Politics
2023: Tinubu Jets Out Of Nigeria Weeks After Declaring Presidential Ambition
All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu, has travelled out of Nigeria weeks after declaring his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election, The PUNCH has learnt.
A member of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Movement’s Working Committees told our correspondent on Friday that the former Lagos State governor travelled overseas to rest and strategise.
The source, who craved anonymity, said, “He (Tinubu) travelled abroad to rest after going around the country for consultations. He travelled to rest and strategise.”
The source, however, did not mention the country Tinubu travelled to. He also said it was not true that the APC leader travelled for medical reason.
Efforts to get the comments of Tinubu’s spokesman, Tunde Rahman, proved abortive on Friday as he neither take calls to his line nor reply a text message sent by our correspondent.
Similar efforts to get the comments of the Director-General of the Tinubu Support Group, Abdulmumin Jibrin, also did not yield results as press time.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Tinubu, on January 10, visited the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and announced to State House correspondents that he had informed the President of his intention to contest the presidential election in 2023.
Tinubu has since travelled to some parts of the country including Oyo, Niger, and Zamfara states to widen consultations for his political ambition.
He was, however, conspicuously absent on Thursday during the formal inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Movement’s Working Committees in Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
The movement was conceived and set up by members of Governor’s Advisory Council in Lagos for the actualisation of the presidential ambition of the politician, and launched by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Tinubu, who celebrated his 69th birthday in March 2021, had tripped over his foot and stumbled, crashing between two chairs on arrival at the 11th Arewa House Lecture in Kaduna State.
For over three months in 2021, Tinubu was away in the United Kingdom where he underwent surgery and therapy for a knee injury.
The health condition of the APC leader has since become a subject of controversy with many Nigerians rejecting another President like Buhari who has spent over 230 days in the United Kingdom on health grounds since he came into office in May 2015.
Aside from his heath, Tinubu’s educational qualifications have also been scrutinised lately by many Nigerians.
But many of his staunch supporters have argued that Tinubu is fit to become Nigeria’s President, adding that he is not older than the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, 79; and his predecessor, Donald Trump, 75.
The Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, has initiated impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Deputy Ngozi Odu, issuing them a seven-day notice to respond to allegations of gross misconduct.
The Assembly cited eight specific allegations of gross misconduct as the basis for the move.
This is the third time Fubara and Odu would be facing impeachment proceedings from the Assembly since coming to office in 2023.
Attempts to impeach them in 2023 and 2025, amid political feuds between the Governor and his predecessor and erstwhile political god-father, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, had been halted by presidential intervention.
Here are the allegations below:
1. Reckless and unconstitutional expenditure of public funds
2. Unconstitutional misappropriation of public funds
3. Hindering the Rivers Assembly from performing its constitutional duties
4. Illegal appointments of persons without screening by the House of Assembly as provided by the Constitution
5. Seizure of salaries and funds meant for Assembly members
6. Seizure of salaries of the clerk of the Rivers House of Assembly, Emeka Amadi
7. Refusal to implement provisions of the Constitution on financial autonomy of the legislature and the judiciary
8. Withholding of funds meant for the running of the Rivers House of Assembly Service Commission and hindering its activities
Lilian Adebayo, the wife of the 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, has said that the party will unseat the ruling All Progressive Party at the 2027 election if Nigerians are true to themselves.
Mrs Adebayo made this assertion known on Wednesday during an interview with journalists after an event in Abuja.
According to her, the opposition party has overcome its crisis after the expulsion of its former chairman, Shehu Gabam and others.
She said Nigerians should vote the APC out in the 2027 general election due to the hardship the party has plunged citizens into.
“There is always a crisis in the party; the SPD has been able to handle its own. The problems in the party have been resolved.
“He has a great chance of winning the election if Nigerians are honest with themselves. If Nigerians think that the ones they consistently vote for would move the country forward, they live in denial,” she concerning the husband.
Recall that SDP recently expelled Gabam and other party executives.
The party’s state chairmen on Wednesday urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the police to investigate Gabam over alleged misappropriation.
In a significant political move, Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.
Mbah announced his decision during a televised broadcast in Enugu after weeks of speculation.
He said, “Today, after a long reflection, we have made the decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party and join the All Progressives Congress.”
Mbah explained that his decision to join the PDP was informed by the need to reshape Enugu and reorganise the politics of the state.
“Today, I stand before you to announce a break from the past and to share a decision that will shape the road ahead. This concerns our values, how we organize ourselves politically and how we secure the future of our project and our people.
“Leadership sometimes demands painful decisions in the service of higher principles and goals. And there comes a time, when everyone must make a bold choice to determine their destiny.”
Ahead of the governor’s defection, all members of his cabinet had on joined the ruling party.
Governor Mbah’s Senior Media Aide, Dan Nwomeh, confirmed the mass defection in a video posted on his social media handles on Monday. In the video, several government officials were seen openly declaring their allegiance to the APC, chanting praises for President Bola Tinubu and affirming their commitment to the new party.
“Enugu State Cabinet Members join the APC with full chest along with Governor PN Mbah,” Nwomeh stated.
The officials, including commissioners and top aides, could be heard in the video declaring, “We are now in APC; tomorrow is here; it is APC all the way; it is Jagaban all the way; from top to bottom.”
The collective defection marks a significant political shift in Enugu State, which has been a PDP stronghold since 1999.
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