Politics
Ngige’s Call On Igbo To Join APC, Childish, Pedestrian –Ohanaeze
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo last Monday described as childish, a call by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, that the Igbo should join the All Progressives Congress in order to produce the next President of the country.
The group’s National Publicity Secretary, Prince Uche Achi-Okpaga, in a telephone interview with our source said until an “Igbo man becomes president, Nigeria will never progress.”
Ngige, had while addressing the APC members last Sunday at Alor in the Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, said the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari had done well for the Igbo.
He had stated that the APC was the easiest political platform the South-East could use to ascend the presidency of the country.
Faulting Ngige, Achi-Okpaga said the minister’s statement was baseless and pedestrian. According to him, in 2019, the Igbo voted for the APC.
He asked: “Is Ngige from Ghana? Is he not an Igbo man? The APC got all the percentages of votes they needed from the South-East in the February 2019 presidential election. Was it a fluke or doctored? Were the votes not Igbo votes? So if he is saying Igbo should join the APC, is he saying that there are no Igbo in the APC, including himself?”
The Ohanaeze spokesman said people asking the Igbo to join the APC were just looking for an excuse not to field an Igbo candidate in 2023.
He stated: “I think his statement is very pedestrian. It is just that when you want to kill a dog, you want to find a fault to hang it. Just to find a fault to say that the Igbo are this or that. Let me tell you, until an Igbo man becomes President, nothing will move forward. Nigeria will continue to be a motionless engine.
“We have said the Igboman sees the entire world as his village. So if an Igbo man becomes president of Nigeria, there is no state, there is no village in Nigeria that you cannot find an Igbo man. So he has no time to marginalise anyone. The Igbo man lives in Sokoto, so the government will like to build roads in Sokoto because his brother lives there. The Igbo man lives in Kafachan. The Igbo live in Ogun. They live in Cross River. They live in all parts of Nigeria.
“The whole of Nigeria is the horizon of Igbo man. There’s no ethnicity in Igbo man. It is only the Igbo that practise one Nigeria, every other person is a hypocrite. So until Igbo man becomes president, Nigeria will keep running round the same circle. What Ngige said was just childish.”
On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party said the APC was not a viable party for Ndigbo to actualise any of their political aspirations in.2023. The PDP Deputy National Publicity, Mr Diran Odeyemi, in an interview with journalists in Abuja also said the PDP was not dead.
He said the comment by Ngige that the Igbo people should join the APC to realise their aspiration for the 2023 presidency was a mere campaign talk which had no practical validity.
Odeyemi said: “Ngige can say all that he wants to say. He can cajole the people to join them in the APC. But he knows that the South-East is a no-go area for the APC. There is nothing they can say that the people will believe them.
“In 2023, we are bringing out a great candidate that Nigerians will know and vote for. It is too early to be talking about zoning, but Ngige knows that the Igbo people will never go the way of the APC because it is a party that is full of deceit and lies.”
Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has renamed The Polytechnic, Ibadan as Omololu Olunloyo Polytechnic, Ibadan, in honour of a late former governor of the State, Dr Omololu Olunloyo.
Dr Olunloyo, who died on April 6, 2025, was the pioneer Principal of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, while he also served as Governor of Oyo State between October 1 and December 31, 1983.
Governor Makinde made the announcement at the state interdenominational funeral service held yesterday in honour of the late former governor at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Liberty Road, Ibadan.
Governor Makinde said Dr Olunloyo lived an eventful life, adding that his attainment and personality could not be summarised in one sentence.
“He was not a man we could summarise in one sentence. He was a scholar, a statesman, a technocrat, a lover of culture and, above all, a man of deep conviction.
“While giving the exhortation, I was listening to Baba Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu and he said in 1983, Baba became Governor of Oyo State. Though his time in office was brief, his election victory over a popular incumbent remains a powerful testament to the trust people gave him.
“I talked about preserving and digitising his library yesterday [Wednesday] as a mark of honour to Baba Olunloyo.
“Today, we will be giving Baba another honour to immortalise him. He was the first Principal of The Polytechnic, Ibadan; that institution will now be named Omololu Olunloyo Polytechnic, Ibadan.”
Earlier in his sermon, a retired Methodist Archbishop of Ilesa and Ibadan, Ayo Ladigbolu, described the late Olunloyo as a role model with intellectual inspiration and unassailable integrity.
The cleric said the deceased also demonstrated leadership in most superior quality during his lifetime.
In attendance were the state Deputy Governor, Chief Abdulraheem Bayo Lawal; wife of a former Military Governor of the old Oyo State, Chief (Mrs) Dupe Jemibewon; wife of a former Governor of Oyo State, Chief (Mrs) Mutiat Ladoja; former Deputy Governor and PDP Deputy National Chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja; and former Deputy Governor, Hazeem Gbolarumi.
Others were the member representing Ibadan North-East/South-East Federal Constituency, Hon Abass Adigun Agboworin; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Otunba Segun Ogunwuyi; Oyo State Exco members; Chairman of Oyo State Elders’ Council, Dr Saka Balogun; Chairman of All Local Government Chairmen in Oyo State, Hon Sikiru Sanda; President-General of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Chief Adeniyi Ajewole; religious leaders and family members, among other dignitaries.
Ten members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) have countered the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, on the reinstatement of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary.
The dissenting members, led by the Deputy National Chairman ( South), Taofeek Arapaja, in a joint statement, said no organ of the opposition party could overturn the decision of the 99th meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC).
The dissenting NWC members include Arapaja; Setonji Koshoedo, Deputy National Secretary; Okechukwu Obiechina-Daniel, National Auditor; Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary; Ologunagba; Woyengikuro Daniel, National Financial Secretary and Ahmed Yayari Mohammed, National Treasurer.
Others are Chief Ali Odefa, National Vice Chairman (South East); Emmanuel Ogidi, Caretaker Committee Chairman (South South); Mrs. Amina Darasimi D. Bryhm, National Woman Leader and Ajisafe Kamoru Toyese, National Vice Chairman (South West).
The group also insisted that contrary to the position of the acting National Chairman, the 100th NEC meeting of the party would be held on June 30 as earlier scheduled.
The statement read: “The attention of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to a press briefing by the acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum, today Wednesday, June 25, wherein he attempted to overturn the resolution of the 99th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which scheduled the 100th NEC meeting for Monday, June 30.
“The acting National Chairman in the said press briefing also reportedly announced that Senator Samuel Anyanwu has been asked to resume as National Secretary of the party contrary to the resolution of the 99th NEC meeting, which referred all matters relating to the office of the National Secretary to the 100th NEC meeting.
“The pronouncements by the acting National Chairman have no foundation as no organ of the party (including the NWC), individual or group has the power to cancel, overrule, veto or vary the resolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) under the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the NEC is the highest decision-making organ of the party, second only to the National Convention. By virtue of Section 31 (3) of the PDP Constitution, the resolution of the NEC to hold its 100th meeting on Monday June 30, is binding on all organs, officers, chapters and members of the party and no organ, group or individual can vary or veto this resolution of NEC.
“Furthermore, the claim by Damagum that Sen Anyanwu has been asked to resume office as the National Secretary of the party is, therefore, misleading being contrary to the resolution of NEC.
“In the light of the foregoing, the 100th NEC meeting as scheduled for Monday, June 30, has not been canceled or postponed.”
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has fired back at former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, following the latter’s scathing criticism of President Tinubu’s administration and his 2027 re-election prospects.
In an interview on live television, Mallam El-Rufai said it would take a “miracle” for President Tinubu to be re-elected in 2027, citing an internal poll that purportedly shows a 91 percent disapproval rating for the president across key regions in the country, including the South-East and the North. He also claimed that President Tinubu’s disapproval rating in Lagos stood at 78 percent.
Reacting on Wednesday via a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Onanuga took a swipe at the ex-governor, quoting a harsh assessment of Mallam El-Rufai’s character from former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s memoir, My Watch.
“Nasir’s penchant for reputation savaging is almost pathological,” Mr Onanuga wrote, citing Chief Obasanjo’s words. “Why does he do it? Very early in my interaction with him, I appreciated his talent. At the same time, I recognised his weaknesses; the worst being his inability to be loyal to anybody or any issue consistently for long, but only to Nasir El-Rufai.”
The presidential adviser emphasised Chief Obasanjo’s remarks that Mallam El-Rufai often tries to elevate himself by diminishing others. “He lied brazenly, which he did to me, against his colleagues and so-called friends,” Mr Onanuga continued, quoting the former President. “I have heard of how he ruthlessly savaged the reputation of his uncle, a man who, in an African setting, was like a foster father to him.”
Chief Obasanjo, who appointed Mallam El-Rufai as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory between 2003 and 2007, did not mince words in the memoir, describing Mallam El-Rufai as suffering from “small man syndrome.”
Mr Onanuga’s post is seen as a direct rebuttal to Mallam El-Rufai’s recent criticism and growing opposition role. The former governor is reportedly playing a central role in forming a new coalition to challenge President Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
In March 2025, El-Rufai officially dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) and joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), intensifying speculations about his 2027 political ambitions.
As the political rift deepens, Mallam El-Rufai remains one of the most vocal critics of the Tinubu administration, while Mr Onanuga and other presidential allies continue to push back against what they describe as “reckless” opposition rhetoric.