Former Southeast spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Josef Onoh, has urged the President to heed Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s recent admonition and purge his inner circle of “incompetent” advisers, warning that failure to act could fatally undermine the administration’s agenda and public trust.
Speaking in a statement made available to journalists in Awka, Anambra State, during the ongoing governorship election — where he expressed confidence that Governor Charles Soludo will win decisively over his APC rival — Onoh said the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) General Overseer’s counsel “still reverberate[s] across the nation.” He declared his full support for the pastor’s call, describing Adeboye as a man he holds “in the highest esteem for his unwavering commitment to truth and national healing.”
Onoh said Pastor Adeboye’s critique of the President’s recent security speech — which painted a rosy picture of improved safety and returns of displaced Nigerians — exposed a dangerous disconnect between presidential messaging and ground realities. He noted that the upbeat speech collapsed under the weight of subsequent reports of violence, including the brutal slaying of a traditional ruler in Kwara or Kogi.
As the Pastor wisely noted, “the person who wrote that speech… does not like him,” and worse, those surrounding the President are failing to arm him with unvarnished truths.
Onoh said Adeboye’s intervention is more than ecclesiastical rhetoric; it is “a divine intervention, rooted in biblical wisdom and practical governance.” He pointed to the pastor’s suggestion for diplomatic engagement with the United States — seeking a 100-day grace period — and a stern demand that service chiefs either secure the nation in three months or step down. He referenced the pastor’s analogy to Newton’s Law of Motion, arguing that the policy inertia afflicting the presidency requires an external force to effect change.
“We have been praying for Nigeria,” he reminded us, “but something must happen.” I affirm this entirely. Mr. President, the window of God’s opportunity, once cracked open, never lingers for the indecisive. Act now, for divine favor, like a fleeting tide, waits for no one.
Drawing on his experience as Tinubu’s Southeast spokesman, Onoh said he has repeatedly urged the President to slim down his advisory team, arguing that many aides have become liabilities rather than assets. He catalogued what he called a pattern of avoidable missteps: hasty and reversed appointments, incendiary press releases, and policy U-turns that have eroded public confidence.
He described the recent controversial clemency exercise — in which pardons for high-profile convicts, including those guilty of culpable homicide and drug trafficking, were briefly announced before being reversed — as a conspicuous example of how the President’s inner circle has failed to provide rigorous counsel, instead thrusting the administration into avoidable national embarrassment.
“This was no isolated blunder; it was a glaring testament to the echo chamber your inner circle has constructed, one that shields you from rigorous vetting and real-time feedback, turning governance into a game of reactive damage control,” Onoh said.
According to Onoh, the President now operates in a “bubble of flattery and filtered intelligence” that disconnects him from the lived reality of ordinary Nigerians — rising food prices, mass displacement from insecurity, and economic strain. He warned that such detachment risks alienating the electorate ahead of 2027, turning renewed hope into disillusionment.
“The rot extends to the cabinet itself, where 90% of ministers operate as ornamental fixtures, adding zero value to your transformative vision,” Onoh wrote, using a stark metaphor to stress his point: appointing unfit ministers is like putting a bus conductor in charge of a jumbo jet.
He further warned that mercenary patronage over merit has harmed Nigeria’s international standing, referencing the US redesignation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for severe religious freedom violations. Onoh argued that warnings about the rising threat of Christian persecution by Boko Haram and ISWAP — and the diplomatic fallout that followed — were repeatedly ignored amid what he described as “ethnic biases and clannish inaction.”
“When merit yields to tribal arithmetic, nations falter — and Nigeria’s international standing now hangs by a thread, with economic fallout looming in stalled investments and diplomatic isolation,” he said.
Onoh issued a set of urgent prescriptions: summon the service chiefs and enforce the pastor’s proposed 90-day ultimatum; use the prerogative of mercy sparingly and surgically; ruthlessly trim the cabinet, retaining only the 10 percent who perform; and replace sycophants with truth-tellers who reflect the realities on the ground.
“Reshuffle not for optics, but for oxygen: breathe life into ministries starved of competence. Surround yourself with truth-tellers who mirror the streets, not mirrors of self-delusion,” he wrote, urging the President to reclaim the mantle of the Jagaban — the strategist who outmaneuvers foes — and secure both his political future and a lasting legacy of reform.
“Nigeria watches, prays, and believes. The divine window is ajar—step through, Mr. President, before it seals shut,” Onoh concluded, delivering a stark ultimatum couched in moral and political urgency.
