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2027 Election : We don’t want to be distracted, Obi or Obidients are not our concern, Says Onanuga
Thoughts and activities of the followers of the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in last year’s presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, will not distract it President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration, the Presidency has said.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, who ruled out the possibility of the administration being distracted, also accused the former Anambra governor of introducing a dangerous slant to politics by deploying religious and ethnic sentiments.
Onanuga spoke in a chat aired on Mic On Podcast.
Obi’s supporters (also known as the Obidients), have been critical of government policies Tinubu took the baton of leadership.
However, reacting to a question on whether Obi’s politics and his followers could posing a threat to President Tinubu’s chances in 2027, Onanuga said the administration has no time to entertain thoughts about 2027 politics yet.
He said: “As of now, we are busy with governance and we don’t want our attention diverted from the focus of what the government is trying to do. We are very busy, we’re not even looking at them now.”
Speaking about Obi’s political style at the last election, he said: “What I know about the campaign of Obi was that for the first time in a very long while in our country, we had a candidate who was inflaming ethnic passion and that was the way the election went at that time, he was inflaming ethnic and religious passions, bringing two dangerous things to our politics; ethnicity and religion. That was what he did and those things were dangerous to our politics.”
Asked if he believed some opponents want to intentionally sabotage the Tinubu administration, the Presidential spokesman said: “Of course, it is very clear unless people are not perceptive. Up till now, some are still writing that Bola Tinubu stole the presidency and some people are saying that the man who came third actually won the election, and they are very unapologetic about that.
“How could somebody who came third how could he have won that election? You can even see when they were talking about the naira, some people were just happy that the Naira was going downhill. You can trace them. People who are saying so are members of the Obidient movement.”
He debunked the belief in some quarters that President Tinubu also employed religious tactics, especially in his choice of a deputy, noting that the choice of Vice President Shettima was basically because of his other qualities and not his religious persuasion.
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He said: “If Asiwaju did that, he wouldn’t have lost Lagos”.
He said the safe faith ticket of the APC at the polls “was not religious. You could see that the Muslim/Muslim ticket did not win him massive votes, let’s say in Borno, where his deputy came from. For the man he picked as his VP, he believe that Shettima has the qualities to be his vice president and that’s why he picked him, he was not looking at religion.
“Let me give you an incident. We went somewhere recently and we found out that most of the people in the media section of this government are actually Muslims. I was born a Muslim, but it was mere coincidence, when they were picking them, nobody was looking at their religion.
“When President Tinubu was picking Shettima as his vice, he was picking Shettima and not looking at him as a Muslim. He was looking at Shettima, from the Northeast part of the country, who can add values to his campaign, to his winning the Presidency.
“Shettima earned the vice presidency because of his contributions to that campaign; he was with him all the way, even before the primary. When you want to appoint someone to work with you, you have to count loyalty, it’s very vital. Even the quality of the person is also very important and you can see what Shettima has been doing; he’s loyal to the President and he has shown a lot of qualities as Vice President.”
Asked to compare President Tinubu with his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, Onanuga said it would be too early to be drawing conclusions on performances as President Tinubu is barely a year in the saddle.
He however said that the two leaders have their human differences and different ways of attending to issues, noting that the former president had been unfairly judged by many commentators
According to him, Buhari tried his best for the country, especially in the area of infrastructure development and the enrichment of the legal system.
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JUST IN: Court Rejects “Terrorists’ Negotiator” Tukur Mamu’s Third Bail Application
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A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a fresh application for bail filed by detained alleged terrorists negotiator, Tukur Mohammed Mamu.
Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling on Wednesday, noted the health complaint by Mamu and held that the detaining authority, the Department of State Services (DSS) should not release him but take him to an appropriate health facility where he would be adequately attended to.
Justice Umar noted that, by the history of the case so far, the prosecution has exhibited diligence in it handling of the case and exhibited diligence in prosecuting the case.
The judge said one of the reasons for granting bail is where the prosecution is not diligent, noting that since the prosecution in this case is diligent, the application for bail cannot be granted.
He subsequently ordered that the defence lawyer should choose the health facility comfortable to the defendant, to which he should be promptly taken.
He also asked the DSS to allow the defendant access to members of his family.
The ruling on Wednesday is the third time the court will reject his application for bail since his was arraigned on March 21, 2023 by the Federal Government on a 10-count charge bordering on terrorism financing, among others.
Mamu was arrested on September 7, 2022 by Egyptian security officials at the Cairo International Airport, on reasonable suspicion of financing Boko Haram terrorism activities.
He was alleged to have convinced the terrorists to discuss ransom payments with individual families of the hostages of the train attack instead of the Chief of Defense Staff Committee set up by the Federal Government for his personal financial gain.
He was said to have been nominated by the terrorists that attacked the Abuja-Kaduna bound train sometime in March 2022 which took scores of persons hostage.
Mamu was alleged to have collected ransoms on behalf of the Boko Haram terrorists from families of hostages, confirmed the amount and facilitated the delivery of same to the terrorists.
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BREAKING: ASUU suspends two-week warning strike
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities has announced the suspension of its ongoing two-week warning strike.
The National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, made this known in an ongoing press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Piwuna, the decision stemmed from the meeting of the National Executive Council meeting which was held overnight and ended by 4:00 am on Wednesday.
Piwuna noted that the union decided to embark on the strike due to the failure of the government to meet its demands on time.
“We’ve had useful engagements with representatives of the government to consider the response to the draft renegotiation of the 2009 agreements. However, we are definitely not where we were prior to the commencement of the strike.
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Update : police tracks down mastermind of railway vandalism, recovers load of stolen Materials in Plateau, Says Opeifa
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The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) had a major breakthrough recently it its efforts to apprehend the vandals of its critical assets across the country.
Towards this end, the Corporation’s police Command has arrested one Musa Abdullahi, aka Major aged 32, a notorious receiver and kingpin of vandalized railway materials, in Kaduna.
The arrest was a major success recorded by the Corporation in its campaign against the vandalisation and theft of railway materials, just as it intercepted a trailer loaded with railway components In plateau State.
In Kaduna, operatives of the Nigerian Police, Railway Command, arrested the suspect around the Rigasa area.
His arrest followed intelligence reports on the vandalism of electrical installations along the Mando–Rigasa corridor on Tuesday,14th October 2025.
Investigation is ongoing, and the case will be charged to court on conclusion.
In Plateau State, operatives of the Nigeria Police, Railway Command, intercepted trailer conveying large quantities of railway materials along KM 822–823, Foromaxis, in the early hours of Tuesday, 14th October 2025.
The truck, which was abandoned by its driver who fled the scene, was successfully towed to the Jos Railway Police Station on Wednesday, 15th October 2025.
Investigation is on going to uncover and apprehend all individuals connected to the theft.
The Managing Director of the NRC, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, commended the Nigeria Police for their professionalism, intelligence-led operation, and swift action in handling both incidents.
He described the arrests and recovery as clear evidence of the renewed synergy between the Corporation and security agencies in protecting critical railway infrastructure across the country.
Dr. Opeifa reaffirmed the Corporation’s resolve to strengthen collaboration with the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and other security formations to ensure that vandals, receivers, and collaborators are brought to justice.
He emphasized that such criminal acts amount to economic sabotage, warning that the NRC Management will continue to pursue zero tolerance for vandalism through enhanced surveillance, community engagement,and intelligence sharing.
Opeifa further appealed to residents of communities hosting railway facilities to remain vigilant and promptly report any suspicious movement around rail installations.
He noted that the railway system remains a major driver of national development and urged the public to view its protection as a shared responsibility.
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