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RITUALS, BLOOD AND DEATH, THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF ASO VILLA
By Reuben Abati.
People tend to be alarmed when the Nigerian Presidency makes certain decisions. They don’t think the decision makes sense. Sometimes, they wonder if something has not gone wrong with the thinking process at the highest level of the country.
I have heard people insist that there is some form of witchcraft at work in the country’s seat of government. I am ordinarily not a superstitious person, but working in the Villa, I eventually became convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it. I’ll start with a personal testimony.
I was given an apartment to live in inside the Villa. It was furnished and equipped. But when my son, Michael arrived, one of my brothers came with a pastor who was supposed to stay in the apartment. But the man refused claiming that the Villa was full of evil spirits and that there would soon be a fire accident in the apartment. He complained about too much human sacrifice around the Villa and advised that my family must never sleep overnight inside the Villa.
I thought the man was talking nonsense and he wanted the luxury of hotel accommodation. But he turned out to be right. The day I hosted family friends in that apartment and they slept overnight, there was indeed a fire accident. The guests escaped and they were so thankful. Not long after, the President’s physician living two compounds away had a fire accident in his home. He and his children could have died. He escaped with bruises. Around the Villa, while I was there, someone always died, or their relations died. I can confirm that every principal officer suffered one tragedy or the other; it was as if you needed to sacrifice something to remain on duty inside that environment.
Even some of the women became merchants of dildos because they had suffered a special kind of death in their homes (I am sorry to reveal this), and many of the men complained about something that had died below their waists too. The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients.
I recall the example of one particular man, an asset to the Jonathan Presidency who practically ran away from the Villa. He said he needed to save his life. He was quite certain that if he continued to hang around, he would die. I can’t talk about colleagues who lost daughters and sons, brothers and uncles, mothers and fathers, and the many obituaries that we issued.
Even President Jonathan was multiply bereaved. His wife, Mama Peace was in and out of hospital at a point, undergoing many surgeries. You may have forgotten, but after her husband lost the election and he conceded victory, all her ailments vanished, all scheduled surgeries were found to be no longer necessary, and since then, she has been hale and hearty.
By the same token, all those our colleagues who used to come to work to complain about a certain death beneath their waists and who relied on videos and other instruments to entertain wives (take it, easy, boys, I don’t mean any harm, I am writing!), have all experienced a reawakening.
Everyone who went under the blade has received miraculous healing, and we are happy to be out of that place. But others were not so lucky. They died. There were days when convoys ran into ditches and lives were lost.
In Norway, our helicopter almost crashed into a mountain. That was the first time I saw the President panicking. The weather was all so hazy, and he just kept saying it would not be nice for the President of a country to die in a helicopter crash due to pilot miscalculations. The President went into prayer mode. We survived. In Kenya once, we had a bird strike. The plane had to be recalled and we were already airborne with the plane acting like it would crash.
During the 2015 election campaigns, our aircraft refused to start on more than one occasion. The aircraft just went dead. On some other occasions, we were stoned and directly targeted for evil. I don’t envy the people who work in Aso Villa, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency.
For about six months, I couldn’t even breathe properly. For another two months, I was on crutches. But I considered myself far luckier than the others who were either nursing a terminal disease or who could not get it up.
When Presidents make mistakes, they are probably victims of a force higher than what we can imagine. Every student of Aso Villa politics would readily admit that when people get in there, they actually become something else. They act like they are under a spell. When you issue a well-crafted statement, the public accepts it wrongly.
When the President makes a speech and he truly means well, the speech is interpreted wrongly by the public. When a policy is introduced, somehow, something just goes wrong.
In our days, a lot of people used to complain that the APC people were fighting us spiritually and that there was a witchcraft dimension to the governance process in Nigeria.
But the APC folks now in power are dealing with the same demons. Since the Buhari government assumed office, it has been one mistake after another. Those mistakes don’t look normal, the same way they didn’t look normal under President Jonathan.
I am, therefore, convinced that there is an evil spell enveloping this country. We need to rescue Nigeria from the forces of darkness. Aso Villa should be converted into a spiritual museum and abandoned.
Should I become President of Nigeria tomorrow, I will build a new Presidential Villa: a Villa that will be dedicated to the all-conquering Almighty, and where powers and principalities cannot hold sway. But it is not about buildings and space, not so? It is about the people who go to the highest levels in Nigeria. I don’t quite believe in superstitions, but I am tempted to suggest that this is indeed a country in need of prayers.
We should pray before people pack their things into Aso Villa. We should ask God to guide us before we appoint ministers. We should, to put it in technocratic language, advise that the people should be very vigilant. We have all failed so far, that crucial test of vigilance. We should have a Presidential Villa where a President can afford to be human and free.
In the American White House, Presidents live like normal human beings. In Aso Villa, that is impossible. They’d have to surround themselves with cooks from their villages, bodyguards from their mother’s clans, and friends they could trust. It should be possible to be President of Nigeria without having to look behind one’s shoulders.
But we are not yet there. So, how do we run a Presidency where the man in the saddle can only drink water served by his kinsman? No. How can we possibly run a Presidency where every President proclaims faith in Nigeria, but they are better off in the company of relatives and kinsmen? No. We need as Presidents men and women who are willing to be Nigerians. No Nigerian President should be in spiritual bondage because he belongs to all of us and to nobody.
Now let me go back to the spiritual dimension.
A colleague once told me that I was the most naïve person in the place. I thought I was a bright, smart, professional doing my bit and enjoying the President’s confidence. I spelled it out. But what I got in response was that I was coming to the villa using Lux soap, but that most people around the place always bathed in the morning with blood. Goat blood. Ram blood. Whatever animal blood. I argued.
He said there were persons in the Villa walking upside down, head to the ground. I screamed. Everybody looked normal to me. But I soon began to suspect that I was in a strange environment indeed. Every position change was an opportunity for warfare.
Civil servants are very nice people; they obey orders, but they are not very nice when they fight over personal interests.
The President is most affected by the atmosphere around him. He can make wrong decisions based on the cloud of evil around him. Even when he means well and he has taken time to address all possible outcomes, he could get on the wrong side of the public.
A colleague called me one day and told me a story about how a decision had been taken in the spiritual realm about the Nigerian government. He talked about the spirit of error, and how every step taken by the administration would appear to the public like an error. He didn’t resign on that basis but his words proved prophetic. I see the same story being re-enacted. Aso Villa is in urgent need of redemption. I never slept in the apartment they gave me in that Villa for an hour.
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Reuben Abati was the Former Special Adviser on Media to Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan
David Ibiyeomie, the presiding pastor of Salvation Ministries in Rivers State, has stirred fresh conversation around tithing and church giving after declaring in a viral sermon that he gives a minimum of $12,000 every Sunday — and that his personal wealth is entirely independent of his congregation’s offerings.
Ibiyeomie, one of Nigeria’s most prominent Pentecostal clergy, made the remarks while preaching on what he described as the foundational role of tithing in Christian covenant living, insisting that any believer who neglects the practice will face financial stagnation.
“You cannot say that you are walking in a covenant if your foundation is not in place. Your foundation covenant is your tithe,” he told his congregation.
“Trying to walk in covenant wealth without tithing is like trying to build a house without a foundation.”
To underscore his commitment to the principle he was preaching, the pastor disclosed the scale of his own giving.
“The minimum I give on a Sunday is $12,000. That is the minimum. Every Sunday. And the minimum I give on weekdays is $2,000.
“Even when I am not in church, even when I travel, my offering will be there,” he said.
Perhaps more striking was his assertion that his prosperity bears no relationship to what his members contribute to the church.
Addressing his congregation directly, he said their offerings — or the withholding of them — had no bearing on his financial standing.
“If you don’t give your offering, I will be rich, stinkingly rich. I am not depending on your money. If my birthday is coming, get angry and don’t give me any money.
“This guy will be rich because it is not coming from you. It is coming from my covenant work with God,” he declared.
The sermon has since circulated widely on social media, reigniting debate around the theology of tithing, pastoral wealth, and the financial expectations placed on church members in Nigeria’s booming Pentecostal landscape.
Fresh concerns about the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process have drawn international attention, following a high-level meeting between representatives of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and senior staff of the U.S. House Democratic caucus.
The engagement, which took place remotely, was facilitated by Washington-based lobbying firm Von Batten-Montague-York, recently retained by Abubakar to manage his international political outreach and bolster his reputation in the United States.
In a statement shared on social media platform X, the firm disclosed that the meeting brought together congressional staff aligned with U.S. House Democratic Caucus and representatives of the former Nigerian vice-president’s political camp. According to the firm, discussions centered on what it described as “serious concerns regarding election integrity in Nigeria.”
Central to the deliberations were allegations that Nigeria’s current administration, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may be undermining democratic processes through electoral manipulation.
The lobbying firm claimed that participants examined “credible allegations” suggesting attempts to “circumvent the will of the Nigerian people.” While these claims were not independently verified, they reflect a growing narrative among opposition figures who have consistently questioned the transparency of recent elections.
The meeting also reportedly explored broader governance concerns, including what was described as a pattern of political consolidation that could tilt Nigeria toward a de facto one-party system. Though no official position has been issued by U.S. lawmakers, the framing of such concerns at a congressional level signals rising international scrutiny of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Abubakar campaign nor the U.S. House of Representatives has released an official statement detailing the outcome of the discussions. The absence of formal communication leaves much of the substance of the meeting open to interpretation, with only the lobbying firm’s account providing insight.
Political analysts note that while such engagements are not unusual in international diplomacy, they often carry significant implications, particularly when tied to election integrity and governance issues in emerging democracies.
Abubakar’s engagement with U.S. policymakers comes on the heels of his formal agreement with Von Batten-Montague-York, a deal aimed at strengthening his “reputational standing” abroad.
Documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice indicate that the contract, signed in March 2026 by the firm’s managing partner Karl Von Batten and Nigerian politician Fabiyi Oladimeji, outlines a robust advocacy strategy. This includes countering what the firm described as the Nigerian government’s “lobbying narratives” in Washington.
Under the agreement, the firm is tasked with arranging strategic meetings between Abubakar and key U.S. government officials, including members of Congress. It is also expected to provide advisory services on policy positioning and broader engagement strategies.
In a move that has further heightened tensions, Von Batten-Montague-York recently signaled its intention to recommend sanctions against Nigerian political actors and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) found to be complicit in electoral malpractice.
In an earlier statement, the firm said it would begin identifying individuals involved in election rigging and forward their names to the offices of the U.S. President and Congress. Proposed measures include asset freezes and travel bans, tools commonly used by Western governments to penalize individuals accused of undermining democratic processes.
This development aligns with a broader trend of international actors taking a firmer stance on election-related misconduct in Africa, particularly in countries with significant geopolitical and economic influence like Nigeria.
Nigeria’s electoral system has long faced criticism over logistical challenges, allegations of vote manipulation, and institutional weaknesses. However, the latest developments suggest that these concerns are increasingly resonating beyond the country’s borders.
For Abubakar, who remains a central figure in Nigeria’s opposition politics, the outreach to U.S. lawmakers may serve both as a strategic diplomatic move and a signal to domestic supporters that his campaign is pursuing all available avenues to address perceived injustices in the political system.
For the Nigerian government, the allegations, and the prospect of international sanctions, pose a reputational challenge that could impact diplomatic relations and investor confidence if not addressed.
While it remains unclear what immediate outcomes will arise from the meeting, its occurrence underscores the growing intersection between Nigeria’s domestic politics and international diplomatic engagement.
Observers caution that while foreign involvement can amplify calls for transparency, it also raises questions about sovereignty and the appropriate limits of external influence in national electoral matters.
As Nigeria continues to navigate its complex political landscape ahead of future elections, the spotlight from global actors is unlikely to dim anytime soon. The coming months may reveal whether these discussions translate into concrete actions, or remain part of a broader war of narratives between political stakeholders.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has released its timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections, setting in motion a tightly packed sequence of internal party processes that will culminate in its primaries across various elective positions in May 2026.
The schedule, signed by the party’s National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu, provides detailed timelines for the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms, screening of aspirants, publication of results, appeals, and the conduct of primary elections for all levels of elective offices.
The party said the timetable was issued in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2026, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections.
According to the APC, the release of the schedule underscores its commitment to what it described as credible and transparent primaries aimed at strengthening internal democracy and consolidating its “progressive ideals” ahead of the 2027 electoral contest.
“In accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act 2026, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) hereby releases its Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Elections,” the party stated.
The process begins with the formal notice of election to state chapters and the commencement of the sale of forms at the APC national secretariat on Monday, 20 April.
The sale of forms will run from Saturday, 25 April, to Saturday, 2 May.
The party fixed Monday, 4 May, as the deadline for the submission of completed forms and accompanying documents by aspirants seeking to contest under its platform.
Screening of aspirants will then follow in phases. Aspirants for State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, and governorship positions will be screened between Wednesday, 6 May, and Friday, 8 May. Presidential aspirants are scheduled for screening on Saturday, 9 May.
The APC said screening results will be published on Monday, 11 May, covering all categories of offices, after which aggrieved aspirants will have the opportunity to file appeals.
Aggrieved aspirants will have two days, Tuesday, 12 May and Wednesday, 13 May, to file appeals before the party proceeds to its primaries.
Primary elections will commence shortly after the appeals process, beginning with the presidential primary scheduled for Friday, 15 May, to Saturday, 16 May.
This will be followed by the House of Representatives primary on Monday, 18 May, the Senate primary on Wednesday, 20 May, and the State House of Assembly primary on Thursday, 21 May, and Friday, 22 May. The governorship primary is scheduled for Saturday, 23 May.
The party also set dates for election-related appeals arising from the primaries.
Presidential primary appeals are expected to be handled from Monday, 18 May, while House of Representatives appeals are scheduled for Wednesday, 20 May.
Senate appeals will follow on Thursday, 21 May, State House of Assembly appeals on Saturday, 23 May, and governorship appeals on Monday, 25 May.
Beyond the timelines, the APC also detailed the cost structure for nomination and expression of interest forms across different elective offices, a recurring feature of internal party contests in Nigeria that has often generated public debate.
Aspirants for state houses of assembly will pay N1,000,000 for the expression of interest and N5,000,000 for the nomination forms. Those contesting seats in the House of Representatives are to pay N1,000,000 and N9,000,000, respectively.
Senatorial aspirants will pay N3,000,000 for the expression of interest and N17,000,000 for the nomination forms. Governorship aspirants are required to pay N10,000,000 for the expression of interest and N40,000,000 for nomination forms.
Presidential aspirants will pay N30,000,000 for the expression of interest and N70,000,000 for nomination forms.
However, in what may be seen as a concession to inclusivity concerns, the party said female aspirants, youths, and persons with disabilities will pay only for the expression of interest forms and 50 per cent of the prescribed nomination fees for their respective offices.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) timetable, presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on 16 January 2027, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will hold on 6 February 2027.
Political parties are to conduct their primaries between 23 April and 30 May, including the resolution of disputes arising from the exercises.
Campaigns for presidential and National Assembly elections will commence on 19 August, while those for governorship and state Houses of Assembly will begin on 9 September.
However, INEC said that all campaigns must end 24 hours before election day.
See Time Table Below;
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