The 2027 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that former Labour Party, LP, presidential running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed knew Peter Obi was “a packaged fraud” when he served as his running mate in the 2023 presidential election.

Sowore made the allegation in a post on his X handle while reacting to Datti’s claim that Obi, Atiku Abubakar and other politicians cannot improve Nigeria.

“He knew Peter Obi, whom he deputized, was a packaged fraud. That needs no repeating, he just revealed what he knew up close,” Sowore wrote.

Sowore also recalled the 2023 Peace Accord signing, saying he sat beside Datti and watched him show support for President Bola Tinubu.

“I sat next to Datti in 2023 at the Peace Accord signing and watched him fawning over Tinubu,” he stated.

According to Sowore, he posted about the incident at the time, alleging that Obi and Datti were working for Tinubu.

He said their supporters rejected his claim then but now “know better”, before urging Nigerians to vote wisely ahead of the 2027 election.

Scores of chieftains and members of the ruling Allied Peoples Movement, APM, in Ogo Oluwa and Surulere local government areas of Oyo State have dumped the party.

The APM chieftains and members dumped the party for the Action Democratic Congress, ADC.

Olaleru and Ganiyu, while speaking on the rationale behind their defection to the ADC, alleged that the APM, which is the political party of the present administration in the state, is full of deceit and lies.

The duo maintained that they decided to join the ADC in order to work for the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Olaleru, in his remarks, said: “We have discovered that we need to move to a better party and we see the ADC and its governorship candidate, Olooye Adegoke, as a place we should move to and the person we can trust.”

Ganiyu, in his contribution, said it was their belief that the party would bring dividends of democracy to the people of their area.

He said: “We are pleased to be in his party and we prayed that his aspirations to govern the state will be crowned with victory.”

The defectors were received into the ADC by the governorship candidate of the party, Chief Adegboyega Adegoke.

Adegoke, in his remarks, assured the new members of equal opportunities like other members.

He then used the opportunity to urge them to work towards the progress of the party.

A United States-based political advisory and lobbying firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, has hinted at providing video evidence in the alleged drug trafficking case linked to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu.

Von Batten-Montague-York disclosed this in a post on its verified X handle on Monday.

The firm expressed the belief that the video evidence would challenge President Tinubu’s attempt to invoke privacy protections over Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, records concerning his alleged drug-trafficking past.

“We are amending our Supplemental Notice of Evidentiary Exhibits to the US court to include the attached video transcript. The video is really extraordinary.

“At an All Progressives Congress, APC, political event, Mr Adewale Tinubu, President Tinubu’s reported nephew, said, ‘I did that case in Chicago. It was one of my first legal matters,’ and described personally urging Tinubu to settle.

“Yet the official court record identifies Patrick S. Coffey, Esq. as the attorney representing President Tinubu in that case. No court appearance, pleading, signature, or other filing identifies Mr Adewale Tinubu as counsel in the proceeding. Not a single record.

“Why does this matter? First, court records show that Mr Adewale Tinubu’s account is false. Second, the video shows, in real time, the falsification of established facts to deceive the Nigerian public. Facts President Tinubu now claims are private. Third, President Tinubu is asking the court to protect his alleged heroin-trafficking records from the public. Yet his own nephew publicly discussed the Chicago proceeding at a political campaign event while Tinubu was present.

“President Tinubu cannot have it both ways. US courts have long recognized that voluntary public disclosure can diminish the privacy interest that Exemption 7(C) protects. The FBI and DEA must come to the realization that President Tinubu is a liability and that his alleged drug-trafficking records are just another Epstein file.

“Whether under the current Republican administration or a future Democrat administration, those files will eventually be released to the public,” the firm tweeted.

Former Cross River State Governor and Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, presidential candidate, Donald Duke, has argued that Nigerians were better off under military rule than under the current democratic system.

Speaking during an interview over the weekend, Duke said that despite 27 years of civilian governance since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, the lives of ordinary Nigerians have not improved significantly.

“The people were better off under the military. At least governance was not that expensive,” he said.

According to Duke, the assessment should be based on citizens’ welfare and the democracy dividends delivered over the years

“We’re still having the same problems we had 27 years ago. It’s getting worse. The number of children out of school has not improved; it’s deteriorating. The healthcare system is not improving; it’s deteriorating,” he pointed.

He questioned whether Nigeria is better off today than it was in 1999, pointing to persistent challenges such as poor infrastructure, unemployment, and inadequate electricity supply.

“The problems that existed before 1999 electrification, unemployment, those things are still there. And I don’t see a structured approach towards dealing with these issues.”

Duke also criticized Nigeria’s political system, describing the opposition as weak and self-serving, he argued that many citizens have lost faith in elections because they believe their votes do not count.

“The opposition is terribly weakened and self-centred. Democracy is also in danger. The results you get from the polls often don’t reflect the views of the people.”

He said this lack of trust has reduced accountability, allowing elected officials to ignore the needs of the people.

The former governor further claimed that Nigeria’s democratic institutions are failing in their responsibility to provide checks and balances.

As an example, he cited the swift approval of Nigeria’s return to the former national anthem, arguing that lawmakers failed to properly scrutinize the decision.

Duke also blamed the country’s elite for abandoning leadership responsibilities and allowing politics to become a permanent occupation for a select group.

“It’s a failure of the elite more than anything else. We’re elites; we’re enlightened people but we abdicated our leadership to those whom we should be leading.”

He warned that the growing gap between the rich and poor could threaten social stability, recalling a prediction that a time would come when the wealthy would struggle to sleep because of widespread poverty.

Despite his criticism, Duke expressed disappointment rather than hopelessness, stressing that Nigeria possesses the human and material resources needed for progress.

“Nigeria is exceedingly blessed. It’s sad. It’s painful that we are where we are,” concluded.

Mixed reactions have continued to trail the comments made by the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), against former Kaduna State Governor and African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain Nasir El-Rufai.

DAILY POST reported that Musa, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, accused El-Rufai of policies and actions that allegedly deepened divisions and insecurity in Kaduna State during his administration from 2015 to 2023.

According to Musa, “El-Rufai did a lot of terrible things in Kaduna State. He divided the state into two. In that, if you are from the south, you cannot go to the north to live.”

The remarks have since generated mixed reactions among Nigerians on social media.

A teacher, Nura Bako Zango, questioned the minister’s allegations and challenged him to address what he described as historical realities surrounding violence in Kaduna State.

Zango argued that communal clashes and religious conflicts predated El-Rufai’s administration, citing the 2011 post-election violence and the 1992 Zangon Kataf crisis. He maintained that important historical questions must be answered before placing responsibility solely on the former governor.

Similarly, Abdulmatin Muhammed Jibril, writing on Facebook, challenged Musa to provide evidence supporting his allegations.

“As a general of the Nigerian Army, what efforts did you make to protect your people from him? Show us just one piece of evidence of you speaking up,” he wrote.

Another commentator, Ibrahim Idris Muazzam, described the minister’s remarks as unfortunate, insisting that El-Rufai governed Kaduna State fairly and without discrimination.

Sani Ahmed also dismissed the allegations, arguing that Kaduna’s ethnic and religious divisions existed long before El-Rufai became governor.

However, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, defended the Defence Minister, saying the experiences of the people of Southern Kaduna under El-Rufai’s administration could not be dismissed.

Lawal stated that while El-Rufai’s supporters were entitled to defend him, such views did not erase the grievances and experiences of many Southern Kaduna residents.

Drawing a controversial comparison, Lawal said Southern Kaduna people viewed El-Rufai in the same way Jews view Adolf Hitler, adding that the current administration under Governor Uba Sani was working to heal old wounds.

Meanwhile, Victor Mathew Bobai, Senior Special Adviser on Public Affairs to Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, urged Nigerians to focus on the substance of the minister’s claims rather than assumptions about his political motives.

Bobai said Musa’s comments should be seen as part of democratic discourse and not as an official military directive.

“We must distinguish between an official directive and a political opinion. General Musa did not issue a military order, announce a defence policy, or instruct the Armed Forces to support any political party. He participated in a public conversation and expressed his assessment of the political environment,” he said.