Eric

Do not Undermine Democracy I have received with shock the news of an order by the Federal High Court in Abuja nullifying the emergence of the Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and all the actions he has taken. This is unsettling and surprising. I do not challenge the ruling of the court. The court of law is constituted to determine disputes according to the law. My concern is that three months before a general election, it is in the public interest to have certainty. It is not good to have too many uncertainties about candidates and parties a few weeks before a presidential election. This instability is obviously engineered by the ruling party, just as they have done against me in the Labour Party and continue to do so to close down civic space for a robust campaign. It is also from the same rulebook that manufactures violence against us in our campaigns. One mark of democracy is that at all times, it is voters and not courts that choose leaders. I trust in the judiciary. As a public officer, I have shown deep respect for the judiciary. I appeal that we protect the integrity of democracy by not undermining the free and fair choice of candidates. The sustenance of democracy in Nigeria, in the midst of encroaching military rule in West Africa, should strengthen our resolve to protect opposition politics and not stamp out opposition parties. It is because of the importance of opposition to the sustenance of democracy that I have always promised that, as President, I will take a special interest in ensuring opposition parties are stable and thriving, and that opposition candidates are not persecuted out of electoral contests. This is a time to strengthen our democracy by allowing the opposition to thrive. A new Nigeria is POssible. -PO

CIVILITY IS NOT WEAKNESS. ENOUGH OF THE HARASSMENT OF MY SUPPORTERS. RELEASE RILWAN OLAWALE NOW. The continued intimidation and harassment of my supporters across the country, the latest being the case of Rilwan Olawale, is disturbing and unacceptable. President Bola Tinubu has remained a huge beneficiary of our democracy and should not brazenly be destroying it by encouraging and facilitating violence. Our campaign is peaceful and issue-driven, focused on offering Nigerians a credible alternative built on competence, accountability, justice, and compassion. We have chosen the path of peace, not violence; persuasion, not intimidation. However, nobody should mistake our civility for weakness, our restraint for fear, or our commitment to peace for an absence of resolve. We will not be intimidated into silence, nor will we abandon Nigerians who believe in a New Nigeria that is possible and will be OK. I therefore demand transparency regarding Rilwan Olawale’s arrest, his release, respect for his rights, and an end to politically motivated harassment. No government or political party has the right to deny Nigerians the freedom to support a candidate of their choice. We will remain peaceful but resolute. We will not resort to violence, but we will stand firmly and lawfully against every attempt to undermine our democratic rights. A New Nigeria is POssible and will be OK. -PO

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER AND FELLOW PARTNER IN SERVICE TO NIGERIA, RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO As you mark your 70th birthday on October 21, I honour not only an accomplished public servant but also a very dear elder brother and partner whose life has been dedicated to serving our people. With the passage of time, I have come to deeply appreciate the bond between us, the many conversations we have shared, and the common commitment to Nigeria that continues to shape our service. Your path through the legislature, the Federal Executive Council, the governorship of Kano State, and national public life represents decades of experience, duty, and meaningful engagement with the Nigerian people. Turning seventy is not merely a significant milestone; it is a moment to look back with gratitude on a life devoted to service, the wisdom gained through experience, and the opportunities that remain ahead. As we continue to hope for and work toward a better Nigeria, I remain grateful for our partnership and for our shared conviction that our nation can become a place where no child is deprived of opportunity, no family is left in poverty, and every Nigerian can live with dignity, security, and hope. My dear brother, may God bless you with renewed strength, good health, wisdom, and many more productive years. May the years ahead be filled with peace, fulfilment, and the satisfaction of seeing the values we cherish take firmer root across our nation. Warmest congratulations on your 70th birthday, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso @KwankwasoRM . I honour you on this special occasion and pray that the chapter ahead will be filled with abundant blessings and many more purposeful years. -PO

Education Is the Foundation of a New Nigeria Education remains the most important tool for development and nation-building. It has been proven that the more educated a nation is, the better it develops. It has also been proven that the developing and developed nations of today are those that have invested in education, healthcare and pulling people out of poverty. Nigeria’s increasing poverty remains a consequence of not investing adequately in critical areas of development, especially education. Today, while observing the International Day of Rural Women, I visited Sheda and Sheda Galadima, in Kwali Area Council of FCT, where I was surprised to see a huge number of school-age children in the market environs on a school day. In my conversation with the children, I was deeply shocked to learn that they had been at home for over two weeks due to the teachers’ strike. So, while we are busy inaugurating campaign councils with pomp and pageantry and declaring economic miracles, our young children of school age are loitering in the streets because of a strike, in a nation with already over 18 million out-of-school children. It is time to put our children and the future of our country back at the centre of governance and government decisions. Under our leadership, investment in health and education, as well as pulling people out of poverty, will be our priorities. The relevant authorities should immediately ensure that our children in public schools return to school in the FCT. A New Nigeria is POssible, and Nigeria will be OK. -PO

Scaring Investors While Celebrating Macroeconomic Stability! As the APC-led government continue in their delusional celebration of Nigeria's macroeconomic stability, the warning from the United States Government to prospective investors on inherent risks in Nigeria, further affirms the general and correct assessment that President Bola Tinubu-led government is incompetent, ineffective and corrupt. In the 2026 Nigeria Investment Climate Statement, the U.S. Department of State clearly flagged corruption, insecurity, inconsistent regulatory enforcement and weaknesses in the judicial system, cargo delays and power sector challenges as key factors undermining investor confidence in Nigeria. The report went further to caution investors of the possible use of arbitrary detention, travel restriction and immigration enforcement to coerce foreign businesses in Nigeria. As the report unambiguosly stated: “U.S. businesses are advised that standard business trips can escalate into detention if the firm is under regulatory suspicion or faces charges by Nigerian authorities. Nigeria has previously employed coercive exit bans and arbitrary detention as leverage in commercial or regulatory disputes, and to extract data or financial concessions from multinational firms. Port inefficiency remains a significant “hidden tax” on investment. While the Lekki Deep Seaport, which opened in 2023, significantly eased pressure in 2025 — handling $9.6 billion in trade and operating at 50 percent capacity — traditional ports in Apapa and Tin Can still suffer from cargo dwell times exceeding 20 days due to manual examinations.” In a nation with an effective, competent and attentive government, this kind of adverse report would have elicited immediate intervention by the President and Commander in Chief ordering prompt investigation, follow-up and effective action to ensure that our most endowed Nigeria is not perceived negatively by one of our key trading partners, friendly nations and expectedly the global economy. This is even more important given our desperation for Foreign Direct Investment. Unfortunately, our incompetent APC- led government cannot give what they don’t have as they are the real perpetrators of the issues raised by the U.S. Government. This explains why Nigeria is unable to attract Foreign Direct Investment commensurate with our market size and potential. Of the $10.37 billion in total capital importation in the first quarter of 2026, only $135.08 million (about 1.3% of the total inflows) was Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), while about $9.86 billion (about 95.1% of the total inflows) went into Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) with loans and other capital streams accounting for the remaining.

My Visit to the Nigerian Air Force Facility Further to my message yesterday, I visited the Nigerian Air Force facility in Abuja today to formally sign the condolence register following the unfortunate aircraft crash. The visit gave me another opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made daily by the men and women of our Armed Forces and other security agencies in the line of duty. These courageous Nigerians put their lives on the line to defend our nation and protect our people. We must never take their service and sacrifice for granted. I extend my deepest condolences to the Nigerian Air Force and to the families, colleagues, and loved ones of those who lost their lives. May God grant eternal rest to the departed and give their families the strength and fortitude to bear this painful loss. May God continue to protect all those who serve our country. -PO

Independence Is Meaningless Without Real Freedom As we continue to reflect on Nigeria’s Independence, we must remember that independence means very little if citizens cannot freely express themselves, within the bounds of the law, without fear. Reports that some Nigerians in Akwa Ibom were arrested simply for identifying with the Obidient Movement should worry every Nigerian who believes in democracy and freedom, especially when such identification is a constitutional right. One of the greatest tragedies of our society is that people who once described themselves as freedom fighters can become defenders of oppression when they eventually occupy positions of authority. Those who once complained about injustice can become comfortable with injustice when it is being perpetrated against people they disagree with. That must not be the Nigeria we accept. Our independence must ultimately mean freedom from fear, injustice, intolerance and abuse of power. Nigeria must belong to all of us. -PO

Nigeria at 66: Looking Back, Looking Forward Fellow Nigerians, Today we mark the sixty-sixth anniversary of our independence. It ought to be a day of celebration and thanksgiving to God Almighty for the gift of life and for the immense blessings He has bestowed on our nation—our diversity, our abundant human and natural resources, our vast agricultural potential, and the relative absence of devastating natural disasters. It should also be a day of appreciation and patriotism: a day to remember our founding fathers and all those who made selfless, and in many cases supreme, sacrifices for the birth, survival and growth of our dear nation. We must acknowledge the efforts of past and present leaders who have laboured, however imperfectly, to build a better Nigeria. Yet independence anniversaries must never be reduced to mere celebration. They are moments for honest national reflection. We must look back, examine where we stand today, and ask ourselves whether we are moving in the direction our founding fathers envisioned. In national planning and strategy, every serious nation must continually ask three fundamental questions: Where are we today? Where do we want to be? How do we get from where we are to where we want to be? These questions are especially urgent now. Despite the enormous promises made by the APC-led government in 2023, our nation continues to face deepening challenges across virtually every critical sector of national life. Today we stand before the world as a nation: With an extraordinarily large population living in poverty and severe hardship; over 140M With one of the largest populations of out-of-school children in the world; over 18M Where insecurity, terrorism, banditry and kidnapping continue to threaten lives and livelihoods, just recently 37 young Nigerians in their productive age lost their lives Where millions of Nigerians struggle with hunger and food insecurity; over 40M Nigerians will be in extreme hunger by the end of 2026. With unacceptably high rates of infant and maternal mortality; Nigeria today is the worst place to be born. Where youth unemployment and underemployment remain alarmingly high; over 35M Where drug abuse and substance misuse increasingly threaten our young population; today 14% as against global average of 6% Where life expectancy remains among the lowest globally, today 54 years against global average of 74 years And the list goes on. This reality demands serious, sober and honest reflection. Socrates taught that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” By the same principle, an unexamined nation cannot successfully chart its future. We must therefore ask ourselves: Are we cursed, or have we become the curse through the choices we have made and the failures we have tolerated? The answer cannot be that Nigeria is cursed. We are a nation immensely endowed and blessed. Our greatest problem is not a lack of resources; it is the failure to convert our enormous resources into human development, productivity, security and shared prosperity. Only yesterday, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and I returned from a two-day visit to Sokoto State. We held extensive consultations with people from different parts of the state on insecurity, out-of-school children, poverty, youth unemployment, drug abuse and other challenges confronting our people. In concluding the visit, we went to the Internally Displaced Persons camp at Ramin Kura within Sokoto metropolis. What we saw was deeply troubling. Thousands of women and children live in deplorable conditions, displaced from their homes and deprived of the basic necessities of life. Many of the children have no access to education. Mothers and children have limited access to basic healthcare. These are Nigerians who should be living in their communities, going to school, farming their land, conducting their businesses and contributing to the economy. Instead, they live as displaced persons in their own country.

In the Caliphate with a Message of Hope for the Poor and Unity in Nigeria. Today, ahead of our town-hall engagements in Sokoto, Sokoto State, I had the privilege of paying a courtesy visit to His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, alongside my brother and running mate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and members of our team. We used the opportunity of the visit to condole with him on the recent death of the Sardauna of Sokoto. In my remarks, I emphasised the urgent need to unite and secure our nation, tackle poverty, create employment, and rebuild confidence in our country. His Eminence warmly received us and spoke with the wisdom of a father and national leader. He recalled that he has known me for almost 46 years, since 1980, when I was in my first year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and has maintained a cordial relationship since then. He reminded us that leadership comes from Almighty Allah and carries a responsibility for which we will ultimately be held accountable. He also mentioned three critical priorities for Nigeria: security, poverty, and employment. He additionally reminded us that our diversity of tribes, tongues, and faiths is part of God's creation and should be our strength, not our weakness. We do not seek to Islamise or Christianise anyone. We seek to build a Nigeria where every citizen can live safely, prosper, and have a genuine sense of belonging. May Almighty God continue to bless His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, the people of Sokoto State, and our beloved Nigeria. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO