By: Ike Philip Abiagom & Oby Edward

Our attention has been drawn to a recent online article titled: “I KNOW NED NEVER DID ANYTHING THAT TOOK NWAOBOSHI TO JAIL” — Fejiro Oliver, by Mr. Frank Iroro, which literally appears to be an exoneration of Senator Ned Nwoko in the 2022 incarceration of Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, but is contextually, a snide, shameless and surreptitious invocation of a dubious political gambit, which discerning analytics would quickly reveal as playing the “Devil’s Advocate”. In which case Mr. Frank Iroroh is attempting with great, almost desperate effort, to justify an admission by Mr. Fejiro Oliver that he (the Oguonota of Africa) is taking full responsibility for the unfortunate incident that impacted Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi so negatively in the 2023 Delta North Senatorial election and that Senator Ned Nwoko had absolutely no hand in the matter.

This rejoinder is strictly to address Mr. Iroroh’s post and is not at all about Comrade Fejiro Oliver (aka Tega Samson Oghenodoro) the Oguonota 1 of Africa).Of course it would have been quite tempting to suggest that while Senator Ned Nwoko, according to Mr. Iroroh may not require the assistance of Fejiro Oliver to clear what every Anioma person knew was a false accusation and needs to clear his own name by himself, we are nevertheless, also quite intrigued by the fact that this is exactly what he has simply done and those who have followed the crusading engagements of the intrepid F.O, will of course agree that his modus operandi in most of his advocacy, especially those involving EFCC and other anti-graft agencies, have always been the visible hand of Esau and the voice of an unseen Jacob.

That is why we must critically consider this voluble, disingenuous, full chested, playing the devil’s advocate exoneration with a full bowl of salt, especially now that the incumbent Delta North Senator has joined the same All Progressives Congress, APC, where distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi holds sway in the Senatorial zone.

To put Mr. Iroroh’s laboured justification in full perspective it will be important to note that: “The Devil’s Advocate” is a person who projects the opposite side’s opinion in a discussion or argument. The person playing devil’s advocate doesn’t actually agree with the position they are presenting but the purpose of playing devil’s advocate is to encourage people to consider different perspectives and discuss the idea in more detail.

On the contrary, in reply to some of the spurious falsehoods and misleading innuendos in Mr. Iroroh’s article.
We want to state categorically and without equivocation that-

1. Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was not mincing words when he alledged that Senator Ned Nwoko was responsible for his unsavoury experience with the judiciary and he stands very firmly and unshakably on his position, which he has declared at several fora like Mr. Iroroh pointed out. So no pretensions of playing the devil’s Advocate, would exonerate the indefensible.

2. Senator Ned Nwoko actually attempted vainly and half-heartedly to put up a defense when in February this year, he got the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to file a three-count charge against Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi in the Federal High Court, Abuja, over allegations of defamation, cyberstalking, and threats to Nwoko’s life, accusing Senator Nwaoboshi of violating the Cybercrimes Act 2015 by spreading harmful and false statements that reached a wide audience, including major Nigerian cities.

The case, registered under Charge No. FHC/ABJ/02/21/2025, names the IGP as the complainant and Senator Nwaoboshi as the defendant.

3. But in a swift and decisive response, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi quickly slammed the door in their faces, by initiating contempt proceedings against the inspector-general of police (IGP), through his legal team, accusing the IGP of alleged violation of a court order and disregarding a court ruling that barred law enforcement agencies from arresting or detaining him.

The Court order according to his legal team, was issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 17, 2024, in suit no: FCT/HC/CV/2916/2024 and motion no: M/9638/2024, and prohibited the IGP, Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and other respondents from arresting or detaining Nwaoboshi until the final determination of the case before the court.

Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi’s legal team argued that it derives power from section 72 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act to seek contempt proceedings for disobeying the court’s directive and described the IGP’s actions as “an affront to the judicial system and the principles of the rule of law.

“An order of court, whether right or wrong, must be obeyed unless set aside by the same court or overturned on appeal. Refusing to comply with a judgment or restraining order constitutes contempt of court,” the legal team said.

“Justice Kekemeke, in his order, stated that ‘the respondents, either by themselves or through their officers, agents, whosoever of whatsoever designation, are hereby restrained from further arrest or detention of the applicant until the final determination of the motion on notice.”

The court has set October 28, 2025, for the hearing of the substantive motion.

4. On the brazen arrogance which Mr. Iroroh surreptitiously engaged in a tirade of uncensored name calling, with unprovoked slanderous smears and other indignities, ranging from Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi’s sterling and meritorious sojourn as Delta PDP Chairman, to the unfortunate season of sponsored litigations against him which they have clutched as though their political lives depended on it and which has culminated in the erroneous and libelous description of the distinguished Senator as a “convict”, we confidently state the following and clear the impression thus:

i. It would be recalled that Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi in June 2021, was cleared and discharged by the Federal High Court in Lagos over a N322million money laundering charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi and associates had been accused in a two-count charge marked FHC/L/117C/18., the EFCC which alleged that the defendants committed the offence between May and June 2014, in Lagos. said to have acquired a property described as Guinea House, Marine Road, in Apapa Lagos, for the sum of N805million.

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke held that the agency failed to prove the elements of the offences for which it charged the lawmaker. The judge also discharged Nwaoboshi’s two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd – on the same ground.

The defendants were arraigned in 2018 before Justice Mohammed Idris who was later elevated to the Court of Appeal. They were then re-arraigned before Justice Aneke in October 5, 2018 in a deliberately wicked and convoluted attempt to stop distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi from clinching the Delta North Senatorial ticket for a second term, (after taking the PDP ticket decisively and overcoming all odds against none other than Senator Nwaoboshi), which he did anyways and with an overwhelming landslide in the general election.

Infact, Justice Aneke, in his judgment, held that the prosecution failed to call vital witnesses and tender concrete evidence to prove the elements of the offences for which it charged the defendants.

ii. Recall also that The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal on July 1, 2022 sentenced Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, senator representing Delta North Senatorial District at the National Assembly, to 7 years incarceration and also ordered that his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, be wound up in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021.

This ruling followed the success of the appeal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, challenging the judgment of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court which on June 18, 2021 2018 discharged and acquitted the defendants of a two count charge of fraud and money laundering.

But then, the Supreme Court in June 2023, freed Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi, quashed his 7 years sentence and completely invalidated the money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him, ordering his immediate release from prison custody.

The Supreme Court, in a split decision of four-to-one, nullified the judgement of the appellate court and upheld the initial verdict of the Federal High Court in Lagos State, which discharged and acquitted Senator Nwaoboshi.

The apex court, in its lead judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, equally upturned the appellate court’s decision against Nwaoboshi’s companies and held that the appellants were unjustly and maliciously prosecuted by the anti-graft agency for allegedly committing offences that were unknown to the law. It also held that the EFCC subjected the ex-lawmaker and his companies to needless criminal trial, in relation to a civil transaction.

Against the backdrop of these succinct clarifications, it becomes imperative to state that distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was falsely accused and erroneous incarcerated. The fact that he was cleared of all charges by the Supreme Court, the Apex Court in the land, means that his conviction was not only erroneous and ill conceived, it has now erased completely, any insinuation, reference and description, either by inference or direct pronouncement of “convict” or “ex-convict” in association with his name and reputation.

We therefore wish to inform and advise Mr. Iroroh, his “cohorts” and unfortunate co-travelers, that we shall from now on, be watching every media space keenly for any further reference to Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi in such derogatory terms, so we can quickly activate our legal team to bring immediate action against such slanderous and libelous statements. Let us quickly inform Mr. Iroroh and his vuvuzelas that we have in our archives, some scathing articles and press Statements from the Ned Nwoko Media directorate, in which Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was slandered, libeled and called the most horrible unprintable names.

The proverbial Cybercrimes Act 2015 rain will not fall on only one man’s house, but will definitely fall on every house that uses the cyberspace and if Senator Ned Nwoko can institute an action through the IG of police, then nothing stops us too from excavating some of those threatening, insidious and cyber bullying articles for legal experimentation in the cybercrimes act, after all, what is good for the goose should also be very good for the gander. A word they say, is enough for the wise.

5. On Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi’s hard earned and electoral victories, let us take a moment to laugh uproariously at Mr. Iroroh, over the very pedestrian misrepresentation of the exciting political intrigues of that time, when he posited that: “Trouble started for Nwaoboshi when as the then Delta PDP chairman, was alleged to have said in one of Late Sir Tony Obuh’s rallies that *Obuh was the face of a new Delta State* that was after he had received the Guinea House gift from Uduaghan, who was pretending to be supporting Tony Obuh for Governor of Delta. SPON did not know that by making such a statement, he had invariably placed his finger in the anus of the Owa tortoise, who responded immediately by unleashing his dog (Fejiro) on SPON” What a watery, amateurish narrative.

To fully place the political mystique of Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi in it’s glittering prism, we must have to go way back to 2008, when he emerged as the Delta State PDP Chairman, after an outstanding career in the political and administrative spheres, which included stints as aide to late Governor Samuel Ogbemudia of old Bendel state, Chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation, Special adviser to Governor James Ibori and Civil Commissioner for Agriculture and special Duties, before becoming the Delta PDP Chairman in 2008.

We are sure that Mr. Iroroh may not really remember the exciting days of the PDP when Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi established himself firmly as Chairman and championed the supremacy of the party, which not only led to his reelection for a second term in 2012, but compelled an awe-stricken Governor Uduaghan, serenading his unbelievable political tenacity, sagacity and survival instinct, like a cat with nine lives, changed Nwaoboshi’s nickname, during one of the enlarged PDP Caucus meeting in Government House, after his second term victory, to “Oracle turned Miracle”.

Let us also place on record that Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, was the first and loudest advocate for an Anioma Governor after the tenure of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and as Chairman of Delta PDP, he fought well reported and publicized running battles against those who wanted to truncate the dream and reality of an Anioma Governor in 2015.

His position was always neutral and unbiased and he was unflinchingly dedicated and unwaveringly committed to an Anioma Governor, no matter who eventually emerged as the favoured candidate, even while Governor Uduaghan as the leader of the party was initially propping the late Tony Obuh as his choice of Anioma candidate. Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi also attended most of the mock primaries organized at different times and diverse locations in the run up to the 2014 primaries for about 17 Anioma aspirants and encouraged each of them to build formidable political structures that would ensure an exciting race and ultimate victory for Anioma at the end of the day.

Eventually, Governor Uduaghan unceremoniously dropped Tony Obuh and started sponsoring an aspirant from Delta Central with the entire state might and resources at his disposable, and when it became glaringly obvious that Dr. Okowa had emerged as the more favoured and accepted as the Anioma aspirant of choice across board, Party Chairman Nwaoboshi ensured that he equally provided a level playing field for a free, fair, transparent and credible primary election for all contestants.

And when Senator Okowa emerged as the PDP party flag bearer for the 2015 gubernatorial election, distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi led from the front and was the undisputed leader and champion for the emergence of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as the historic first Anioma Governor of Delta State.

Thus for Mr. Iroroh to even suggest that Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi endorsed the late Tony Obuh to the anger of Governor Okowa, is not only glib, gullible and far fetched, it also exposes the lack of historical knowledge of Delta politics, which these neophyte media aides possess when discussing serious political situations. Infact, Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa share a chequered political relationship which dates even beyond the 2015 PDP guber primaries, but that is a story for another time and place and if the hapless Mr. Iroroh is not aware of this, then it is rather unfortunate that we cannot be of any assistance to him in his glorified ignorance.

6. On Senator Nwaoboshi’s Amazing Electoral Victories, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has always lived a charmed, almost magical political life and one remarkable legacy he has set is that he is arguably the only political figure in the South South region, if not the entire country in this political dispensation, who resigned as party chairman and went all the way to the red chamber in the National Assembly becoming the Senator representing Delta North Senatorial zone in the Nigerian senate. And when he got to the Senate, even as a first timer,he was appointed as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs; an appointment which left many gaping in awe and wonder at his political sagacity. What a man!

His journey to the Senate is as remarkable as the rest of his political trajectory. Hon Victor Ochei, who contested the PDP gubernatorial primary and placed third, had opted to join the Accord Political party and pick it’s Senatorial ticket for Delta North and It is a glowing testimony to Nwaoboshi’s overwhelming appeal and overall acceptance that the entire Delta North PDP family; members, leaders, stakeholders, all unanimously concluded that there was no better candidate to take over from Senator Ifeanyi Okowa than Peter Nwaoboshi and they would entrust the electoral and representative batton and fortunes of Delta North Senatorial zone to their party chairman, who has never held any national elective position before
.

In a nutshell Chief Peter Nwaoboshi scored 138 votes in the PDP, 2014 Delta North Senatorial primary, to defeat Paul Osaji: (87 votes), Doris Uboh (37 votes), Pascal Adigwe: (27 votes) and Mrs. Mariam Ali (4 votes).

Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi coasted home with a landslide victory in the 2015 Delta North Senatorial election, scoring 156, 604 votes, to defeat Victor Ochei of ACCORD (67, 580) and Kelvin Njideka of APC (4, 801).

Senator Nwaoboshi also clinched the 2018 PDP Primary for his second term ticket, scoring 506 votes, to defeat Ned Nwoko, (453 votes) and Paul Oseji: (216 votes.). He then went on to retain his Senatorial seat for a second term by scoring 186,423 votes to beat Doris Uboh of the All Progressives Congress, APC who polled 36,360 votes to second position.

However, this same Ned Nwoko, deploying his usual underhand dark arts and clutching a strange and unknown copy of the Delta North PDP October 2, 2018 primary election result, which was probably forged, dragged INEC, PDP, and Senator Nwaoboshi before the Federal High Court in Abuja, through his counsel Ahmed Raji, praying for an order to stop INEC from publishing or further publishing the name of Senator Nwaoboshi as the candidate for Delta North Senatorial District and also asking for another order compelling the PDP to forward his name to INEC as the authentic candidate of the party for the senatorial district in the 2019 general election.

Nwoko had claimed among others that at the end of the primary election he scored 453 votes to defeat his closest rival, Peter Nwaoboshi who scored 405 while Paul Osaji came third with 216 votes, but that to his surprise, the PDP jettisoned the result of the primary election and forwarded Nwaoboshi’s name as its candidate for the Senatorial District. He further disclosed that all efforts to redress the injustice through the party’s appeal panel were unsuccessful.

In their defense, the respondents attacked Nwoko’s suit on the grounds that it was statute barred since it was not filed within the 14 days provided for by law and also claimed that the suit constituted an abuse of court process since the plaintiff had earlier filed a similar suit at the Federal Capital Territory High Court which was struck out.

Presiding Justice Ahmed Mohammed in his Judgment however held that the suit was not statute barred, that he had jurisdiction to entertain the suit and that Nwaoboshi who is a serving senator was not the winner of the October 2, 2018 PDP primary held to select a candidate for the 2019 general election. He subsequently ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Ned Nwoko as the candidate of the PDP, having established the fact before the court that Nwoko scored a majority of the lawful votes at the primary election.

The court also ordered Senator Nwaoboshi to desist from parading himself as the candidate of the PDP for the senatorial zone.

But it was to be a pyrrhic, fleeting victory for the smart Alec Nwoko, as Senator Nwaoboshi promptly and swiftly Appealed the Federal Court Judgment and challenged the judgement which nullified his nomination as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Delta North senatorial district election, listing five grounds of appeal, which included the claim that the learned trial judge of the Federal High Court erred in law when he held that the suit was not caught by the 14 days rule in section 285 subsection (9) of the Fourth Alternation to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended), as the primary election, which was the subject matter of the suit was conducted on October 2, 2018 and the 14 days allowed started running on the same October 2, 2018 when the primary election took place.

The grounds of appeal also listed the aspirants and their scores at the said primary election as follows: Paul Osaji, 216; Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (appellant), 506; Prince Ned Nwoko (First Respondent), 453; adding that the appellant clearly emerged winner with the number of votes polled as against that of the first respondent.

Senator Nwaoboshi, therefore, sought an order setting aside the judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja delivered on April 3, 2019 and in a decisive ruling on May 30, 2019, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal nullified the April 3, 2019 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which sacked Senator Peter Nwaoboshi and reinstated him as the Peoples Democratic Party’s senator-elect for the Delta North Senatorial zone, just in the nick of time to be physically present at the hallowed Senate chambers when the National Assembly was inaugurated in June 2019.

The Appeal Court, in a unanimous judgment of a three-man panel led by Justice Adamu Jauro, held that the lower court’s judgment was a nullity because the court wrongly assumed jurisdiction to hear the case filed by Nwoko.

Justice Mohammed Idris, who read the lead judgment of the panel, held that the suit by Nwoko was statute-barred and that Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja ought not to have heard the case in the first place. Justice Idris noted that the case was filed outside the 14 days allowed under Section 285(9) of the Constitution for the institution of pre-election cases.

“Therefore, the trial court had no jurisdiction to entertain the action. Having come to this conclusion, we allowed the appeal, we set aside the decision of the trial high court and we struck out the suit,” he held.

Other members of the panel – Justices Adamu Jauro and Emmanuel Agim – agreed with the lead judgment authored and delivered by Justice Idris.

And thus ended Ned Nwoko’s surreptitious attempt to sneak into the Senate through the back door in 2019. It is therefore little wonder that distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi would openly and categorically accuse Senator Nwoko of masterminding the litigation that cost him the 2023 Delta North Senatorial race.

On Saturday, May 28, 2022, Distinguished Senator Peter Onyelukachukwu Nwaoboshi, having crossed over to the All Progressives Congress, won the APC primary election that took place at the Sports Arena of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, the state capital.

The Oracle-turned Miracle of Anioma Politics, as he is fondly and popularly called, as well as the incumbent senator representing Delta North, was returned unopposed, scoring the complete 317 votes of the accredited delegates because he had no challenger in the party’s primary election.

As had been revealed earlier, the same dark forces at play in the 2019 Federal High Court debacle conspired and were once again activated and on July 1, 2022, Senator Nwaoboshi, who was fully poised to return to the Senate in 2023, was stealthily and clandestinely removed from the election equation and was away for the entire duration of the campaigns and general elections, until the matter was settled once and for all by the Supreme Court in June 2023, long after the elections had taken place in February.

For the records, the result of the Delta North 2023 Senatorial election according to the INEC returning officer for the elections, Dr. (Mrs) Josephine Anene-Okeakwa, reads like this: Hon. Ned Nwoko scored a total of 92,514 to narrowly defeat the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Kennedy Onochie Kanma scored 86,121. Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, of APC, who did not even campaign for one day and was not present on election day proper scored 36,816 votes.

Infact, we laughed hilariously at the silly, yet quite naive demand when we read Mr. Frank Iroroh demanding foolishly that “Nwaoboshi should apologize to the most distinguished senator, Ned Munir Nwoko, for labeling false allegations against him.”

The point is that if you add the 36, 816 votes of Senator Nwaoboshi who did not even participate in the election to Ken Kanma’s 86121 votes, you will get a total of 122, 937 votes, which is exactly 30, 423 votes more than Ned Nwoko’s 92, 514 votes and those who followed the election keenly would agree completely that Labour party, with the massive surge which they swept Oshimili in particular and delivered Lawrence Okolie to the House of Representatives, were quite capable and poised to do same in the Senate if not for the 36, 000 votes Senator Nwaoboshi took from them in his Oshimili stronghold.

So, as a matter of fact, it is actually Senator Ned Nwoko who should apologize for all the shenanigans and the staccato political frenzy he has been displaying since he decided to join APC, paying homage and bringing gifts to the great Oracle turned Miracle regularly, for his 2023 victory in the Delta North Senatorial election. Of course there’s no gainsaying the fact that it would have been a completely different story if distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi had been physically present and participated fully in the elections.

And now that we have comprehensively and painstakingly dissected and situated all contending issues in their proper context let us in conclusion, revisit the matter of playing the devil’s advocate which Mr. Frank Iroroh is doing for Fejiro Oliver and which quite amusingly but in a refreshing kind mien, the Oguonota 1 of Africa has done for Prince Ned Nwoko by shielding him from blame in the past travails of distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

Let’s just say by way of rounding up that, whether Ned Nwoko contributed or did not contribute to what happened in 2022 to Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi is a matter that has long been overtaken by events, especially given the fact that the incident happened when Nwoko was in PDP but today he is in APC. Perhaps Mr. Iroroh and Fejiro Oliver are trying through this very predictable gambit, to either appeal to the good virtues of Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi to consider the new man in the party with a softer mindset, or better still it is a very gray and outdated attempt to decipher Distinguished Senator Nwaoboshi’s feelings concerning the incarceration. All the same, it is all well and good.

However, all this playing the devil’s advocate and looking for something that is not there is quite honestly just a complete waste of time and my dear Mr. Iroroh and the gallant you should collect whatever the effort is worth and devote their time more to mending the cracked fences and walls in APC with their subsequent articles.

Ned Nwoko will eventually realize that all politics is local and when the time comes those who own the real structures in the party will show themselves.

By: Precious Erugo

The National President of Federated Grassroots Newspaper Publishers Network(FGNPN) Pastor (Dr) Dike Awana, has described the passing of foremost Afenifere leader and staunch Awoist, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, as a monumental loss. He likened the late Yoruba leader to an Iroko tree, whose voice resonated across Nigeria.

Dr Awana, in a condolence message to the bereaved family and the entire Yoruba nation , noted that Chief Ayo Adebanjo was a rare breed of a nationalist who came, saw and conquered.

“We received with great shock the news of the passing of a foremost Yoruba son—an uncompromising leader, a repository of political history in Yorubaland, and an apostle of true federalism—the late Pa Ayo Adebanjo,” Awana said.

“His death is a monumental loss, creating a void in the socio-political space and depriving the Yoruba people of a strong voice in national affairs. In his passing, we have lost a great deal, considering his modest lifestyle, wisdom, and outspokenness.”

He stated that late Pa Ayo Adebanjo was reputed to be an incorruptible leader who fearlessly spoke truth to power, adding that his firm criticism of corruption and bad leadership put him in a class of his own.

“We have lost a leader—an unapologetic Awoist, a man who spoke truth to power—you can understand the magnitude of the loss,”

The National leader of all Grassroots Newspapers in Nigeria further stated that Pa Ayo Adebanjo’s wise counsel to the authorities on issues of national interest helped to shape the political, social and economic life of the nation, even as he remained an out-spoken crusader whose voice could not be suppressed till death.

While urging the bereaved family to take solace in the fulfilled life lived by their departed patriarch, Dr Awana prayed God to grant his soul eternal rest.