chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dele Momodu, has submitted that Senate President Godswill Akpabio is no longer the same person he used to know as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

Momodu, who spoke on Monday during a Channels TV interview, said though they were never close, he admired what Akpabio did as Governor for the people of his state, but the Akpabio who is the current Senate President of Nigeria is afraid of something.

Speaking along the lines that the current crop of lawmakers is a rubber-stamp National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Akpabio, Momodu submitted that the federal lawmakers would approve a third term speedily if President Bola Tinubu moves for it.

The veteran journalist suggested that Akpabio is most likely afraid of the presidency, adding that the Nigerian presidency is a powerful institution.

“The good side in Akpabio was that he delivered as Governor of Akwa Ibom State. I don’t know what became of him after. You know what usually happens is that today people say he is leading a rubber-stamping Senate, perhaps out of fear of the presidency.

“The Nigerian presidency is the most powerful president, maybe after Donald Trump, if not on equal level.

“Nigeria’s presidency is so powerful that one Minister, Chief Alex Akinyele, once told me under Babangida government that a Nigerian president can turn a man into woman and a women into man. So what I see in Akpabio today is a man who is afraid of something. A man who will do anything.

“If Tinubu says tomorrow I want a third term, I can bet you in five minutes, they will vote for him, so I don’t know what happened but as Governor you know he had executive powers and with executive powers, there is much more you can do for your state and that was my admiration for him,” Momodu said during the interview monitored by Naija News

Suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, has assured residents that the ongoing political crisis in the state will ultimately strengthen the people rather than weaken them.

Fubara made this statement when he received Muslim leaders from 20 Islamic-based groups, including the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, at his private residence in Port Harcourt during an Eid-El-Fitr Sallah visit.

Addressing the delegation, Governor Fubara urged them and his supporters to trust in God’s process, saying: “This season is one of love, sharing, and sacrifice. You have come to share in our pain and have made a great sacrifice through your prayers. As Christians, we believe that everything happens for a purpose, and I strongly believe that this situation is leading us toward a greater purpose.”

He acknowledged that the current political tension might leave many feeling depressed but emphasised that supernatural forces may be at play beyond human understanding.

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“No matter what we see, we must remain steadfast. In all things, we give glory to Almighty God. I believe that in the end, we will emerge stronger,” he added.

He reaffirmed his commitment to justice and equality, stressing that his administration envisions a society where no one is oppressed.

“We believe in egalitarianism, and if our beliefs bring us some pain, so be it. The most important thing is that we stand on the side of truth and righteousness,” he stated.

He regretted that he was unable to formally reach out to the Muslim community during their celebrations but promised that the relationship between religious groups and the government would be strengthened once the current uncertainties are resolved.

He also assured the leaders that their pending requests would be addressed after the crisis subsides.

Urging patience and perseverance, Governor Fubara drew an analogy from religious history, saying, “If God could be patient with Noah to allow even the snail to enter the Ark, then patience remains an essential virtue in our struggle.”

He also cautioned against falling prey to those who want engineer violence by fanning provocative acts, warning his supporters and Rivers people to avoid certain elements who sought to destabilize the state.

“Their goal is to create problems and deny people their means of livelihood. We will not allow that. We will continue to operate peacefully and respect constitutional authority to ensure that our state remains a model for others in Nigeria,” he concluded.

Speaking earlier on behalf of the Muslim community, Alhaji Nasir Awhelebe Uhor, declared their solidarity with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, assuring him of their prayers and support as he navigates the state’s current political challenges.

Alhaji Uhor stated that the majority of Muslims in Rivers State stand with Governor Fubara due to his inclusive approach to governance and his recognition of the Islamic faith.

He noted that unlike the previous administration that declared Rivers a 100% Christian state, Governor Fubara, upon assuming office, acknowledged the state as Christian majority while allowing room for inclusiveness.

Encouraging the governor to remain steadfast, Uhor reminded him of the Islamic belief that Allah rewards patience.

He said the present challenges align with the teachings of Islam, where the Creator tests His people through wealth, power, and authority.

He further called on President Bola Tinubu to review the emergency rule in Rivers State and restore Governor Fubara’s full authority, emphasizing that the governor has been performing effectively despite the crisis.

During the visit, prayers were offered for suspended Governor Fubara, his family, Rivers State, and Nigeria as a whole.

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, has appointed gospel artist Asu Ekiye as the Izon Language Ambassador.

Naija News reports that this announcement was made during Ekiye’s musical concert and album launch, titled “Ebikamo Experience,” which took place on Sunday in Yenagoa.

Governor Diri highlighted that this appointment acknowledges Ekiye’s dedication to preserving the Ijaw language through his music, aligning with his administration’s goal to prevent the language from becoming extinct.

He praised the musician’s commitment to language preservation and mentioned that his administration has already trained Ijaw teachers, with plans for further initiatives to promote the language.

Diri said: “I would have been here earlier but was told that the place was not ready. When it started raining, I told the Chief of Staff and SA Religion to represent me. But immediately I made that decision, the rain stopped.

“On behalf of our government of Assured Prosperity, I want to say a big thank you to you and your team. They say a prophet is not recognised in his hometown but here you are acceptable. When you are blessed by God, nobody can take it. Haa Izon! is a call for unity and not a call for war.

“I am happy with your success story as an Ijaw gospel musician and I have, therefore, appointed you as Ambassador of Ijaw Language. My office will write you.

“I challenge everyone, particularly parents, to teach their children our language and urge them to join hands with the government in our drive to preserve the language from extinction.

“My dear people of Bayelsa, our state is peaceful because Ijaw people are peaceful. Let us support the state government and the Federal Government.

“We have started proving that the best place to live in is Bayelsa. The way we have given Nigeria oil and gas, Bayelsa is also the cradle of marine and blue economy and this is what Nigeria is missing in Bayelsa. So, we thank the federal government for creating the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.”

Ekiye captivated the audience with his vibrant songs and dynamic dance moves, drawing the governor onto the dance floor.

Present at the event were notable figures including the state Chief Judge, Justice Matilda Ayemieye, the representative for Yenagoa Constituency 1 in the House of Assembly, Ayibanegiyefa Egba, the Chief of Staff at the Government House, Dr. Peter Akpe, his deputy, Mr. Irorodamie Komonibo, along with other esteemed Ijaw music artists such as Barrister Smooth and Alfred Izonebi, among others.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have announced the implementation of a 0.5% levy on imported goods from Nigeria and other member-states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as they seek to fund a new regional union following their exit from the bloc.

The announcement, made in an official statement on Friday, marks a significant shift in trade relations within West Africa, with the new levy taking effect immediately.

The statement clarified that the levy would apply to all imported goods, except for humanitarian aid, and would be used to finance the activities of the new bloc, although no further details were provided on how the funds would be utilized.

The move effectively ends the free trade agreement that had been in place across West Africa under the ECOWAS umbrella for several decades.

This levy is part of a broader strategy by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to build a new union after their departure from ECOWAS.

The three countries, each currently ruled by military juntas following coups in 2023, had previously established the Alliance of Sahel States as a security pact.

Over time, this alliance has grown into an economic union with aspirations for greater military and financial integration, including plans to introduce biometric passports.

Last year, the three nations left ECOWAS, citing insufficient support from the bloc in combating Islamist insurgencies and addressing ongoing insecurity within their borders.

In response, ECOWAS imposed economic, political, and financial sanctions on Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, aiming to pressure them to return to constitutional order. However, these sanctions have had little effect on the three countries, which continue to strengthen their alliance.

Veteran Nigerian journalist cum chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, has asserted that Nigeria is witnessing something worse that dictatorship under President Bola Tinubu.

Naija News reports that Momodu made this known while berating Tinubu for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State, describing it as anti-democratic.

Recall that Tinubu, on March 18, 2025, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months in addition to the state of emergency owing to the political crisis in the oil-rich state and the move have generated backlash from many political elites.

In an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Dele Momodu pleaded with President Tinubu not to kill democracy in Nigeria.

Momodu claimed that some people are deceiving Tinubu and warned him to watch his back.

He said, “I think it is very unfortunate. I know President Tinubu very, very, very well. Though I’ve not been in the same party [with him] and all that, we were together in exile, and he fought gallantly for this democracy. So a lot of us, co-comrades at that time, are actually very embarrassed that we have a pro-democracy leader in government, and yet what we are witnessing is worse than dictatorship.

“I’m pleading with President Bola Tinubu, ‘Please don’t kill democracy in Nigeria.’ Everybody who loves him will tell him this. I don’t; I’ve not asked him for anything or anything, but we love him for his contributions to the motivation in the back, which is what is going down the drain.

“I’m saying it now openly to millions of Nigerians that people are deceiving President Tinubu, and he should not allow people to deceive you.

“He should just do his job. The only thing that can guarantee a second time is to do your job well. You do not need to intimidate anybody.”

The Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, has said he would report former Minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, to the Igbo traditional leadership.

Naija News reported that Senator Onyekachi and the former Minister of Education, Ezekwesili, clashed during the Senate Committee on Ethics sitting constituted to hear sexual harassment allegation brought by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Speaking on Monday with AIT, Onyekachi accused Ezekwesili of describing him as a hooligan. The Ebonyi North Senator stated that he respects women and has championed women’s empowerment and rights.

His words: “As a person, I can’t talk to my wife like that in public. I can’t talk to my driver like that in public. I can’t talk to any woman that way in my life. I’ve never done that in my life. I respect women. I’m one of the people that have been championing the rights and privileges of women.

“As a legal practitioner, I’ve won so many cases in favor of women that were denied the right of inheriting their father’s property because their father had no male child. I’ve won so many cases pro bono. The facts are there. If you go to Ebonyi State, you will see them. I’m one of the leaders from the South East that have a program of building houses for widows, sponsoring their children in school. I have over 300 of them. All these are to show the respect and regard and love I have for women.

“But for a woman to get up in public and tell me to shut up my mouth and call me a hooligan, a red cap chief in Igbo land that has made my mark, that has made my contribution, has stood for election. I have a vote of over 500 people to be in the Senate and somebody who has never won a ward councilor to come to my office and tell me to shut up my mouth and call me a hooligan. This is unacceptable. And I’m going to take that up within the Igbo traditional leadership because it never happened.”

The political crisis within the Lagos State House of Assembly remains unresolved as Speaker Mudashiru Obasa continues to push forward with his lawsuit against former Speaker Mojisola Meranda and other lawmakers, despite President Bola Tinubu’s intervention, Naija News has learned.

According to sources familiar with the matter, confusion and concern are growing among APC leaders in Lagos over Obasa’s refusal to withdraw the legal case.

“The truth is that there is uncertainty among the party’s leadership regarding why the Speaker is still in court.

“Honestly, we don’t know why. After President Tinubu’s intervention and their meeting in Abuja, everything about the leadership crisis seemed to have been settled,” a source revealed to SaharaReporters on Monday.

The source further noted that Meranda had already stepped aside in line with the party’s resolution, making Obasa’s persistence puzzling.

“If you know Meranda very well, you will see that she is an easygoing person, not someone who wants the speakership ‘do or die.’ Since the leaders told her to step down in the interest of the party, she relinquished her ambition and did not pursue it further. This is why we don’t know what Obasa wants from the court again. But everyone is observing the situation,” the source added.

Meanwhile, Obasa’s lawyer, Afolabi Fashanu (SAN), has dismissed any speculation that his client is considering dropping the lawsuit.

A former majority leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, has revealed how he was approached with ₦5 billion to facilitate the impeachment of the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.

Ehie, who currently serves as the Chief of Staff to the suspended Governor Fubara, said he still has the evidence of the offer on his phone.

Speaking on a Channels Television programme, Sunday Politics, he disclosed that he has printed the evidence and shared it in case those who approached him with the bribe want to use it against him in the future.

He said, “I can also open my phone to show you, in the beginning of October 2023, when they approached me with a bribe of N5 billion. It is here in my phone.

“It was for impeachment. It’s here. I have it and I have printed it and distributed it, incase in their evil imagination, they decide to attack me. I already have a son and a brother.”

Ehie, who was the factional speaker of the Rivers Assembly until January 2024, said the offer to facilitate Fubara’s impeachment was made to him at a time he was still the Majority Leader of the House.

Naija News had earlier reported that Ehie also vehemently denied claims that he played any role in the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex on October 29, 2023.

The allegations, made by former Rivers State Head of Service, George Nwaeke, accused Ehie and Fubara of masterminding the fire that destroyed the state’s Assembly Complex.

However, Ehie refuted the claims, stating he was not involved in the incident.

Lawal Idris, a former Senior Special Assistant to the immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has described his former boss administration as a failure.

He lamented that Matawalle tenure was filled with political upheavals, economic stagnation, insecurity and confusion.

According to him, his former principal could not pay the then minimum wage of ₦30,000 but paid ₦7000 to civil servants.

Idris, stated this while reacting to a factional All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Secretary in the State, Yusuf Idris Gusau, who said that the payment of the much awaited ₦70,000.00 minimum wage by Gov Dauda Lawal was a deceit to hoodwink civil servants that he is an action governor who has their welfare at heart

He argued that APC is envious of the achievements of Gov Lawal in barely two years in office, which according to him, surpassed the four years of the immediate past APC-led government of Matawalle.

According to him, the APC is still groaning over its defeat in the 2023 governorship election.

Writing on behalf of Zamfara Rescue Movement, Idris said, “To state that the governor is working hard, particularly in the implementation of the minimum wage to civil servants as a ‘deceit’ to gain their support is a deliberate distortion of [truth].

“To distort facts and try to incite citizens against the government they overwhelmingly voted into office and still support is unpatriotic and counterproductive.

“Partisan politics should be set aside as the government strives to provide dividends of democracy to citizens.

This is what APC failed to understand. Politics of bitterness has no place in Zamfara State, which was why the people voted out the party in the 2023 gubernatorial election and why the party also remains factionalized in the state without direction and future.

“The government of Bello Matawalle of APC could not pay then minimum wage of N30,000.00, instead he paid N7000.00 to civil servants for a month salary.

“Civil servants were demoralised and impoverished which grossly affected their potentials and productivity essential in charting economic growth and prosperity.

“Despite this meagre salary workers and pensioners were equally owed months of their wages and pensions; promotion, human capital development trainings etc, were suspended due to lack of initiatives and strategic management of scarce resources.

“It was this atmosphere of despondency and insecurity that compelled the good people of Zamfara State to vote out a sitting governor, Bello Matawalle of APC.

“For the people of Zamfara, the dark days of political upheavals, economic stagnation, insecurity and confusion in governance is over.

“All benefits to former members of the State House of Assembly were settled, funds to Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state withheld for two years by the Matawalle’s administration were released.”