Pray, is Jarret Tenebe above the law?
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
In his biography on his official political platform, jarrettenebe.org – https://jarrettenebe.org, a site that serves as a central hub for his political activities and party updates, the Edo State chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) addressed himself as Emperor Khalifa Jarrett Tenebe. Folks know him simply as Jarret Tenebe.
The dictionary meaning of the word emperor is a male monarch who holds ultimate control over a nation or multiple subjugated/allied territories. In the same vein, Wikipedia defines Khalifa as an Arabic word that translates to “successor, deputy, ruler or steward.” It is traditionally used for the supreme religious and political leader of the Islamic community (caliphate). Is Tenebe the new emperor of Edo politics now that godfathers like Chief Tony Anenih are dead? Who crowned him? If he is a Khalifa, who is he succeeding – Monday Okpebholo? Could that be why he is running his mouth so shamelessly, just to impress his benefactors?
Tenebe is not a Muslim. He is a Christian. It is not clear whether he uses Emperor and Khalifa simply as monikers or if they are his real name. If they are titles, at what point did he start using them to prefix his name and to what end? Could it be sheer hubris on the part of a man who is beginning to see himself as one of the famed “owners” of Nigeria?
The question may well be asked, “What’s in a name?” as “Juliet” did in William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. It depends on who you ask. Whereas a school of thought believes that the name or title of something is less important than its true nature, some studies show that names can influence self-perception, as Brad Hirschfield, one of America’s most influential Rabbis, noted when he answered, “Perhaps A Great Deal!” to his own rhetorical question: “What’s in a name?”
Tenebe takes his “emperor” moniker seriously. And he is beginning to see himself as having arrived in the Nigeria of vainglorious and harebrained politics. He is dancing naked at the political market square believing that he is above the law, hence no consequences for his disgraceful actions.
Last week, he exhibited his unbelievable nuisance when he said at an APC rally that anyone blocking the party from securing 2.5 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in Edo State as promised by Governor Monday Okpebholo would face AK-47 fire. “Those who do not wish us well, who want to create an obstacle for us, I have a prayer for you. So, anybody who refuses, who wants to stand in our way, for us not to have those votes that we intend to give to Mr. President, AK-47 fire,” he declared. That is tantamount to passing death sentence on political opponents.
Nigerians and, indeed, the international community were scandalised. Civil society groups including Amnesty International Nigeria and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) flagged the comment as a direct threat to democracy and the rule of law, and called on security agencies to hold him accountable.
Commenting, one A.M. Temidayo – @AnewNaija – wrote: “Imagine a Peter Obi supporter was captured on camera saying, ‘Anyone who tries to stop Peter Obi from winning will get AK-47 fire!’ the police and the DSS would immediately swing into action and arrest the person. But in the case of Tenebe, he enjoys immunity because he is supporting Tinubu. History will record the police and the DSS as cowardly institutions that only bark at the opposition while bowing before those in power.”
He couldn’t be more correct. And that is the crux of the matter. The Nigerian state under Tinubu’s watch is complicit in the escalating threats of political intimidation, violence and possible mass disenfranchisement of the electorate. But, truth is, the joke is on the entire network of government agencies and institutions responsible for enforcing rules and maintaining public order including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This is more so given the fact that recently, INEC chairman Prof Joash Amupitan vowed that the Commission will not stand by and allow political competition to devolve into violence, intimidation, or inflammatory rhetoric.
The 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2026 support Amupitan. Section 96 of the Act, which deals with the prohibition of certain conduct at political campaigns, provides that: “(1) A political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings; (2) Abusive, intemperate, slanderous or base language, insinuations or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reaction or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns.”
If Tenebe’s egregious comments do not run afoul of these extant rules, I wonder what else will. Yet, mum is the word from the entire Nigerian justice system. Instead, as the emperor that he claims to be, rather than walk back his incendiary rhetoric, Tenebe recklessly doubled down with a “Holy Ghost fire” false moral equivalence. What is worse, he vowed to “spit in Atiku’s face” and bite Peter Obi’s ear if they came near him, warning that both presidential candidates should never enter Edo State unless on Okpebholo’s permission.
To be sure, this is not the first time Emperor Tenebe would make these vile comments against opposition politicians. In July 2025, Okpebholo had declared, quite unreasonably, that Obi, must obtain security clearance from him before visiting Edo State, warning ominously that his security would not be guaranteed if he did otherwise.
When intense backlash forced Okpebholo to recant, Tenebe doubled down at a press conference in Benin where he claimed that Obi was ‘well-hated’ by Edo people. “The governor can say that because of the kind of hatred people have for Peter Obi in the state including me and when you have so many of us that have hatred for people like that… it is proper for him to tell the governor before he comes so that people like us can be sent on errand out of Edo before he can come and possibly go,” he said.
During a live interview on Television Continental (TVC), he was unapologetic. “The opposite of hate is love. If I don’t love you, I hate you. I know I expressed myself, so I do not hide my feelings. I do not like Peter Obi. I still maintain it, and if I do not like somebody, I hate the person… I am an extremist. I do not like Peter Obi; I hate him. I have the right to like or hate.” Many Nigerians were nonplussed because that was a new low. But Tenebe is as shameless as they come.
Because the government did nothing against a self-confessed merchant of hate, he has been emboldened, hence his threat this time not only against Obi but also Atiku, and, indeed, anyone that will prevent him and Okpebholo from awarding Tinubu a phantom 2.5 million votes in the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
The problem is that both Tenebe and his co-travellers are dense and thickheaded. If not, they would have seen the sheer stupidity in their proposition. On May 8, Obo Effanga, Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) said: “As of the last governorship election in Edo, we had 2,629,025 registered voters.” On August 1, 2026, INEC said it registered 131,165 new voters following the conclusion of the continuous voter registration exercise, which took place between August 2025 and July 2026. So, assuming without conceding that no voter in Edo had died since after the 2023 elections or emigrated, the total number of registered voters would still be 2,760,190. According to INEC results, only about 600,395 of this number voted in the 2023 presidential election. So, how and where will Okpebhelo get 2.5 million votes to dash Tinubu?
Truth be told, those vowing to gift Tinubu millions of votes in 2027 are fraudsters who don’t mean well for the country. It will be in Tinubu’s enlightened self-interest to allow free, fair and credible elections, bearing in mind, in the famous words of the 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
Creating the impression that Jarett Tenebe, a loose cannon, is above the law is tantamount to self-deprecating insults on those who are enabling him.
Besides, what these power scumbags are exhibiting is not political sagacity. When FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Okpebholo, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia and all the pontificating APC zealots promise to conjure millions of votes for Tinubu in January, votes that they don’t have, they are simply saying they will rig the 2027 elections. I will be surprised if Prof Amupitan, Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu; Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede; and chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, don’t know this for a fact.
If they do, and yet play the ostrich, it signals one thing: they are in bed with those whose only pathway to victory in the 2027 elections is manipulation of the electoral process. Unfortunately, this will be a recipe for crisis particularly if the opposition decides that this time, the courts will be no option.
