News
How IBB sent me to Jonathan to sit on Yar’adua’s chair when late President was sick – Otedola
Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola has let out a deep secret of what former Military President, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) asked him to tell ex-President Goodluck Jonathan when his former boss, Umaru Yar’Ardua was sick.
According to Otedola, IBB asked him to tell Jonathan to sit on the empty seat of Yar’Adua in the next Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, as a result of the logjam caused by the former president’s absence when he was sick.
The billionaire, who released the details in his forthcoming book on business lessons, sent greetings to IBB as he clocks 80 years on Tuesday.
In the book obtained by Channels TV, Otedola said he was worried by the tension and uncertainty then when Yar’Adua was sick, and that he decided to do something on his own.
According to him, in the first week of February 2010, he went to Minna, Niger State, along with Hajia Bola Shagaya, to commiserate with Babangida over the death of his wife, Maryam.
He said at his Hilltop residence, they spoke on a wide range of issues, but that he told him he needed to discuss an urgent and vital issue with him.
Otedola disclosed that Babangida took him to his study, where the two of them were alone, saying that he told him that the state of the nation had been agitating his mind.
He said he asked Babangida how the country could get out of the political logjam, emphasising that the political heat at the time was “too much”.
Otedola added that IBB replied: “Femi, advise your friend that when he gets to the Council Chambers next week for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, he should go and sit on the President’s chair.”
He said he found what IBB told him fascinating and assured him that he would pass the message across, adding that he travelled back to Abuja by road in the evening and went straight to have dinner with Jonathan and did not waste time in delivering Babangida’s message to him.
According to Otedola, Jonathan nodded and asked him what he thought about IBB’s suggestion.
He said he laughed and told him, “Be a man, Your Excellency. Go and sit on that chair! He looked at me for some time and responded that he would think about it.
A week later, on Tuesday, February 9, the National Assembly adopted the famous ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to make Dr Jonathan the Acting President pending the return of President Yar’Adua from his medical leave. Behind-the-scene moves by prominent Nigerians preceded this decision.
“The legislative resolution was unprecedented, but the nation had been tensed up. The fault lines were so stoked that an unusual solution was needed to address the unique situation.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Thursday said, requirements for recalling Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central Senatorial District were lacking in the petition.
In a statement to update circumstances surrounding a purported petition against Natasha, the INEC said, it has rejected the petition.
The Commission said, Natasha is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there are requirements to recall her or any other Senator, but it cannot consider the petitions that lack merits.
Earlier the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, acknowledged receipt of petition against the embattled lawmaker from her constituents after submitting it to the INEC headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central Senatorial District was the former Chairman of Senate Committee on Local Contents, but was suspended from the Senate over alleged breach of Senate Standing Rules.
Natasha disclosed that she has approached the Court to quash her suspension which she claimed was illegal.
According to the petitioners, over 250,000 constituents’ signed the petition, out of about 480,000 registered voters in the senatorial district.
The petition was titled Constituents’ Petition for the Recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Grounds of Loss of Confidence’.
In a brief statement on Thursday, the Commission said, “The petition for the recall of the Senator representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”
The female lawmaker also on Tuesday defied ban by Kogi State Government and visited her Senatorial District in what she said, was a Sallah visit to felicitate with those who gave her their mandate.
Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), have arrested two principal suspects involved in the killing of 16 Nigerians of Northern extraction in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government last week.
The suspects were arrested by operatives of the DSS in Uromi, following credible intelligence. Operatives of various security agencies are hunting for other key suspects involved in the unfortunate incidents
Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, had on Monday in Kano State, during a condolence visit, revealed that 14 suspects had already been arrested in connection with the killing.
Governor Okpebholo who visited the State to condole with the Government and families of the victims, had vowed that justice will be served and those involved in the killing will be brought to justice.
Governor Okpebholo had also assured families of the victims that adequate compensations will be paid.
In the latest development, the two principal suspects arrested by officials of the DSS, have been transferred to Abuja, the nation’s capital, for further interrogation and prosecution by the relevant authorities.
A Nigerian televangelist, Timothy Omotoso has been acquitted of rape after spending eight years in prison in South Africa.
Trouble started when the televangelist was accused of raping young women from his South African church, an accusation he denied when he was arrested eight years ago.
His trial was aired live I South Africa and gained interest across the country, but insisted that he was not guiltynof 32-count charges against him.
In 2018, one witness told the court she had been raped by the pastor – who ran a church in the city of Port Elizabeth – when she was 14 years old.
The presiding judge on Wednesday 1st April, 2025 delivered judgement, saying Pastor Timothy Omotoso has not bèn found guilty over this case because prosecutors had mishandled the case.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) shared a similar assessment, saying that “former prosecutors in the case acted improperly and the accused were not sufficiently cross-examined by the state”.
The NPA said it will now “consider its legal options”.
For his part, Mr Omotoso told the media he thanked God for the verdict.
His co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zikiswa Sitho, were also found not guilty.
Mr Omotoso was dramatically arrested at an airport in 2017 as he sought to leave the country.
His trial was the first prominent rape case to be broadcast live in a country where sexual violence is rampant.
The hearings attracted huge interest, and raised difficult questions about victims’ rights, impartiality and whether justice is best served by having television cameras in courtrooms.
Following Wednesday’s verdict, Mr Omotoso will be deported to Nigeria, South African media outlet News24 reported.
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