Politics
‘Buhari will defeat Obasanjo, Babangida, others who asked him not to re-contest’ – Aide
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has said that Buhari will defeat all the former Presidents and heads of state, who recently asked him (Buhari) not to re-contest in a presidential election.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida, are among Nigerians who have told Buhari to forget recontesting the number one seat next year.
Garba Shehu, who said that Buhari richly deserves a second term in office, said that rather than asking Buhari not to contest in 2019, the former leaders should come out and contest against Buhari next year.
Reacting to the call by the former leaders urging Buhari not to contest, Garba Shehu said “My response to them is that if they like they can come and contest against President Buhari. He will defeat them, all of them.”
On the belief by some Nigerians that President Buhari should not be talking of recontesting when there is hunger in the land, he said “With all the noise the PDP is making, even during their tenure as President did they give breakfast lunch and dinner to every citizen? Is there any country in which someone does not go hungry?
“I am not saying it is perfectly in order but they are just politicizing these issues. This is a government that has removed this country from the shame of food importation, every state of the country now is into rice production, and we are feeding not only Nigeria but west Africa.
“And the government is working on having respectable prices for food items, food inflation is coming down grossly. Everyone complaining of hunger should go and work. And you know that this is the only government that has introduced social investment schemes, we pay out now for the poorest of the poor, the least they will get is N5,000.and a lot of these job that are been created are from loans with little or no interest from the central bank, Bank of industry, Banks of Agriculture, Development Bank and the rest.
“So there is a lot going for people who really want to go out there to work especially in Agriculture.”
He also faulted those Nigerians who believed that it was a weakness for the President not to be able reshuffle his cabinet members since 2015.
He said “The President is the one who wears the shoes, he know where it pinches. if the president hasn’t sacked his ministers, it means that he wants to continue to work with them.
“Maybe those agitating for the sack of the ministers are also looking for a chance to come in to replace those who are there, in that case then they are driven by selfish motive.
“As president and commander in chief he reserves the right to hire and fire. For the fact that he hasn’t done that does not mean that he does not have the power to do that. I am sure if he wants do it, he will do it at his own pace and time but people who want to become ministers, how many minister can we even appoint in this country?
“I think people should just be busy. Let them go and start farming instead of sitting down to speculate whether they can be made minister or not.” he said.
Mallam Shehu also rated the administration high on infrastructural development.
According to him, no past administration has invested so much in capital projects like the current administration.
He said “Thank you for this opportunity and I want to say that the records are there for everyone to see that no government, no past administration in Nigeria has invested as much as we have done or let me say we are currently doing in infrastructure development.
“From day one when he took power, the president gave a target of not less than 30% of annual appropriation devoted to infrastructure development. Without infrastructure we can not lay the foundation for growth.
“When this administration came to power, between 95 and 96 percent of public expenditure was going into overhead cost leaving only about five or six percent for infrastructure. The allocation of 30 percent under this administration has led to tremendous improvement in the provision of infrastructure so far in the country. Now there is a lot of work going on, building new rail lines and the rehabilitation of the old rail system networks, roads are been done all across the country, you only need to drive around to see for yourself.
“The amount of work this administration has done on Roads i.e the expressway from Enugu to PortHarcout has not been done in the eight years of the previous administrations. We are hoping that within this year before the next election Lagos -Ibadan will be completed, it’s a lot of money, we are doing it Government is laying the sod now for the construction of a 6 lane road from Abuja to Kano.
“So there is so much that is going on in terms of that. We are doing power, you know that this administration has doubled availability of power in the country when we came in its stood at about 3,000 MWatts, we have hit 7,000 MWatts and we are doing more so it depends on what you are looking at.
“This is a government that has spent N1.3 Trillion In capital expenses under 2016 Budget and has also spent as much as that under the 2017 budget and it’s almost closing on records for last year which was N1.3 Trillion.” he said.
Asked if the farmers/ herders crises have not rubbished the administration’s goal of securing lives and properties, he said “The problem between farmers and Herdsmen predates the independence of Nigeria, if you read history you will see that farmers and herdsmen had fought for space in this country even British colonial rulers were here so this is not something new.
“I am not saying it is welcome but I think it is over amplified now, there is a media spotlight on it because the opposition cannot engage Buhari administration on any other issue other than this lacuna that they have found.
“They cannot discuss the war against corruption because that’s a very uncomfortable area for them, they don’t want to discuss issues of infrastructure with Buhari, they don’t want to discuss economic diversification which this administration has achieved a lot of success, today we have 12 million Rice farmers in this country, six million new jobs are been created in other sector by Agriculture alone, food import has gone down by 95 Percent, we are feeding ourselves.
“This year the government is planning a ban on rice importation. So we are doing so well moving from over reliance on oil to Agriculture and manufacturing.
“Therefore, I am not saying that it is okay that the farmers and herdsmen are fighting but we are doing a lot. You can see that the recent activity especially the military operation now in the North Central Section of the country has led to the recoveries of large quantities of weapon illegally held by militias and even herdsmen.
“So something is being done about it. I know by the time this is done with, I don’t know what else the opposition will be talking about.” he said
Speaking on the assertion in the social media that President Buhari is shielding herdsmen from prosecution and begging them to accept amnesty, he said “Well, I hope you also realize that the social media has brought a lot of good things to the world and it has also brought a lot of problems not only in Nigeria but everywhere in the world.
“Nations of the world are talking about regulations and control, this is happening in Germany in the UK even the US you see that a lot these technology companies are been fined for infringements that they cause.
“The thing is that there is a tendency to see things from a negative point of view when your point of view is shaped and colored by the social media.
“It’s always been heard that the default position of the social media itself is to be negative, so people have turned out to ignore grand reality and project images that are very negative.
Otherwise I wonder , this is an administration that has done so so extremely well and to a president who has sworn to an oath to defend the constitution and protect every life and property, it is very unfair and uncharitable to say that he will shield anybody, and In any case, the president controls only one layer of authority, what are the governors doing, is the social media also saying that the governors are protecting the herdsmen from the law, are they saying the local government are also protecting them?
“You see it has to take everyone at various levels of authority to shield somebody from the law in those circumstances, and the president himself, his passion is for the country, this is a president whose passion is not even for the office, even when everyone is asking him to go for a second term he is keeping quiet because his focus remains the nation and the problem of the country.
“Whoever is peddling these rumours that Boko Haram is being granted amnesty and so on I would ask them who doesn’t want to make peace with the enemy? In any case as it is proverbially said all wars end up in the Boardroom. You can defeat people technically in the field but at the end you must come to the conference room to resolve all issues.
“So if Boko Haram would lay down their arms and stop fighting and stop preaching that negative ideology , the country should be able to embrace them welcome all of them so that they continue to live normal lives and be useful to the nation.
“What that mean is that we will be saving cost, saving lives that are being lost through bombing, killing of service personnel and we will be saving money that we are using to procure weapons so that such money can go into services and infrastructure and welfare of the citizens of this country. It is a win -win situation.” he stated
Politics
Lagos APC in Turmoil as Chairmanship Aspirants Reject ‘Imposition Plot’ Ahead of Council Polls
PDP in Crisis: The Political Exodus That May End Africa’s Largest Party
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
Never did we imagine that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), once hailed as Africa’s largest political coalition, would witness such dramatic erosion from within. But in today’s Nigeria, where political loyalty is as volatile as the economy, the PDP is now hanging by a thread. What was once a formidable machinery that ruled Nigeria for 16 unbroken years has become a political shadow, limping from one internal crisis to another, gasping under the weight of ambition, betrayal and irrelevance.
This is no longer mere speculation. This is a full-blown political exodus.
The warning signs have long been in the air, but the silence of the party’s leadership only emboldened the defections. More PDP governors, senators and influential political actors are preparing to “throw in the dirty towel” to use a common Nigerian parlance and “get a change of toiletries” from a more promising political vehicle. The All Progressives Congress (APC), despite its governance failures, has remained the dominant force. Meanwhile, Labour Party (LP) and its ideological frontmen have seized the imagination of Nigeria’s politically conscious youth. Where is the PDP in all this? Nowhere near the pulse of the nation.
The Collapse of a Giant
Once upon a time, PDP stood like a colossus, commanding national attention and holding sway across all six geopolitical zones. In 2007, it controlled 28 out of 36 state governorships. By 2015, that number had dropped to 21. Today in 2025, the PDP controls just 9 states, an embarrassing decline that reveals the party’s waning appeal and fractured internal unity. Analysts have blamed this on the party’s failure to manage its primaries democratically, an outdated power-sharing formula and the overbearing influence of godfathers.
“Power is not something you hold forever. You must constantly renew your legitimacy through the people,” said late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a former PDP leader known for his integrity. The party has clearly forgotten this principle.
The Atiku Albatross
The PDP’s 2023 presidential campaign was marred by one fatal error: the insistence of fielding Atiku Abubakar, a serial contestant whose political capital has been dwindling with each election cycle. The PDP’s inability to learn from its past mistakes and reinvent itself through younger, credible candidates shows how deeply the party has lost touch with contemporary realities.
Even within the party, Atiku is increasingly seen not as a unifier but a divider. His constant grip on the presidential ticket has frustrated younger aspirants and caused internal blockades that push members away.
“One man cannot hold a whole party to ransom,” said former Senate President Bukola Saraki in a private meeting leaked last year. That message reflects what many insiders are saying in hushed tones.
The Shockwaves of 2027
As the 2027 election cycle begins to take shape, permutations are in full gear. And while Atiku may be warming up for a record-breaking sixth attempt at the presidency, his influence is anything but stable. The PDP is already seeing rebellion from within, particularly from southern blocs who believe it is time the North stopped dominating the party’s presidential ambition.
Key political actors are already exploring alternative alliances. Rumours abound of secret talks between PDP governors and Tinubu’s men. Some are also aligning quietly with Peter Obi’s Labour Party, hoping to hedge their bets.
A recent poll by SBM Intelligence showed that 61% of PDP voters in the South-East and South-South are “open to switching allegiance” if the party fails to restructure before 2026. That’s a political red flag.
Why Governors Are Jumping Ship
What exactly is triggering this mass departure? The reasons are numerous, but four stand out:
Self-Preservation: Most Nigerian governors operate in a transactional political environment. Their loyalty lies not with ideology but with continuity of power. With the PDP unlikely to win the presidency in 2027, many are seeking new alliances to protect their political future.
Lack of Internal Democracy: The PDP has failed repeatedly to conduct transparent and fair primaries. Recent gubernatorial primaries in states like Delta, Rivers and Abia were marred by allegations of imposition and backdoor deals.
Atiku’s Grip: The feeling that Atiku is determined to contest in 2027, regardless of public sentiment, is unsettling. Many believe that as long as he remains a central force in the party, others have no space to thrive.
Tinubu’s Strategic Poaching: The current APC-led administration is systematically targeting opposition strongholds. Governors are being enticed with promises of federal appointments, project funding and legal shields from EFCC investigations.
Can the PDP Survive?
This is the pressing question. The answer lies in whether the party is willing to undergo painful introspection and renewal. It must adopt a bottom-up approach, re-engage with the grassroots, purge itself of godfatherism and allow credible young candidates to emerge.
It also needs to redefine its ideology. The APC may have failed economically, but it succeeded politically by branding itself as a party of change, regardless of how false that branding turned out to be. The PDP has no distinct narrative today.
What the Experts Say
Prof. Ayo Olukotun, a leading political scientist at Obafemi Awolowo University, recently argued: “The PDP is a classic case of political entropy. Without internal reform, it will disintegrate not by collapse, but by irrelevance.”
Similarly, Dr. Remi Adekoya, political analyst and author of “Politics of Identity in Nigeria”, notes: “The PDP has become a party for political pensioners. It is not inspiring to young voters nor innovative in its messaging.”
A Last Chance
If Atiku and the old guard truly care about the future of PDP, they must step back and allow a new leadership to emerge. Nigeria is moving on. The PDP must do the same. The 2027 ticket cannot be an inheritance. It must be earned. And it must reflect the shifting demographics of Nigerian voters, 65% of whom are under the age of 35.
This is not just about Atiku. It is about the soul of the PDP and whether it can reclaim its place in Nigerian political history or fade into obscurity like the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of the 1990s.
Furthermore
History is not kind to political parties that fail to evolve. The PDP has been served many warnings. The defections we see today are not just acts of betrayal; they are symptoms of decay. If the party does not reinvent itself quickly and decisively, it will not survive the coming storm.
The words of Chinua Achebe ring truer than ever: “A man who brings home ant-infested firewood should not be surprised when lizards come to feast.” The PDP brought this upon itself. The only question now is: will it learn, or will it perish?
Politics
Lagos Assembly Charges Security Agencies To Redouble Efforts In Combating Extortion By Miscreants
Lagos Assembly Charges Security Agencies To Redouble Efforts In Combating Extortion By Miscreants
Acknowledging that the scourge of brazen extortion by miscreants on Lagos streets was on the increase, the Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the Commissioner of Police, CP Olohunda Moshood Jimoh, and heads of other security agencies to intensify intelligence gathering with the latest security apparatuses, increase surveillance on black spots across the metropolis, and, where necessary, arrest such miscreants, and have the state rehabilitate them.
Hon. Sanni Okanlawon (representing Kosofe Constituency 1) raised the alarm at plenary Tuesday, May 6, under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’ stating; “The unlawful extortion of stranded and innocent motorists by miscreants remains a growing concern that demands urgent attention. Nobody on the streets of Lagos is immune to their activities. If left unchecked, they could render the state unsafe.” He painted different unsavoury scenarios of how the street urchins operate brazenly, which he described as unacceptable, and called for urgent intervention to protect road users.
Supporting the motion, Hon. Kehinde Joseph (Alimosho Constituency II) noted that this particular trend threatens the safety and sanity of road transportation in the state. Hon. Desmond Elliot (Surulere Constituency 1) corroborated this and emphasised the need for active surveillance by security agencies. He also suggested the involvement of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), noting that many of the offenders act under the influence of illegal substances.
Similarly, Hon. Aro Moshood (Ikorodu Constituency II) urged the Commissioner of Police to set up a tactical team dedicated mainly to road monitoring because “It is high time the government took the bull by the horns.” Commending Hon. Okanlawon for moving the motion, Hon. Adebola Shabi (Lagos Mainland Constituency 2) said local government chairmen have a huge role in combating this menace. Effective strategies, she added, have to be devised while recommending the installation of CCTV cameras at identified black spots.
However, Hon. Obafemi Saheed (Kosofe Constituency 2) disclosed that the government has invested heavily in security through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF, and, therefore, should not sit back and watch miscreants take over the city.
Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Mudashiru Obasa commended Hon. Okanlawon and the lawmakers who contributed robustly to the debate. He said that the police and other security agencies, including the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), must collaborate to ensure that Lagos remains safe for residents, commuters, and visitors alike.
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