Against reports that leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, showed interest in the vice presidential slot of his party ahead of the 2015 elections, and that he was rejected based on religious consideration, the former governor of Lagos said he was the one who rejected the offer.
Explaining why he declined the offer in a press statement personally signed by him, the politician, whose man, Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, emerged on Wednesday as the running mate to the party's presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, said he decided to back out of the pursuit because of his love for Nigeria.
Tinubu explained that after being a part of APC’s success and helping to strengthen the party, he had more responsibilities than battle for the vice presidency slot.
Tinubu said: I am a Nigerian who loves his country and am hopeful about what it can become. I have seen and conducted myself as a patriot long before I thought of myself as a politician. I shall always walk this line and no other.
"After all the political calculations are made and the dust of competition has settled, it must be this nation and its people who stand first and foremost. The question becomes whether we stand strong, able to shape ourselves into our best future or will we stand frail and trembling, burdened by the abject failure to surmount the multiple problems confronting us.
"Nothing is more important to me than to realize this dream not for myself but for the people of this land I so love…I helped to build this party, giving no thought to seeking an elected office because of it. My contribution to the party was never based on the expectation of a later political handout. Nigeria is in trouble and we are well past the moment for such narrow, selfish games.” He confirmed that he was actually offered the the slot by Buhari but that after weighing the options, he chose to hold back."
"I have concluded that the interest of the party, our campaign and of the nation is better served if I retain my position as the National leader of the APC, allowing me to be a bridge builder across all divides. Although, I declined the position, I want to thank General Buhari for extending the honor to me. Despite all the noise and opposition around my possible selection, he stood firm and steadfast. He showed the traits of a leader in holding to a decision he believed was right despite the errant plots against it.
"When my name was raised, the political hatchet men tried to chop it down with rumour and lies. Over the years, I have developed a thick skin. The personal attacks did not bother me. I am used to them. While I have a thick skin, I don’t have a thick mind. There has been one form of attack that has troubled me. That is the attack based on religion. The PDP and others have stoked fear of a Muslim- Muslim ticket.
He appealed to fellow Nigerians not to be swayed by those he called the cynical politicians lusting after power, who set brother against brother and neighbour against neighbour. He said those power hungry politicians using the religious card are the least devout and faithful to any religion other their self-interests.
"Nigeria has too many secular problems – insecurity, economic collapse, poverty , corruption and misgovernance – to allow inept people to use religion to keep us from solving these challenges for the benefit of all.
"Those who exploit religion should be wary. For there really is a God and he does not like it when you play with his people or use His name to do the opposite of what He intends.
"I ask the people to remove religion from the electoral equation now that the tickets of both parties are mixed. I ask you to select the ticket best able to end the downward slide that Nigeria has endured since this government took over. I ask you to remember that too many Christians and Muslims are poor. Most of all, I ask you to remember that the true religion of the PDP is poverty, APC come to bring prosperity to the people. Please vote for that.
"The Nigeria I see is a nation that shall overcome. The Nigeria I see is a nation ready to sweep aside the broken ways of our recent past and the government and politicians who impose distress upon us. The Nigeria I see and seek is one where each person, every man, woman and child may live free of terrorism, free of the despair of poverty and free of the fear that the government meant to serve and protect them has turned its back to them in cold and utter indifference.
"I see and seek a Nigeria where progressive democratic governance creates the political and economic space needed for each of us to contribute to rescuing and retooling this nation. And, in the process of this benign endeavour, may each and every one of us share in the sound promise and good prosperity that shall describe the architecture of our national revival.
"There are many who would have you laid low and our future tossed asunder that they may persist in reaping the unjust reward of their selfish ways. There are wolves in sheep clothing and even jackals in wolf’s clothing. I have seen them but not as residents in some strange zoo. They populate the halls of this diminished government and the party from which this government was born.
"We have come to the field of fateful choice. We have been brought to test the scales of weighty decision. Shall we lift this nation upward so that from its higher vantage point we may clearly see the road to our better destiny? Or shall we continue to march the march of fools into the dark of darkness. The current path has but one end. It shall take us into the den of national collapse. We have gone far enough down this wicked avenue to be aware of what its continuance portends.
"We must awaken of our own accord, my dear people, before the bell of doom rings upon us. If we wait until that moment, we would have waited too long. Our future, our fate, our destiny would have been cast into the snare of utter misfortune. This is not the song of greatness. It is the poetics of ruin.
"For me, political ambition will never triumph over patriotic conviction. This delicate moment affords no space for emotion to intrude to blind us from what is best. The APC is the best and only vehicle to enact the progressive and broad change this nation cries for. I eagerly lend myself to this fine cause without me having to be on the ticket.
"This is a time for cohesion and an overriding sense of mission. We must defeat the foe before us and resist all temptations intended to entice us to fight among ourselves.
"I sincerely commit myself to the rescue agenda of General Buhari and Professor Osibajo.
"I declare to you, I will work and dedicate myself so that our ticket succeeds and wins the 2015 election — not for his good, not for my good, not even for the party’s good but for the good of the nation we inhabit.”
"Some may call what I have done a sacrifice. I call it otherwise. It is my patriotic contribution and duty. I do so with a happy and uplifted heart and clear conscience because I have committed myself to seeking the best for this nation before seeking what is good for myself. This is the creed of statesmanship I chose to follow. May this be the creed of our party as General Buhari leads us to historic victory in the 2015 elections.
"May the light of a bright future always shine on you and on our beloved nation, the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he added.
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Former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate Peter Obi has disagreed with Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore Nigeria’s fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Speaking on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Obi argued that removing the subsidy was necessary but faulted the Federal Government for failing to properly manage the resources generated from its removal.
Atiku, who supported the removal of fuel subsidy during the 2023 presidential election, has since indicated that he would reconsider the policy and restore the subsidy if he wins the 2027 election.
Obi, however, maintained that reversing the policy would not address the underlying problems. According to him, the major failure has been the poor management of the funds saved after the subsidy was removed.
He said the government should have accompanied the policy with measures designed to reduce the hardship faced by Nigerians and should have channelled the resulting savings into productive areas of the economy.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” Obi said.
He further alleged that the funds recovered from subsidy removal had not been adequately accounted for, claiming that the resources were being “mismanaged and stolen.”
Obi said he had advocated a more structured approach to subsidy removal before the 2023 election, arguing that the savings should have been deliberately invested in areas capable of improving the lives of Nigerians and strengthening the economy.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023. The decision led to a significant increase in petrol prices and intensified concerns over inflation and the rising cost of living.
While the Federal Government has defended the policy as necessary to reduce pressure on public finances and redirect government resources, the implementation of the reform and the management of the resulting savings remain contentious issues.
With the 2027 election approaching, the contrasting positions of Obi and Atiku have added fuel subsidy to the growing debate over how Nigeria should manage its economy, protect vulnerable citizens and use public resources more effectively.
News
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has warned the 31 companies that emerged successful in the 2025 oil and gas licensing round to pay their required signature bonuses within the statutory timeframe or risk losing their provisional awards.
The warning comes one month after the commission conducted the commercial bid conference in Abuja, where the successful bidders were announced for 37 oil and gas blocks.
In a notice issued on Sunday, the NUPRC said the compliance process had commenced following the issuance of provisional award letters to the successful companies.
The commission stated that bidders who failed to meet the payment deadline in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would forfeit their bid guarantees and have their provisional awards transferred to the next-ranked reserve bidders.
“Exactly a month ago, the NUPRC hosted the 2025 commercial bid conference in Abuja where 31 companies emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks. Having issued the winners with the provisional awards, compliance with the payment of signature bonuses has already begun,” the commission said.
The 37 blocks awarded in the licensing round cover several areas, including the Niger Delta onshore and shallow-water fields, deep offshore assets and frontier basins.
The assets include PPL 2A29 to PPL 2A62 in the Niger Delta, PPL 2010 in the deep offshore, PPL 308 in the Benin Basin, PPL 900 to PPL 903 in the Anambra Basin, PPL 700 in the Chad Basin, and PPL 800 and PPL 801 in the Benue Trough.
The NUPRC also released the names of the 31 successful companies, together with the ranked reserve bidders for each of the 37 blocks.
A total of 143 companies participated in the licensing exercise, submitting about 200 bids for the assets on offer. However, 13 of the 50 blocks originally listed for the round received no bids.
Under the PIA and the applicable licensing guidelines, successful bidders are required to pay signature bonuses ranging from $3 million to $7 million for each awarded block.
In addition to the signature bonus, the companies must provide the required guarantees, pay first-year rents and fulfil other post-award obligations within the prescribed period.
Failure to satisfy these requirements will result in the forfeiture of the affected company's bid guarantee and the revocation of its provisional award. The block will then be offered to the designated reserve bidder.
The NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had previously urged the successful bidders to complete their payments promptly and move ahead with the development of their awarded assets.
The commission has advised bidders, industry stakeholders and members of the public to consult the 2025 Licensing Round portal for additional information on the awards and compliance requirements.
Under the applicable PIA framework, successful bidders have 90 days from the issuance of their provisional awards to complete the required payments and other conditions.
With the provisional awards issued following the July 21, 2026 commercial bid conference, the 90-day compliance period expires on October 19, 2026.
As of August 23, 2026, 33 days of the 90-day period have elapsed, leaving 57 days for the successful companies to complete their statutory obligations.
Companies that fail to pay their signature bonuses and first-year rents within the deadline risk losing both their bid guarantees and the provisional awards. The affected blocks would subsequently be reassigned to the respective reserve bidders in line with the licensing rules.
The NUPRC's latest notice therefore signals that the successful bidders have entered the final stages of the award process, with compliance now required before the provisional awards can progress toward full development of the assets.
Business
In The Spotlight
Vanguard recently published pathetic pictures of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Expressway; and Punch revealed to us what happens to the Lagos-Calabar Expressway, not even 15 per cent completed, each time there is a heavy downpour in the Lekki peninsula.
The road becomes so flooded, it becomes barely usable. Morning shows the day. If Tinubu-Umahi’s legacy road already shows evidence of long-term stress, pity the Nigerians who will ply that road ten years from now.
The Minister was in Lagos State recently, half-begging, half attempting to blackmail Governor Sanwo-Olu to cough up funds to repair the mistakes made by Engineer Umahi and the contractors who hastily embarked on the road without Environmental Impact Assessment. He is building in Lagos and coastal states the sort of rickety roads he left in Ebonyi State. He has the right President for that sort of shoddy business. Right now, parts of the road have been vandalized – even before completion. Fellow Nigerians are not paying attention as they should. Pity.
Vanguard, Punch and Daily Trust have been doing Nigerians a favour by pointing to one of the greatest failures of the Tinubu administration – the maintenance of federal highways under Minister David Umahi – whose major achievement in three years had been attracting attention to himself through a scandal involving homicide. On the whole, Nigerian roads, federal and state, have not been receiving the attention they deserve in the last eleven years; the neglect just got worse.
Experience on Nigerian roads from 1974-2019
“Hit the road, Jack”. Advice from my Sales Manager, in Boston, USA, 1968.
My first full time job was in selling. It was as a salesman for a leading pharmaceutical company, Lederle Laboratories, in 1968, that Mr. Al, for Albert, Abby, came into my life. As my Sales Manager, he monitored my activities and also as my mentor. He drilled into my head the idea that a salesman’s work consists of being on the road as much as possible; in order to meet customers. By the time I arrived in Nigeria, in 1974, to start work as the Marketing Manager of Abbott Laboratories, marketers of SIMILAC baby food, being on the road 70 per cent of the time had become routine. It was new to my sales staff, but proved rewarding for all concerned – company, staff and especially me.
Until August 1974, Ughelli, Delta State, was the farthest distance I ever traveled in Nigeria. I hit the road. By August 1975, I had covered all the 12 State capitals created by General Gowon, at least three times; and the trips had just begun. By 1998, after Abacha had increased the number of states to 36, I was in charge of Circulation in Vanguard; and my annual itinerary called for visiting all the offices at least once a quarter. In fact, I opened new Vanguard Offices in Ado-Ekiti, Yenagoa, Abakaliki, Gombe, Damaturu, Birnin Kebbi and Dutse. From 2001 to 2007, I traveled to all the stations at least three times a year. Over 80 per cent of the trips were by road – even though flight options were available to me. I got to know Nigerian roads as nobody I have ever met knew them. Divorce was threatened by the occupants of the home front. There was no major road constructed, expanded or diverted which I was not familiar with. By 2017, the trips were reduced to about 20 states every year.
Thus, each time a new Minister of Works is appointed, at least until 2019, I know the problems he faces. Shortly after President Jonathan assumed office, I published an article titled Nigeria’s 70 Most Important roads. These are the roads over which 70 to 80 per cent of goods are transported every day. Lagos-Ibadan Expressway remains the first one in all respects. I went further. The biggest map available at the CMS Bookshop was obtained and all the 70 roads were identified for the Minister in charge of roads with the advice: “take care of these roads and Nigerians will never forget you”. I wasted my time and effort; and Nigerians have been paying dearly for it. Since then, two Ministers of Works were appointed; each left Nigerian roads infinitely worse than when he started.
Three years of Umahi, more of the same
“It aint the things you don’t know that cause the problem; it’s things that you think you know that aint so.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
To the best of my knowledge, no Minister of Works has been appointed in Nigeria, with the exception of late General Mamman Kontagora, who can be said to have had a fairly good knowledge of Nigerian roads by the time he was appointed. Consequently, we have selected so many good men; but, for the wrong task. Many people, including me, would have protested if Fashola was not appointed Minister by Buhari after his sterling performance as Governor of Lagos State. But, he failed dismally as Minister of Works. So, in all fairness to Umahi, many of the roads in terrible condition were inherited from past administrations. That said; it is also a fact that every new appointee is not compelled to accept the offer; and “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. Umahi inherited several death traps; but, like all members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, he also helped to conceal the truth from Nigerians. Now, he is holding the bag; with all the incriminating evidence of poor performance. Umahi should also be excused for the failure to establish priorities. His boss, without consultations, despite all the lies told, had already conceived of a new road – the Lagos-Calabar Expressway – and the preferred contractor was determined, without bidding. The Minister spent his first year defending a decision made without his input. He added his own.
Umahi started out sounding like a “know-it-all”. He is an Engineer; so he knows all there is about road construction. He even dictated that all federal roads, irrespective of terrain, would be paved with cement – without consideration for the impact on the price of cement; which is essential for building construction.
Perhaps, not establishing objective priorities was his biggest blunder. Some Nigerian roads carry most of the heavy loads and require more attention. The Lapai-Bida, the Benin-Sapele and the Asaba-Onitsha roads each carry more loads than all the Federal roads in Taraba, Ebonyi and Kebbi states put together. I could not agree more with Senator Adams Oshiomole who recently carpeted Umahi for lack of priority in his selection of roads receiving his attention. The Okene-Auchi-Benin road carries the largest load of cement heading for Southern States, as well as fuel tankers moving North. Without prioritizing the most important federal roads, we are indirectly slowing down economic development, making products made in Nigeria less competitive and entrenching poverty. In the absence of rail nationwide, roads constitute the life-blood of our nation. They are soaked now with our blood.
By Dele Sobowale
In The Spotlight
How many fake agencies can the Tinubu Presidency go after at a time? When I posed this question in my column in early August, I intended it as rhetoric. The fake agencies and their operators apparently took it as a challenge.
On Friday evening, the ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, emerged from his second meeting with the President in 48 hours to announce the discovery of yet another fake agency, grandly named the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office and promoted by one Prince George Buchi Nwabueze.
Side note: Because of the length of these agency names, I’ll refer to them by their promoters, who happen to be ‘Princes’. Say, Prince Adeyemi’s PFIFC or Prince George’s agency. Okay?
So, I sat there among my colleagues, listening to Aliyu reel out another episode of an ongoing soap opera whose production studio is in the Nigerian civil service. We were arguably the first set of ears to get the gist, a privilege that comes with the burden of sharing it with the rest of the world.
Twenty-four hours earlier, I spotted the ICPC chairman making his way through the corridors leading to the President’s office for the umpteenth time. Aliyu had since become a standard feature at the State House since revelations about Prince Adeyemi’s fake agency, the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, first went public.
Draped in a white agbada, Aliyu sounded fulfilled as he announced another big catch, Prince George. Unlike his counterpart in the PFIFC, Prince George did not settle for a spot in the Federal Secretariat. No! He operated from inside the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He was also found to operate under at least five variations of his own name, which is fitting. A fake agency deserves a fake agency’s worth of aliases.
The President ordered his immediate arrest and suspended three permanent secretaries: M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard Pheelangwah.
If you are keeping count, you would have counted six fake agencies or actors in the past few months. Four! First came Prince Adeyemi’s now-dissolved PFIFC. Then the ICPC’s interim report of August 6 unearthed two more: the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership.
There is also the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, a body created in 2000 under Obasanjo to manage the sale and lease of federal landed assets.
Though now dissolved, its erstwhile secretary, B.S. Dutsin-Ma, had continued operating. In early August, the Presidency directed him to cease acting on behalf of the committee and the Federal Government.
Last September, the Presidency distanced itself from Mr Fegho Umunubo, an erstwhile Special Assistant on Digital and Creative Economy in the Vice President’s office, whom it warned was still acting in his old capacity despite being let go.
Now Prince George’s outfit makes six similar instances in under a year. At this rate, the fake agencies and actors may soon require their own coordinating ministry. And who knows if the next ‘Prince’ may be found operating from the Presidential Villa itself?
Lest we think this plague is new, history says otherwise. You see, Nigeria has always had people who understood that in a country where government is everywhere, the most profitable business is to impersonate it. From the 1980s and 1990s, there are tales of fake recruitment syndicates selling appointment letters into the Army, Customs and NNPC from rented offices with convincing letterheads. Some past regimes responded with periodic raids, tribunals and occasional decrees. But the racket always reincarnates.
Over the years, the ICPC and EFCC have busted fake job-racketeering “ministries” in Abuja that interviewed hundreds of applicants and collected “processing fees” for years before anyone really noticed. The sobering reality is that we have always chased the “Princes” one at a time. And there will always be another ‘Prince’ to sit on that throne.
Also, it is not uniquely a Nigerian thing. In California in 2015, authorities uncovered a self-declared “Masonic Fraternal Police Department”, a policing outfit with its own badges, uniforms and a website claiming a 3,000-year history. It was run by three “Princes” until the state of California charged them with impersonating officers.
The difference is not that other countries breed fewer fraudsters than we do. It is that their systems make the fraud quite short-lived because the list of legitimate agencies is knowable by the public, leaving the fake ones to glow in the dark.
Moreover, if government ministries, departments and agencies were fewer than they are now, there would be fewer hiding places for the fakes.
Which brings me, once again, to one document still gathering dust on the President’s desk: the Oronsaye report. Commissioned in 2011 and submitted in 2012, Steve Oronsaye’s committee found 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies and recommended pruning them to about 263. It recommended mergers, scrapping, subsuming and anything else that could shrink that number.
To his credit, President Tinubu revived it in February 2024, ordering full implementation. Two and a half years later, however, the rathole of redundant agencies has only widened, and now fake ones are camouflaging among the real ones. Implementing Oronsaye would arguably leave fewer agencies with clearer supervision and a slimmer cost of governance. Again, it is not a silver bullet. Matter of fact, the report is 14 years old; some recommendations would need fresh legislation. But why chase rats one by one when we can fumigate the entire network of holes?
While the ICPC is hunting “Princes”, President Tinubu is assembling his Avengers. According to the APC Presidential Campaign Council list the Presidency released on Saturday morning, Tinubu will sit as chairman; Vice President Kashim Shettima and party chairman Nentawe Yilwatda will co-chair the council. Ex-Zamfara governor Abdulaziz Yari will serve as DG, and Hope Uzodimma, still fresh from surviving the storm that rocked the Progressives Governors’ Forum months ago, will serve as secretary.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Abbas and Governor Buni will serve as zonal heads; Oshiomhole will head mobilisation, while James Faleke will return to his 2022 role in election planning.
The media directorate already looks like a special-purpose media house of its own. Information Minister Mohammed Idris will coordinate alongside Dr Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga, Issa-Onilu, Mr Tunde Rahman, Dr Sunday Dare, Daniel Bwala and Felix Morka.
By Stephen Angbulu