The killing of about 200 people on the Plateau on Christmas Eve has once again highlighted how helpless Nigerians have become in the face of the nation’s rising and intensifying terrorism. A national newspaper captured the tragedy thus: “Of the number, 148 were killed in Bokkos Local Government Area, 19 in Mangu Local Government Area, and 27 in Barkin Ladi. 1,290 houses were burnt down in Bokkos council, one house was razed in Mangu LGA and that of Barkin Ladi was yet to be ascertained at press time.” Nigerians need to start demanding more seriously the measures required to protect…
Author: Law Mefor
When one read the statement from the so-called Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, demanding Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, to step down due to his purported incapacity to address security concerns in the state, one was taken aback. The call was ostensibly in response to Thursday night’s vicious attack in the state that claimed the lives of two police officers. May their souls rest in peace. Unidentified gunmen had ambushed Chief Chris Uba’s vehicle, a prominent figure in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Two of his security personnel were killed in the attack, and the…
Notwithstanding the atrocities it has brought to the African nations where the military had ruled, there is still a tacit push in the West African sub-region for the return of military dictatorship. In the last couple of years, seven African countries have witnessed full military takeover, mostly in West Africa. A counter-coordinated movement is needed to upend those who are pushing for the return of military dictatorships to West Africa and to defend, uphold, and strengthen democracy in the sub-region. The countries of West Africa cannot afford to go back to the abhorrent past that the various military regimes brought…
Nigeria has a natural role to play in stabilising West Africa, deepening democracy in the sub-region, and keeping military coups and coupists at bay. Being a medium power, Nigeria has the obligation of guiding West Africa by maintaining democracy, peace, and stability throughout the sub region. It is crucial to examine some of the strong arguments against military coups in West Africa before discussing Nigeria’s position in the region’s democracy and stability. In addition to being autocratic, military regulations subject its subjects to inhumane treatment. Approximately seven democratically led African nations -Mali, Chad, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Niger…
Death is never an easy visitor to accept, and Okwadike’s passing—whom I have known closely since 2001—is certainly not one of those occasions. It all began with the first annual lecture organised by the Oganiru Friends, a group of young Igbo professionals. The theme was: “Reawakening the Igbo Nation in the Nigerian Federation”. His Excellency Okwadike Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra state and then President’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, gave that momentous lecture. A great deal of us only had a passing acquaintance with him from his time as the governor of Anambra state. From a distance, we…
Abuja Daredevil Armed Robbers and I (My survival story) The previous night I had a puzzling dream. My phone slipped out of my grasp and shattered to smithereens. I observed pieces of the phone that I had no idea existed strewn all around me, indicating that the damage was beyond repair. I awoke with a start; realising it was a bad omen and saying a quick prayer to stave off what might be approaching catastrophe. And now this, the day after. I recently wrote about how cabbing systems can be useful in combating One Chance robbers who are on the…
For a while now, the South East has been in terrible shape. The area that was the safest and most tranquil in the nation around two years ago is now plagued with insecurity. A large portion of the blame can be attributed to the void left by the almost total absence of patriotic and selfless political leadership. Their political leaders haven’t done enough to stand up for the people of the Southeast; instead, they have taken advantage of them to establish themselves. That’s how the zone descended into anarchic and violent youth unrest that eventually took the form of what…
A young lawyer colleague of mine at The Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts (TAS) called me in despair a few days ago during the night. In a One-Chance robbery, his sister had been taken hostage. I called up two top contacts in the police to pass the concern. One answered. Luckily, the young lady who had been robbed survived the ordeal of being thrown from the criminals’ fast-moving car. She spent days in the intensive care unit, unable to speak from shock following the near-death encounter. Some persons have died in similar experiences here in Abuja. A typical…
The plunder of the nation’s treasury by the late General Sani Abacha, who passed away on June 8, 1998, leaves a great deal of unresolved issues. After taking over in 1993, Nigerian military leader and politician Sani Abacha governed as the country’s military head of state until his passing in 1998. By the way, the last successful coup d’état in Nigerian military history occurred with Abacha’s takeover of power. Abacha has been satirically compared by some Nigerians to a kind-hearted ancestor who has been donating money to his native country ever since he passed away. It is significant to remember,…
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the principal opposition party, should have had the simplest time winning the Nigerian presidential election in 2023. Muhammadu Buhari’s unprecedentedly bad and divisive leadership served as a powerful campaign against the All Progressives Congress, APC. To effortlessly retake control of the centre, the PDP only needed to present a unified front and a singleness of purpose. Yet, since Uche Secondus’s tenure as national chairman, PDP has lacked direction and influence and has swayed like a ship without a rudder. Secondus’ successor, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, turned out to be an even worse disaster. Ayu’s incompetent handling…
On the surface, the piece “Palestine & Israel – Igbo & Yoruba” published 9th October, 2023 by one Adedamola Adetayo is one of those rants that do not deserve refutation. However, some lies, if left to fester, could mislead many people. This is especially true when you consider that Adetayo’s profanity against Ndigbo is not his first. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Among psychologists, something like this is known as the “illusion of truth” effect. One can find at least three more articles…
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, an Islamic scholar residing in Kaduna, has claimed that Christians cannot be trusted with the nation’s security. This was said by the divisive cleric in a sermon that lasted more than 14 minutes and was posted on his official Facebook page. In the same vein, the cleric yelled profanities at Chinwo Nyesom Wike and demanded that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu oust him as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, accusing him of courting the State of Israel. The same Gumi visited terrorists and bandits in the forests and pressed the federal government to grant them amnesty. By…
Some have claimed that Senator Ishaku Elisha Abbo, who served as the senator representing Adamawa North, is frequently grabbing the headlines for the wrong reasons. The maverick lawmaker gained notoriety after publicly assaulting a salesgirl in an Abuja sex toy store about four years ago. This time, he claimed that Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio was responsible for orchestrating his expulsion from the Senate. He further claimed five other senators, including the former Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu, are targeted to suffer the same fate. Although Senator Abbo apologised to Godswill Akpabio, the President of the Senate, for his…
The first time I visited Israel was in 1994 on a Christian pilgrimage. It served as a spiritual homecoming for my visiting group. To prove that the Bible is authentic and alive today, rather than just being historical or speculative, we visited the sites of worship listed in it. Our faith was strengthened by the amazing event. An obvious sore thumb was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Different historical places were hosted by the Israeli government and Palestine. Judea, for instance, the region where John the Baptist was born, was administered by Palestine. The Palestinians also controlled Bethlehem, the location of Jesus’…
At the risk of sounding harsh, Africans’ main problem is the lack of civilisation. They choose to remain rooted in the most primitive stages of human development rather than progress and embrace modernity. This came into play once more with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association’s rejection of the Minister of Abuja’s directive that livestock herding be restricted to the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory. Given his antecedents, many anticipated a rebirth of Abuja when Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, arrived as minister of FCT. The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) hired the International Planning…
It is not that hard to hold elections that are free, fair, and transparent; elections that will yield acceptable results that are of world standards, if the relevant statutory bodies sincerely determine to do so. These two organizations—the Nigeria Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission—can make this happen. Others can play only ancillary roles. Unfortunately, despite their claims that they are carrying out their legal obligations to the best of their abilities, indeed, the two don’t always adhere to the law strictly to ensure free and fair elections. The best results for the gubernatorial elections in Imo, Kogi, and…
The Chicago State University (CSU) registrar’s deposition raised some interesting points that merit further interrogation. He gave the impression that he was purposefully omitting some information. Even if CSU is a phony institution, as the registrar’s deposition suggested, the United States of America (USA) is the host nation. The educational institutions in that wonderful country cannot engage in curious practices. Even in so-called third-world nations, it is unheard of for a student’s gender or admittance requirements to be a point of contention in a university. For instance, a university applicant in Nigeria must have completed at least five credits in…
With the release of his academic records by Chicago State University (CSU), the identity crisis that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has created for nearly three decades since he started his journey in public life and aspiring for political office is mercifully coming to an end. The papers that have been seen so far don’t look good. The educational records are indeed replete with very unpleasant information, as predicted by his lawyers in their appeal against the release of the documents. The September 6 order requiring the handover of his academic records to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was delayed for a…
The 2019 governorship election in Imo state will go down in electoral history as a watershed. The Supreme Court of the country received scorn when it declared Hope Uzodinma as the winner of that gubernatorial election from the fourth position and is currently the governor of Imo state based on that curious judgement. Even the Supreme Court itself does not take pride in that repulsive ruling, which has haunted it for so long that it is no longer regarded as a legal precedent. The Uzodinma saga wasn’t entirely the making of the Supreme Court. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),…
Grave errors of judgment often occur by default, and so is the appointment of retired military officers to the role of Administrator/ Chief Executive of the Federal Government Amnesty Programme. There is a reason products of the military institution have registered underwhelming performance in sustainable transformational, socioeconomic development that reaches the grassroots of the Niger Delta Region. The factors are rooted in distrust arising from the history of conflict in the Niger Delta region and the role of the military in containing it. This phenomenon must be properly evaluated given the growing demands to restructure the region’s economy in line…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legal team has been putting up a valiant fight to keep him from disclosing his true status and identity at Chicago State University (CSU). People are typically proud to show off their diplomas and degrees as evidence of their academic accomplishments. However, in this case, the president and his legal advisors feel that his academic achievements are his own and should not be made accessible for public assessment. But by making his CSU degree his only academic qualification to run for president, he willingly waived this privilege. For starters, INEC required that candidates for president submit…
The authors of the iconic book “Why Nations Fail,” Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, stated that it is the parasitic political and economic classes that are the primary cause of why nations fail. What counts to them is what they get out of the system, not what they put into it. Nigeria has not only the worst breeds of them but has also added to the mixt ethnic jingoism. Nigeria has fallen into the abyss. History frequently repeats itself. Muhammadu Buhari, who left Nigeria like a lawless state, presided over some of the worst periods for the country. It may…
The Igbo term for apprenticeship is ‘Igba Boi.’ It involves learning a trade or craft under someone who is already well-established in the field and is now a master in his own right aka ‘Oga’ in local parlance. Though Igbo apprenticeship had been around for a while before the Biafra war, its significance resonated in addressing the Igbo people’s debilitating poverty resulting from the war. The war brought hunger and sickness that ravaged the whole Igbo world, and those who had been prosperous before the war had all fallen into poverty. Men who survived had to start from scratch. The…
Leadership determines whether a family, society, or country succeeds or fails. Indeed, everything rises and falls on leadership. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidency heralds the rise of a new era in Nigeria and unless this changes at the Supreme Court and even before then, the South-East has to reposition itself to make the best of it. With the ongoing realignments, geopolitics has become more important than ever, although the South-East has so far had the least of its impact. States in a federation with a presidential system of government plan how to develop and remain important to the polity from…
The 2023 General Election will go down in history as the most significant opportunity lost in the country’s electoral history. Going by the presidential tribunal judgement, the general election is just another disturbing illustration of the tactics utilised by the cabal in Nigeria that has been in control of the country’s state power for decades. The fact is: this general election has the best preparations. All of the money was generously and on time released. The Electoral Act 2022, which Muhammadu Buhari kindly signed into law as president, also provided the legal framework and essential missing piece, namely electronic components…
For more than a decade, Professor Udenta O. Udenta and I have walked closely together. This September, he will turn 60 and enter the sixth floor of life. So, I thought it was appropriate to look back on his extraordinary life and great intellectual outputs and contributions as a creative mind and political thinker. Udenta is a well-known, bright, and erudite public intellectual whose written works and other social and cultural contributions are appreciated not just by academic audiences and readers but also by society at large. He is indeed a consummate and profound intellectual of uncommon hue. Udenta has…
Given his antecedents and personality, strategic thinkers would wish Nyesom Wike to be deployed to the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Works, or Ministry of Power. As pillars of the country’s economy, these ministries and some others require special attention. Insecurity is the main cause of the nation’s devastated economy. Food insecurity and instability of the polity are caused by herdsmen, bandits, and terrorist activities; despite investing trillions of naira since 1999, when civil rule was reinstated, Nigeria has not been able to consistently generate, transmit, and distribute 5,000 megawatts of electricity; and Nigeria’s lack of infrastructure has also reached…
It is political and self-incriminating to destroy billboards for reading “All eyes on the judiciary.” This is a message of patriotism dressed up for the general good, which all honourable people should identify with. Therefore, it is shocking that top officials of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCO) have been suspended and their unit disbanded following the “All eyes on the judiciary” billboards that surfaced in Abuja and a few other states. The statement is targeted at no one and solely calls on the judiciary to exercise caution and extreme diligence in carrying out its duties because the issues…
A Memo To Southeast Governors, Leaders On Security And Regional Development Perhaps for the first time since the country’s return to democracy in 1999, the meeting of the South-East Governors’ Forum recorded full attendance of the 5 governors of the zone. In the past, governors would typically send their deputies and infrequently attended the zonal meetings in person probably because they believed the forum to be of little importance. The forum’s meetings were consequently infrequent. The current crop of governors appears to view the forum as essential to effectively addressing security, regional development, and integration. This is a positive development…
The backlash over the $19.4 reported as professional legal fee in Seplat Energy’s half-year result presents us as a people in the cast of the French Bourbons of whom the French statesman and foremost diplomat, Charles-Maurice de Telleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento, said they learnt nothing and forgot nothing. We not only repeat the same mistake, but also fail to heed warnings. At page 42 of the document, Seplat reports: “General and Administrative (G&A) expenses amounted to $65.8million, 42.0% higher than $46.4million incurred in 6M (H1) of 2022. This increase in G & A cost was mainly due to professional…
