NIGERIAN socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, has claimed that President Bola Tinubu does not fully trust him because of his previous support for Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi.
Cubana stated this during a live Twitch session with popular streamer Peller, amid growing public comments from the celebrity businessman following his failure to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the Orsu/Orlu/Oru East federal constituency seat in Imo State.
Speaking during the now viral video, the socialite said his ethnicity and past political alignment might have created suspicion around him within the APC.
“As I am now, Tinubu does not really trust me because I am an Igbo man that I am. He is looking at me with one eye that ‘this one that I once worked for Peter Obi’. I worked for Obi during the last election,” he said.
He added that he had decided to politically re-align after what he described as lessons from the last election cycle.
“I checked it, and I do not want to lose again. Because they say the first fool is not a fool, it is only on the second time you become a proper fool,” he added.
The comments are the latest in a string of statements by Cubana since losing the APC primary for the House of Representatives last week.
He lost the party’s ticket to Canice Nwachukwu, the incumbent lawmaker representing the constituency.
Shortly after the primary, Cubana publicly distanced himself from the process, insisting he withdrew from the race before voting commenced.
In a statement shared on Instagram, he said he returned to Lagos after consultations with party leaders, including Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, over the zoning arrangement adopted by the APC in the constituency.
According to him, the party’s leadership argued that it was not yet the turn of his local government area to occupy the seat.
“As a loyal party man and committed progressive, I wish to clearly state my position. Following my consultations and meeting with our leader of the party in the state and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, His Excellency presented the position of the party regarding zoning within the federal constituency and his resolve to ensure that Orlu LGA at least gets two terms before the position leaves for another LGA,” he wrote.
The ICIR reports that the celebrity businessman had become one of the more visible entertainment figures supporting the ruling party and the Tinubu administration.
He previously served as an aide to Uzodimma and was appointed Imo director of the City Boy Movement (CBM), a youth-driven support group campaigning for Tinubu’s re-election.
His latest remarks also come amid efforts by the APC and pro-Tinubu groups to strengthen support in the south-east region, where Obi, the likely presidential candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) still maintains significant influence.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M