Scandals, controversies of 2025

From January, Nigerians began to have a foretaste that 2025 would be an eventful year filled with high drama, scandals and controversies.

By the end of the first quarter, all the trappings that it would be a newsy year were confirmed as political tension increased, owing to disagreements, personality clashes accompanied by mindboggling allegations of financial impropriety by politically exposed persons.

Prof Gbade Ojo, a political scientist, who spoke with our correspondent, said situations such as happened in 2025 were inevitable in any political system.

He recalled the Watergate scandal in the United States, stressing that strong institutions remain the backbone of any democracy.

“We can easily recall the US Watergate scandal. In essence, the system should be able to build a structure where nobody should be bigger than an institution,” he added.

Nankpa Bwakan, a lecturer and commentator on national issues, also believes that controversies are natural in political settings, saying they arise from the bid to show commitment to national courses, but sometimes to pursue political interests.

“Ideally, such issues should erupt out of the desire to serve the nation, but you would find out that they do because of personality clashes and the need to further interests,” he said.

Weekend Trust notes that political scandals and controversial issues in other countries in the past, with the notable ones being the Profumo Scandal; The War Bonds Scandal; Watergate; The Prime Minister and the Air Hostess scandal.

In Nigeria, there had been past scandals of earth-shaking magnitudes like the Jennifer Madike versus  Fidelis Oyakhilome, Glory Okon; the Elrufai versus senators bribery allegation, the Salisu Buhari certificate scandal; the House of Representatives row with Obasanjo over cash inducement; the attempt to doctor the 2002 Electroal Act, the Farouk Lawan sting operation etc

Our correspondents highlight some of the current controversial issues that happened within the year, revealing that the number of cases of alleged financial malfeasance involving politically exposed persons to be quite high. But there are some that were borne out of the need to prove personal points.

The Obasa-Lagos Assembly affair

The curtain raiser for political controversy was the ‘impeachment’ of the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashir Obasa.

As early as January, Lagos lawmakers took advantage of the absence of the speaker, who travelled out of the country, to remove him from the position for  alleged gross misconduct, and elevated the deputy speaker, Mojisola Meranda, to the enviable position to preside over the affairs of the state Assembly.

Few weeks to that, there had been a tussle between Obasa and the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. An old timer in politics, Obasa, who has represented Agege constituency 1 in the Assembly since 2003 and has been the speaker since 2015, did not take the matter lying low and insisted that he remained in charge.

Upon return from his trip, Obasa initiated moves to reclaim the position, but was fiercely resisted by majority of the House members.

After about seven weeks of back and forth, Meranda, who had been functioning as the Speaker of the House, stepped down in what was believed to have been due to pressure from outside, while Obasa was re-elected as the speaker of the 40-member Assembly.

Natasha versus Akpabio

In March, still within the first quarter of the year and as Nigerians were yet to comprehend the drama that was playing out in Lagos, attention shifted to the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, where the senator representing Kogi Central, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, was protesting the adjustment of the sitting arrangement in the Senate.

The arrangement moved her seat to a corner she found unacceptable; hence she insisted that she was being targeted. This led to a dispute between her and Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who she later accused of sexual harassment, a claim Akabio vehemently denied.

As the matter lingered, the Senate suspended Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months for violating its rules. However, some senators made efforts to see that the suspension period was reduced to three months.

She returned to office at the expiration of the six months after the Senate had declared that it lacked the power to lift the suspension since the matter was in court.

But on September 23, her office at Suite 2.05, Senate Wing was unsealed, enabling her to resume legislative work.

State of emergency in Rivers

Still in March, the political turmoil in Rivers State could not be curtailed as both the governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, were at daggers drawn over bids to claim political leadership of the state.

President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state and suspended the governor, his deputy and all lawmakers in the state parliament for six months.

People were divided over the legality of the president’s decision; and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors went to court to challenge it.

The suspension was lifted after six months and Fubara returned to office following agreements said to have been reached between the two parties.

But not long after that, Fubara defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in what is believed would reignite the squabble between him and Wike.

Dangote/IPMAN’s war over mass sack of workers

In late September, a dispute arose between Dangote Refinery and the oil workers’ union – the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), over the termination of 800 Nigerian workers.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) tried to mediate but ended with a divided house as some were against the action while others supported it.

PENGASSAN alleged that the workers were sacked for exercising their right to unionise, saying the company hired over 2,000 foreign nationals to replace them.

PENGASSAN and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) went on nationwide strikes, but IPMAN largely backed Dangote Refinery.

A resolution was reached when the federal government intervened and

Dangote Group agreed to redeploy the disengaged staff to other companies within the Dangote Group without loss of pay and PENGASSAN suspended the strike.

The Uche Nnaji certificate scandal

In October, Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was compelled to resign following the allegation that he had forged his academic credentials.

A newspaper had reported that Nnaji submitted falsified certificates during his ministerial screening.

Initially, Nnaji denied the accusation of forgery, insisting that he graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) with a degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry.

Nnaji’s resignation was announced by the presidency on what is believed was to save the government from further embarrassment.

Declaration of Nigeria as Country of Particular Concern

In November, President Donald Trump accused Nigeria of failing to protect the country’s Christians and described the violence as genocide.

“I think Nigeria is a disgrace. The whole thing is a disgrace. They are killing people by the thousands. It is genocide. And I am really angry about it,” he said on Fox News Radio’s The Brian Kilmeade Show.

Mr Trump threatened to take military action against the country after a campaign by several US lawmakers and religious activists called for more attention to the attacks on Christians.

On Thursday night, the US launched air strikes in a part Yabo local government of Sokoto state on Nigeria’s border with Niger.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar explained that it was a joint operation with Nigeria which had been planned for quite some time using intelligence provided by Nigeria

The action finally made good the threat by the US President to send troops to Nigeria in the bid to fight terrorism.

Wike vs Yarima

In November, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and his security details were involved in an altercation with some officers of the Nigeria Navy, led by Lt AM Yarima over a disputed parcel of land at Gaduwa district in Abuja.

It was over a plot said to belong to former Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo (Rtd.

Wike went to the site, after receiving reports that military officers guarding the site had refused the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority officials from gaining entry into the property.

On arrival, Wike and his entourage, including the FCT Commissioner of Police Miller Dantawaye, were prevented from gaining access to the site.

This led to hot exchange between the minister and the military officer that Wike had to call the Chief of Defence Staff to speak with the officer.

The incident shot Yarima to limelight as many hailed his boldness while some condemned him for being disrespectful.

His picture were all over the social media as many expressed interest in knowing more about him.

Maryam Sanda’s pardon

On October 9, Maryam Sanda was listed among the 175 persons who received a presidential pardon and other forms of clemency from President Bola Tinubu.

Maryam had been convicted for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello in 2017. Following a backlash over the pardon, her sentence was reduced to 12 years of imprisonment “based on compassionate grounds and in the best interest of the children, as well as good conduct and remorsefulness.”

But the Supreme Court, in December overrode the pardon granted by President Bola Tinubu on Maryam Sanda and affirmed the death sentence handed out to her by lower courts.

Justice Moore Adumein, in the lead judgement, held that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.

First Lady Oluremi public spat with Adeleke

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu triggered another controversy when she told the Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, to cut off singing during his speech at the 10th coronation anniversary of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

Adeleke, in a viral video, was seen entertaining the crowd with songs and dances when the First Lady, who had moments earlier received her traditional title from the Ooni, walked towards the podium, gestured lightly to the governor and whispered to him to proceed with his statement.

The interruption drew mixed reactions as some held that the First Lady was right to have called the governor to order, while some said she overstepped her bound.

Nigeria’s intervention in Benin Republic

As 2025 was winding to a close, more issues unravelled. In an unprecedented move, Nigeria deployed fighter jets and ground troops to neighbouring Benin Republic following reports of a coup attempt by a group of Beninese soldiers.

The presidency explained in a statement that this followed President Patrice Talon’s request for help, including an“immediate Nigerian air support.”

Nigerian fighter jets entered Benin and dislodged the coup plotters from their national television and a military camp, where they had regrouped.

The president of Benin appeared on national television and said his security forces had successfully blocked the attempt to overthrow his government.

Detention of NAF aircraft and crew in Burkina Faso

As this was going on, in December, 11 Nigerian military personnel were held after a cargo plane from Lagos made an “unauthorised” emergency landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

The Association of Sahel States (AES) said the C-130 aircraft had entered Burkina Faso’s airspace without clearance, calling it an “unfriendly act.”

Authorities in Nigeria, however, explained that the plane only made an unplanned stop at the Bobo-Dioulasso airport “in accordance with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols” owing to a technical concern on its way to Portugal for a ferry mission.

The emergency landing, coming a day after Nigerian airstrikes in Benin, added to the suspension.

Both the plane and personnel were later released after a Nigerian delegation that included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar met with Burkinabe leaders.

Furore over alleged tax laws alteration

In December, another scandal arose over an alleged alteration of the tax bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.

President Tinubu had signed four major tax reform bills, the Nigeria Tax Act, Nigeria Tax Administration Act, Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act and Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act into law and are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.

Allegations were that the gazetted version of the tax laws is different from what lawmakers debated and approved.

But the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, dismissed claims of executive interference in the tax law process, saying any discrepancy identified was an affair of the National Assembly.

The House of Representatives set up a seven-man committee to investigate the matter.

The minister, however, insisted that as far as the federal government was concerned, there’s only one version of the tax document.

Mesh of financial allegations: Malami, Ngige, Sylva

There were other cases involving alleged financial malfeasance against certain personalities, like the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami, and an associate, Hajiya Bashir Asabe, over an alleged money laundering and unlawful acquisition of properties valued at N8.7 billion.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also declared Timipre Sylva, a former Bayelsa State governor and minister wanted in November 2025 over an alleged fraud involving $14.85 million linked to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Atlantic International Refinery. He is facing charges of conspiracy and dishonest conversion, with an arrest warrant issued by a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The court also sent ex-minister Chris Ngige to prison over N2.2 billion fraud charges. He was remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre over the N2.2 billion fraud charges filed against him by the EFCC.

A former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, was during the year grilled by operatives of the EFCC over an alleged financial misconduct during his tenure.

It was learnt that Kyari was invited by the commission to answer questions on the allegations against him.

The Dangote-Ahmed faceoff

In December, the founder of Dangote Refinery, Aliko Dangote, publicly accused the chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed of economic sabotage, and petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to investigate what he described as questionable personal wealth, including an allegation that the regulator paid about N5 million for the secondary education of his four children in Switzerland.

He questioned the source of Ahmed’s wealth and how he could afford such an amount for his children’s education. The allegation escalated when Dangote formally wrote to the ICPC, demanding a full investigation.

The presidency later announced the resignation of Ahmed.

Further reactions

Prof Ojo described the case involving Senator Natasha and Senate President Akpabio as embarrassing to the National Assembly and the country in general.

“The case of Natasha and Akpabio is an embarrassing one, not only to the National Assembly but the country. It was not properly handled and is still not being properly handled,” he said.

He said although the matter may appear personal between the two individuals involved, there are broader moral questions for the political system.

“We may look at it as personal between the two of them, but what is the moral angle for the political system?” he queried.

He said where issues of corruption are involved, anti corruption agencies should be actively carrying out their responsibilities.

“On that which has to do with corruption, the anti corruption agencies should be busy working; and if they are, there is no way they would not get some people to come and answer for their past deeds,” he said, adding that institutions must be strengthened.

Prof Ojo noted that there’s no fixed rule on how such cases are handled as they are often addressed as they arise.

As the country approaches 2026, he urged political actors to conduct themselves within the ambit of the law and the electoral act.

“Political actors should try as much as possible to operate within the ambit of the law, the electoral act and others, while government agencies, especially security agencies, should be more professional. Nobody should be above or stronger than the law. That is how to build democracy,”

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