CHUKS OLUIGBO 
Professor Pat Utomi
The iconic television talk show that redefined public discourse in Nigeria, Patito’s Gang, is staging a comeback to re-ignite crucial conversations about governance and national development.
The programme, which is returning after a three-year hiatus, will broadcast on the CVL YouTube channel and the official patutomi.com, as well as on TV Noir in the United States, a network that reaches nearly 30 million Black households globally, and several prominent Nigerian outlets beginning 1 July 2026.
The Birth and Scope of Patito’s Gang
Created by renowned political economist, scholar and public intellectual, Professor Pat Utomi, Patito’s Gang first began production and broadcasting in 2000 seeking to create a platform for robust public debate in the wake of Nigeria’s transition from military dictatorship to democratic rule.
In a series of posts on his X account on 6 June 2026, Utomi said Patito’s Gang was inspired by the need to reinvent the public sphere in the classical sense described by German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, where democracy and modernity intersect through rational public conversation and a vibrant marketplace of ideas.
While it aired, Patito’s Gang was an influential platform for holding power accountable and championing the values of integrity and progress without fear or favour.
Over the years, it featured prominent Nigerians from both the public and private sectors. These included Nasir el-Rufai, Oby Ezekwesili, the late Pini Jason, John Momoh, Charity Shekari, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, Bilkisu Magoro, Remi Oyo, Reuben Abati, Frank Aigbogun, and MM. Ibrahim.
Beyond holding power to account, the intellectual bent of the programme also reshaped mindsets. According to Utomi, he encountered Nigerians in cities across the world, from Melbourne to London, Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, Paris and Kuala Lumpur, who told him the programme had shaped their thinking and worldview.
Patito’s Gang initially had a 90-minute magazine format that tried for transgenerational impact, Utomi said. It began with five segments, including a senior panel moderated by Utomi, a junior gang hosted by Ubong Essien, a youth parliament guided by Austin Nweze, and Bullseye, a segment that engaged top policymakers on national issues. It later contracted to 60 minutes before finally shrinking to a 30-minute show.
The programme faced pressure from commercial and political interests but maintained its commitment to quality discourse and intellectual independence, he said.
What Lies Ahead
Utomi said the first episode of the comeback show would serve as “an ode to Patito’s Gang” while revisiting the issues that originally inspired its creation.
Vanguard reports a statement from Vivante Media, producers of the talk show, saying the presentation approach for the show would change slightly. Instead of a moderator/anchor, roles played for many years by Pat Utomi, Reuben Abati and Eugene Ohu, at different times, an anchor/presenter, Ms. Fumbi Ogunbanwo, would introduce the day’s topic before the Gang comes on.
The report said issues slated for the coming weeks include “Quo Vadis on the Nigerian Economy”; “Restructuring Nigeria”, and “Corruption in Nigeria”.
The producers also promised that resumes of the best of Patito’s Gang would be offered through web TV on YouTube channel Patitosgang tv.
And Something New
Alongside Patito’s Gang will be a new weekly series, Profiles in Enterprise: From Apprentice to Tycoon, a compelling new show, according to Chido Nwakanma, that shines a long-overdue spotlight on the well-celebrated Igbo apprenticeship system, “Igba boi”, telling the extraordinary stories of self-made billionaires—in their own words and from their own lips.
The programme will be co-hosted by US-based Professor of Business, Emmanuel Emenyonu, and Pat Utomi.
“The series pulls back the curtain on the remarkable journeys of industrialists such as Cletus Ibeto, Cosmas Maduka, Chike ‘Chikason’ Okafor, and Poly Emenike,” Nwakanma said in a LinkedIn post.
He added that viewers would gain rare, intimate access to the grit, ambition, and wisdom that transformed these apprentices into titans of industry.
Final Word
With Patito’s Gang returning to millions of viewers across the world, Utomi expressed the hope that the platform could once again contribute to rebuilding a culture of reasoned debate, civic engagement and national renewal.
For a programme known for holding power to account throughout the years that it aired, the expectation is that this second coming of Patito’s Gang would not lower the bar. Compared to the 2000s, Nigeria has moved from bad to worse. With widespread insecurity ravaging the land, wrong-headed economic policies throwing millions of citizens into poverty, official profligacy showing no signs of slowing, and desperate politicians seeking to perpetuate themselves in power despite conspicuous failure, accountability has never been more important.
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