northerners had to unite. "Today, no politician can just show up and expect Northerners to fall in line. Who are you?” "If they plan to rig the election, they should be careful. It won’t be good for Nigeria. The North is watching, elders, masses, and interest groups will soon say enough is enough. The injustice and sidelining must stop," he warned. “We are tired of being deceived into voting based on religion or ethnicity. That era is over. We just want a right leader, we just want someone who will solve our problems,” he said. NATIONAL POST reports that ahead of the 2027 presidential election, there is likelihood that President Tinubu will face the toughest challenge from the Northern party of the country. There is mounting opposition against Tinubu from key Northern leaders, including former Kaduna governor, Nasir El-Rufai. Senator Ali Ndume has been speaking out strongly, accusing the president of lopsided appointments.