Sam Amadi, former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has claimed that nobody can defeat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election with Mr Peter Obi.

Obi was the erstwhile presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election.

Amadi’s remark comes amid reports that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had offered Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party the vice-presidential slot in a proposed single-term coalition ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.


However, the former Anambra State Governor maintained that he is only interested in the coalition against hunger, poverty, and the bad state of healthcare and education in the country.

But in a post on X on Tuesday, Amadi, who is also Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, maintained that Obi is indispensable to whoever wants to defeat Tinubu comes 2027.

He said: “The truth is that without @PeterObi there is no way anyone can defeat Tinubu. What this truth implies is for you to figure out. This explains the melancholy and aggression on this street.


“The circle can be squared with respect and deep good faith.

…Says Lagos-Calabar superhighway to be tolled from December

The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, has said all the five governors in the South-east geo-political zone are supporting President Bola Tinubu.

To this end, Umahi has called on the region’s undecided opposition figures, such as former Governor Peter Obi, to join the train and back the president.

He also said a section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is nearing completion and that users will have to pay a toll effective December 2025.

According to a release issued on Tuesday by presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the minister, who stated these in a feature interview for an upcoming State House documentary marking President Tinubu’s second anniversary, disclosed that all South-east governors support President Tinubu’s administration, regardless of their political affiliations.

He said: “All the governors in the South-east, regardless of party affiliation, are working with the president.”

Of the five governors, Imo and Ebonyi are All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, Enugu belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anambra All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), while Abia is Labour Party.

According to Umahi, the South-east is witnessing a new wave of federal attention and infrastructure development under President Tinubu.

“The Igbo man is enterprising and blessed with God-given wisdom. What Ndi Igbo seek is fairness, Nigeria that treats every zone equally. That is what President Tinubu is doing.

“Before, when I was governor and deputy governor, one of our major concerns in Ebonyi State was the lack of federal presence. But today, nobody remembers that issue anymore. Under President Tinubu, at least four federal projects are ongoing in Ebonyi State,” Umahi said.

He noted that while cries of marginalisation used to dominate conversations in the South-east, the current administration has made significant progress in addressing long-standing concerns about infrastructure and appointments.

His words: “Today, the South-east has a Minister of Works for the first time, and we’re seeing real projects—Port Harcourt to Enugu, Enugu to Abakaliki, Enugu to Onitsha, Onitsha to Owerri, and the Second Niger Bridge. The president has already paid 30 per cent of the cost of that bridge. The former Ebonyi State governor also hinted of plans by South-east leaders to endorse President Tinubu for re-election come 2027.

“We’re even planning a summit to bring together all South-east leaders to endorse the president for the 2027 elections formally. We want our projects to be completed, the country’s unity to be strengthened and proper integration of Ndi Igbo.”

Umahi urged key regional opposition figures to align with the president for the greater good of the South-east.

“Leadership is not about self—it’s about the people. If someone else is already doing what you would have done for your people, support him. I call on my brother, His Excellency Peter Obi, to join us and work with Mr. President.

“He must be part of this summit where we will collectively endorse President Tinubu for the 2027 election. I say it boldly: the South-east is happy with the president,” he said.

Providing updates on four major national projects—the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the Trans-Saharan Trade Route, and the soon-to-be-procured Ogun-Ondo-Niger Corridor—Umahi described them as transformative investments designed to unlock Nigeria’s economic potential and deepen regional integration.

On the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the minister revealed that over 80 per cent of Section 1—spanning 47.47 kilometres from Ahmadu Bello Way to the Lekki Deep Sea Port and terminating at Eleko Junction—had been completed.

Work is also progressing on Section 2, which covers 55 kilometres from Eleko Junction to the Lagos-Ogun border.

“By December, we will toll Section 1 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. We project a 10-year return on investment. The road has solar-powered lighting and CCTV infrastructure and offers carbon credit advantages.

“It is more than a road—it is an economic corridor and a catalyst for regional growth. We have completed 30 kilometres of Section 1 and are on track to complete an additional 10 in Section 2. These are six-lane, concrete-paved highways.

“Just days ago, we flagged off Sections 3 and 3B—65 kilometres in total—covering 38 kilometres in Cross River State and 27 kilometres in Akwa Ibom. The host communities’ excitement speaks to these projects’ transformative impact,” he said.

Commenting on the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the minister explained its historic significance, noting that the route was conceived during the Shehu Shagari administration over four decades ago.

According to him, “The Trans-Saharan Trade Route dates back to colonial-era planning. President Tinubu is now bringing these long-abandoned visions to life.”

Commending the president’s leadership and foresight, Umahi said: “God gave him the vision for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway seven years ago. Today, he is actualising that vision. These projects testify to his unwavering commitment to national development and a better future for all Nigerians.”

He reaffirmed that the legacy projects are economically viable, environmentally sustainable and forward-looking.

By Augustine Akhilomen

…Says President Will Rely On Electoral Manipulation To Secure Victory In 2027

Former Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Political Affairs, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has called on Nigerians to raise their voices against the administration of President Bola Tinubu amid the continuous economy hardship in the country.

Baba-Ahmed in his column on Tuesday, said that Tinubu has failed to address the hardship Nigerians face daily since he took over the nation’s governance.

The former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) noted that Tinubu could decide to continue his poor governance and rely on electoral manipulation to secure victory in 2027.

“This administration has roughly two years to go. Nigerians aggrieved by its performance have a number of options. We could demand that it address the current state of insecurity with more vigour and imagination, or we could write it off and continue to live with killers, kidnappers, and rising levels of mutual distrust until 2027, when we will again decide on our future.

“While we are at it, we can raise our voices to draw attention to the crippling cost of living, the tragic escalation in the number of desperately poor citizens, and the need to end the litany of statistics and press releases that merely reinforce the perception that this administration is out of touch with Nigeria’s realities,” he said.

“This APC administration is, in many ways, an offshoot of Buhari’s administration, despite Tinubu’s inaugural speech bravado.

“This APC administration will play the regional card and insist that it must serve for eight years so that every southerner feels properly Nigerian. It is attracting defectors like flies to an open sewer, starving other parties of the strength to mount a serious challenge in 2027.

“It will amass even greater fortunes being in power and knowing the weight of money in deciding electoral outcomes. It will enlist mobilizers who will split or manufacture votes, just as the clergy did in 2023. It will spend hundreds of billions to induce voters who have starved for four years, voters who will collect morsels and a few hundred naira because that may be all they ever get in eight years of this democracy.

“It will carve up the country, deepen fault lines, and weaken the bonds needed to begin healing a nation that has paid for its democracy with its cohesion, the blood of its citizens, and the future of its youth,” he stated.