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2027: They Will Write The Results [Monday Lines]

Published

9 months ago

March 17, 2025

By Lasisi Olagunju

President Nnamdi Azikiwe was certain that the 1964 federal elections were a farce and should not produce a legitimate government. By hook and by crook, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) party got (about) 200 of its candidates elected into a parliament of 312/313 members. The winners wrote the election results and gave themselves plaques of victory. They damned the consequences..

The law empowered the ceremonial president to appoint as the prime minister “the person most likely to command a majority in the lower House.” But President Azikiwe, who led a counter alliance of parties (UPGA), knew Balewa’s ‘majority’ was a product of fraud. He was determined not to allow Balewa and his people to profit from their larceny. He quietly vowed that Balewa would not come back as prime minister.

Now, if Balewa wouldn’t be called to form the government, who and what would fill the void? Zik’s think tank asked him to appoint a caretaker federal government with him assuming executive powers. He liked that. He thought the constitution gave him the power to do it, and he would do it, and he was about doing it.

But, to successfully do that he realized that he needed the backing of the security forces. President Azikiwe invited the heads of the Army, the Navy and the Police to a meeting. He reminded them that he was their Commander-in-Chief, and that their allegiance should be with him. The officers exchanged glances. The head of the police pointed at the constitution: the prime minister was his boss. That of the navy told the president that under the relevant Acts, he took orders from the parliament which had enacted Acts that created the army and the navy councils. Those councils, he told Zik, were the bosses. The head of the army, Major-General Sir Welby-Everard, a Briton, had no time for the inanities of that moment. He knew operational orders could only get to him from the Prime Minister but did not bother to tell Zik. He just saluted the president and left Azikiwe with his plans in tatters. What else was left for the president to do? He turned to the labour movement which promised to back him with street protests.

As Zik was plotting, Balewa’s party was plotting too. It was a North versus South Game of Thrones. The cast wore those colours. Balewa’s advisers said with his party having officially won a majority of the seats, he automatically remained prime minister with or without the president’s endorsement. And who said Azikiwe himself was not vulnerable? They called his attention to a clause in the 1963 constitution which empowered him to sack Zik as president. The clause stated that the office of the President became vacant if “the President is absent from Nigeria or is, in the opinion of the Prime Minister, unable to perform the functions of his office by reason of his illness.” But was Zik ill? Someone asked, and someone responded that he was. Did Azikiwe not recently announce that he stayed back longer than usual in Nsukka, his hometown, where he went for Christmas, because he wasn’t feeling fine? That was all that was needed by Balewa’s kitchen cabinet to prove that the president was ill and incapable of performing the functions of his office.

So, late on the night of 3 January, 1965, it was decided by Balewa’s people that the clause be activated in full. “But, it remains one leg: the president is not absent from the country, and must be absent.” One of the plotters reminded the others. They needed to get him outside the country first. How would they do that? That should not be difficult to do. A genius among them whispered a solution: Anyone who strayed beyond the nation’s land and sea borders had left the country. They had the police and the armed forces on their side. There is a “Nigerian Navy frigate anchored just opposite State House (in Marina, Lagos);” put ‘sick’ Zik in that boat and get him “removed outside the three-mile limit so that he would be both ill and ‘absent from Nigeria.’” Audacious!

Did the Balewa people carry out the plot? They didn’t have to. The plotters themselves deliberately leaked the plot to Zik, and with that leak, they got him sufficiently frightened so much that “shortly after 1 a.m. on Monday morning (January 4), the State House issued a bulletin that “the President had benefitted from his rest, following the strain of the Yuletide season, and that he was fit to resume his normal engagements.” Zik surrendered. He announced the end to the stalemate, asked Balewa to form the government, and Nigeria began its journey of fate to January 15, 1966. You can read all the above in J. P. Mackintosh’s ‘The Struggle for Power in Nigeria’ published in 1965. There are six pages of the intrigues there.

We do not learn, and we should learn – at least from our own history and experiences. The First Republic took off in turbulence, cruised and crashed in turbulence. But it didn’t just crash without some cockpit drama like the above. Note the extent both sides planned to go in their determination to rule Nigeria. That was 60 years ago. Today, the tap root of demons has reached the crust of the earth. Nothing scares or frightens anyone again. The next election is two clear years away, yet it suffocates as if it is holding this moment. The name for what we feel is desperation.

In 2027, they will seek to write the results. When you marry a man bigger than you can carry, you endure him. We hear that very often now – in universities, in newsrooms and at motor parks. People speak the language of surrender; they lament the futility of contesting against the president in 2027. They point at the mock exam in Lagos, the dress rehearsal in Osun, the warning shots in Rivers, the emirate injunction in Kano, the strategic posting of police chiefs to states of interest. The noise in town is no longer of wars and rumours of wars. The song is of tomorrow as the day of battle, the next the victor’s dance. “They will write their victory.” And you wonder who the ‘they’ that would “write the results” are. INEC, or who? Foot soldiers of the president are not hiding matters. They boast of his reelection two clear years before the polls. They may be right. What can his enemies and all the unhappy do? The old man has all the ingredients needed to cook what he wants cooked.

Last week, Nasir el-Rufai, man of small chassis, very big engine, ported out of the president’s party. Regime supporters laughed at his folly. Was that a dummy he sold to Tinubu’s party? If it was, that is a familiar terrain to the president, master of subterfuge. Or could it be that the tempestuous Kaduna man just walked into an ambush? If I were him, I would ask if the new haven was actually not one of Tinubu’s other rooms. But the former governor is angry, and bitter. And if you combine anger with ‘beef’, you won’t see what is clearly visible. The ex-Gov has been active, doing Mark Anthony, rousing the rabble. Regime people say he deserves this Yoruba drum called bàtá, and they would give him. When a Tinubu voter heard what El Rufai did, he laughed and sneered: “Òjò á pa bàtá, á pa janwon janwon etí è.” When an enemy is seen fretting and kicking and threatening as El-Rufai is doing, my people would simply sing for him Majek Fashek. They would send down the rain and get his bàtá drum and all its small, noisy gongs thoroughly drenched.

Whatever El Rufai is doing, he is not a lone wolf. The whole country knows that the North is not smiling at all. The Muhammadu Buhari people, complete with their Mallams and marabouts, even with their sermons, are said to have moved their cattle to new pastures. The General himself has abandoned sleep in provincial Daura; he recently relocated to Kaduna, capital of the North. Watch the skies over Bayajidda II’s North-West and North-East. The former president may not be a darling of the elites of the North, but he is the commander of the over 20 million street kids there. A simple, innocent walk to the mosque one critical Friday afternoon will rekindle their candle – father and children.

What does it mean to write the results of an election years before they are held? In December 2017, Muhammadu Buhari paid a two-day official visit to Kano. He was just two and a half years in power. At the end of that visit, Buhari promised to overwhelm whoever opposed his reelection in 2019. “I will win,” he vowed. Again, in August 2018, Buhari repeated the vow in Daura, his hometown. He said he would win no matter what anyone did: “For those who are discerning, those who have ears and eyes they will see, hear and understand. Those who don’t understand are entitled to their assumptions.” The Election Day eventually came on 23 February, 2019 and the man voted for himself in Daura. He was thereafter asked by a reporter if he would congratulate the winner if he lost the election. The General looked at the audacity (and possible idiocy) of the reporter and responded: “I will congratulate myself; I am going to be the winner.” And super-efficient INEC said he won, although the voting and the votes were very inelegant.

Asking a Buhari in 2019 if he would congratulate his victorious opponent truly sounded stupid. He would dictate how many votes he wanted. Suggesting that Tinubu may have electoral problems in 2027 will sound even stupider. He may not have Buhari’s Almajirai but he has money and all the appurtenances of power. He would look at himself and tell himself: I had no power, no authority in 2023, yet I overran them. Now that I have all – man and material – under my foot, who will dare glare down my tiger’s visage? If asked the same question which that reporter asked Buhari, I am sure Tinubu’s answer will be exactly what Buhari said: “I will congratulate myself; I am going to be the winner.” And he is working hard at it, meeting this group today, moving against that group tomorrow.

Two years to 2027 elections, we read of plots and counter-plots; movements and coalitions against Bola Tinubu. Watch him; the law respects him at all times. Tinubu did not become president by merely wishing it. What his enemies desire is the head of an elephant. They need more than tender, untoughened necks to carry the load. Whoever wants to enjoy as Adegboro does at Ojaaba, Ibadan, must be ready to do what the man did at Oyingbo market in Lagos – he was a beast of burden. Tinubu climbed mountains, crushed rocks and fell trees to get to where he is. I recommend his model to those plotting his defeat.

The man is consistent and deliberate. At a book launch in Lagos in 2018, he launched his philosophy of politics with a declaration that: “power is not served a la carte. You have to struggle for power.”

He is consistent. In December 2022, Tinubu in London told his supporters that “political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. It is not served a la carte. At all costs, fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run with it.”

On Wednesday 25 January, 2023, Tinubu was in Abeokuta where he fed our politics with a potent brew of poisonous proverbs and incantations; imprecations and curses. The theatrics of that outing was the focus of my column of 30 January, 2023. If you don’t mind, I can reproduce parts of my report of that esoteric outing the way I saw it.

Listen to Tinubu: “If you want to eat palm kernel, put a stone on the ground; put a palm nut on it, take another stone and smash it on the palm nut. The nut will be cracked and the kernel will come out. You can see that it is not easy to get palm kernel to eat.” The Yoruba who watched how he strung his words together and the histrionics while saying what I translated above would say I have not done enough justice to how he said it. They should just forgive me.

The man spoke with so much courage. He staked his all for what he wanted…And, like Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, he was (and is) more than one person; he is not an ‘I’ but a ‘we’ with an intelligence superior to his enemies’. Listen to him: “We are too smart. We are brilliant. We are courageous. We are sharp. This is a superior revolution and when I tell you, you know what I mean. You know me. We are going there to win.” And he wrapped up everything with the defiant refrain: “A maa d’ìbò, a maa wo’lé (we will vote, we will win)”. I have not heard any of his would-be challengers coming out half this forcefully.

Our fathers have several other ways of saying what Tinubu said with that imagery of force and devotion. They say also that a palm seed that would become palm oil must have a taste of fire. They also say that the man who would eat honey nestled deep inside a rock would not pity his axe. I think I heard that too that day from Tinubu.

The man employed the imagery of palm nuts and two unfriendly, conspiring stones to describe his engagement with the last election. I do not think he has changed a bit from his hardline position on power and its politics. Watch his steps and steppings. Elections are a palm nut-cracking process; only the diligent profits from it.

Cracking palm nuts is a very deep Yoruba way of coding wars and snatching victory from the jaws of hard labour. They say Ojúbòrò kó ni a fi ngba omo l’ówó èkùró (You don’t snatch the kernel from the palm nut by being gentlemanly). Tinubu’s imagery of one stone down, one stone up and a stubborn palm nut between them reinforces the Area Boy character of politics. His enemies need to be so schooled too.

The Abeokuta outing was not just about stones and palm nuts. Tinubu went spiritual. He publicly ordered his war bard, Wasiu Ayinde alias K1, to sing spell against his enemies. He bellowed: “K1, bèrè ìlù; ìlù òtè (start to beat drums, drums of war/intrigue/rebellion); pèlú àyájó nlá; àyájó nlá ni kóo gbé lé won l’órí (Seal it with a heavy, strong spell, place it on their heads). What Tinubu asked of his Wasiu Ayinde was invocatory; he asked for an invocation, a summoning of the elemental principalities to come and fight his foes. He did that that time and it worked for him. He will do it again.

If you plan to do heist in elections, work to have some popularity in your constituency. Rigging won’t work where more than 70 percent loathe you. But, can’t somebody win without stealing? I do not think it is too late for Tinubu to be born again and win clean and clear. Someone, however, said he is too powerful to see how naked he is. Everyone around him holds his magical hem which makes them become wealthy and powerful. It is therefore suicidal to tell the king that he is unclad. They are not showing him the narrowing (narrowed) pathway to a happy 2027. And it is there in plain sight: His APC is shrinking and wearing the sunken eyes of his closet Action Congress. The North appears off; the South-East and the South-South are aloof. His South-West thinks he has been using the bread of Lagos to lap up the Yoruba stew. In his geography book, Lagos is Yorubaland. And that is costly.

Is it too late for him? Two years have enough months to kill the pain of poverty in the land, to be fair to all, to contest and win a reelection. But does that not appear too tortuous and expensive a route to take, especially if you are the custodian of all monies and powers in the land? Only the unwise get hungry and thirsty in seasons of fasting. Why plant crops when you can simply conjure cash, get rich and buy the throne? We saw all these not once, not twice before. It is cheaper, faster and safer. The consequences? People without power are the ones who bother about consequences.

News

OPINION: Time For The Abachas To Rejoice

Published

2 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Editor

By Lasisi Olagunju

General Sani Abacha was a great teacher. He pioneered the doctrine of consensus candidacy in Nigeria. He founded a country of five political parties and when it was time for the parties to pick their candidates for the presidency, all the five reached a consensus that the man fit for the job was Abacha himself. Today, from party primaries to consensus candidacy; from setting the opposition on fire, to everything and every thing, Abacha’s students are showing exceptionally remarkable brilliance.

Anti-Abacha democrats of 28 years ago are orchestrating and celebrating the collapse of opposition parties today. They are rejoicing at the prospect of a one-party, one-candidate presidential election in 2027. Abacha did the same. So, what are we saying? Children who set out to resemble their parents almost always exceed their mark; they recreate the parents in perfect form and format. Abacha was a democrat; his pupils inherited his political estate and have, today, turned it into an academy. Its classes are bursting at the seams with students and scholars. Aristotle and his Lyceum will be green with envy, and very jealous of this busy academy.

Like it was under Abacha, the opposition suffers from a blaze ignited by the palace. But, and this is where I am going: fires, once started, rarely obey and respect their makers.

My friend, the storyteller, gave me an old folktale of a man who thought the world must revolve around him, alone. One cold night, the man set his neighbours’ huts on fire so he alone would stand as the ‘big man’ of the village. The man watched with satisfaction as the flames rose, dancing dangerously close to the skies. But the wind had a scheme of its own. It hijacked the fire, lifted it, and dropped it squarely on the arsonist’s own thatched roof. By dawn, all huts in the village had become small heaps of ash.

Fire, in all cultures, is a communal danger; whoever releases it cannot control its path. The Fulani warn that he who lights a fire in the savannah must not sleep among dry grass, a wisdom another African people echo by saying that the man who sets a field ablaze should not lie beside raffia in the same field. Yet our rulers strike anti-opposition matches with reckless confidence, believing fire is a loyal servant that burns only the huts of opponents. They forget that power is a strong wind, and wind has no party card and respects none.

When it is state policy to weaken institutions, criminalise dissent and have rivals crushed with the excuse of order, the blaze spreads quietly, patiently, until it reaches the bed of its maker. Fire does not negotiate; it does not remember or know who started it (iná ò mo eni ó dáa). In politics, as in the grassland, those who weaponise flames rarely die with unburnt roofs over their heads.

The folktale above is the story of today’s ruling party. People in power think it is wisdom to weaken, scatter, or destroy opposition platforms outright. They have forgotten the ancient lesson of the village: When you burn every hut around you, you leave nothing to break the wind when it blows back. A democratic system that cannibalises opposition always ends up consuming itself. Our First Republic is a golden example to cite here. History is full of parties that dug graves for their rivals and ended up falling inside.

Literature is rich with warnings about the danger of lighting fires; they more often than not get out of control. In Duro Ladipo’s ‘Oba Koso’, Sango is the lord of fire and ultimately victim of his fire. In Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, we see how a single spark of regicide grows into a blaze of paranoia and bloodshed that ultimately consumes Macbeth himself. In D. O. Fagunwa’s Adiitu Olodumare, we see how Èsù lé̟̟hìn ìbejì is consumed by the fire of his intrigues; Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ shows a similar pattern with Macbeth: Okonkwo’s role in Ikemefuna’s death ignites a chain of misfortunes that destroys his honour and his life. In ‘The Crucible’, Arthur Miller’s characters take turns to unleash hysteria through lies, only to be trapped by the inferno they created. Ola Rotimi’s ‘The Gods Are Not to Blame’ and even Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ echo the same lesson. Again and again, literature insists that those who start dangerous fires whether of ambition, deceit, violence, or pride, should never expect to sleep safely. Always, the tongue of the flames turns and returns home.

Abacha must be very proud that the democrats who fought and hounded him to death have turned out his faithful students. From NADECO to labour unions and to the media, every snail that smeared Abacha with its slime is today rubbing its mouth on the hallowed hallways of his palace.

Under Abacha, to be in opposition was to toy with trouble. Under this democracy, all opposition parties suffer pains of fracture. Parallel excos here; factional groups there. Opposition figures are in greater trouble. It does not take much discernment before anyone knows that Tiger it is that is behind Oloruntowo’s troubles; Oloruntowo is not at all a bad dog. But how long in comfort can the troubler be?

In 1996, Professor Jeffrey Herbst of the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, United States, asked: “Is Nigeria a Viable State?” He went on to assert – and predict – that “Nigeria does not work and probably cannot work.” He said the country was failing not from any other cause but “from a particular pattern of politics …that threatens to even further impoverish the population and to cause a catastrophic collapse…” That was Nigeria under Abacha. We struggled to avert that “catastrophic collapse”; with death’s help, we got Abacha off the cockpit, and birthed for ourselves this democracy. Now, we are not even sure of the definitions of ‘state’, ‘viable’ and ‘viability’. What is sure is that the “particular pattern of politics” that caught the attention of the American in 1996, is here in 2025. As it was under Sani Abacha, everyone today sings one song, the same song.

Abacha died in 1998; Abacha is alive in 2025. It is strange that his family members are not celebrating. How can you win a race and shut yourself up? My people say happiness is too sweet to be endured. The default response to joy is celebration but we are not seeing it in the family of the victorious Abacha. Because the man in dark goggles professed this democracy, this democracy and its democrats have apotheosised Abacha; he is their prophet. They take their lessons from his sacred texts; his shrine is their preferred place of worship.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Absurd Wars, Absurd Lords

“As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.” – Romans 14:11. Our political lords copied those words and, in profaned arrogance, read it to Nigeria and its terrorised people. Now, everyone, from governors to the governed, bows; their tongue confesses that the president is king, unqueriable and unquestionable.

When a man is truly blessed, all the world, big and small, will line up to bless him and the work of his hand. Governors of all parties are singing ‘Bola on Your Mandate We Shall Stand.’ In the whole of southern Nigeria, only one or two governors are not singing his anthem. Northern governors sing ‘Asiwaju’ better and with greater gusto than the owners of the word. In their obsessive love for the big man’s power and the largesse it dispenses, they assume that ‘Asiwaju’ is the president’s first name. They say “President Asiwaju.” The last time a leader was this blessed was 1998 – twenty-seven years ago.

Our thirst for disaster is unslaked. All that the man wanted was to be president; he became president and our progressive democrats are making a king out of him. And we watch them and what they do either in sheepish horror, complicit acquiescence or in criminal collusion. We should not blame the leader for seeing in himself Kabiyesi. That is the status we conferred on him. Even the humblest person begins to gallop once put on a horse. True. Humility or simplicity disappears the moment power unlimited is offered.

The chant of the president’s personal anthem is what Pawley and Müllensiefen call “Singing along.” It is never a stringless act. Worse than Abacha’s Two-Million-Man March, we see two hundred million people, crowds of crowds, move together in one voice, bound by an invisible script and spell. We feel a ‘terrorised’ democracy where citizens learn, through bowing, concurring and context rather than conviction, to sing the song of the kingly emperor. People who are not sure of anything again discover that synchronised voices create safety, and belonging. They proceed to stage it as a ritual for economic and political survival.

The popular Abacha badge decorated the left and right breasts of many fallen angels. Collective chanting signalled loyalty and reduced individual risk. Under this regime of democrats, the badge will soon come, but the chant is louder and wider cast. Unitarised voices have become instruments through which power is normalised, and by which dissent is dissolved.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Kukah And A Nation Of Marabouts

Two years into this democracy in 2001, Nigerian-American professor of African history and global studies, Raphael Chijioke Njoku, warned that “new democracies often revert to dictatorships.” He was a prophet and his scholarship prescient. We are there.

There are sorries to say and apologies to drop. On September 8, 1971, Nigeria killed Ishola Oyenusi and his armed robbery gang members because they stole a few thousands of Nigerian pounds. Why did the past have to shoot them when it knew it would stage greater heists in the future? It is the same with Sani Abacha and his politics. Why did we fight him so viciously if this grim harbour was our destination? I do not have to say it before you know that the spirit of the dead is out celebrating its vindication.

American political scientist, Samuel Huntington, in his ‘The Third Wave’, lists four typologies of authoritarian regimes: one-party, personal, military and racial oligarchy. The last on this list (racial) we may never experience in Nigeria but we’ve seen military rule and its unseemly possibilities. The emergence of the first two (one-party and personal dictatorship) was what we fought and quenched in the struggle with Abacha. Unfortunately, the evil we ran out of town has now walked in to assert its invincibility. What did Abacha’s sons do that today’s children of Eli are not doing ten-fold? Democracy is a scam, or, at best, an ambush.

Politicians have borrowed God’s language without His temperament. They have restructured the Presidential Villa into Nigeria’s Mount Sinai where commandments descend on tablets of gold bars. The whole country has become an endless Sunday service; the president sits on the altar, ministers and party chieftains swing incense burners, emitting smokes of deceit and self-righteousness; the masses kneel in reverence and awe of power. They look up to their Lord Bishop, the president, as he dispenses sweet holy communion to the converted – and dips the bottom of the stubborn into baptismal hot waters. We were not fair to Sani Abacha.

We cannot eat banana and have swollen cheek. But we can eat banana and have swollen cheeks. What will account for the difference is the sacrifice we offer to the mouth of the world. The words of the world rebuke absolute power. By choking the space for alternative voices, my Fulani friend said the ruling party is setting the whole political village ablaze, including the patch of ground on which its own structure stands. No parties or leaders survive the inferno they unleash on others. The flame of the fire the ruling party ignites and fans today will, inevitably, find its way home tomorrow.

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Ex-Nigerian Amb., Igali, To Deliver Keynote Address As IPF Holds Ijaw Media Conference

Published

4 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Editor

…invites general public to grace event

A former Nigerian ambassador to Scandinavian countries, Amb (Dr.) Godknows Igali, is billed to deliver a keynote address at the second edition of the Ijaw Media Conference, scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, 2025, in Warri, Delta State.

In a statement jointly issued by Arex Akemotubo and Tare Magbei, chairman and secretary of the planning committee respectively, said the conference, with the theme: ‘Safeguarding Niger Delta’s Natural Resources for Future Generations,’ speaks to the urgent need for responsible stewardship of the region’s land and waterways.

According to the statement, the conference will feature
Dr Dennis Otuaro, Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, as the chairman while a former president of the Ijaw Youth Council, Engr Udengs Eradiri, will deliver the lead presentation.

The statement described Otuaro’s chairing the event as a reflection of the conference focus on policy, accountability and sustainable development in the Niger Delta.

According to the statement, both the keynote speaker and the lead presenter are expected to shape discussions on environmental protection, governance and the role of the media.

According to the statement, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, is expected to attend as Special Guest of Honour.

The statement further list Pere of Akugbene-Mein Kingdom, HRM Pere Luke Kalanama VIII, first Vice Chairman of the Delta State Traditional Rulers Council, as Royal Father of the Day, while Chief Tunde Smooth, the Bolowei of the Niger Delta, as Father of the Day.

Others include: Mr Lethemsay Braboke Ineibagha, Managing Director of Vettel Mega Services Nigeria Limited; Prof Benjamin Okaba, President of the Ijaw National Congress; Sir Jonathan Lokpobiri, President of the Ijaw Youth Council; Hon. Spencer Okpoye of DESOPADEC; Dr Paul Bebenimibo, Registrar of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko; Chief Boro Opudu, Chairman of Delta Waterways and Land Security; and Chief Promise Lawuru, President of the Egbema Brotherhood.

The organising committee said the conference is expected to bring together journalists, policymakers, community leaders, and researchers to promote informed dialogue and collective action toward protecting the Niger Delta for future generations.

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Okpebholo Pledges To Clear Inherited Salary Arrears, Gratuities At AAU

Published

4 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Editor

Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has assured the management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, of his administration’s commitment to addressing accumulated unpaid salaries, gratuities and other critical challenges inherited from past administrations.

In a statement, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Dr. Patrick Ebojele, said the governor gave the assurance when he received the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor (Mrs.) Eunice Eboserehimen Omonzejie, and members of her management team on a courtesy visit to Government House, Benin City.

Okpebholo, who congratulated the Vice-Chancellor and her team on their appointments, noted that their presentation underscored the depth of challenges confronting the institution.

“From what you have outlined today, it is clear that Ambrose Alli University was on life support. I must commend the progress you have recorded so far since assuming the office,” the governor said.

“I am impressed by your efforts, and I want to assure you that in any way possible, this administration will support the university to reposition it and restore its lost glory.”

Addressing the issue of accumulated salary arrears, the governor described the non-payment of staff salaries over several years as unfair and unacceptable.

“It is not right for people to work and not be paid. The issue of unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities running into billions of naira is something I will take as a project,” he said.

“These are issues inherited from the past government, and we will address them.”

Okpebholo also acknowledged other concerns raised by the university management, including hostel infrastructure, accreditation-related challenges and facilities required for programmes such as Medical Laboratory Science.

“This year’s budget is already at an advanced stage, but I expect that these critical needs will be properly captured in your budget proposals. Once that is done, we will see how best to move the institution forward,” he added.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Omonzejie, explained that the delay in paying a courtesy visit to the governor was due to a recently concluded accreditation exercise and the need to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the state of the university.

She noted that the university she inherited was in a moribund state, plagued by infrastructural decay, unpaid salaries and accreditation challenges, among others.

Omonzejie expressed profound appreciation to Governor Okpebholo for what she described as “life-saving interventions” since his assumption of office.

According to her, the governor’s approval of an increased monthly subvention, restoration of affected staff to the payroll, support for graduating backlog medical students, improved security logistics, and the facilitation of road construction through the Niger Delta Development Commission have significantly revived the institution.

She also formally presented pressing needs requiring urgent attention, including accumulated unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities and union deductions, as well as the construction of lecture theatres and hostels to enhance accreditation and expand student intake, particularly in the College of Medicine.