Politics
APC Crisis: Party Chieftain Reveals Why Tinubu Wants Oshiomhole As Chairman
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and presidential aspirant in the 2019 general elections SKC Ogbonna, has said that the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s tenure as the party’s National Chairman, cannot be divorced from the alleged overbearing ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to rule Nigeria at all cost.
He said that the continued stay of Oshiomhole as the ruling party’s Chairman, after the latest move to sack him, did not come as a surprise.
The APC chieftain also blamed Oshiomhole’s opponents, accusing them of having been hitting the tail instead of the head in their plot to sack Oshiomhole.
In an article he signed and made available to newsmen, yesterday, Ogbonnia said, “The gist is that Oshiomhole’s tenure of crisis cannot be divorced from the overbearing ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to rule Nigeria at all costs.”
He said, therefore, that instead of chasing shadows, it has become imperative to muster the courage and go all out to tame the former Lagos State governor.
Ogbonna added, “Make no mistake: Tinubu, the national leader of APC has every right to seek the presidency. More essentially, his role in the Nigerian democracy can never be belittled. This informs why I had to admonish President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in his first tenure for alienating the Asiwaju.
“I asserted then (and still believe) that, ‘if dynamic opposition is the life-wire of a democracy, it is very fitting then to name him (Tinubu) the saviour of Nigeria’s current democratic journey.’
“Regrettably, the manner Tinubu has been pursuing his presidential ambition is not only becoming an existential threat to APC as a party but also to the same democracy he helped to save.
“The problem is rooted in Tinubu’s naked godfatherism. The canker began to grow when the Asiwaju was made to believe that he solely influenced the nomination of Buhari.
“Further, after his failed bid to grab the vice-presidential ticket, Tinubu was allowed to handpick his longtime ally for the position, so that peace could reign.
“Worst still, the former Lagos State governor would retain the titular title of National Leader, thereby creating an impression of two captains in one ship.
“As if that was not enough, he attempted to also dictate the leadership of the Legislature but failed. This failure, remember, led to the first major crisis in the party and the mass decampment that followed before the 2019 general elections.
“The most mystifying, however, is that, despite the fact that his primary fiefdom, Lagos, is constantly ranked as one of the worst estates on earth, it has not deterred Tinubu from the morbid desperation to rule other Nigerian states by proxy.
“The more troubling is his do-or-die approach. For instance, the next major crisis after the National Assembly debacle was his plot to hijack the 2016 Ondo State governorship primary election against the rightful winner, the current governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.
“The outcome was a nasty fallout between the Asiwaju on one side and both the then National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun and President Buhari on the other side. In attempt to restore a sense of normalcy before 2019 elections, Buhari had to go out of his way to appease Tinubu by easing out Oyegun. Enter Adams Oshiomhole.”
According to Ogbonnia, President Buhari had misread Oshiomhole as a “simplistic khaki-wearing” independent-minded party man who could contain Tinubu.
“But Oshiomhole was understandably desperate for attention after leaving office as Edo State governor and did not want to end the Oyegun way,” he added.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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