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ICYMI: Pendulum: How We Missed the Boat Since 2015

Published

8 years ago

June 4, 2018

Eric

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, as we count down to the next general elections in 2019, we should begin to take stock of what has gone wrong with the current government in the past three years. We must do this in the hope that a few issues can still be addressed, and that the lessons learnt can be put to good use after 2019, regardless of who wins the next Presidential election. It is certainly my prayer that a repeat of this monumental mess in which we have found ourselves would be avoided come the next government, whether it be President Buhari, or someone else, at the helm of affairs. There is no doubt, and certainly without any fear of contradiction, that the ‘Change’ government Nigerians brought to power in 2015 has not lived up to its much advertised billing, or come anywhere near the expectations and hopes pinned on it. Even the most fanatical supporters of the Buhari administration are struggling to defend its performance by merely explaining, and regurgitating, the same tales by the moonlight that we’ve been forced to hear endlessly, to the point of boredom. We have been constantly regaled with stories of how past governments, especially that of Dr Goodluck Jonathan messed things up, and how Nigeria would have collapsed, but for the merciful intervention of God and the benevolence of President Muhammadu Buhari. All well and good. This is not the time to argue with anyone over these lame and worn-out excuses. What is important is to note that the government could have done better, say so in plain language and urge them to move on in peace and in prosperity.

I was inspired to write this epistle today after watching a very re-assuring video a good friend sent to me yesterday. All the vengeful bloodsuckers in Nigeria should try and find it, as I hope it may help redirect us to the right course. The video was recorded in Nairobi, Kenya, during a very powerful and massive national prayer session which was hosted and led by President Uhuru Kenyatta. I could not believe what I saw in that video. Before I say a bit about its content, let me give a brief background to my little knowledge of Kenya.

My fascination for Kenya started over 40 years ago through my addiction to reading English Literature in school and, in particular, my incurable interest in the African Writers Series. Some of my favourite writers were of East African origin, such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Meja Mwamgi, Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Okot p’Bitek, David Rubadiri, and others. Rubadiri, a Malawian and Okot p’Bitek both lived in Nigeria for a while and taught me Literature-in-English at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Their influence and that of our Nigerian lecturers, such as Wole Soyinka, Oyin Ogunba, Kole Omotoso, Biodun Jeyifo, Ropo Sekoni, Adebayo Williams, Chidi Amuta, Funso Aiyejina, Wole Ogundele, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Wande Abimbola, Olasope Oyelaran, Akinwunmi Isola, Bade Ajuwon, and others aroused my absolute passion in both English and Yoruba Literature.

I read any work of Literature voraciously and Ngugi was one of my all-time favourite writers. His novel, Weep Not Child, I read repeatedly, to the extent that I knew many lines and could recite them from memory. Kenya became a country I craved to visit. I loved the story of the Mau Mau struggle, and the epic battle the founding fathers of Kenya had to fight. Two people stood out prominently, Jomo Kenyatta and Oginga Odinga. Incidentally, their offspring are in the vanguard of the creation of a new Kenya today. I fell in love with Kenyan teas, just by reading books. I discovered the importance Kenyans attached to cattle-rearing. Wealth was calculated by how many cows you owned. I read about the game reserves and every imaginable wildlife in Kenya. The climate was said to be extraordinary; Kenya has a climate similar to that of Europe. My best friend, Prince Adedamola Aderemi, spent his honeymoon in December 1986, after his wedding to Kemi Oyediran, in Nairobi, and he titillated us with the adventures they both enjoyed and savoured. I looked forward to visiting someday.

I have been to Kenya many times since then and, actually, fell in love with the place, more and more. The two things that worried me in recent times were terrorism and the volatility of their political contests. Nigeria seems to share the same proclivities with Kenya in this regard. However, Kenya has managed its terrorist challenges much better than Nigeria and now it has also succeeded in calming frayed nerves after pushing itself to the brink during the last Presidential election. Things were so tense and terrible that the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, swore himself in as a parallel leader. This is where I’m going. All President Kenyatta needed to do to set Kenya on fire was to arrest Raila and his bitter supporters, but Uhuru chose the path of peace and reconciliation and it has paid off so beautifully and handsomely. It has led to both men, particularly Uhuru, achieving the status of esteemed world statesmen. They held private meetings, signed an MOU and agreed to a ceasefire.

The icing on the cake was the National Prayer Breakfast with a mammoth congregation in attendance. What a great man Uhuru Kenyatta is! He invited his Vice President William Samoei arap Ruto to the stage. He then called on his arch-rival, Raila Odinga and another opposition figure, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (former Vice President of Kenya) to join them. The President then did the unexpected. He publicly apologised to Raila admitting that they had traded unnecessary insults against each other. Vice President, Ruto, soon followed with his own apology. Raila then gave a speech explaining how peace was attained, promising that never again should a Kenyan die because of elections and never a again should a Kenyan be denied electoral victory because of where he comes from. He also offered his apology to roaring applause and acclamation… There was something else Raila said that caught my attention, fancy and approval: “we shall fight corruption together…” He sincerely meant this and further demonstrated the spirit of national unity and togetherness that is lacking between government and opposition in most African countries. Nothing could be more sensible and practical.

My mind went straight to Buhari’s Nigeria, where three years after the last election, and less than one year to the next, we are yet to have a reprieve and settle down in peace and tranquillity. Political prisoners are still chained down and held incommunicado without trial. Tension has refused to go away because we have refused to seek love, cordiality and togetherness. We prefer the military bragadoccio of trying to bully everyone into submission. Our country is the biggest sufferer for it. Let’s break it down properly. The Buhari government would have secured and stabilised the economy if it had not come with his usual and customary jackboots approach. He would still have been able to tackle corruption through the carrot and stick approach. The ill-conceived and self-immolating rush to expose alleged criminals and retrieve looted funds only crippled the nation, because it was not based on principles of fair-play and justice but more of ego-trip and vengefulness. A bit of patience and careful understanding of the situation would have been more rewarding. Fear-mongering may arguably have worked under the military, but it is very complicated and doomed in a democratic setting. Every anti-corruption crusade since President Obasanjo has only produced one very strong man or woman, but no strong institution, the reason it has not gone very far. We forget that individuals live or die, but institutions are permanent! By personalising the anti-corruption crusade in the name of one person and suggesting that that person is the only saint alive, it is only a matter of time before we return to square one, whenever that person quits the stage.

In any case, once the war is patently and brazenly selective and oppressive, it will fail ultimately. No one in good conscience would say that only PDP stole money to fund elections of former President Jonathan. How did APC fund its own elections in which billions went on polling agents, campaign jamborees nationwide, private jets, adverts, billboards, media, and so on. Surely the funds did not come only from the private sector, but also from top government functionaries who opened their vaults to match PDP Naira for Naira for Naira and Dollar for Dollar. In such a situation, detaining one group and ignoring the other is tantamount not only to oppression, but also abuse of office. What should have been done was to trace as much of the loot as possible way back to previous generations of government, and recover as much as possible by moral suasion, hard negotiations, forceful compulsion and, criminalisation, if all else failed. This was the impression and re-assurance given by the APC during the course of its 2015 campaigns, namely that no one would be hounded or victimised, unless they chose that path. Out of 16 years of PDP misrule, attention was focused rigidly on the Jonathan era which spent five years before things fell apart. Before our very eyes, the same guys who remained in PDP throughout the 2015 elections sauntered across, in droves, to APC after the elections, and their sins were promptly forgiven without any redress or recompense being sought. This is rather unfair and grossly unfortunate.

As I read somewhere, anger often beclouds reasoning. This is our case. The government chose to pander to populism instead of reality and practicality. Despite the grandstanding, corruption is not about to abate or disappear from our climes unless one is living in fool’s paradise, or suffering from complete gullibilty. Every new government only recycles the same template and attacks its enemies ferociously, with the next government coming on a revenge mission and retaliating blatantly. We should be tired of this crude methodology by now. Efforts should be made to strengthen our institutions first. Nigerians would cooperate with government on all fronts when they are reassured that “all animals are equal, and some are not more equal than others.” There is also inherent danger in pitching the poor against the rich. What we are playing with is mayhem, anarchy and systemic failure. The bottled up anger and bitterness may explode into a snowball that will engulf the nation and no government may be able to contain it. Each time the government tries to blame others for it’s sluggishness in making appreciable progress, it can only heighten the combustive tension. A senior member of this government once told us, gleefully, in conversation that the reason Nigerians are crying is because Buhari has killed corruption and many rich people are now very poor and miserable. However, even if true, the job of government is to increase prosperity and not to kill it or make anyone miserable, whether friend or foe. What shall it profit a country that claims to fight corruption but kills businesses, with the same poor people it seeks to defend losing jobs and dying in different stages of dillapidation? For every rich man or big company that collapses, so many poor people will go down with them. Many, if not all, of the so-called advanced nations we all run to today were built with proceeds of fraud, corruption, illegality, and even the sweat of slavery, before they started building stronger institutions and changing negative mind-sets to positive ones. They understood that everything starts from need before it escalates to greed. But here we want to kill everything without replacing it with something tangible or commensurate. It can only increase the angst and anguish.

This was how we missed the boat when we wasted precious time assembling a government team only to start fighting on all fronts from the very first day. South Africa would have collapsed on the head and shoulders of Nelson Mandela if he had chosen the path of all-out war and confrontation against supporters of apartheid, looters and murderers and too many dangerous enemies of State. His greatness derived from resisting that temptation of wanting to exhibit his macho and mojo as a King Kong. By going for reconciliation, he saved his country and people from a cataclysmic fall and avoidable elongation of the trauma of violent segregation. I know most people in Nigeria are in the mood to draw blood because of our crazy corrupt past, but at what cost. Is it not insane to continue repeating the same system and expecting different results, when it is obvious we are in perpetual crisis because no civilian government can oppress and suppress without being confronted eventually? Healing does not come by amputation, nay death, but by salves and balms. The choice is ours.

May God help us know when to cool temper, lay down our arms, and live to fight another day.

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Opposition Parties Reject 2026 Electoral Act, Demand Fresh Amendment

Published

8 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Eric

Opposition political parties have rejected the 2026 Electoral Act recently passed by the National Assembly, which President Bola Tinubu swiftly signed into law.

The parties called on the National Assembly to immediately begin a fresh amendment process to remove what they described as “all obnoxious provisions” in the law.

Their position was made known at a press briefing themed “Urgent Call to Save Nigeria’s Democracy,” held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday.

In a communiqué read by the Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Ahmed Ajuji, the opposition leaders stated:

“We demand that the National Assembly immediately commence a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians.”

Some of the opposition leaders present in at the event include former Senate President David Mark; former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, all from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Ahmed Ajuji, and other prominent members of the NNPP, notably Buba Galadima, were also in attendance.

The coalition said the amended law, signed by Bola Tinubu, contains “anti-democratic” clauses, which they argue may weaken electoral transparency and public confidence in the voting system.

At the centre of the opposition’s concerns is the amendment to Section 60(3), which allows presiding officers to rely on manual transmission of election results where there is communication failure.

According to the coalition, the provision weakens the mandatory electronic transmission of results and could create loopholes for manipulation.

They argued that Nigeria’s electoral technology infrastructure is sufficient to support nationwide electronic transmission, citing previous assurances by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The parties also rejected the amendment to Section 84, which restricts political parties to direct primaries and consensus methods for candidate selection.

They described the change as an unconstitutional intrusion into the internal affairs of parties, insisting that indirect primaries remain a legitimate democratic option.

The opposition cited alleged irregularities in the recent Federal Capital Territory local government elections as evidence of what they described as a broader pattern of electoral compromise.

They characterised the polls as a “complete fraud” and said the outcome has deepened their lack of confidence in the ability of the electoral system to deliver credible elections in 2027.

The coalition also condemned reported attacks on leaders of the African Democratic Congress in Edo State, describing the incidents as a serious threat to democratic participation and political tolerance.

They warned that increasing violence against opposition figures could destabilise the political environment if not urgently addressed.

In their joint statement, the opposition parties pledged to pursue “every constitutional means” to challenge the Electoral Act 2026 and safeguard voters’ rights.

“We will not be intimidated,” the leaders said, urging civil society organisations and citizens to support efforts aimed at protecting Nigeria’s democratic system.

On February 18, 2026, President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act (Amendment) 2026 into law following its passage by the National Assembly. The Act introduced several reforms, including statutory recognition of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and revised election timelines.

However, opposition figures such as Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have also called for further amendments, particularly over the manual transmission fallback clause, which critics say leaves room for manipulation.

The president said the law will strengthen democracy and prevent voter disenfranchisement.

Tinubu defended manual collation of results, questioned Nigeria’s readiness for full real-time electronic transmission, and warned against technical glitches and hacking.

The Electoral Act sparked intense debate in the National Assembly over how election results should be transmitted ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Civil society groups under the “Occupy NASS” campaign demanded real-time transmission to curb manipulation.

In the Senate, lawmakers clashed during consideration of Clause 60, which allows manual transmission of results if electronic transmission fails.

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South) demanded a formal vote to remove the proviso permitting manual transmission, arguing against weakening real-time electronic reporting.

The move led to a heated exchange on the floor, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio initially suggesting the demand had been withdrawn.

After procedural disputes and a brief confrontation among senators, a division was conducted. Fifteen opposition senators voted against retaining the manual transmission proviso, while 55 supported it, allowing the clause to stand.

Earlier proceedings had briefly stalled during clause-by-clause review, prompting consultations and a closed-door session.

In the House of Representatives, a similar disagreement came up over a motion to rescind an earlier decision that mandated compulsory real-time electronic transmission of results to IReV.

Although the “nays” were louder during a voice vote, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas ruled in favour of rescinding the decision, triggering protests and an executive session.

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AFP: How Tinubu’s Govt Paid Boko Haram ‘Huge’ Ransom, Released Two Terrorists for Kidnapped Saint Mary’s Pupils

Published

3 days ago

February 24, 2026

Eric

The Nigerian government paid Boko Haram militants a “huge” ransom of millions of dollars to free up to 230 children and staff the jihadists abducted from a Catholic school in November, an AFP investigation revealed Monday.

Two Boko Haram commanders were also freed as part of the deal, which goes against the country’s own law banning payments to kidnappers. The money was delivered by helicopter to Boko Haram’s Gwoza stronghold in northeastern Borno state on the border with Cameroon, intelligence sources told AFP.

The decision to pay the militants is likely to irritate US President Donald Trump, who ordered air strikes on jihadists in northern Nigeria on Christmas Day and has been sent military trainers to help support Nigerian forces.

Nigerian government officials deny any ransom was paid to the armed gang that snatched close to 300 schoolchildren and staff from St. Mary’s boarding school in Papiri in central Niger state on November 21. At least 50 later managed to escape their captors.

Boko Haram has not been previously linked to the kidnapping, but sources told AFP one of its most feared commanders was behind the mass abduction: the notorious jihadist known as Sadiku.

He infamously held up a train from the capital in 2022 and netted hefty ransoms for the release of government officials and other well-off passengers.

Boko Haram, which has waged a bloody insurgency since 2009, is strongest in northeast Nigeria.

But a cell in central Niger state operates under Sadiku’s leadership. The St. Mary’s pupils and staff were freed after two weeks of negotiations led by Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, with the government insisting no ransom was paid. Nigeria’s State Security Service flatly denied paying any money, saying “government agents don’t pay ransoms”.

However, four intelligence sources familiar with the talks told AFP the government paid a “huge” ransom to get the pupils back. One source put it at 40 million naira per head – around $7 million in total.

Another put the figure lower at two billion naira overall. The money was delivered by chopper to Ali Ngulde, a Boko Haram commander in the northeast, three sources told AFP.

Due to the lack of communications cover in the remote area, Ngulde had to cross into Cameroon to confirm delivery of the ransom before the first group of 100 children were released.

Nigeria has long been plagued by mass abductions, with criminals and jihadist groups sometimes working together to extort millions from hostages’ families, and authorities seemingly powerless to stop them.

Source: Africanews

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Unlawful Invasion: El-Rufai Drags ICPC, IGP, Others to Court, Demands N1bn Damages

Published

3 days ago

February 23, 2026

Eric

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has slammed a ₦1 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for what he claimed was an unlawful invasion of his Abuja residence.

El-Rufai, in a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, also listed the Chief Magistrate, Magistrate’s Court of the FCT, Abuja Magisterial District; Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as 2nd to 4th respondents respectively.

According to the suit filed through his lawyers, led by Oluwole Iyamu, El-Rufai prayed the court to declare that the search warrant issued on February 4 by the Chief Magistrate, Magistrate’s Court of the FCT (2nd respondent), authorising the search and seizure at his residence as invalid, null and void.

Security operatives had stormed and searched the former Governor’s residence in the ongoing investigations against him.

However, he argued in the case marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/345/2026, that the search was in violation of Section 37 of the Constitution, and urged the court to declare that the search warrant was “null and void for lack of particularity, material drafting errors, ambiguity in execution parameters, overbreadth, and absence of probable cause thereby constituting an unlawful and unreasonable search.”

In the suit dated and filed February 20 by Iyamu, ex-governor, who is currently under detention, sought seven reliefs.

He prayed the court to declare that the invasion and search of his residence at House 12, Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja, on Feb. 19 at about 2pm and executed by agents of ICPC and I-G, “under the aforesaid invalid warrant, amounts to a gross violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, and privacy under Sections 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution.”

He urged the court to declare that “any evidence obtained pursuant to the aforesaid invalid warrant and unlawful search is inadmissible in any proceedings against the applicant, as it was procured in breach of constitutional safeguards.”

El-Rufai, therefore, sought an order of injunction restraining the respondents and their agents from further relying on, using, or tendering any evidence or items seized during the unlawful search in any investigation, prosecution, or proceedings involving him.

“An order directing the Ist and 3rd respondents (ICPC and I-G) to forthwith return all items seized from the applicant’s premises during the unlawful search, together with a detailed inventory thereof.

“An order awarding the sum of N1,000,000,000.00 (One Billion Naira) as general, exemplary, and aggravated damages against the respondents jointly and severally for the violations of the applicant’s fundamental rights, including trespass, unlawful seizure, and the resultant psychological trauma, humiliation, distress, infringement of privacy, and reputational harm.”

The breakdown of the ₦1 billion in damages includes “a N300 million as compensatory damages for psychological trauma, emotional distress, and loss of personal security;

“A ₦400 million as exemplary damages to deter future misconduct by law enforcement agencies and vindicate the applicant’s rights.

“A ₦300 million as aggravated damages for the malicious, high-handed and oppressive nature of the respondents’ actions, including the use of a patently defective warrant procured through misleading representations.”

He equally sought ₦100 million as the cost of filing the suit, including legal fees and associated expenses.

Iyamu argued that the search warrant was fundamentally defective, lacking specificity in the description of items to be seized, containing material typographical errors, ambiguous execution terms, overbroad directives, and no verifiable probable cause.

He added that the warrant violated Sections 143-148 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015; Section 36 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) Act, 2000, and constitutional protections against arbitrary intrusions and several other constitutional provisions.

“Section 146 stipulates that the warrant must be in the prescribed form, free from defects that could mislead, but the document is riddled with errors in the address, date, and district designation;

“Section 147 allows direction to specified persons, but the warrant’s indiscriminate addressing to “all officers is overbroad and unaccountable.

“Section 148 permits execution at reasonable times, but the contradictory language creates ambiguity, undermining procedural clarity,” he submitted.

Iyamu stated that the execution of the invalid warrant on Feb. 19 resulted in an unlawful invasion of his client’s premises, constituting violations of the rights to dignity (Section 34), personal liberty (Section 35), fair hearing (Section 36), and privacy (Section 37) of the Constitution.

He further argued that the search was conducted without legal justification and in a manner that inflicted humiliation and distress.

“Evidence obtained without a valid warrant is unlawful and inadmissible, as established in judicial precedents such as C.O.P. v. Omoh (1969) NCLR 137, where the court ruled that evidence procured through improper means contravenes fundamental rights and must be excluded,” he said.

In the affidavit in support of the application, Mohammed Shaba, a Principal Secretary to the former governor, averred that on Feb. 19 at about 2p.m., officers from the ICPC and Nigeria Police Force invaded the residence under a purported search warrant issued on or about Feb. 4.

According to him, the said warrant is invalid due to its lack of specificity, errors, and other defects as outlined in the grounds of this application.

He said the “search warrant did not specify the properties or items being searched for.”

Shaba stated that the officers failed to submit themselves for search as provided by the law before proceeding with the search.

“That the Magistrate did not specify the magisterial district wherein he sits.

“That during the invasion, the officers searched the applicant’s premises without lawful authority, seized personal items including documents and electronic devices, and caused the applicant undue humiliation, psychological trauma, and distress.

“Now shown to me and marked as ‘EXHIBIT B’ Is the list of the items carted away.

“That no items seized have been returned, and the respondents continue to rely on the unlawful evidence.

“That the applicant suffered violations of his constitutional rights as a result, and this application is brought in good faith to enforce same,” Shaba said.

Source: Naijanews.com