In the annals of Nigerian political scheming, few episodes have been as brazenly conceived and as spectacularly dismantled as the attempted coup against Governor Hope Uzodimma within the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) last Friday. What was intended to be a swift, surgical removal of a sitting chairman collapsed under the weight of its own recklessness, and exposed not just its architects’ strategic immaturity but also their breathtaking lack of moral courage.
The plot, hatched under the cover of the Ogun State Governor’s Lodge, on the night of May 7, barely hours after Uzodimma had addressed the nation on behalf of his fellow APC governors, will go down in history as a monument to unbridled ambition colliding headlong with the brick wall of political reality. It had some of the accoutrements of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) split of 2013, between Rotimi Amaechi and Jona Jang, which ultimately worked against the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan. Perhaps, this too was intended to achieve the same.
The timing alone betrayed the plotters. Governor Uzodimma had only hours earlier spoken on behalf of APC governors during President Bola Tinubu’s submission of his presidential nomination and expression of interest forms in Abuja. That was an occasion of unity. It was also a moment of collective purpose and of loyalty to the president’s 2027 re-election. Unfortunately, the moment the cameras were switched off, and the ceremonial handshakes were done, some of the governors went into a conclave to decapitate the very man who had just been their public voice, a governor whose transformational leadership in Imo state, the party should boast about. If anything illustrated the two-faced nature of the conspiracy, it was the staggering juxtaposition of smiling with Uzodimma under the flashbulbs of national cameras, then plotting against him in the dark of the same evening. It reminds that Mr. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ for a fee, was with him at dinner few hours earlier.
From their conclave, allegations started flying about Uzodimma’s leadership style, alleged financial impropriety, and his failure to provide satisfactory explanations for the accusations levelled against him. These are serious charges, if true. But the manner in which they were pursued exposes everything that anyone needed to know about the character of the plotters. Legitimate grievances, in any association governed by rules and mutual respect, are raised openly, debated transparently, and resolved through recognised processes. They are not whispered in clandestine and nocturnal meetings, passed around through faceless sources, and then leaked to media platforms for maximum embarrassment. The choice of secrecy over process was not the behaviour of men with a genuine reform agenda, or with character. It was the behaviour of men with an agenda of conquest built around envy, jealousy and immature ambition.
Sources privy to the meeting said the forum came to the difficult decision following massive allegations of financial mismanagement, loss of confidence in Uzodimma’s leadership and high-handedness. They also alleged that he repeatedly failed to give a satisfactory explanation to his colleagues over the mismanagement allegations. None of the allegations, so-called, surfaced prior to the conclave. Also, nowhere in the days that followed did any of the plotting governors step before a microphone to repeat the accusations with their name attached. If the allegations were credible and the conviction genuine, the accusers had every moral obligation to stand behind them publicly. Instead, they retreated and allowed the rumour to do their dirty infantile work while they offered nothing but silence. In their silence, they spoke more and betrayed their ambition.
That silence is the loudest verdict on this entire enterprise that embarrassingly crashed like a pack of badly arranged cards before the plotters could beat their chests to it. Not a single member of the plotting gang, has, till this moment, come forward to publicly and courageously own and defend the convictions that led them into that puerile conclave. Not even Peter Mbah, who was listed as the choice after the White Smoke from their conclave had escaped from the chimney. One of Mbah’s aides, was quoted by journalists as saying he was unaware of any development regarding the anointing of his principal as new PGF chairman. He said, “I heard the news in the media too. I don’t know anything about it. My principal is in Abuja, and I am in Enugu.” Though he asked not to be named, said this was an aide speaking about his own principal’s supposed elevation to one of the most prominent positions in the ruling party’s gubernatorial structure. And he had to pretend that it never happened.
By the way, Mbah, who became the central figure in the failed enterprise, deserves particular scrutiny. For a man reportedly installed as the new PGF chairman, his public demeanour since the ‘installation’ broke has been one of extraordinary silence. He has issued no triumphant statement. He has conducted no press conference from the podium of his alleged new office. He has made no moves consistent with the exercise of the chairmanship he was supposedly handed. These are indications that from day one, the coup suffered credibility issues. Even the stories about their reasons had no attributions to authenticate it. There were no photographs showing the governors speculated as having participated in the conclave. Not even a signed press statement. Not an official announcement. And, they all watched as Uzodimma addressed the Diplomatic Corps on Monday at the Transcorp Hilton on the achievements of the Tinubu administration from the podium of the Chairman of PGF and Chairman of Renewed Hope Ambassadors, with other governors and officials of the government present.
This is the signature of immature ambition and the desire for power without the courage to pursue it transparently. Mbah’s mission was just a hunger for a crown, which he lacked the courage to fight for. Described by observers as still a relative newcomer within the party’s power structures, Mbah was allegedly elevated over more experienced hands. If Uzodimma were to be replaced, why would it be with someone who is still a rookie in the party? His choice as figurehead may suggest that the enterprise was not about merit or experience that could work for Tinubu’s re-election, but about availability. Simply, Mbah was available because the senior and more experienced governors were probably not willing to lend their name to a scheme that could jeopardise Tinubu and APC’s 2027 chances.
However, the swiftness of the counter-mobilisation was remarkable and instructive. By Friday morning, PGF Director General, Folorunsho Aluko, had swiftly doused the tension, and flatly denied that any resolution to remove Uzodimma was ever passed. After that came a flood of solidarity. More than 23 governors, on hearing of the rumour, immediately converged on the Imo State Governor’s Lodge to reaffirm their support for Uzodimma as the PGF Chairman. Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris moved the motion for the vote of confidence, making clear that both Uzodimma and his deputy, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, retained their positions in the forum. Sani, speaking after the meeting, described the earlier reports as unfortunate, insisting the forum remained firmly united.
One lesson from the coup is that there exist internal enemies within the APC who do not wish Tinubu well. This is a point that cannot be understated. The coup against Uzodimma was not merely an internal PGF squabble. It was an assault on the political architecture that the president had carefully constructed ahead of 2027. Uzodimma is widely regarded as one of Tinubu’s most reliable allies in the Southeast, a region where the APC needs to perform credibly to sustain its national electoral coalition. To remove him clandestinely and without presidential authorisation was to throw a grenade into Tinubu’s re-election machinery.
What is left from the plot is a portrait of political recklessness that should embarrass every participant. The plot was poorly conceived, clumsily executed, instantly disavowed by its own supposed beneficiary’s circle, and ultimately crushed within a day by the very democratic mechanisms of confidence and solidarity it sought to circumvent. Mbah and his cohorts wanted the spoils of a palace coup without the courage that open contestation demands. They wanted the throne without the declaration. They reached for the title without the campaign, and sought the seat without the bravery to say so. They made it look like what kindergarten kids do at breaktime.
That is cowardice, not merely political miscalculation. It is a character revelation. Governor Uzodimma dismissed the speculation of disunity as a distraction, noting that the PGF was strictly focused on performance and the party’s upcoming primaries. He was right to do so because the plotters came for a leader but found a man standing firm. They now know that unbridled ambition, untempered by wisdom and unaccompanied by courage, does not seize power in Nigeria’s political theatre. It merely announces its own inadequacy to the world. For the Mbah gang, it was a chapter in the story of ambition, cowardice, and humiliation.
