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
..Likely Successor of Mahmood Yakubu
Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) has alleged emerged as the likely candidate to succeed Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
SaharaReporters exclusively reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had directed Yakubu to proceed on leave ahead of the expiration of his tenure.
Insider sources described the move as a response to what they termed Yakubu’s “last-minute betrayal” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government that appointed him.
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma reportedly met with President Tinubu shortly after the president returned from a 12-day working vacation, alleging that Yakubu’s efforts to register new political parties toward the end of his tenure had disrupted Tinubu’s preparations for a second term.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the governor also claimed that Yakubu was covertly supporting a candidate in the Imo State governorship election.
Following this briefing, Tinubu reportedly requested that Yakubu suspend all official duties and proceed on terminal leave.
The directive caused disruptions at INEC, leading to the abrupt cancellation of Yakubu’s final quarterly consultative meeting with political parties, as well as a planned session with civil society organisations.
The president is expected to submit the name of a new INEC chairman to the National Assembly in the coming days, with sources identifying Prof. Amupitan as the likely nominee.
Yakubu’s current five-year term is set to expire in the first week of December 2025, marking the conclusion of his 10-year service.
He was first appointed INEC Chairman on October 21, 2015, by then-President Muhammadu Buhari, succeeding acting chairperson Amina Zakari. Following Senate confirmation on October 29, 2015, he was sworn in on November 9, 2015.
After completing his first term in November 2020, Yakubu was nominated for a second and final term by President Buhari, confirmed by the Senate, and sworn in on December 1, 2020.
“Tinubu is shopping for Prof. Yakubu’s replacement, and Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan is likely to be the next INEC Chairman,” a top government source told SaharaReporters.
Amupitan’s Profile
Amupitan is a legal scholar and administrator with over 34 years of academic and professional experience. A native of Ijumu Local Government Area in Kogi State, he is married to Dr. (Mrs.) Yemisi Amupitan, and together they are blessed with four children.
Amupitan began his academic journey at the University of Jos in 1989 as an Assistant Lecturer. He steadily rose through the academic ranks, becoming a Reader in 2003 and a Professor of Law in 2008.
Over the years, he has held several key administrative positions, including Head of Department of Public Law, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors, and a member of the University’s Governing Council.
He has also served on the Governing Councils of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and the Council of Legal Education. Today, he serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos.
In December 2023, Professor Amupitan was inaugurated as the second Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), thereby affording him affiliation with the school.
According to records online, he obtained his Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Jos in 1987 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988 after completing the Barrister at Law program at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos.
He went on to earn a Master of Law degree in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Law in 2007, both from the University of Jos. In recognition of his achievements in the legal profession, he was conferred with the prestigious title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2014.
His areas of specialisation include the Law of Evidence, Corporate Governance, Corporate Law, and Privatisation Law.
Throughout his career, Amupitan has contributed to research, focusing on the legal frameworks for privatisation, reform of electoral laws, and reforms in petroleum and corporate governance laws.
He is an active member of several professional bodies, including the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Institute of Management, and the National Association of Law Teachers.
– Source: SaharaReporters
It is no longer a matter of speculation that former President Goodluck Jonathan is contemplating a bid for the presidency in the 2027 election, as evidenced by his numerous consultations with prominent political figures in Nigeria.
Jonathan seems to remain uncomfortable with the manner in which he lost the 2025 presidential election to the late Muhammadu Buhari, who notably became the first opposition candidate in Nigeria’s history to successfully unseat a sitting president. …Click the link to continue reading.
Several months ago, high-ranking stakeholders from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) reportedly traveled to The Gambia to engage with Jonathan and persuade him to accept the party’s nomination for the upcoming election.
Jonathan, who served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015, has recently positioned himself as a facilitator in both national and continental matters, particularly concerning conflict resolution and the enhancement of democratic practices throughout Africa and beyond.
Political expetrs assert that the recent decision by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP to designate the 2027 presidential ticket for candidates from the Southern region was a strategic move intended to create favorable conditions for Jonathan’s candidacy.
During a speech in Benin City, at the 70th birthday celebration of his longtime ally and former Chief of Staff, Mike Aiyegbeni Oghiadomhe, Jonathan expressed sentiments of betrayal by individuals he had previously placed his trust in during his re-election campaign.
Most recently, a significant meeting took place in Abuja between former President Jonathan and Senator David Mark, the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
However, Jonathan’s aspiration to secure a nomination from the coalition party may face challenges, as Senator Mark clearly indicated that the only pathway to attaining the party’s nomination would require Jonathan to formally join the ADC and actively participate in a transparent presidential primary process.
On September 12, 2025, Jonathan extended his consultations to Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate from the Labour Party (LP), engaging in discussions in Abuja concerning potential strategies for forming a unified opposition front in anticipation of the 2027 presidential election.
In recent months, the prospect of Jonathan and Obi as potential challengers to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has garnered considerable attention.
Following various reports regarding his prospective return to Aso Villa in 2027, Jonathan privately visited notable former military leaders, Generals Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Minna, Niger State, on September 15, 2022.
During separate meetings with the two leaders, Jonathan characterized his visits as routine engagements with esteemed elder statesmen, emphasizing, “The visit is simply a regular occurrence, particularly as I am the youngest of all former leaders. It also provided an opportunity to check in on General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who has recently returned from medical treatment, and to visit General Babangida.”
Moreover, former Minister of Information and Orientation, Professor Jerry Gana, has publicly stated that Jonathan will indeed contest in the 2027 presidential election, positioning him as the flagbearer for the PDP.
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has further expressed his belief that Jonathan represents the PDP’s strongest candidate for the 2027 presidential election, urging concerted efforts from the party to facilitate his return as a viable contender.
As the sitting president and a significant political figure, it is improbable that Goodluck Jonathan, despite extensive consultations, would be able to defeat Bola Tinubu. In the 2023 elections, regardless of the challenges he faced with his political party, he emerged victorious and continues to serve as president, commanding respect from both his supporters and opponents alike.
2027 Election: Be Careful To Contest Under The Party – Primate Ayodele Sends Warning To Jonathan
Former Kwara governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and ex-lawmaker Abubakar Amuda Kannike have officially joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and are now key leaders in the party ADC chieftain
Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq confirmed the high-profile defections, describing the party as a credible alternative to both APC and PDP in Kwara State
Several other prominent politicians, including former Minister Bolaji Abdullahi, are also strengthening ADC grassroots structures ahead of future political contests
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kwara state has confirmed that former governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and ex-federal lawmaker, Honourable Abubakar Amuda Kannike, have officially joined the party and are now playing significant leadership roles.
This was disclosed by a party chieftain, Alhaji Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, during a Yoruba-language interview monitored by Legit.ng.
Abdulfatah Ahmed served as governor of Kwara state from 2011 to 2019, while Abubakar Amuda Kannike represented the Ilorin East/Ilorin South constituency in the House of Representatives between 2015 and 2019.
According to the ADC chieftain, the former governor and other top political figures in the state have now repositioned themselves within the ADC, which he described as a “credible alternative” to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He explained: “Many of the politicians who resigned from the PDP in Kwara have already joined us. They are now our members. Some people think that because certain politicians have not made public declarations, they are hiding. That is not true. Former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed is with us. He is in Ilorin now, actively engaged in ADC activities.”
The ADC leader added that several other prominent politicians, including former Minister Bolaji Abdullahi, are also involved with the party, even if their schedules sometimes take them outside the state.
He continued: “Recently, Hon. Amuda Kannike, the former House of Representatives member, was around for his daughter’s wedding, and he is fully with us. Danladi from Offa is also back home. Zakari Mohammed is around too. Oba Aluko is here as well. All these leaders have returned to the grassroots to strengthen ADC. Our focus remains on the grassroots, because that is where real politics begins.”
Abdulrasaq also disclosed that his defection from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the ADC brought with it all the party’s structures in the state. “As a former chieftain of NNPP, I moved with all the 193 ward chairmen and the 16 local government chairmen of NNPP into ADC. They are all now members of ADC,” he said.
He stressed that former Governor Ahmed and Hon. Kannike are not just members but leaders actively giving directives to the ADC in Kwara.
“The former governor is among our leaders and one of those giving us direction in the party. He is fully committed to the progress of Kwara State and Nigeria as a whole. This is the reason he joined ADC,” Abdulrasaq said.
He further emphasised what makes the ADC different from other political parties. “What sets ADC apart from APC and PDP is our guiding principle.
We have vowed before God not to treat the people the way other politicians have treated them. We will not manipulate the people or exploit them. That is our commitment.”
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Tell Trump This: Primate Ayodele Sends Warning To Donald Trump In New Prophecy
