Politics
Longest serving US Senate leader Mitch McConnell to step down
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will step down as GOP leader in November, the Kentucky Republican announced on the Senate floor Wednesday, marking the end of an era on Capitol Hill and setting up a high-stakes race for his successor.
He will continue to serve in the US Senate but will allow “the next generation of leadership” to take the helm of the Senate Republican Conference.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, has been in the US Senate since 1985.
He said on Wednesday February 28 that “the end of my contributions are closer than I prefer.”
McConnell has made history over the course of his political tenure and in 2023, McConnell became the longest-serving Senate party leader in history.
Recently, McConnell has found in himself at odds with members of his conference particularly over the issue of additional US funding for the war in Ukraine.
He also has a strained relationship with the Republican Party’s front-runner for the presidential nomination: Donald Trump with reports that the pair hadn’t spoken in more than three years.
“As I have been thinking about when I would deliver some news to the Senate, I always imagined a moment when I had total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work,” McConnell said in his floor remarks. “A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. That day arrived today.”
He received a standing ovation at the end of his remarks, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, approached him afterwards to shake his hand.
While serving as Senate majority leader during former President Donald Trump’s time in office, McConnell helped guide three Trump-nominated Supreme Court justices to confirmation — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — as well as the confirmations of a vast number of conservative judges to the federal bench, transforming the federal judiciary in the process.
After a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential win, McConnell blamed Trump for provoking the attack, but still voted to acquit him of inciting an insurrection after the House moved to impeach.
He also led the Senate’s certification of the presidential election that the rioters pledged to overturn, and strongly condemned the violence at the Capitol.
McConnell has suffered a string of high-profile health incidents over the past year.
In March, he was treated for a concussion after a fall at a hotel in Washington, DC.
Months later, McConnell experienced episodes where he briefly appeared to freeze up on two separate occasions while speaking with reporters, incidents that sparked questions and concern over the Kentucky Republican’s health and fitness to lead the Senate Republican conference.
McConnell on Wednesday said his decision to step down came following the death of his wife Elaine Chao’s youngest sister, Angela, in a traffic accident earlier this month.
“As some of you may know, this has been a particularly difficult time for my family. We tragically lost Elaine’s younger sister, Angela, just a few weeks ago. When you lose a loved one, particularly at a young age, there’s a certain introspection that accompanies the grieving process. Perhaps it is God’s way of reminding you of your own life’s journey to reprioritize the impact of the world that we will all inevitably leave behind,” he said.
He thanked his wife of 31 years, calling her the “love of my life” and that “I’m eternally grateful to have her by my side.”
The standoff between the chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, Maxwell Ogiri, and the legislative council has intensified just days after Governor Hyacinth Alia lifted the one-month suspension earlier imposed on the chairman by the Benue State House of Assembly.
Ogiri reportedly issued a directive ordering the council to suspend all legislative sittings, a move councillors say is driven by personal motives rather than genuine security concerns.
Council leader Philip Anya, in a petition submitted to the Benue Assembly, alleged that Ogiri halted legislative activities under the guise of insecurity.
A letter dated September 8, 2025, and signed by the council’s secretary, Simon Idenyi, instructed councillors to conduct their deliberations via social-media platforms “for the time being.”
The letter partly stated, “While the chairman is very much mindful of the fact that the postponement will affect the smooth running of the legislative arm for the time being, he therefore can not take the security advice for granted… chairman wishes to advice legislatures to explore other platforms such as, Whatsapp, Facebook etc to enhance legislative business for the time being.”
Anya and fellow members accused Ogiri of defying instructions from both the governor and the deputy governor to maintain the council’s former leadership structure. They urged the state assembly to probe alleged financial irregularities and to condemn what they described as the unlawful shutdown of the Otukpo legislative arm.
The National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Kamaldeen Ajibade, has issued a stern warning to the party to unite and solve its internal crisis or kiss the 2027 presidential election goodbye.
Ajibade gave this warning at the PDP National Restoration Movement National Summit in Abuja, where he and other party leaders addressed members on the need for reconciliation and unity.
“A fractured PDP cannot heal a fractured nation. It is only when we restore internal harmony and democracy that we can credibly present ourselves as the alternative Nigeria desperately seeks,” Ajibade said.
According to him, party insiders are concerned that if disputes in the party are not resolved, they could resurface before 2027 and further weaken the PDP’s ability to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
He recalled the PDP’s achievements during its time in government, which include stabilising democracy, attracting foreign investment, and introducing reforms in telecommunications, banking, and pensions under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. A divided PDP cannot win elections. A divided PDP cannot save Nigeria.
“Unity requires sacrifice. We must place Nigeria above personal ambition. Ambition is not a sin, but when ambition threatens the core values and existence of the party we have all built, it becomes destructive,” he added.
Lawyer and politician, Kenneth Okonkwo, has criticized President Bola Tinubu for vacationing in Paris while Nigerians face worsening hardship, insecurity, and failing public services.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Okonkwo described Nigeria as “a country in distress,” citing widespread instability across critical sectors.
“People are dying in Zamfara, people are dying in Katsina, yet the President says he is going on work leave,” Okonkwo said.
“There is no part of Nigeria today where you can confidently promote tourism or create an enabling environment for work.”
He noted that the education and healthcare systems are on the brink of collapse, with unions threatening fresh strikes, while oil industry contractors remain unpaid since 2024.
“Look at what is happening with NEPA, look at our educational system where ASUU is threatening another strike, clear evidence of instability in education. Doctors and nurses are also threatening to strike, exposing the instability in healthcare,” he stated.
The lawyer further warned that the level of suffering in the country has reached alarming levels.
“Today, Nigeria has more malnourished children than Sudan. Just recently, a woman lost her child to malaria because she could not afford transport to the hospital.
“This is the level of suffering Nigerians are enduring,” he lamented.
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