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Northern Group shoves Atiku over attack on Goodluck Jonathan
By Bonaventure Phillips Melah
Arewa Mandate for Unity and National Rebirth (AMUNR), has criticized former vice president, Atiku Abubakar for his recent attack on former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, had on Wednesday described Jonathan’s presidency as a ‘product of inexperience, among other unsavoury remarks.
But reacting to the development on Thursday, AMUNR, through a statement signed by Danladi Luka Ishiaku and Basiru Usman Wakili, National Coordinator and National Secretary respectively, urged Atiku to pursue his presidential ambition without looking for who to blame for his years of political misfortune.
AMUNR said contrary to Atiku’s wrong narrative, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan served Nigeria for 16 uninterrupted years from deputy governor to governor, vice president to acting president and president of the country for five years, adding that he was much more prepared to serve Nigeria at the highest level, with achievements that are yet to be equalled by any Nigerian leader in history.
The group said Atiku has failed to achieve his presidential ambition, partly due to what it described as desperation and impatience which it said was responsible for his movement from PDP to three different parties and back to PDP and now to ADC, saying Atiku would have served as president under the PDP of he had allowed Jonathan to complete his terms without disrupting the system.
It therefore advised the former vice president to blame himself and not Jonathan for his political woes.
AMUNR said- “Our attention has been drawn to the now familiar comments by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who has chosen to substitute revisionism for reality by branding Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency as a product of “inexperience.” This claim is not just wrong; it is mischievous.
“Dr. Jonathan rose through every constitutional rung of leadership—Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice-President, and Acting President during the national uncertainty that followed the illness of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. To dismiss that trajectory as “inexperience” is either a willful distortion of facts or a troubling misunderstanding of governance itself.
“But perhaps the more pressing question is this: from what vantage point is this judgment being made?
“Here is a man who has spent decades in perpetual pursuit of the presidency contesting, recalibrating, and returning, yet has never once borne the full weight of that office. It is, therefore, remarkable that someone whose “experience” is defined largely by ambition now seeks to diminish the record of someone whose experience was tested in office, under pressure, and in history’s full glare.
“Under Dr. Jonathan, Nigeria did not drift, it advanced. The economy was rebased, emerging as Africa’s largest. The power sector was unbundled after years of entrenched dysfunction. Agricultural corruption networks were dismantled. Rail and road infrastructure, long abandoned, were revived. These are not opinions; they are verifiable milestones.
“And then came the defining moment: when faced with the choice between personal power and national peace, Dr. Jonathan chose Nigeria. His peaceful concession in 2015 remains one of the most consequential acts of democratic leadership on the continent, an act that secured stability and earned global respect.
“That is what real leadership looks like.
“To now hear that legacy casually reduced to “inexperience” is not merely ironic, it is an attempt to gaslight a nation that lived through, and benefited from, those years.
“Nigerians remember. They remember results. They remember restraint. And they certainly remember who governed, and who merely aspired to.
“If experience is the argument, then the distinction is clear: one man has a record that can be scrutinized; the other has a résumé of repeated attempts.
“Dr. Jonathan’s legacy is not up for casual dismissal. It is written in policy, in progress, and in the democratic stability Nigeria still enjoys today.
“No amount of political revisionism can undo that record,” AMUNR concluded.
Isaac Fayose, brother of former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has announced the death of his wife after a prolonged battle with cancer.
The social media commentator shared the sad news on Instagram with a candle image, alongside a farewell message.
“Rest in peace my darling wife, odabo oyinbo mi”, he wrote.
Before her death, Fayose had opened up about the severity of her illness.
He said he travelled to Australia to spend time with his family, but was met with a painful reality as his wife had become extremely weak due to cancer.
He explained that she was no longer able to speak or carry out basic daily activities. According to him, the woman who once welcomed him at the airport could no longer do so, and he had to make his way from the airport by Uber.
He also described how roles had reversed in the home, saying he now had to take care of her, including cooking for her, as she could no longer do so herself. He added that he spent time beside her, singing her favourite songs, while she responded only by holding his hand.
In his emotional reflection, he also spoke about life and wealth, stressing that money and material possessions could not stop illness or death, and questioned the actions of those who use public office to take what belongs to others.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that all 22 registered political parties in Nigeria have submitted their membership registers in compliance with the Electoral Act 2026.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, said the submissions were completed on May 8, two days ahead of the extended deadline set by the Commission.
According to INEC, the extension became necessary after political parties raised concerns over the original timeline during a meeting held on March 24.
The Commission had initially fixed April 21 as the deadline for the submission of membership registers in the Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Election.
However, following consultations with political parties, INEC announced on March 27, 2026, that the deadline would be moved to May 10, 2026.
The adjustment, INEC said, was made to align with Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act 2026 and the actual dates chosen by political parties for their primaries.
Under the revised timetable, political parties are permitted to conduct their primaries between April 23 and May 30, 2026. The law also requires each party to submit its membership register to the Commission not later than 21 days before the date of its primary election.
INEC stated that all registered political parties complied with the requirement within the extended timeframe.
“The Commission is pleased to note that all registered parties submitted their registers as of 8th May 2026, two days before the extended deadline,” the statement said.
The electoral body added that the submitted registers would now undergo the necessary verification processes in accordance with the law.
INEC reiterated its commitment to conducting free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in Nigeria.
According to the Commission’s timetable for the 2027 General Election, elections into the offices of President and members of the National Assembly are scheduled for January 16, 2027, while governorship and state assembly elections will take place on February 6, 2027.
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the deputy commander of the Islamic State terrorist group, ISIS, has been killed in Nigeria.
US President Donald Trump said al-Minuki was killed in a “complex mission” carried out by Nigerian and American troops.
The US president shared updates on the operation in a social media post late Saturday.
“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” Trump wrote.
“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.
“He will no longer terrorise the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans.
“With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Trump also acknowledged and thanked the Nigerian government for its “partnership on this operation”.
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