Politics
June 12 Echoes As Ememobong Resigns In Akwa Ibom Political Split
These are interesting times in Nigeria. June 12 is on the lips of many Nigerians today. The date means different things to different people. It would seem that governance has lost its meaning here. There’s a need for a rethink. Last week was especially historic in Akwa Ibom State. A commissioner, Ini Ememobong, refused to follow the “multitude”; he decided to be a lone ranger. There is hope for our country!
June 12: The pang and fury linger 32 years after
The commemoration of June 12, 1993, today will be a mixed bag. For some Nigerians, it will be an occasion of rolling out the drums and clinking of glasses in celebration, but for many others, it will catapult them back to the feeling of the pang and fury of that unfortunate moment.
Precisely 32 years ago, a presidential election was held in Nigeria, the first since the military coup ended the Second Republic.
The election held so much hope for the country. It was organised by the military junta led by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) through the National Electoral Commission (NEC) superintendent Humphrey Nwosu, a professor.
The election was a straight fight between Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC).
It was one of the most peaceful elections in the history of Nigeria, but the winner was never declared, as the exercise was annulled by IBB, citing electoral irregularities.
The annulment ushered in a chain of political instability, leading to the forced “stepping aside” of Babangida and the installation of a weak interim government headed by Ernest Shonekan.
Shonekan was later shoved aside by General Sani Abacha who imposed himself as the head of state.
The chains of crises that arose following the annulment, including the brutal assassination of Kudirat Abiola and the unexplainable death of MKO Abiola in Abacha’s gulag, led to the death of many innocent citizens in some parts of the South West geo-political zone where Abiola hailed from.
Before then, dozens of Nigerians had died either on the road or in their villages as they fled Lagos and some other states across the country for fear of an outbreak of war.
Normalcy began to return following the sudden death on July 7, 1998, of Abacha and the enthronement of Abdulsalami Abubakar as the new head of state.
The belief that Abiola won the annulled election has been widespread in the country, but the media have always cautiously used the phrase ‘presumed winner’.
But things began to get clearer as to the real winner of the 1993 presidential election when Goodluck Jonathan, in a bid to recognise and immortalise Abiola, named some national monuments after him.
“The Federal Government has decided that late Chief MKO Abiola should be honoured. “In honour of Chief MKO Abiola, the University of Lagos is renamed the Moshood Abiola University,” Jonathan said on May 29, 2012.
This, however, elicited wide controversy, leading to stepping back by the government.
President Muhammadu Buhari took the recognition a notch higher when he moved Democracy Day from May 29 of every year to June 12.
But if anybody was still in doubt as to whether or not Abiola indeed won that election, such was cleared on Thursday, February 20, 2025, when Babangida, during the launch of his autobiography, ‘A Journey In Service’, in Abuja, made the confession.
He, however, shifted the blame of the annulment to his subordinates, chiefly, Abacha.
It would not be out of place to say that most, if not all, the actors in the nation’s political space today are beneficiaries of the annulment one way or another.
What has become a sing-song in the polity is that the democracy that has existed since 1999 may not be the same version envisioned by MKO Abiola when he contested to lead the country.
Apart from the fact that the so-called democracy has helped to further the cause of a few politicians, the multitude of citizens are still locked in the neglect that was their lot during the jackboot era.
Many families remember June 12 as a black day in their lives as a result of incalculable personal losses they suffered following the annulment of the presidential election. It is, indeed, a day to forget or remember depending on the speaker and the audience.
Most state actors have a very wrong definition of governance. For many of those who occupy executive offices, their understanding of good governance begins and ends with road construction. They will tell you how many kilometres of road they have constructed in a year; never mind that the cost of such constructions is usually inflated or ‘padded’ in Nigerian parlance.
Some years ago, while deploring the claim of road construction as the beginning and end of good governance, Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy, said that the long-lasting investment any government can make is in human capacity development.
He also said that no matter how solid a road is, it would go bad after some years of usage.
He recalled when the Lagos-Ibadan Motorway was newly constructed, and it used to take him about 30 minutes to get to Ibadan from Lagos. He said that despite the investment and the good efforts of the then government, the road still went bad, and successive governments and administrations have continued to carry out multi-billion-naira rehabilitation work on the same road.
Good governance is about a framework for how organisations and governments should operate, emphasising accountability, transparency, and the rule of law. While good roads are a sine qua non of development, they must not be taken as the only focal point of governance or the fulcrum around which it revolves.
Nigerians hear about too many road constructions and their commissioning, but their lives have not been positively impacted by this road infrastructure. Would it not rather be great to spread the funds to other amenities that also have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of the people? Just thinking aloud.
A trophy for Ememobong
On the day Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State gave a marching order to his commissioners and other aides to either fall in or fall out, almost all members of his cabinet, except one, responded, “His Excellency lives forever; on your mandate we shall stand.”
Eno had given a subtle threat to anyone who may refuse to follow him to his new party; all his commissioners, except Ini Ememobong, decided to follow the governor to guarantee a constant flow of the stomach infrastructure.
On the eve of the defection and the razzmatazz associated with it, Ememobong, commissioner for Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, nailed his own version of “95 theses”, as it were, at the wall of the Government House, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, through a well-crafted resignation letter that neither denigrated nor abused the governor but simply acknowledged their individual rights to their ideological differences.
Ememobong, through his boldness and candour, has shown that not everybody is crazy about being in government by all means.
At a time in the country when there is famine and many people are desperate to grab a political post and hang in there so far as it guarantees them a regular flow of income, Ememobong decided to toe the path of biblical Daniel, bluntly refusing Governor Eno’s steaming pot of porridge.
“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat nor with the wine which he drank…” (Daniel 1:8).
As Martin Luther was vehement, defending his faith, arguing that the “Just Shall Live by Faith” and that work alone was not sufficient to guarantee anybody entrance into the kingdom of God, a belief at variance with what the leaders of his church held so dear, he was told to recant. To this, he replied, “My conscience is captive to the word of God. This, I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”
At the young age of 41, Ememobong would have easily chosen to continue with the governor and perhaps have his eyes on a bigger pie at the centre. But he strongly believes that “So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
His decision to join his former boss, Udom Emmanuel, who by reason of Eno’s defection has been left in the cold, as it were, is a lesson in loyalty.
Ememobong simply remembered yesterday, when Emmanuel insisted on him as commissioner and gave him the free hand to operate.
In a country where conscience does not matter in politics, successors have always severed relationships with their predecessors when they consider themselves “arrived”. Governor Eno may have considered himself “arrived” and decided to ditch his former boss in the most horrendous way. I hear you ask feebly; didn’t Emmanuel do the same to Godswill Akpabio? That is a story for another day.
Ememobong deserves a space in the Nigerian history book for his shining example and proving that not every Nigerian can afford to sell his/her birthright for a pot of porridge.
May I propose a toast for Comrade Iniobong Ememobong, ‘Politician of the Half Year 2025’, for his audacity, good-naturedness, selflessness and principled stand when it mattered most!
Businessday.ng
Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas has won the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He polled 166,375 votes to defeat former Minister of Transport, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, who got 4,110 votes.
Speaking shortly after he was declared winner, Kefas noted that the victory belongs to all members of his party.
The decision by some former ministers of President Bola Tinubu to resign from the Federal Executive Council in pursuit of elective offices ahead of the 2027 general elections appears to be yielding mixed fortunes, with only two securing party tickets so far.
Five former cabinet members stepped down from their positions after the Presidency directed political appointees seeking elective offices to resign before participating in party primaries.
Their resignation was in line with the Electoral Act 2026.
Among those affected were former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, who resigned to contest for the All Progressives Congress governorship ticket in Bauchi State; and former Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Yusuf Sununu, who resigned to pursue Kebbi senatorial ticket.
Others are former Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, who resigned to contest Gombe governorship ticket; former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, pursuing House of Representatives ticket in Abia State; and former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who resigned to contest the Oyo governorship primaries.
Of the five, only Onyejeocha and Sununu have secured their tickets.
Onyejeocha clinched the APC ticket for Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia after emerging as an unopposed candidate.
Sununu also secured the APC ticket for Yauri/Shanga/Ngaski Federal Constituency after withdrawing from the Kebbi South senatorial race.
Adelabu, Alkali lose out, Tuggar’s fate hangs
Adelabu, who resigned after the deadline set by the President, had hoped to secure the party’s governorship ticket in Oyo State ahead of the 2027 elections.
The former minister was, however, defeated in the contest by Senator Sarafadeen Alli.
Alli polled 578,143 votes to defeat Adelabu, who got 19,193 votes.
Following the outcome of the exercise, Adelabu alleged manipulation in the primary process, insisting that the election did not reflect the true wishes of party members.
He vowed to challenge the outcome of the election, adding that his team was preparing to petition the party leadership at the national level.
Speaking to journalists during the exercise, the ex-minister said, “In some wards, our people were prevented from voting; they were intimidated, they were chased away violently. And in some wards, voting did not take place at all, but they recorded numbers for them.
“All these kinds of misconduct are not good at this stage of our democracy in Nigeria and something has to be done about it. We are going to write serious petitions against all these things that took place.”
Similarly, former transport minister Alkali failed to secure the APC governorship ticket in Gombe State after boycotting the primary process over alleged irregularities.
Alkali lost to Jamilu Gwamna, who is backed by the incumbent, Governor Inuwa Yahaya.
Gwamna emerged winner of the primary after polling 247,161 votes to defeat Alkali, who polled 11, 612 votes and the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, who scored 12,120 votes.
Alkali had earlier boycotted the primaries over alleged lack of fairness, inclusivity, and credibility.
He also alleged that the exercise lacked the basic hallmarks of a credible democratic process.
While Adelabu and Alkali have lost out in their political bids, the fate of Tuggar hangs in the balance.
His supporters threatened to leave the APC if the party imposed a governorship candidate.
The supporters made their position known on Friday amid speculations that former Bauchi State governor, Muhammad Abubakar, may emerge as the party’s consensus candidate.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the Director of Media, Tuggar Foundation, Ibrahim Malam, said members of the movement would not remain in a party where internal democracy was allegedly being undermined.
According to him, the position being canvassed was that of members of the movement and not that of Tuggar himself.
“Regarding this narration of somebody becoming the APC flag bearer who is not competent, somebody who lost an election, we can’t remain in the party where democracy is not practised.
“I’m saying this on behalf of my team, not on behalf of the former minister Yusuf Tuggar. But this is our collective mind with the people coordinating his social media. We cannot support a party where democracy is not being practised,” he said.
Also speaking, a pharmacist and social media influencer, Bello Adamu, popularly known as Elder Karofi, rejected what he described as an attempt to impose a candidate on party members.
Adamu alleged that the reported consensus arrangement in favour of Abubakar amounted to injustice and warned that many supporters of Tuggar might refuse to support the APC if the decision stood.
“We reject this imposition and I don’t think any one of us is going to support anybody if that happens,” he stated.
He further disclosed that consultations were ongoing among supporters on the next political step to take, including the possibility of defecting from the APC to another political party.
Adamu also criticised the former governor’s record in office, insisting that Tuggar remained a more competent option among the aspirants seeking the APC governorship ticket in the state.
Alkali not leaving APC
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, Umar Alkali, the media aide to ex-minister Alkali, clarified that his principal did not withdraw from the governorship race but merely boycotted the APC primary process.
He said, “He (Alkali) is still in the race; he only boycotted the primaries. Given what happened during the previous House of Representatives and Senatorial primaries, after consultations, he deemed it fit to boycott the exercise.”
Alkali explained that many people misunderstood the situation and wrongly concluded that the former minister had withdrawn from the contest.
“He is not withdrawing from the governorship race. This is what most people misunderstood. He is still in the race; he only boycotted the process,” he added.
He also dismissed speculation that the former minister was planning to leave the ruling party, saying “No, he (Alkali) is not quitting the party. He is still in the APC.”
The aide further stated that Alkali remained loyal to the leadership of the APC and the Tinubu-led administration.
Meanwhile, Adelabu has dismissed the outcome of the primary election.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH through his media aide, Femi Awogboro, the former minister said he was unaware of any officially declared result.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. We don’t know of any result because we have not seen any result. The result has not been announced by anybody,” Awogboro said.
Asked whether Adelabu would challenge the outcome of the election or consider leaving the party, Awogboro said, “I won’t be able to say anything as regards that,” he added.
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday conducted primary elections for aspirants interested in contesting on the party’s platform.
According to Naija News, most first-term governors secured return tickets to seek re-election, while several outgoing governors also successfully delivered their preferred successors in consensus-driven primaries across the country.
Governors who clinched tickets unopposed to fly the APC flag in 2027 included Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), Umaru Bago (Niger), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Ahmad Aliyu (Sokoto), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), and Umar Namadi (Jigawa).
Also, Lagos Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Olamilekan Adeola in Ogun; Kingsley Chinda in Rivers; and Mustapha Gubio in Borno all emerged as consensus candidates in their respective states.
In Rivers, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Tonye Cole and Dakorinama George-Kelly withdrew from the race, paving the way for Chinda to emerge as the sole aspirant.
The exercises, however, were not smooth sailing in Oyo, Kwara, Bauchi and Taraba states.
As earlier reported by Naija News, the APC national headquarters halted the Kwara governorship primary midway on Thursday and announced that the exercise has been rescheduled for Friday.
In Taraba, Governor Agbu Kefas faced a tough challenge from former Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, who insisted the process must be transparent and credible.
Similarly, in Oyo, former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, rejected the process, alleging intimidation, manipulation and falsification of results in parts of the state.
Members of the party in Bauchi State decried alleged moves to impose a governorship candidate, insisting on a transparent, credible and competitive process.
Following some hitches, the APC leadership also postponed the governorship primary in Bauchi to Friday while the party has approved the rescheduling of the State House of Assembly Primary Elections for Maradun I and Maradun II Constituencies in Zamfara State to Sunday, May 24, 2026.
These developments were confirmed in a statement on Thursday by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka.
“The decision was approved by the National Working Committee NWC following consultations with relevant stakeholders and in furtherance of the Party’s commitment to ensuring transparent, orderly, peaceful, and credible primary election process,” he said.
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