From all indices and calculations the Coalition is dead on arrival-Umenzekwe ...Says President Tinubu is political enigma

In this interview, Hon. Chief Modestus Umenzekwe (Onwa Achina), a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) speaks on national issues including the latest issue of coalition by several political parties preparatory to 2027 general election in Nigeria. Excerpts:

Our girls made us proud, coming from behind to beat host, Morocco in a thrilling African Women Cup finals, beating the host 3:2, your take sir

Yes, not every time some people will continue puncturing the governance situation, it is important that when something good happens, we eulogise the government of the day. So it is a thing of joy that Super Falcons brought us the trophy. And President Bola Ahmed Tinubu being a magnanimous leader, being somebody who always carry along his subjects even before becoming the governor of Lagos, and now that he is the president of this country has shown leadership by congratulating the girls personally, not delegated congratulations. And today he has received them personally. So it is a thing of joy, the nation is in a happy moon, despite the rantings of opposition congregations.

And you said it that Tinubu being a giver should appreciate the girls handsomely

Yes I joined millions of Nigerians to suggest he blessed our champions, and I also joined millions of Nigerians and the president to congratulate them. I said it that I wouldn’t be surprised if he blessed them because president Bola Ahmed Tinubu is such a generous personality, even if he was not president, he would have blessed them. All I said have come to pass as if I am a prophet, aside giving $100,000 to each player, he gave them houses and national honour, the technical crew were also rewarded with $50000 each and other things. So it is a way of encouraging our youths and rewarding hard work.

Now let’s look at the issue of coalition, there have been alignments and realignments, but it has come to the notice of the Nigerian populace that most of the people in the coalition are those that lost out as a result of the APC administration’s hard but necessary policies, the subsidy removal, floating of the dollar and the oil and gas policies of the government, these are those said to be coming together to form coalition. So what is your take?

I remember vividly in my interview with the Nation Newspaper published on 20th July, 2025, I made it clear and I am still making it clear, that no coalition can stop Tinubu in 2027. And earlier before that, I did say that the oppositions are building a mansion on a sandy soil and it will collapse. You see, in this country, we politicize everything even when a person commits a crime in the village, it is Tinubu or the president, even when somebody fails in an assigned assignment in his town, hamlet, his local government, it is the president. With that you begin to wonder where we are heading to. You are forming coalition, but when your history or your record is traced back to your village, have you been able to do what you are supposed to do in your own village where you are a community leader. Then when we go back to your participation in government, because some of them have been in government in one capacity or the other, did you perform better? Did you perform magic? What is your pedigree, what is your record? And now when you make your bidding, in the presidency, and if that bidding fails, the president becomes a wicked person. You start talking about coalition, jumping from one party to the other. In your own party where you are pulling out from, have you been able to solve the crisis in that party?

Look Mr man, you are a stakeholder in your family or you are the man of the house, and there is problem, you abandon it, and runs to another man’s house to live in, in order, politically, to attack the man whose house is in order, does it make sense? That is what is happening. I am not saying that President Tinubu is God, or that APC, our great party, has all it takes, we are all human beings, people are telling us, America did that, Britain did that, fine and good, but I said and I am still saying, we are evolving, Nigeria is evolving politically, it wasn’t like this in that last 15, 20, 30 years ago, or right from the time of independence. America you are quoting here, went through all these stages, why is our own a crime? Is it the reason why I should run down the image of this country?

You want to be the president general of your town or the igwe of your town and you go to another town and say your town is useless, your town is this, your town is that, and you are a member of that town, then what are you coming to do? I think the creed of gentry is, in politics you try to protect your image, the image of your country, the image of your political party, even if something is going wrong you narrow it down to the particular person, then make a very balanced statement to safeguard that entity you want to come and rule. But people talk anyhow, especially when the system doesn’t favour them.

Yes we all agreed including the president himself, the hard policies he brought in, which past administrations hadn’t the courage to implement, either due to one thing or the other, he took that decision, then you see people talking all manner of things. Fuel subsidy removal is what we keep talking every day.

Yes, it is affecting us, seriously because you suffer according to your social status. The market women are all complaining, I myself talking to you, I am equally complaining. The president is complaining, but then, without taking that decision we can’t come out of the woods. And mark you, President Muhammadu Buhari of blessed memory, may his soul rest in peace, started the process of subsidy removal, the only thing is that he was not able to pronounce it before his exit. All the presidential candidates at that time were using it as campaign point. And now that Tinubu has succeeded, everybody is criticising him, but it is something all of us indirectly agreed, taking into consideration that we all participated in the campaign, in one way or the order, in different political platforms. So why is it a problem?

Subsidy removal is subsidy removal, no matter how you do it, and today so many state governors are no longer talking about borrowing money, that money is being sent to them, and you see almost all of them working. Their monthly allocations are going to them without any interference, because the president made it clear when he told them, go and make your states happy. You can see how he is going round the whole states commissioning one project or the other and that is the way it should be. So there are so many things he has done with the finances. We are no more talking about students not going to university, the students’ loan is there, the farmers are getting their grants and all that. Almost all the sections of these country, all the geopolitical zones are experiencing road infrastructure. The Lagos Calabar Coastal Highway is there. Even though some people are criticising it. Then go to the federal capital territory, Abuja and see what Wike is doing there. I was in Abuja last week, I went for a meeting, and I decided to spend two more days with friends, I went round, I was impressed what he has done there using the instrumentality of the Honourable Minister, Nyesom Wike, just like when President Buhari was in power, what he used Babatunde Raji Fashola to do in every geopolitical zone of this country, including but not limited to the the much long awaited and cherished 2nd Niger Bridge, it was given to the south east.

Today Sen. David Umahi has taken the baton, and he is doing well, to the best of my information and knowledge. So I want to tell you that whether anybody likes it or not President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and APC Renewed Hope Agenda Administration is blazing the trail.

Look at the number of defections, in an administration where you have serving state governors from different political platforms defecting with their structures, to APC led administration. Senators, House of Representatives members, and they are now telling me, they are in coalition, are they coalescing for Progress or for confusion?

Mark my word today, I am not a prophet but from all indices and political calculations, the said coalition is dead on arrival.

Tinubu, has received knocks up and down, but he is still standing, how would you describe him?

Tinubu is an enigma, he is a political colossus, he is a political giant, whether anybody likes it or not, he knows when to strike to get what he wants for the people he is governing. Look at it, he was out of power for so many years, for almost two decades, and you see people have been contesting and losing, after much pressure from Nigerians he accepted to run, he came into the ring and defeated the low and mighty. Once. And you want to tell me the man should not be respected, go back to the time he was governor of Lagos State, he was one man standing. The allocation of Lagos State was seized by the then federal government of our much respected, President Olusegun Obasanjo, but he remained calm and followed it to the letter. It did not deter him, from there he started winning souls winning people and eventually covered the entire South West, and became the champion among his mates in the administration of 1999. That is doggedness.

I don’t want to dwell into what happened during the campaign of the 2023 election, if he was not a dogged fighter he wouldn’t have withstood what happened in the country that year. But he remained resolute and Nigerians queued behind him, and voted massively for him. And the legal battle started, many people were claiming the mandate. He was not deterred, and continued up to the supreme court, and won, that is doggedness.

Now come to local government structure, he took the bull by the horn, and today the court gave judgement making the local government administration autonomous and allocations are going to them. There is one school, I saw in social media, one primary school built by, I think, in Bariga Lagos State, it is like a university, you won’t believe it is local government that built it. You will call it university, but it is a primary school. That is as a result of Tinubu’s doggedness which has trickled down to the states and local governments.

He floated the Naira, and damned the consequences. No monopoly. The administration had cleared over $10 billion in foreign exchange liabilities, a move that helped restore investor confidence and stabilize the naira; because of broad reforms, Net Foreign Exchange Reserves rose from $3.99 billion in 2023 to $23.11 billion by 2024.

Foreign interest in Nigeria’s economy surged, with the government securing over $50 billion in new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) commitments, and unlocking more than $8 billion in new oil and gas investments. The mining sector has also seen growth, with over $800 million in processing investments realized in solid minerals in 2024.

There are lots of massive infrastructure drive under this administration, with over 440 ongoing road projects nationwide, including the construction of more than 2,700 kilometers of superhighways.

If you talk about social welfare, over 900,000 Nigerians have benefited from the Presidential Loan and Grant Scheme, while another 300,000 students have accessed the Students’ Loan Scheme, aimed at widening access to higher education and entrepreneurship funding. The economy recorded a 3.84% GDP growth in Q4 of 2024, the highest quarterly growth Nigeria has seen in the past three years; there is also the implementation of a N70,000 minimum wage payment structure, which was introduced to cushion the effects of subsidy removal and inflation.

So with this, how else can you describe a dogged fighter. I said during the campaign, people did all manner of things to castigate him, they used the computer to malign his health, and I warned, don’t use somebody’s health to attack him or her because it could be you tomorrow. Where are those people that were using computer to manipulate him, his hand is shaking, all manner of things? That his speech is not coordinated, and today they have hidden their heads in shame. And he is running the government of inclusivity, I mean, what else? If I continue talking to you, we would talk a whole week and I might find it difficult to couple my statement.

Tinubu has done so much for Nigeria, for Africa, he has been referred to as a dogged fighter, a political colossus, however there is this rumour making the rounds that he is not really in good terms with his Chief of General Staff, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, are you aware?

That question is strange to me, who told you that, is it the president that told you or the Chief of General Staff?

…But it is in the public domain, the news is everywhere

Well anybody that is their enemies can come up with anything. According to my understanding Gbaja is a square peg in a square hole. Mark you that the man we are talking about is Chief of Staff, Femi, he was a member of the House of Representatives for many years and was the Speaker, later he became the Chief of Staff and people are talking nonsense. Is it Tinubu that alleged or is it the wife that alleged, or is it the Staff that is peddling unfounded and baseless story, Femi is doing his work the way he is supposed to, but you see, people would always like to put asunder between two good friends, just to divide them.

On the 12th of July, 2025, you were honoured with an award by the Inner Wheel in recognition of your community service. How do you feel?

Well, I feel highly honoured, I feel happy about it, it was surprising to me, because Inner Wheel District 914, I don’t know them, I don’t have any previous affiliation with them. So when I received their letter, I was surprised. Then on further inquiry, they have followed the trajectory of my record in Leadership and Community service. They have my record and decided to recognize my role and the thing came barely about six months after my double chieftaincy conferment by my community of Achina in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, that was on the 30th of December, 2024.

And another Community, Amesi Community also in Aguata, on 2nd January, 2024, conferred me with another chieftaincy title. Achina gave me Enyimba, Elephant of the town, Amesi gave me Ugodi ebube, that means an eagle with honour. So as small as I am, the Inner Wheel Club picked me out. So I said okay, I would not say no, since it is for community service. I accepted the award and I won’t relent in doing what I am supposed to do for humanity as well as contributing my quota in nation building and saying my opinion at all times in order to deepen our democracy and reshaping our national political framework. So the struggle continues.

The event was held at Jesse Hotel, Awka, the Anambra State capital.

Inner Wheel is a charity organization, they call themselves, professional beggars to help the poor, and their chairperson, who was equally installed that day, Dr Mrs Cordelia Ogodezie, from my inquiry, a very compassionate mother and leader, she was a former commissioner for women affairs in Anambra State, and former Provost, College of Education, Nsugbe, and so on and so forth.

The occasion attracted so many dignitaries, including the president general of my town, Hon Tony Ezenwaka (MPOM), and my traditional ruler, Igwe GN Obiora, who was unavoidably absent but sent a high powered delegation, among others.