There’s a new development in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that suggests top leaders may be turning their backs on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in favor of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde.

This move comes just a week after PDP governors brokered peace among party factions. Despite calls to maintain the status quo, Nyesom Wike’s loyalists on the PDP National Working Committee are now backing Makinde for the 2027 presidential election.

It appears that Wike and other party chieftains are still unhappy with Atiku’s candidacy, citing concerns about his ability to win and his handling of party dynamics.

The logic, according to multiple sources, is to truncate the ambition of Atiku and stop the party from conceding the ticket to the former VP, who they complained has become a ‘serial contestant.’

According to The Punch, some party chieftains who spoke under anonymity admitted that they were yet to forgive the former PDP presidential candidate for bungling their biggest chance to return to power in 2023.

Wike and Makinde, alongside Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, former governors of Benue, Enugu and Abia states respectively, had worked against Atiku’s election in 2023.

A few members of the NWC, who did not want to be identified, also felt Atiku was always seeking to experiment with the PDP and had not shown enough zeal to win it.

They also feared that he may no longer be a sellable candidate in 2027 because of his age, hence the need for a younger and more vibrant candidate like Makinde.

Makinde has openly declared that he is qualified to contest and would push for the 2027 presidential election agenda when the time is right.

The governor stated that “he is old enough to speak for himself on any issue without fear or intimidation,” adding that he would do so publicly if he had anything to say about his political future.

The governor also cautioned Nigerians against allowing the country to slide into a one-party state.

Efforts to get the reaction of the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba and the deputy spokesman, Abdullahi Ibrahim, were unsuccessful.

When contacted, Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, declined to comment on the intrigue.

But the former VP’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said that they were not under any form of pressure over the choice of Makinde as was being speculated.

A one-way flight ticket from Lagos to Abuja on Air Peace is to hit N200,000 from November 1, 2024.

The current economic situation has been affecting the aviation business causing airlines to increase their fares amid lamentations from passengers.

This development has forced some Nigerians to abandon flights for road transport.

It was gathered that the airfares of airlines on Monday showed that Air Peace increased its fares to N200,000 from November, the highest among the domestic airlines.

While Air Peace has N200,000 and above on its website for a one-way trip between Lagos and Abuja, Aero is charging N94,000 to over N109,000; Arik Air has between N104,405 to N139,292; and Ibom Air ranges between N124,000 to over N133,000.

The high airfares have left many passengers stranded at airports in recent times, as they could not secure flights to their destinations.

The busiest routes, Lagos-Abuja and Abuja-Lagos, are more impacted as many passengers find it tough to secure seats.

An official of Air Peace who does not want her name in print confirmed the development, tying the increment to the present Nigeria’s worsening economic challenges.

“If you buy a ticket and see the breakdown, you will discover that we are bleeding as an aviation company and even the prices of running the business are almost getting out of control.

“Just as we all know, all these killing taxes go to the government, and businesses especially airlines have been left with no choice other than to do this, it is what it is.”

Also, efforts to get the Chief Operating Officer of the company, Toyin Olajide, were unfruitful as she ignored both calls and text messages of enquiry put across to her phone.

A businessman, Adeleke Aina, who told our correspondent that he has been travelling by air for years added that with the rates at which “airfares are skyrocketing by the day without any clear explanation other than economy this, economy that, I will be left with no other option than take road transport as my new meanings of movement.

“This is killing everything, fuel has turned into what it is and the Federal seems unconcerned with this abnormality. I fear for this country.”

Kolawole Muyiwa, a part-time lecturer of the Department of Primary Education and Early Childhood Development of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos, on Monday, appeared before the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, presided over by Justice Ramon Oshodi, on trial for the alleged rape of a student.

The Lagos State Government had on February 6, 2023, arraigned the lecturer over the alleged rape of the victim, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Muyiwa, according to the prosecution counsel, B. T. Boye and I. D Solarin, is facing a count of rape as made against him by the Lagos State Government.

The prosecution counsel disclosed that the incident occurred on October 11, 2021, at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos State, adding that Muyiwa had committed the alleged rape which contravenes Section 260 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

It was also gathered that the victim, 18 years old at the time of the incident, was a full-time student of the Department of Primary Education and allegedly had decided to help Muyiwa record scores in an office when the incident occurred.

During the trial and cross-examination of the defence’s first witness, the defendant, Kolawole Muyiwa, disclosed to the court that he is a married man with children and that he had asked the prosecutrix to be in a relationship with him, to which she allegedly accepted.

“On October 11, 2021, at about 9:30 to 10:00 in the morning, I was coming to the college to record and submit scripts to the School of Part-Time Studies. On getting to the gate, I met Damilola. She greeted me and said she would help me carry my bag, I asked if she could record scores, and she said no problem.

“I went to the office, the place we keep the key and I took the key and opened the office. We both entered the office, and I gave her the scripts to record, which she did. She told me she had a meeting and I told her if they finished the meeting, she could come back and record, which she obliged. Probably, they did not start, so she came back and I gave her (the scripts) to record, and she recorded them. They brought light, she was charging her phone and I asked her for a relationship and she accepted.

“Other students came in on that particular day to submit their projects, which I attended to before I left for my Master’s programme at LASU.”

“On October 13, 2021, the HOD of Guidance and Counselling called me and asked me if I knew this lady. I told her that the lady was my girlfriend. She proceeded to tell me that someone reported that I raped her. I told her that I did not rape the lady and that I had asked her out, and she accepted.”

He further said that he then travelled to Ilesha for burial and on coming back, the HOD of Primary Education called him and told him that the police were looking for him.

“I said on what grounds, and I was told it was about Damilola’s matter, that I raped her. I told him that the HOD of Guidance and Counselling had called my attention to the case, and I had told her everything,” he volunteered.

According to him, “I called my HOD, the HOD of Early Childhood Education. I got in touch with my lawyer, and we went to the station together. I was detained there for five days before they charged the case to court. I was charged with sexual assault.”

“The day I met Damilola was the first time we met, and she was a full-time student of the Department of Primary Education. We both entered the office, and we were alone for about 10 to 20 minutes. When she finished recording, I then spoke to her about a relationship. A friendship kind of relationship. I asked her for a relationship where we could be together, talk, relate with one another, and hear her points of view. So, we could talk whenever she had a problem, not a sexual relationship and she accepted.”

“I am married with children. My expectation for the relationship was to encourage her whenever she had a problem with her academics. I told the HOD of Guidance and Counselling that she was my girlfriend, and I only saw her on October 11, 2021, and October 13, 2021. The day she recorded scores for me and the day I was reported.”

Consequently, Justice Oshodi then adjourned the case to January 13.