Nigeria's opposition politics is getting more interesting as the battle for relevance ahead of the 2027 general elections continues.

What Okonkwo said

Veteran Nollywood actor and politician Kenneth Okonkwo has stirred another round of debate after claiming that the NDC is facing more serious problems than the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

According to Okonkwo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will still be on the ballot in the 2027 presidential election.

"NDC is facing more problems than ADC. Atiku Abubakar will be on the ballot," he said.

An interesting twist

Okonkwo is making this prediction at a time when the leadership of his own party, the ADC, is facing a major legal setback after a Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the emergence of its national chairman and the actions taken under his leadership.

That raises an obvious question. If his own party is battling a leadership crisis in court, how certain can anyone be about what will happen to other opposition parties before 2027?

Politics full of surprises

Nigerian politics has a way of surprising even those who believe they understand the game. Alliances can change overnight, party leaders can fall out, and court judgments can completely change the direction of an election.

For Atiku, who has contested the presidency several times, whether he will appear on the ballot again remains a major subject of discussion. Okonkwo's prediction should be understood as his political opinion rather than confirmation of Atiku's candidacy.

As 2027 approaches, Nigerians are watching closely to see whether opposition politicians will eventually unite behind a common candidate or continue to pursue separate presidential ambitions.

Over to you

Why is Kenneth Okonkwo so confident about Atiku's political future when his own party is struggling with a leadership crisis? Is he seeing something other Nigerians have not noticed, or is this another round of political calculation ahead of 2027?

FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has taken another swipe at Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

What Wike said

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Thursday, 5 November 2026, Wike reportedly said that people who wanted a president of social media should vote for Obi, but that he should not be voted for as president of Nigeria. He also mocked Obi's well-known habit of carrying his own bag, saying it did not show that he had the capacity to rule the country.

Background

Wike, a former Rivers governor, leads the Rainbow Coalition, a group of PDP and other politicians backing President Bola Tinubu's re-election in the presidential election scheduled for 16 January 2027. He has repeatedly criticised Obi in recent weeks. Obi, a former Anambra governor, has a large following among young voters, especially online, and is running with Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate. Wike made the comments during a busy week in which he also spoke about Governor Siminalayi Fubara's political future and denied any role in the court ruling on the Imo West Senate ticket.

How people reacted

Obi's supporters responded angrily online, with many saying Wike could not campaign without mentioning Obi and describing the former governor's simple lifestyle as a strength. Supporters of the minister said Obi's online popularity had not translated into votes in Rivers State in the past. Obi's campaign had not publicly responded to the latest remarks at the time of writing.

A former senior official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has questioned how about 1.5 million questionable records found their way into the country's voter register.

What he said

Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, a former Director of Voter Education and Publicity at INEC, said in a television interview reported on Friday, 6 November 2026, that such problems should not happen given the safeguards the commission has put in place. He noted that the law on who can register is simple: a Nigerian citizen aged 18 or above who turns up in person to register. Because registration requires physical presence and the capture of fingerprints and photographs, he said, he could not understand how so many questionable entries had been made.

His questions for INEC

Osaze-Uzzi said the commission, led by its chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, had not explained what period its review of the register covered or how the problem entries were first detected. He said tools such as the Automated Fingerprint Identification System and artificial intelligence can help to remove duplicates, but that INEC should still give a clear account of how the records got into the database in the first place.

Background

INEC regularly cleans up the register to remove duplicate, underage and other invalid entries before elections, and the issue of the accuracy of the register has long been debated. The 2027 general elections are due in January, with the presidential poll on 16 January. INEC also urged young Nigerians this week to turn their online enthusiasm into votes, saying votes cannot be counted on social media.

Why it matters

A clean voter register is central to public confidence in elections. Civil society groups have urged INEC to publish more detail on the clean-up so that eligible voters are not wrongly removed.

What was supposed to be a peaceful political campaign reportedly took a dramatic turn when some angry youths in the crowd began throwing stones towards the stage while Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule was addressing supporters.

What happened

The incident happened during a presidential campaign rally on Thursday, 5 November 2026, and created tension at the venue as the gathering was disrupted.

Photos from the event show large stones lying on the red carpet of the stage, close to the governor's feet. In one image, a man in a suit bends to pick up one of the stones as the governor, microphone in hand, points towards the crowd, with security officers standing beside him.

Why the anger?

The exact reason for the crowd's anger remains unclear. The incident does, however, raise questions about growing frustration among sections of the population and how political leaders are being received at public gatherings.

For many Nigerians struggling with the rising cost of living, unemployment and insecurity, political promises are becoming harder to accept without visible results.

Even so, it would be premature to blame those grievances for the disturbance without hearing from the people involved.

Violence is never the answer

Whatever the reason, throwing stones at a political gathering is dangerous and should never be encouraged. People have every right to express their dissatisfaction with their leaders, but political disagreement should never turn violent.

Over to you

Are Nigerian politicians beginning to face the anger and frustration of the people they have been making promises to for years?