The Morning Show: APC Governorship Aspirants Shun Consensus Deal in 10 States

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:26]This morning, long-time Nigerian leader Yakubu Gowon, who led the nation through a civil war, says Nigeria won't fail despite current challenges. Just as President Tinubu says Gowon's life is a compass for Nigeria's future.

[00:00:43]"I'm top dog," says Rotimi Amaechi, clarifying to the ADC he has no plans to be anybody's VP.

[00:00:51]More consensus controversies rock gubernatorial races in 10 states.

[00:00:58]Our show this morning will discuss the significance of Kano come 2027. Senator Shehu Sani and Sanusi Batari share their insights.

[00:01:08]Also, markets brace for Nigeria's 305th Monetary Policy Committee meeting as the US Iran war pushes inflation upwards.

[00:01:18]Roger Soleri has more on the global BUSINESS BRIEF.

[00:01:27]TOP GUN, ARSENAL WINS its first Premier League title in 22 years. Abbey Ejumobi takes us through with the global sports update. On what's trending with Oji Ogbe, Shettima shares how Tinubu was warned for his life.

[00:01:44]Good news, the 21-year-old Nigerian woman named Serie A's best defender this season.

[00:01:51]And I, Adesemiya Akintoye, will bring you global updates. This morning on the world brief, back-to-back guests in Beijing. Vladimir Putin meets Xi just days after Trump. I'll also present the newspapers with top stories from home and abroad. All of this coming up with Reuben Abati, Vimbai Mtinhiri, Akpan John, Rufai Oseni, and Oji Okoe. This is the morning show.

[00:02:22]Good morning out there and welcome to the morning show. First on the headlines this morning, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday described the memoir of former head of state General Yakubu Gowon as an important national document that offered guidance for Nigeria's future and preservation of national unity.

[00:02:43]Tinubu made the assertion in Abuja at the launch of Gowon's memoir, My Life Life of Duty and Allegiance. The president said Gowon's life was a rebuke to divisive narratives that attempted to reduce Nigeria's diversity into rigid regional or religious stereotypes.

[00:03:03]Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was chairman of the occasion, described the book as a fitting presentation of the living testimony and reflections of a man who led Nigeria at a critical time in the country's turbulent history.

[00:03:20]All right. Well, we're also in the headlines today, former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has dismissed suggestions that he entered the presidential race under the African Democratic Congress ADC to emerge as a vice presidential candidate. He insisted that he purchased the party's nomination form solely to contest for the presidency. Amaechi stated this during an interview amid growing speculation over possible consensus arrangements within the ADC ahead of the party's presidential primary. According to him, discussions around consensus should only be entertained for aspirants willingly agree, warning that the party must avoid imposing candidates.

[00:04:02]Ahead of Thursday's governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress, resistance to consensus arrangements has intensified in at least 10 states. Several aspirants have rejected the pressure to step down and insist on testing their popularity in the polls. The growing pushback comes despite efforts by party leaders and governors in many states to streamline the primaries through endorsement negotiations and consensus agreements aimed at avoiding divisive contests ahead of the 2027 general elections.

[00:04:34]All right, we're still in 2027 permutations developing. The Turaki-led National Working Committee of the People's Democratic Party has screened presidential and governorship aspirants ahead of the party primaries. A member of the National Screening Committee, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, says a former president, Goodluck Jonathan, remains the sole presidential candidate of the party. The committee also disclosed that Jonathan did not personally appear before the screening panel, but was granted a waiver by the party's leadership alongside some key officials.

[00:05:06]Uh well, those are the conversations dominating our headlines this morning.

[00:05:11]Uh Dr. Rabiu Musa Good morning to you. Let me take my first bite out of this. I'll begin at the tail end of the headlines uh around the news that former president, Goodluck Jonathan, uh was waived from the screening process to emerge as the sole presidential aspirant uh for the Turaki-led PDP. Now, several things here, but I think the main thing is that we've not heard from former president, Goodluck Jonathan, himself, and until we do so, uh we'll continue to uh await that final confirmation because uh we have seen this particular political melodrama play out before. And some people are saying, well, this could be a strategy to just create a placeholder since the killing faction already has an MOU with She Makin Day and the Allied People's Movement, the APM, for She Makin Day to go forward as a presidential candidate. Again, time will tell. We continue to wait and see.

[00:06:04]However, it is primary season and things are heating up across the country. 60 National Assembly members belonging to the APC will not be returning to the National Assembly from 2027. That's to the 11th Assembly. And now we're counting down to the gubernatorial aspirants. We've seen that a number of states have been able to secure the consensus arrangement. If you look at the trend, it looks like largely those that have governors that are going into their second terms have been able to secure a consensus arrangement and created a predictable pathway. States like Cross River, for example, where those going into second terms are assured of that. The one person who's not assured of a second term, of course, is in River State. There are others, but I'll focus on River State where the permutations continue to be extremely confusing as there are quite different reports emerging. You see in the primaries for the House of Representatives and the Senate, those loyal to Nyesom Wike, even though he's not in the APC, have emerged the front-runners. And now we wait to see whether Governor Siminalayi Fubara will be able to outplay the master. Now, many people are saying that this particular system had been created to ensure that the governors retain control of their structures. They said that President Tinubu handed over this particular power to the governors to be able to determine what happens in the primaries so that the governors could go back to an arrangement where they felt that they were in control. But now there's the anomaly of River State where Uh, we've been told that the 001 of the state, the the leader of the state is Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT. So, we wait to see how that plays out. Another interesting place for me is Kwara state, uh, where in the last 24 hours we've seen the sitting governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman, uh, endorse his preferred candidate, Ambassador uh, Saraki. And this is quite an interesting development because there had been conversation around zoning.

[00:08:07]That's been a major bone of contention where people are saying Kwara Central dominates Kwara politics. And Ambassador Saraki is yet another candidate from Kwara Central. However, people are saying that the political arithmetic in this instance is more important than representation. Kwara Central being the the the region with the highest voting population. But then those from Kwara North are saying, "But we have not had a a governorship representation since 1999." In all of this, however, I remember we had an interview with Senator Lola Ashiru on Daybreak just last week. He was saying that, "Well, this will be a referendum of sorts on the Otoge revolution." And he said that the Saraki factor will be a key factor in this election. After two terms of of the Otoge Otoge revolution, the question is are people on the ground in Kwara state ready to re-endorse this movement?

[00:09:00]Did it deliver what they felt it would deliver? Because it seems that although there are several candidates that have thrown in their hats into the ring, Kwara state has the highest number of uh, aspirants for the governorship ticket. That's sitting at 14. Uh, majority of them coming from Kwara Central. And questions around what that means moving forward and whether indeed the former Senate President Bukola Saraki will endorse somebody from the PDP, especially given that he's aligned with the PDP faction that's currently recognized on the INEC portal. I round up with a statesman, uh, who unfortunately I've not had the great privilege of reading the 900 page autobiography of Yakubu Gowon. But for the key takeaways is of course the praise that has gotten that has that has gone towards the no victor no vanquished theory, which is a theory that I always love to talk about and unpack. So I'm going to hold my fire and do more of that during the newspaper review because of course that book release of Yakubu Gowon was a major news item and there was several several takeaways from that event that took place yesterday. I hand over to Rufai.

[00:10:13]This morning, Yakubu [snorts] Gowon has written a book.

[00:10:17]Will the millions of kids that died from Kwashiorkor during the civil war be able to read the book?

[00:10:25]Will the people that were massacred in the Asaba massacre be able to read the book?

[00:10:31]Will the people who lost homes, limbs, future, possibility be able to read the book?

[00:10:38]Yes, the book is titled Duty and Allegiance to the Country.

[00:10:44]In allegiance to Nigeria, was the civil war the best way to have settled the impasse and the rivalry between two people?

[00:10:54]Should that war have ever happened in the first place?

[00:10:59]Today as we try to say our own part of history and Yakubu Gowon, we thank him for giving us his own part of history today.

[00:11:08]I do not read the book but I've read some excerpts of it.

[00:11:12]As he tries to talk about, you know, the internal workings of what happened.

[00:11:18]If this book millions that died in that war cannot read this book, then at least how can we ensure that we don't go to wars like that again?

[00:11:33]That's a food for thought this morning.

[00:11:36]Secondly, President Jonathan I walked through the phone lines and I got some messages from my sources.

[00:11:43]They are saying the plot is actually thickening.

[00:11:47]That some people are pushing him. But I've got word for President Jonathan today.

[00:11:52]Those that are pushing you were those that disgraced you in 2015.

[00:11:58]Were those that used the media arsenal against you.

[00:12:02]Those that are behind you now and are pushing you to run were those that didn't find you worthy in 2015.

[00:12:11]Were those that carried placards calling you all sorts of name.

[00:12:16]Were those that carried life goats and put your picture in front of that life goat.

[00:12:25]Were those that went on Twitter and said that if we would rather vote an animal or vote you, they would vote an animal and go home feeling fulfilled.

[00:12:38]President Jonathan, you have served and done your time.

[00:12:43]Do not let them push you into their game.

[00:12:47]I'm sure the clergyman told you this and he told you much.

[00:12:52]Because these people are users.

[00:12:55]And when they are done with you they'll discard you.

[00:13:00]Because they never had respect for you in 2015.

[00:13:05]And you see they say time heals wounds, but with more time going by their resentment for you has grown.

[00:13:12]But all they just see now is how to use you to be part of their game.

[00:13:17]President Jonathan, I know the pressure is much on you to run.

[00:13:21]They are pushing. They are doing everything.

[00:13:24]But please be careful.

[00:13:27]Don't listen to them.

[00:13:29]They'll lead you astray.

[00:13:32]The APC and its internal problems We predicted it. We saw it coming.

[00:13:39]Today consensus Some have stepped down in Lagos. Those that felt they were finally going to hold it out. They stepped down in Lagos.

[00:13:48]Yes, Bimbo, you say there's been disagreements across board, but I don't think anything will change.

[00:13:54]I think those that have the power will still use their power.

[00:13:59]And the weak will be left to cry.

[00:14:01]And probably when they go to the courts they will not get anything out of it.

[00:14:07]But I'm not sure they're going to learn.

[00:14:10]Because in the end they will still fall for this bait in 2031.

[00:14:16]Until we build a democracy where true power belongs to the people and not the hegemons, Nigeria will never be free.

[00:14:24]I yield the floor.

[00:14:26]Very quickly, I would like to congratulate General Yakubu Gowon and Aville Group, the publishers of the book, on the release of this book My Life of Duty and Allegiance. Now, right from that title of the book, the book is about 888 pages long. Uh quite a tome.

[00:14:44]Uh you see that it is about his uh service to Nigeria. And it is important to note as has been pointed out yesterday, back page of This Day newspaper both by General Ibrahim Babangida and also General Theophilus Danjuma with whom I had the privilege of sharing the page. I don't think so many columnists had that privilege to write the same day uh with two two major generals who played a major role in Nigerian history. Now, the those who have commented on General Gowon's book say, "Yes, it's anecdotal." But when you put it together you get, you know, a full sense of history and of his duty service during the 9 years that he was head of state of Nigeria. He was for the benefit of many young men, a very young man in his 30s, 29, 37 that about when he led this country and it was his commission to save this country from disintegration and he stood up to be counted. So the civil war 19 66 you know to 71 to 70 70-71 was a major turning point for Nigeria.

[00:16:00]In fact, [snorts] many people trace many of the problems we have had in this country to that civil war. The General Gowon and his army, they were able to hold this country together. The other side, of course, was that after the civil war, he preached no victor, no vanquished and he introduced a policy of reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation.

[00:16:25]But there is a lot of controversy around that and many people have written their own versions of how the civil war started. But I always say repeatedly that I don't think that the civil war has ended.

[00:16:39]The civil war has not ended because the reconciliation part of it is still an evolving project and that's why you find people from the southeastern part of the country still talking about Biafra, still talking about the actualization of Biafra because the most affected people in the southeast, they they have not forgotten.

[00:17:02]History is not about forgetting, it's about remembering. But of course, have we achieved reconciliation? We've done a lot in terms of reconstruction. Then of course, the southeasterners, they are also a bit disturbed about the idea of rehabilitation. That after the civil war, they their people were not properly rehabilitated. The 1 pound resolution, or was it 2 pounds, which generated a lot of concerns.

[00:17:29]Properties lost, lives lost. I think that this country will still need a lot of healing. That's talking about you know, the civil war and what Nigeria passed through during that time. But to the extent that Gen. Yakubu Gowon held this country together with his team, and that he has remained committed, faithful to the Nigerian project, he sets a good example and eternal example that cannot be forgotten in this country. And his book, I have not read it. The publishers, I called them they said I will they accused me of trying to pirate the book. I just laughed. I felt offended.

[00:18:11]But I don't think with a PhD in criticism, I will run down and read anybody's book. However, you know, it is good that Gen. Gowon has told his own part of the story. And he has a story [clears throat] to tell, and it is a story that should be of interest to not just students of history and political science or military studies, but the general public. And so, you know, I think I'm still here. I will be very curious and I would like to still read the book and do a fuller commentary. Now, to the Mr. Mechi Rotimi Amechi. I I think he granted an interview which he said he's not in the ADC to be anybody's running mate, that he wants to be president.

[00:18:54]Well, that's a very legitimate ambition, but he still has to go through the process and the party has to decide.

[00:19:01]But the other thing he has been saying in the last two days is that he doesn't think that Waziri Adamawa Atiku Abubakar is electable. That after all, he started looking for the position of president since 1992 and that he usually boasts that he wins primaries. But Amaechi says he's not enough to win primaries. You win primaries, yes, but you lose elections.

[00:19:24]And he doesn't think that Atiku Abubakar is electable. However, let him focus on his own ambition and how he can get the ADC ticket if he succeeds in that regard. He cannot legitimately question uh Atiku Abubakar's ambition. If he wants to be a president of Nigeria at 90, for as long as he's qualified, then of course he can continue to try his luck. As for APC and their consensus arrangement, well, the Electoral Act allows for consensus or direct primaries. And we've seen in the last 2-3 days the kind of confusion that that has created within the APC. And it is expected. As for the governors, I thought the arrangement was that governors will have automatic, you know, tickets.

[00:20:15]The only exception in that regard is River State. It is the senators, members of the National Assembly, they were not guaranteed an automatic return. And you have seen how many of them have lost out, many of them even failing the, you know, screening process. And hence you have this confusion. But the APC also has an appeals committee. I think we should still wait to see what happens during that appeals process.

[00:20:41]After all, many of these members, even if they want to leave the APC, they will not be able to do so. As for the President Jonathan story, I see it's a developing story. President Jonathan himself has not spoken. And it is it's not true that those who pushed him out of office are the ones asking for him. He has grassroots support, both local and international. People who say bring back our good luck. And in a sense, that is his vindication. I don't see APC members saying Jonathan should come back. The people who are asking to come back are people who love him and who think that the APC would seem to have mismanaged the process and that they want President Jonathan to return to service station. The other part is that he can only do one term. So, some people are also interested in that.

[00:21:29]Absolutely. Yeah, that's a a very critical point of the of this conversation.