The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Gombe State, Dr Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, has formally petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over what he describes as a coordinated campaign of cyberbullying, criminal defamation and fake news allegedly orchestrated to damage his reputation ahead of the 2027 governorship election.

Highly placed sources familiar with the petition disclosed that Gwamna requested an immediate investigation by the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre, with the involvement of INTERPOL, following intelligence suggesting that some of those behind the online attacks may be operating from outside Nigeria.

The petition reportedly names several social media accounts accused of publishing false claims that the APC candidate had been arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), allegations which Gwamna categorically denies.

According to the sources, the petition describes the publications as a carefully coordinated disinformation campaign designed to mislead the public, damage his reputation and manipulate public perception at a time when his political profile and grassroots support continue to grow across Gombe State.

The petition reportedly urges the Police to obtain subscriber information, IP logs and other digital evidence from Meta Platforms, identify the sponsors and financiers of the campaign, prosecute all those found culpable and secure the removal of the offending publications.

Ibrahim Shawai, Jamilu Gwamna’s spokesperson, who confirmed the petition, said political analysts believe the latest development underscores the increasingly desperate tactics being deployed as the Gombe governorship contest gathers momentum.

Supporters of the APC candidate expressed confidence that the petition would expose those behind what they describe as an organised smear campaign and reaffirmed their belief that the electorate would ultimately judge candidates based on competence, integrity and their vision for the state.

As of the time of filing this report, neither the Nigeria Police Force nor the EFCC had publicly commented on the petition.

By Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told President Bola Tinubu to stop blaming President Muhammadu Buhari and his other predecessors for the country’s woes, saying an administration that continues to point at past governments more than three years into its tenure is, by its own conduct, admitting it has run out of ideas.

In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress ADC presidential candidate said the Nigerian people are no longer interested in who caused the country’s problems, but who will solve them.

Atiku conceded that no serious person disputes that Tinubu inherited a difficult economy but insisted that governance cannot be reduced to a running commentary on the past.

He said, “The constitution did not swear President Tinubu into office to explain history. It swore him into office to change it. Every administration inherits problems. Great leaders are remembered for solving them, not for endlessly rehearsing them.”

He accused the administration of institutionalised fiscal recklessness and what he called one of the greatest appropriation scandals in the country’s history.

The former Vice President’s outburst was triggered by Tinubu’s recent claim that “prosperity is on the horizon” and that the quality of life for Nigerians is improving, a suggestion Atiku dismissed as a fantasy detached from reality.

“Mr President says prosperity is on the horizon. Nigerians are asking, ‘Whose horizon?’ Certainly not that of the market woman whose capital has been wiped out by inflation. Not that of the civil servant whose salary now expires before the month begins,” he said, adding that the president’s optimism also excluded manufacturers battling crushing energy costs, unemployed graduates, farming communities displaced by bandits, and families who have cut back on daily meals just to survive.

He also faulted Tinubu’s comparisons of Nigeria to China, saying the president had missed the point of that country’s economic transformation. “China did not become an economic superpower by complaining about the size of its population. It became prosperous because visionary leadership transformed that population into its greatest economic asset through sustained investment in manufacturing, infrastructure, education, technology, and export-led industrialisation,” he said, insisting that Nigeria’s youthful population was a strategic advantage rather than a burden.

He pledged that an Atiku administration would pursue aggressive investment in manufacturing, modern infrastructure, quality education, skills acquisition, agriculture and export-driven industries to unlock what he described as the country’s enormous productive capacity.

Atiku further criticised as insensitive any suggestion that Nigerians should tolerate present-day hardship because hunger existed in earlier decades. “Nobody ‘elected’ Tinubu to eliminate the hunger of 1940. Nigerians ‘elected’ him to confront the hunger of today. The fact that previous generations endured hardship is not a licence to deepen the suffering of the present generation,” he said.

He maintained that hope could not be manufactured through speeches but must be earned through policies that translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Urging the president to step away from official briefings and choreographed public appearances to engage with everyday realities, Atiku said the Nigeria described by Tinubu simply does not exist outside official rhetoric.

The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned a memo directing all public school headteachers and teachers to attend a meeting with the APC governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.

In a statement on Saturday, Afolabi Orekoya, Media Aide to the Ogun PDP Governorship Candidate, said the memo was circulating within the state’s public school system ahead of the August 3, 2026 meeting scheduled for the Alake Pavilion in Abeokuta.

According to the statement, the directive was issued by the Chairman of the Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, TESCOM, and State Chairman of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria, AOPSHON, Comrade Adeosun Adekunle.

 It was said to be under the purported directive of the Executive Chairman of the Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.

The memo mandated both primary and secondary school teachers and headteachers to attend what was described as “statutory and administrative duties,” Orekoya said.

Orekoya said there was no legal or administrative basis for TESCOM and SUBEB to compel teachers to leave their classrooms for a meeting with a partisan political candidate. 

He described the action as a “blatant abuse of power” and the “weaponisation of the state’s civil service for partisan political mobilisation.”

The PDP also faulted the instruction in the memo for each school branch to appear in “unique attire for easy identification,” noting that it proved the gathering was a “political jamboree and a forced solidarity parade” rather than an official engagement.

The party argued that the education sector and civil service must remain insulated from partisan politics, asserting that teachers are nation-builders who should not be turned into “political foot soldiers” to be marshalled for the ruling party’s agenda.

“The Ogun State civil service, particularly our education sector, must remain fiercely insulated from partisan politics. Our teachers are nation-builders entrusted with the future of our children, not political foot soldiers to be marshalled at the whims of the ruling party. Coercing civil servants into attending political gatherings under the threat of administrative duty is illegal, unethical, and highly oppressive.

“This new act being introduced to Ogun State politics is strange, draconian, and condemnable.”

Orekoya called the directive “illegal, unethical and highly oppressive,” adding that coercing civil servants under the threat of administrative duty sets a “strange and draconian” precedent in Ogun politics.

He urged TESCOM and SUBEB to instead focus on addressing problems in public schools, including infrastructural decay, poor welfare for teachers, and declining standards in basic education, instead of serving as a mobilisation wing for a political agenda.

The PDP also appealed to headteachers, teachers and other civil servants to remain professional and not be intimidated, arguing that their loyalty should be to the state and the constitution, not to any individual’s political ambition.