Category: Idowu Akinlotan

Critics, commentators and other likeminded opponents of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory are determined to get him to apologise for defeating the fragmented Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential poll. They will not get an apology, whether the call is made by the presumptuous and hysterical Datti Baba-Ahmed inviting a military takeover or the amorphous Free Nigeria Movement seducing the military at the Defence ministry in Abuja into rebellion. Clearly, they will also not relent in opposing and excoriating him for winning. While the votes were being tallied shortly after the poll, opponents of the victory had begun to call for the abortion of the count, and had also hinted at the need for a re-run. After the winner was announced, they became even more hysterical, with the PDP sinking into gloom and the implausible Labour Party (LP) audaciously posing as the sole offended party in the four-horse presidential race. It became clear that Asiwaju Tinubu, through no fault of his except living out his dream the best way he deemed fit, had animated their rage.

When the restless ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo called for the abortion of the poll tally midway, the only ex-president to feign defense of the country’s electoral sanctity and honour, it was obvious he was only doing the bidding of the LP whose candidate he had heedlessly endorsed. No other former president attempted to dam the river midstream with unsubstantiated allegations of poll fiddling. They sensibly preferred to wait until the electoral body had completed its assignment. It is perhaps possible they also had their private interests in the polls, and had covertly supported or endorsed a candidate or two, perhaps in the process also hedging their bets with their customary display of conspiracy and caution, but they were too smart to rush headlong into the quicksand Chief Obasanjo now seems fated to be trapped in. It is also significant that there was no former president who openly endorsed Asiwaju Tinubu. Even now, after the poll has been won and lost, they are too mired in caution to stand up boldly and defiantly for democracy and the rule of law.

Clearly, the president-elect is not just confronting opponents dismayed by and angry with the emphatic manner they were worsted in the February votes, he must also contend with a Camorra of ex-presidents and heads of state accustomed to enthroning their ‘boys’ in office. To elect into office for the first time a man who has a mind of his own, and who will not grovel before any power or principality, is too loathsome a prospect for the former strongmen to contemplate. Some of them may yet be persuaded to see reason and accept the February electoral outcome as a fait accompli, but Chief Obasanjo will keep up his futile opposition to his last day. It is in fact likely that the defiant ex-president will remain the backbone of the defeated candidates, instigating them into subverting the constitution and breathing rebellion against both the country and an election that will not be redone now or in the future. Even though the LP has tried to walk back its campaign for interim government, the party’s candidate and running mate have railed against the outcome of an election they stood no chance of winning despite being the first to divide the country so malevolently along religious and ethnic lines.

Contrary to their claims that they never called for an interim government, both the PDP and LP, not to mention their army of social media rebels, had begun asking for the cancellation of the elections even before they pooled their evidence before the courts. Yes, they spoke daggers and used them, and have also indicated they have no faith in the courts. They know quite well that neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor the National Assembly could annul the polls or install an interim government; but they have persisted in covertly sponsoring street protests which, according to the secret service, are unconstitutional measures designed to procure a state of emergency. What else could the protests be designed to achieve anyway? Weeks after the presidential poll, and especially in view of the continuing resistance to the APC victory, talk of interim government became rife. With the Department of State Service (DSS) coming out more forcefully though belatedly to announce that they were monitoring the conspiracy, the plotters may become more restrained in their actions, and perhaps less audacious. But they will not stop until inauguration day. Their anger is not just that they lost the poll or that their reputations were injured or torn to shreds; their problem is Asiwaju Tinubu himself, a man who continues to wrong-foot them and against whom they have raked muck with little or no effect.

Anyone spiritual and introspective enough will know from a cursory reading of political events in Nigeria in the last one year or two that the interim boondoggle being advocated by the opposition will fail disastrously. If almost the entire APC deployed their arsenal against Aiwaju Tinubu, including his latter-day friends who were in earlier years unalterably opposed to him, but could neither destroy him nor dissuade him from contesting, and if the PDP and LP refused to train their guns on each other but formed a double entente against him, and still could not unhorse him, there must be something much more transcendental about him and his ambition than conforms to logical explanation. Even social and traditional media loathed him, and columnists and critics and commentators held nothing back in lampooning him, his age, genealogy, education, foibles, court cases, and businesses, not to say his implacable hold on Lagos. Everything anyone could deploy, whether physical or spiritual, was hurled at him. Churches railed against him, and the few who supported him were derided and denigrated as feeding fat at his expense. Incredibly, after his victory, traditional and social media campaigns were mounted to persuade the world press and foreign governments to destroy him and deny him recognition. But everything failed.

The main reason everything failed is not because the president-elect is such a virtuoso strategist, the mythical famous last man standing. It is not because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, or because he was born in a palace. It is not because he is rich or subtle, nor because he was adept at currying favour or subverting the love of many with his wealth. It is not even because he had built a pan-Nigerian coalition, an enterprise he had been dedicated to for decades, nor because he had established a network of friends across the length and breadth of the country. It is not because he is intelligent or scholarly, or that he is more conversant than his jaded and infantile opponents in the last race with how a modern economy works. Yes, he has many of these attributes to varying degrees: he is indeed a strategist, and, cultivated far above the circumstances of his birth, he has become a smart, gregarious, courageous, secular and determined politician capable of constantly disarming his enemies and entrancing his friends with his unquenchable joie de vivre. As an analyst and keen observer of the political scene, this column had often wondered why he had such a little dose of malice than the normal or than is practical, and a huge dose of patience than is real. Finally, the answer came in an epiphanic moment: forces higher than Nigeria or anyone – church, cleric or politician – must be at work.

Everything humanly possible had been done to undermine Asiwaju Tinubu. Nothing worked. However, nothing suggests that everyone will reconcile with that fact, not Chief Obasanjo who was a notable and unconscionable participant in the 1993 annulment saga, nor LP’s Peter Obi who is more dissembling and less reflective than PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, nor NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso who has made inaudible gasps at INEC’s ability and neutrality. Having thus scaled all the obstacles erected along his path, the president-elect, a veteran of many pro-democracy struggles at a time his February 25 opponents were in bed with dictatorship unrestrained by any democratic or constitutional scruple, will not be denied this time. Forces higher than he are dedicated to helping him overcome this last obstacle. Too bad if many religious leaders, essayists, critics, legal titans and impressionable and devious social media and ethnic influencers are too blinded by rage and malice to see the future to come. President Buhari recognises this fact and, despite the street protests and campaigns and loud denunciations on television instigated by anti-democratic forces, has insisted he will hand over the reins of power in May. He will keep his word because he can do no other. And Asiwaju Tinubu will meet his destiny, despite his imperfections. It is beyond him; it is beyond President Buhari; and whether they like it or not, it is also beyond those plotting annulment, interim government or anarchy or war. Great things are afoot in Nigeria, and the battle for the soul of the country has raged in the spiritual realm. The battle is of course already decided, but the conspiring men and women, pawns in this eternally shifting and supernatural chessboard, are not even aware of the infamous roles fate has assigned them or of the bloodshed they seem to be advocating with the ignoble casuistry of their petty trading businesses. No historian worth his certificate, and no spiritual leader worth his anointing, will fail to see what is coming.   

PDP, LP intimidating judiciary and country

Labour Party (LP) supporters, sometimes derisively called Obidients, have assumed a fierce and uncompromising disposition towards the outcome of the last presidential poll. Their battle cry is that there will be no swearing in of the president-elect. They must be gods. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, running mate to Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate, imperiously warned President Muhammadu Buhari on Channels Television against swearing in the winner of the poll, hinting darkly and apocalyptically that it could presage military intervention. And when LP protesters also stormed the Defence ministry to coax soldiers to their side in the political stalemate they biliously contrived, no one was left in doubt what the agenda of the defeated LP candidates are. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders, not to forget, are also snarling on the sidelines. Both parties are not satisfied with the constitutional provisions guiding electoral dispute; they want more forceful action, an uprising to bring the country to its knees because they are fanatically convinced they won the presidential poll.

Nothing will free them from their grand illusion, not even the impressive performance they recorded in some traditional All Progressives Congress (APC) strongholds, and certainly not the constitution which they treat with utter disdain. Riding on the crest of the unbridled fanaticism of their supporters, some of whom have threatened war, and on the shadowy endorsements they have received from some national leaders, including at least one former president, they are desperate to instigate mass revolt to achieve their purpose. The loquacious Datti Baba-Ahmed said on air that the LP had no faith in the courts; in other words, his party wants an insurrection, whether from the civilian population or, going by their hints, from the military. Predictably, LP leaders want their electoral gains to be sustained, and their losses to be trashed. LP followers have, therefore, been primed for apocalypse.

The LP has not left the intimidation only to irrational social media propaganda which they are carrying out with the reckless and unchecked fury of terrorists, they have also sent poignant and intimidatory threats to the courts, arrogantly warning the judiciary that only decisions that uphold their pleas and prayers would be acceptable. They have pilloried Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola, insulted him over the dinner he attended in Port Harcourt, and insinuated he was already secretly meeting with the president-elect in London. A former Nigerian Bar Association chairman, Olisa Agbakoba, was also quoted at a book launch as saying that eminent justices were fond of giving ‘silly judgements’. All this is to put pressure on the courts to deliver popular judgements that will sooth the weird taste of the few but immensely vocal social media warriors let loose upon the country. The LP of course didn’t do what it should have done to win the poll, nor did the PDP, but they are both determined to appropriate that election nonetheless by all means necessary. The fanaticism of LP supporters, much more exaggerated than the PDP’s, has gradually eroded the judgement of the LP standard-bearers, and turned them into fierce and truculent opponents of democracy.

If the pressure being brought upon the courts and justices is left unchecked, there is no certainty that the gentle justices would not wilt. A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court, for instance, took the unprecedented and inadvisable step of engaging in verbal jousting with critics of the CJN. The court thereby sadly signaled that it was not inured to adversarial public opinion which the dynamics of the justice system enjoined them to take with a shrug. Having sensed that chink in the judicial armour, LP warriors and their shadowy supporters in and outside the corridors of power are pressing the advantage against the justices. The country is in consequence teetering on the brink. All men of goodwill, particularly those who fought for the democracy the country is now enjoying, those who gave their all and who appreciate that far-reaching advancements and developments have been recorded in the past two decades, must rally round the courts to preserve their independence and encourage them to be resolute. LP is a flash in the pan. It is neither ideological anchored nor structured to endure. Its leaders know nothing about democracy, the rule of law or the constitution, and they lack the administrative skills, beyond their homiletical gibberish, to run a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. They are neither deep nor reflective, for they insist they must have their way now in total disregard for political norms.

A few members of the Buhari administration may covertly support the LP, but the president needs to decisively step in to check the dangerous campaign to undermine the courts. The judiciary as an institution plays a crucial role in maintaining the rule of law in any democratic society. It is responsible for upholding the laws, interpreting the constitution, and ensuring that justice is served impartially and fairly. There is no doubt that the judiciary is not immune to criticism and scrutiny. Critics sometimes accuse judges of bias or partisanship, particularly in high-profile cases. However, it is important to recognise that the judiciary is made up of human beings who are not infallible. Mistakes will be made, and judges will occasionally make decisions that are unpopular or controversial. However, this does not mean that the judiciary, as an institution, lacks integrity.

Maligning the judiciary and judges collectively can have severe and far-reaching consequences for any society, lead to a breakdown of the justice system, erosion of trust in the judicial process, and ultimately, bring harm to society. It can also undermine the independence of judges. The judiciary must be independent and impartial, free from political or other external influences and pressures, to dispense justice fairly and equitably. However, when judges are subjected to unfounded criticisms, personal attacks, or threats, they may become hesitant to make decisions that go against popular opinion, powerful interests, or government officials, as the LP is projecting. This can lead to a situation where justice is not served, and citizens lose faith in the judicial system, leading to a breakdown of law and order. The LP warriors let loose upon the country in the past few months do not care about democracy; they only care about themselves and are intent on riding roughshod over everyone and every institution to achieve their aims. Indeed, they have become a self-aggrandising army which neither Mr Obi nor the intemperate Mr Baba-Ahmed can or is willing to control. If left unrestrained, soon they will furnish the country anarchy, or worse, a war.

President-elect Bola Tinubu has smartly sidestepped the growing call for a Government of National Unity (GNU) by declaring that he would assemble a cabinet of excellence that transcends that option. His mandate is pan-Nigerian, and the voting spread unassailable and impressive. The All Progressives Congress (APC) won the presidential poll and foreclosed any need for coalition. The party should rule and bear the consequences of its actions. Nigeria has enough skilled manpower in all parts of the country and across all faiths for him and his party to draw upon. They should have no problem getting the right people to populate the cabinet, men and women who will not look at the president’s face before disagreeing with him, if necessary, or embracing his point of view, if the situation demands. Of the four leading candidates who contested the presidential poll, he stands out as a democrat and leader. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso comes next in capacity, but fourth in the votes. The other two, the wearied Atiku Abubakar and the sermonising Peter Obi, despite what propaganda said about them during the campaigns, are simply unratable.

Former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose lent his voice to the call for a GNU. He means well, and has spoken boisterously and laudatorily about the president-elect; but he is mistaken to infer that the ill-informed manner losers in the election and their supporters have questioned the poll and tried to delegitimise it called for the equivalence of a coalition. In one of the interviews he granted after the presidential poll, Mr Fayose also surmised that Mr Obi represented a force in Nigerian politics which Asiwaju Tinubu must grapple with. He may need to explain himself further. But the facts of the last poll, regardless of the voting figures, do not show that the Labour Party (LP) candidate represents a force, let alone a tectonic shift, in Nigerian politics. Mr Obi’s politics was an opportunistic acknowledgement and exploitation of religious anger and youth frustration. Both factors will yield to farsighted and inclusive governance.

It is a little early to set an agenda for the Tinubu administration; this will be done sometime in May. What should engage the president-elect are the immediate post-Buhari issues and politics he will have to contend with in the opening months of his government, of course in addition to the riveting stories about the formation of his general and kitchen cabinets. If his antecedents as governor and notable mentor are anything to go by, he can be trusted to assemble and lead a team of gifted and courageous people capable of responding adroitly to the country’s urgent existential, and more acutely economic, challenges. But grappling with the issues the departing President Buhari will leave in his wake will not be easy, especially when they touch on farmers/herdsmen clashes, and the projection and entrenchment of ethnic and religious privileges. These issues could leave the president-elect preoccupied, if not breathless. In the closing moments of his administration, for instance, President Buhari gave the economy a sucker punch with his naira swap policy, contemplates removing subsidy on petroleum products, fixed what is potentially a contentious census exercise close to inauguration day, and has now signed into law a raft of about 15 constitutional alterations ranging from the mundane to the highly impactful. These measures and constitutional changes will doubtless affect the next administration, if not even steal some of the president-elect’s thunder.

Reassuringly, however, both the president and the legislature, which is now besotted to quoting and amending the constitution, have been unable to conceive deep and urgent changes needed to reshape the polity in fundamental ways. Some of these changes have been projected into the national scene as byproducts of the failings and weaknesses of the Buhari administration. Two such failings, out of scores, deserve mention. First is the organisation and running of the APC, a party riven by subterranean dissensions and animosities. The APC was fortunate to have Asiwaju Tinubu in 2015 and 2019 to mastermind the victories of the party against a behemoth, and he has masterminded his own victory in the February poll. He of course did not secure victory singlehandedly, and needed both the involvement and resources of so many others to deliver favourable outcomes. But having one man at the core of such ambitions is not a sustainable model. The president-elect will first and foremost have to inspire the remaking of the APC, along carefully selected global models, if the ruling party is to flourish, and by implication make Nigeria a model for the continent, if not the world.

After the Buhari era, APC leaders will face the arduous task of making their party more ideological, better and tightly organised and run, and an example to other parties in Nigeria in terms of policy formulation and development of administrative templates. The party has enough brilliant men and women across the country ready to help develop the kind of party needed to transcend ad hocism and operate in such a manner that it no longer becomes interchangeable or coterminous with other parties, vulnerable to capricious defections and mutinies. None of the legacy parties of the APC, nor the Alliance for Democracy (AD), nor the Action Congress (AC), nor yet the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was that party. The APC is even worse, a sometimes deluded and self-destructive amalgam seemingly dedicated to destroying its offspring and ceding its responsibilities and its sense exclusively to the president. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group came nearest to the global standard of what a political party should look like: highly organised, brilliantly run, properly financed, and mass-oriented. The APC may comprise some ideological conservatives from the North, but the party has enough critical mass of progressives to reshape its structure and orientation, deliver on its programmes, and imbue it with a healthy and irreversible dose of permanence, strength and durability.

If the party can manage to reengineer, transform and renew itself, the president-elect will find it much easier to inspire generational and paradigm shifts in leadership recruitment. It is crucial that the party deliver on this in the first four years. By education, history, institution-building and experience, Western democracies have made a fair success of leadership recruitment, ensuring that novices and incompetents seldom had a shot at national leadership. The United States is dotted with think tanks, while its federalist constitution, itself a product of philosophical minds, mentors and projects great leaders at critical junctures as well as limit and circumscribe inept leaders. Nigerian federalism is a disgraceful potpourri of unitary incomprehensibilities vulnerable to abuse and manipulation, and generally incapable of producing and projecting great leaders.

France has its enarques (École nationale d’administration or ENA), from whose ranks President Emmanuel Macron emerged. Its entrance examinations are incredibly difficult and rigorous. Nigeria’s National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), on the other hand, has sometimes become a dumping ground for sanctioned bureaucrats and security agents. Russia under the communists managed to structure a leadership recruitment system that worked fairly well. President Vladimir Putin has destroyed it. On its own, Britain’s parliamentary system sometimes successfully serves as a winnowing fork to sift competent leaders from the incompetent. But it has not always succeeded, as their recent history has shown. But the most successful has been China, which, since Deng Xiaoping, has produced the brightest and the best over the past few decades. Neither Alhaji Atiku nor Mr Obi, nor even President Buhari himself, not to talk of Lagos State’s LP candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, could ever rise to any kind of prominence in those systems.

The APC must, therefore, take urgent steps within their party or constitutionally to reconfigure the country’s leadership recruitment process. The age of gambling must come to an end, when anyone with money or zeal, or grudge and opportunism, can aspire disruptively to the presidency or governorship without being purified by the system’s leadership furnace or shaped on the country’s leadership anvil. If created, that system will serve not only the ruling party, but also the entire country. There must be standards below which no state or the nation must fall. APC can inspire that change, first within its own ranks, and then at the national level, all in the first four years. The Tinubu presidency may wish to stand out in forging the most vibrant economy in Africa out of Nigeria, considering his passion for free market economy and his zeal for excellence in all fields. Indeed, far more than his co-contenders in the presidential race, and more than any other contemporary African leader, he seems prepared to remake the Nigerian economy as farsightedly as he laid the foundation for the modernisation and growth of the Lagos economy. The governors who supported him in the North and elsewhere did not do so simply because they liked his face or needed his help; they embraced and supported his ambition because they were infected by his can-do spirit, and because they instinctively sized up the Lagos template and had a metaphysical grasp of a leader who thought far ahead of his time and appeared prepared to lead the nation unencumbered by petty animosities and jealousies. Together they will do something with Nigeria and restore its pride. But they must pay attention to politics, particularly growing the next generation of leaders anchored on the right principles, values, philosophies and character.

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Buhari on Emefiele and Supreme Court

It took all of 10 days and the threat to file contempt charges for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, to obey and give effect to the Supreme Court ruling on the validity of the old N500 and N1,000 notes. That obedience strangely came moments after the presidency issued a statement absolving President Muhammadu Buhari of disobeying court orders. For reasons no one has fully explained, the two actions were synchronised. The problem of naira scarcity has of course not been significantly ameliorated, for the damage the naira redesign policy has inflicted on the economy in particular has been enormous; but at least on the surface a semblance of obedience to court order has occurred. Before they finally complied with the court order on Monday, neither the presidency nor Mr Emefiele felt the need to apologise for the anguish and disruptions the policy brought upon the country. Instead, they continued to justify their policy and methods as well as rationalise their pertinacity.

Ten days were, however, not all it finally took for the presidency and Mr Emefiele to do right by Nigeria; it took more than a month, starting with the February 8 apex court interim order reinstating the validity of the old notes, to get the matter partially resolved. At its second sitting on the same subject on February 22, the Court indicated that in line with its February 8 order, the old naira’s validity subsisted. These were two opportunities for the CBN and the presidency to retrace their steps and align with national aspirations on the naira swap. But perhaps for political reasons, some of which were argued by leading political personalities and even governors, the government remained inflexible. Everyone agreed that theoretically the policy was a good one, and if properly implemented could help resolve some economic disjointness. But not only was it hastily and inexpertly conceived, it was also poorly and maliciously timed, and the naira amateurishly redesigned. And, worse, it was incompetently executed. Everything about the naira swap, as the Supreme Court finally ruled on March 3, made a mockery of the quantum of expertise available to Nigeria.

To all intents and purposes, the naira swap policy is dead. It will be buried when the next administration is inaugurated. The naira was not redesigned; it was ‘recoloured’. The policy paid no attention to Nigeria’s economic indicators; it was nothing but a policy conjuration, almost like magic. The next administration will of course do something about the naira, but no one is sure what those changes would be. The present ‘redesigned’ naira, not to talk of the naira swap implementation, is humiliating to Nigeria and its global ambition and ranking.

With the buck-passing between the presidency and CBN, Nigerians may never fully get the picture of whose bright idea it was to come up with that policy at the time it was enunciated. In public, the CBN owned up to the idea, and the presidency admitted it signed on to it – in that order. But the devil is in the detail, especially given the fact that as military head of state in 1984, President Buhari implemented a similar and much direr policy. The policy should never lead to the death of any Nigerian: in 1984 and now, deaths were recorded, and banks burnt, all for a simple policy that officials with a modicum of talent and intelligence could implement easily.

The presidency tried to sound plausible last Monday when it washed its hands off the 10-day lag between the apex court judgement and the government’s obedience. The CBN has not attempted to explain why it dithered, but almost as if startled by a ghost, the presidency insisted that both the CBN and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami did not need to be prodded by executive orders to give effect to court judgements. Sounding sanctimonious and even trying to burnish its rule of law credential, the administration boasted that it had always obeyed court judgements. Neither historical nor contemporary facts validate the administration’s boast. The fact is that the administration’s rule of law record has been patchy and uninspiring. It is now fated to leave office in controversial judicial and legal circumstances, just as it kick-started its reign.

The Buhari presidency may be on its way out, but many Nigerians will contextualise its clumsy attempt to absolve itself of disobedience to court orders on the president’s idiosyncratic habit of dodging responsibilities when situations become testy and policies become chaotic and controversial. They recall how the president dodged responsibility when APC governors proved unable to carry out a neat coup against former interim party chairman, Mai Mala Buni. They will also remember the insouciance with which he conducted himself when current party chairman Abdullahi Adamu could not expertly and unanimously confer the presidential ticket upon a consensus aspirant, Senate President Ahmad Lawan. It was clear that neither the governors who plotted the exit of Mr Buni nor Mr Adamu who tried to foist Sen. Lawan on the party was in a position to resist the president and avoid taking the fall when the plans miscarried. Mr Emefiele knew he could not win. Unhappily for him, he also knew he could not avoid being put to the sword when, not if, the naira swap policy failed. That the president moved on blithely was expected. That presidential insouciance came from practice and experience; just like his victims, by habit and weakness of character, went like lambs to the slaughter.

Census snafu

 Even before it was rescheduled, the national census earlier fixed for March 29 was bound to test the competence and readiness of the National Population Commission (NPC) to the hilt. The last census was conducted in 2006, and the 2023 exercise will be the fifth since independence. None of the previous exercises had been devoid of controversy, and few planners really set great store by them. As the 2023 elections are showing, with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) helping to sanitise insanely high voting figures, many analysts are beginning to suspect that Nigeria’s population figures were always sexed up.

It is not clear why the Muhammadu Buhari administration is dead set on conducting a census weeks to the expiration of his administration, especially seeing that censuses in Nigeria have always been controversial. What is, however, certain is that the May exercise will not also be devoid of controversy, nor will planners swear by its infallibility. Until the country is restructured in line with the highest ideals of federalism, where states and local governments generate and spend their own revenue, census will always be controversial. Operating a central purse, and running Nigeria as a unitary government will make any and every census nugatory.    

After navigating and finally crossing a ‘thousand’ rivers and rapids, some of them infested with political sharks and crocodiles, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the presidency by a healthy and unbridgeable margin in excess of 1.8 million votes compared with his nearest competitor’s votes. The third runner-up, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), who is incidentally the most competent among the dissenting presidential candidates, will not be heading to court. He has proved his point, and he knew from the beginning that he stood no chance of winning. But first and second runners-up, former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Anambra governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) respectively, having emerged from the same political stock but parted ways shortly before the votes, have opted to challenge the winner. Both the winner and first runner-up won 12 states, while Mr Obi won 11 and the Federal Capital City (FCT), Abuja.

Despite the impending legal fireworks over whether the scale of irregularities observed in the poll was strong enough to vitiate the poll outcome, Asiwaju Tinubu won as projected, a fact his opponents scorn, a fact the LP’s social media warriors have railed and campaigned against with the same fervid and terroristic style as before. Indeed, out of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, the APC candidate took the most difficult and problematic Southwest, Northwest and North-Central, and was first runner-up in the remaining zones of Northeast, South-South and Southeast. It is a mystery why the PDP and LP as well as many bitter and angry former leaders and senior politicians are disputing the victory. They insist the election was flawed obviously in the states where the first and second runners-up lost, but apparently untainted or statistically repressed in the states they won. They are not discomfited by the fact that the PDP and LP divided the votes that should have accrued to the PDP. In defending his readiness to litigate the APC victory, Alhaji Atiku admitted that the LP took states that traditionally voted the PDP. And yet he insists he won the February 25 poll. Mr Obi himself became a candidate as an afterthought, after seizing the candidacy of the LP a mere nine months before the election.

It is obvious that the main litigant will be the LP. Alhaji Atiku is in the legal jousting only because he would not want his first runner-up position invalidated should Mr Obi win his case. Should the APC be dethroned, the PDP and LP would naturally turn on each other. But matters are unlikely to get that far, regardless of the incendiary provocations by Mr Obi’s frenzied social media warriors and supporters, and notwithstanding ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s proud and unguarded fulminations, nor some religious leaders’ exaggerated and bad-tempered utterances. Two weeks before the presidential poll, this column indicated clearly and without hesitation that the APC candidate would win without the run-off some analysts speculated. Alhaji Atiku, the column also argued, was at the head of a bitterly divided and weakened party, and the moralising Mr Obi was not only pedantic and destitute of administrative and ideological depth, but it was also inconceivable that he would find the time, ideology and commonsense to penetrate the Northwest, Southwest and Northeast. The column concluded that though Mr Obi would harness the bible belts of the six zones to a very limited extent and even harvest some youth votes, it was still mathematically and rationally impossible for him to win.

Much more, this column suggested that should Mr Obi theoretically make it to the presidency, a possibility that was next to nothing, the country would fray at the edges in no distant time. The reasons were not far-fetched. One, Mr Obi, despite working his sorcery on many Nigerians, especially the church, youths and idealists, was unprepared for leadership. He made a hash of ruling Anambra, was and remains a dictator at heart, and his perspectives have been so pedestrian and ad hoc that it is impossible to explain why his supporters, including the conceited Chief Obasanjo, are enamoured of him. Two, his supporters and activists on social media were so frenzied and irrational that they had become indistinguishable from real, armed terrorists. They would bully anyone and abuse anyone who dared to oppose their Teflon candidate or question his bona fides. Should he win, the bullying would not stop, and the candidate himself, just like he had failed to condemn the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and deplore their bloodletting, would secretly relish and exploit their fanaticism. Three, unable to take the Northwest and Southwest, not to say the Northeast, he would be unable to pacify the three zones, let alone mollify what was certain to be their bitter recriminations. And having unscrupulously drained the church of its principles, values, and doctrines, and thus divided Nigeria along sectarian lines, it would be a matter of time before the dynamics of religious antagonisms consume his administration.

Both Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi have signified their readiness to litigate their defeats. They reserve the right to go to court. But they will lose again. It is simple mathematics: no formula exists by which half of something becomes whole of something. In the interim, Mr Obi’s elderly and youthful supporters will keep up a vicious and bitter campaign to delegitimise the February 25 poll. They have enlisted the support of senior citizens and youths whose loud denunciations on social media give the wrong impression of reality, but are nevertheless capable of rousing the disaffected into a potentially catastrophic ‘occupy Nigeria’ campaign. The administration is probably aware that these campaigns reflect an amalgam of curious and conflicting interests and are an indirect effort to stalemate and annul the poll victory, up to the point of diminishing it into an interim government, or impasse, or fresh elections. It is the route taken by Mali to that country’s regret and retrogression. In Nigeria, it could lead to far more cataclysmic reactions eventually crystallising into ethnic and religious crises, if not anarchy. The administration has enough information to preempt the madness afoot.

Since early 2022, the administration has not demonstrated the even-handedness needed to keep the ruling APC on an even keel. It mismanaged the party’s primary, half-heartedly skewed it in favour of an unpopular aspirant, and when it failed to arrest the rotational arrangement that eventually produced today’s president-elect, it punitively embarked on a welter of economic and political measures that combined to whittle the strength of its candidate. The Supreme Court has finally pronounced on one of those key economic measures that alienated the people from both the administration and the APC candidate. Short of going to court to litigate its own primary, the APC finally relented, backed its candidate, albeit grudgingly, but didn’t seem concerned about any untoward outcome. Weeks to the poll, after every effort to eviscerate the ruling party’s candidate had wilted before determined supporters led by the party’s governors, the president himself clambered on to the bandwagon and led the charge.

Even then, victory was not immediately assured. The EndSARS generation, full of loathing and rebellion, and egged on by shortsighted elders and leaders, began a horrendous campaign of calumny and unprintable scurrilities directed against the APC candidate. The PDP candidate was left severely alone. The youth displayed a sense of entitlement never seen in these parts, as they terrorised dissenters and rallied to the side of Mr Obi. Uncharacteristically, and reflecting the aggressive diminution of the principles and doctrines that have stood the church in good stead as they brought empires to heel, many church leaders seized upon the APC’s same-faith ticket to spew the most hateful, curse-laden rhetoric and sermons unprecedented in their history, enough to make John Knox wince and Girolamo Savonarola grimace. Instead of the impartiality and love and compassion their faith is known for, religious leaders cursed their members if they as much as looked in the direction of the APC. And even after failing to prevent the election of Asiwaju Tinubu, some religious leaders have doubled down to wish doom and catastrophe upon the president-elect. March would be the time of judgement, they said. And there would be no swearing in, they chorused in undiluted spite. Religion became the standard for public office, not competence.

More circumspect faith leaders, former presidents, and political leaders would perforce pause to ask why one man could not be stopped by his party, stopped by faith leaders, stopped by an administration which alienated him for eight years and would stop at nothing to demolish him, and why despite policies that turned the electorate against the ruling party, even the votes on February 25 could not stop him. Surely, there must be something about him. If, as his supporters rhapsodise, he is incomparable in his leadership ability, unrestrained in his mentoring propensity, is the most competent among the leading contenders for the presidency, is naturally gifted in managing complex systems, is unquestionably secular, has the most convincing understanding of public and global finance, and is best placed to manage a modern economy, could he then not be a gift to Nigeria? No extraterrestrial obstacle was placed in the paths of Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi, and even when the CBN rushed out its ill-conceived and poorly implemented naira swap policy, the APC candidate seemed to be the main target, especially with the other candidates acquiescing to CBN’s unlawful overreach. But instead of pausing to ask questions, the conspiracy to delegitimise the presidential election has gathered steam, with all the conspirators encouraging and instigating treason and taking oath to forestall the May 29 inauguration.

The administration must take steps to end its dithering. The election must not be allowed to become another June 12, 1993 debacle. Mr Obi largely harnessed a significant percentage of the church and youth votes to take two zones and get more than six million ballots; he could not win or rule resting on those divisive and inimical pedestals. Alhaji Atiku was humiliatingly sequestered into the Northeast, a sad declension for the once mighty PDP which for more than eight years had proved incapable of managing its crises and failings. The PDP could not have won. The winner, had Nigerians been capable of reflecting on the events since the past few years, and as every great statesman or war general knows, is actually God who sowed distrust in PDP and hardened the hearts of party leaders against reconciliation, blunted the Buhari administration’s self-destructive propensity, mysteriously placated the electorate over the CBN’s unconstitutional excursions, and even introduced the fourth man in the fire lit by the church thereby ensuring that the APC candidate’s tunic was not singed. What happened on February 25 was not normal; it was extraordinary and unusual. The fear now is that before the whole affair is ended on May 29 – and there will be an inauguration – many more notable people will be demystified and their reputations torn to shreds. The president may leave with a part of his reputation unscathed. Others will not be so lucky.

Consider the statistics. In the Northeast, the only zone where Alhaji Atiku took first, the PDP led with 51.7 percent of the votes using the four leading parties as basis for comparison. APC came second with a healthy 35.2 percent. In the North-Central, APC led with 42.3 percent to LP’s 28.7 percent and PDP’s 27.6 percent. The spread between the parties is realistic in view of the factors that influenced voting in that zone. In the Southwest, APC took 55.8 percent to PDP’s 23.1 percent and LP’s 20.7 percent. The contest was also open and democratic. In the Southeast, LP took 89.6 percent while the nearest opponents, the APC and PDP, took 5.8 percent and 4.2 percent respectively. The country cannot fail to notice how that zone closed ranks. And in the Northwest, the APC led with 40.2 percent to PDP’s 35.3 percent and NNPP’s 19.2 percent. Overall, the votes seem to give a clear hint of how to win a presidential election. Neither Alhaji Atiku nor Mr Obi paid heed, and they paid the price for their inattentiveness. The balloting and collation processes undoubtedly suffered hitches and attacks, but given how APC heavyweights and iconic states suffered election losses and drubbings, those litigating the election will be hard put to prove their cases. But they can try, especially the LP which got 25 percent in about 16 states instead of 24.

The PDP has been markedly restrained from calling for Armageddon. Not so the LP whose supporters, including and chiefly Chief Obasanjo, have been calling for doomsday. What they did not get through the votes, nor by arresting the counting and collation process, nor feared they might not get through the courts, they hope to procure through defamatory and incitive social media campaigns and street action. But those are perilous routes whose ends no one can predict. If the unconstitutional campaigns are not stifled by firm constitutional response from the administration, they could become strident until they spiral out of control. Even though they are not as bilious as the LP, nor as bad-tempered and irreverent, it is expected that the APC will defend their victory. They probably understand that since 1999, this is the first time the country will be electing a real bridge-builder, a man who will not be pushed around, and someone who knows how to forge consensus and manage an economy on the scale of the Asian tigers. It would be tragic if the self-centred, anti-democratic and conspiratorial Chief Obasanjo, and entitled youths advocating visa bans against their leaders with perfect neo-colonial equanimity, and the contumacious pro-Obi social media fanatics who eulogise violence and hate speech are allowed to have a field day spewing extremist statements. The constitution envisages electoral infractions and disputes, and the laws of the land have provisions to mediate them. To willfully and arrogantly instigate conflagration because a particular outcome is not forthcoming is to incite rebellion against the constitution.

Asiwaju Tinubu will undoubtedly be sworn in on May 29. Apart from offering olive branches to his opponents, he has also tried to reassure youths about their future. On the surface, it is a great gesture; but he needs to be cautious. While it is good to design policies targeted at youths, it must be done concomitantly with policies and programmes that purge the youths of indiscipline and the sense of entitlement they have arrogantly and indifferently nurtured over the years. After all, youth does not start and end with the imperious Southwest or Southeast. The country, of which the youth is a subset, must be holistically reengineered and policies conceived and implemented to forge unity, sense of values, and a great and ambitious future with youths coaxed to tap in.

Asiwaju Tinubu is the first person to prepare himself for leadership, despite his humble and controversial beginnings. It is a miracle he is still standing after decades of fierce, unrelenting and defamatory attacks; that miracle should propel him into the State House in May. It will not be because he is perfect or that the election which midwifed his victory was flawless; it will be because he was destined to rule and, what is more, he has met that destiny with the fortitude, uncommon grace, generosity and faith few among Nigerian leaders, past or present, have managed to summon. The former Lagos governor is the first knowledgeable and self-confident leader Nigeria will be having since independence; that is why all hell has been let loose to prevent him from acceding the throne. It is one of the stupendous ironies of Nigerian politics and life that religious leaders who should be more perceptive and capable of reading the signs of the times are numbered among those obstacles and sceptics.

Whether the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) confess it or not, the ruling party will be going into the February presidential election divided. On the one hand is the conservative old guard, men and women still trapped in the sectarian and irredentist politics of reaction harking back to the immediate past. And on the other hand are the radical, less stereotypical and progressive Young Turks. The party has caught a whiff of the speculations about the divisions, but they are trying their best to paper over the cracks. Until the elections are over, no one will be sure how successfully the divisions within the party have been mended. But meanwhile, doubts will continue to be entertained about the involvement and enthusiasm of both President Muhammadu Buhari and party chairman Abdullahi Adamu in the campaign, for few can tell whether they are as committed to the cause of winning the presidential poll as they have professed.

Hopefully the APC will win the February 25 poll, if the candidate can mitigate the reservations of their disaffected leaders still grumbling over the party’s presidential pick. Should the party win, it will invariably strengthen the resolve of the progressive wing of the party. And if that dominant wing takes office, the party will veer more concretely towards the ideological mooring of their illustrious founding and enthrone a more realistic tenor of progressivism upon the country. That radical and inclusive wing is more ideological in its progressivism than the insular old guard is conservative in its reactionary politics. If, as expected, the APC wins to the credit of its radical, less ossified wing, and should they govern seamlessly for four years, they are likely to establish a solid structure for their party and execute ideological politics uncommon in these parts.

Until last month when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hid details and deliberately botched the execution of its naira redesign policy, the political momentum was on the side of the APC. Apart from enjoying the benefits of incumbency, and despite the failings and incoherence of the Buhari administration, the APC received more bounce and vibrancy in ratings than the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flip-flopping, staid and aging presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Not only was the PDP’s campaign pervaded by dissension and inconsistencies, its candidate was also not as energetic, ideological and innovative as the APC’s. They were making heavy weather of their campaign, and the tide seemed to turn against them. They fantasised about winning, cashing in on the economic and social chaos nearly eight years of APC rule had thrown up, but at bottom they were realistically unsure of anything. A few crazy weeks of CBN display of gross incompetence, of course with the seeming connivance of the presidency, however, took the previously forlorn PDP to new heights of rejuvenation. They will hope that the new bounce will be sustained and driven by the counterproductive naira policies imprudently enacted by the ruling party just weeks to the election.

The Labour Party’s candidate Peter Obi has enjoyed some concentrated attention in a few cities far disproportionate to any idea he has propounded or implemented. He is not ideological, and can’t care less whether anyone thinks he is or not. He has anchored his campaign on homiletical speeches and sermons, just enough to dazzle the Nigerian church and anyone else angry at and uncomfortable with the influence of the threatened and vulnerable so-called ‘owners of Nigeria’. He knows he cannot win, and those close to him, including his successors in Anambra State where he was governor, also know that his performance in office was less than stellar. But he is probably playing a spoiler role designed to stalemate the poll, produce a run-off, and eventually engender the victory of the PDP. But politics is not as straightforward as arithmetic, where two plus two equals four. His chances may be a little better than Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), but winning the February 25 poll is to him as chimerical as Aesop’s fables.

That leaves the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Before the CBN boondoggle was let loose upon the country, virtually every analyst, including those who loathe his candidacy, had resigned themselves to his victory and his presidency. But by October, it had seemed that even the president, despite his protestations of loyalty to the party and its candidates, was apathetic to the Tinubu aspiration and, worse, even more disinterested in the entire APC re-election project. That apathy, not to talk of the subterranean moves and machinations of some party leaders and a few denizens of Aso Villa, made it difficult to project the chances of the APC candidate. By January, and partly because Asiwaju Tinubu sensibly and courageously blazed the trail by taking issue with the naira redesign execution, the downward spiral triggered by the self-destructive policies and conspiracies controversially attributed to Aso Villa had been smothered. The APC projection is that the party will win the presidency, but perhaps by the skin of its teeth. Two main reasons account for this optimism. One is the scientific and energetic presidential campaign being run by the APC Campaign Council. The second is the quality of the candidate himself. No other party since the beginning of the Fourth Republic has run a more scientific campaign than the APC in engagement with voters, in understanding and addressing issues, and in campaigning around the country. The candidate himself, Asiwaju Tinubu, is the first candidate since the Second Republic to possess a sound grasp of economic issues, to understand how a modern economy runs, and whose auditing expertise gives him an instinctive understanding of how Nigeria’s financial labyrinth is configured.

It is interesting that analysts and commentators have focused almost exclusively on the APC candidate, emphasising his goofs, questioning his health despite driving himself hardest among the candidates, and exaggerating his flaws. Some of the commentators are brilliant essayists who, however, lack a deep understanding of the dynamics of leadership and the characteristics of great leaders. They seem to miss the point that focusing exclusively and negatively on the APC candidate indirectly paves the way for the far less competent and qualified Messrs Atiku and Obi. The Nigerian church is even guiltier; for by repudiating Asiwaju Tinubu and the Muslim-Muslim ticket, and by throwing in their lot with Mr Obi who cannot win, they are invariably paving the way for Alhaji Atiku, another Fulani northerner. By accident rather than by design, they are, therefore, indirectly encouraging and entrenching a northern and even Muslim hegemony. Worse, neither Alhaji Atiku nor Mr Obi has the depth of understanding of modern and complex economic and management issues, let alone possesses the credential of the APC candidate in fighting for democracy, resisting dictatorship, and innovating at the highest level of governance. The PDP candidate’s record as vice president is appalling, controversial and riven with such excesses that it will be shortsighted to embrace his unmoored politics. And for Mr Obi, the simple summary of his leadership capacity is that he left no blueprint for the Anambra he governed for eight years, nor mentored anyone that has gone on to achieve national acclaim, nor did he turn the state into a destination of first choice like Lagos.

In 2015, this column endorsed Candidate Buhari for the presidency, predicting he would win, though it warned that he was incapable of entrenching democracy or respecting the rule of law. In the end, President Buhari also proved himself a tinkerer at managing the economy, as the naira redesign policy has proved to the country’s despondency. In 2019, the column declined to endorse President Buhari for his controversial and unimaginative first term or Candidate Atiku for his gross lack of fidelity to governance ethic and total lack of innovativeness, but acknowledged that the former would win. For this presidential election, this column has no hesitation in endorsing Asiwaju Tinubu for the presidency. He will win, not by a run-off, but perhaps not by a huge margin, despite President Buhari running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Nature rewards the faithful and diligent. Of the four leading candidates, Asiwaju Tinubu is the most fervid and profound supporter and defender of democracy and the rule of law. He has an unmatched national record in innovative management as governor of Lagos State, what with revenue reforms, institution building, structurally re-engineering of the state into a megacity, including of course conceiving Eko Atlantic City and a host of futuristic multi-billion dollar projects that have turned the state into a national migration magnet. And he remains undisputedly a gifted administrator, mentor of men, and enthusiastic bridge builder in Nigeria and a few West African countries. None of the other candidates can hold a candle to him, for his insight, boldness and depth, virtues that have made the country’s power elite fear that his presidency would be assertive and impervious to manipulation. Despite misgivings, he is much stronger than his sometimes unsteady gait indicates, and is probably the most accomplished strategist and consensus builder alive today. He was never an orator, and had had to pick his words even in his younger days. He won’t be an orator today, let alone tomorrow, and may continue to pick his words in public speaking; but this instinctive and intuitive moderniser and manager of men will communicate his thoughts efficiently and summon the uncommon assertiveness only forward-looking ideologues and administrators par excellence are capable of. He will make a far better president than any of his opponents and deserves the chance to rule. Palladium endorses him for the presidency.

CBN, naira swap and INEC…

WORRIED that the strictures put on the new naira notes by the bungling Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could jeopardise the next elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week met with the authorities of the apex bank to see how the cash needs of the electoral body could be met. Straightaway, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, offhandedly promised that whatever INEC’s cash needs were would be met. INEC did not exaggerate its needs; it only indirectly called the logic of the CBN to question. In short, the CBN has singled out INEC’s needs for amelioration. But the police will be asked to secure the polling units; don’t they need cash? Don’t soldiers fighting insurgents and bandits, not to say their families, need cash, in their billions? Would other paramilitary agencies involved in policing the elections not also need cash? How many agencies will the CBN single out for special special attention? And how long before the government and the CBN realise that they have approached the naira redesign policy with unremitting incompetence and malevolence?

Just one inane policy, and the country is in an uproar. Yet, the government and the CBN have remained adamant, sticking to measures that are clearly not working, and that are destroying businesses and pauperising the people. It has taken the Supreme Court to attempt to restore some sanity to the financial sector and the entire society, particularly in the face of a dithering, secretive and conspiratorial CBN. For a misplaced policy that needed prompt administrative redress by the executive branch, it has also taking the National Council of State one meeting to gently coax a lethargic federal government to do what is right. It is truly bewildering how the ruling party is shooting itself in the foot.

Sad to see erudite Justice Omolaye-Ajileye retire

It is not often that this column singles out anyone for recognition. For 18 years, not more than three laudatory pieces have been published on this page, with hardly a judge listed in that exclusive number. Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, who retires this week as a judge of the High Court of Kogi State after attaining retirement age, must now be numbered among the few for his erudition, progressivism, courage under fire, and immense contribution to the judiciary in Nigeria. Widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s leading experts in electronically generated evidence, especially at a time when his expertise is in high demand given the technological advances in the voting process, it is one of the mysteries of the judiciary that judges like him are compelled by administrative order to take their highly sought-after expertise elsewhere.

Justice Omolaye-Ajileye is author of the well-regarded book, Electronic Evidence, which has been revised and reprinted four times, and author of over 70 articles and workshop papers on wide-ranging legal issues. A graduate of the prestigious University of Lagos, he also holds a Master of Science in Criminal Justice with Specialisation in Terrorism, Mediation and Peace, and a PhD in Legal Studies. It is not surprising that he is in high demand in lecture circuits in Nigeria and abroad. Nor is it surprising that he comes highly recommended among legal experts for his brilliance and courage in adjudication of controversial cases.

Last June, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, wondered why judges like Omolaye-Ajileye had not been appointed to appellate courts. Delivering a lecture in Lagos at the annual Alao Aka-Bashorun memorial lecture organised by the Ikeja branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olanipekun said: “…It is my submission that our High Courts still parade a crop of very brilliant, capable, able, intelligent, experienced, industrious, cerebral, highly distinguished personnel, who are fit and proper for direct appointment to the Supreme Court. A case in point is the very experienced and IT savvy Chief Judge of Borno State, Hon. Justice Kashim Zannah, who, today, sits on the board of several international bodies in the field of law and Justice and who, to my mind, does not need to go through the Court of Appeal before eminently taking a position or seat on the Supreme Court Bench. His case, like some others, should not be treated like that of ‘a prophet without honour in his home town.’ Another case in point is that of Hon. Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, a scholar, ebullient jurist, prolific author and writer, and one of the leading authorities on electronically generated evidence in Nigeria today, who has repeatedly applied for appointment to the Court of Appeal Bench, but who, for the sundry peculiar Nigerian factors, has not been found ‘fit’ to mount the Court of Appeal Bench. Yet, he is sought after as a resource person, either by the NJI, the NBA, and even the NJC on topical and recondite subjects relating to electronically generated evidence in Nigeria.”

In addition to his learning and clarity of language and thought, Justice Omolaye-Ajileye is also uncommonly courageous. Out of many signal and defining cases, just one example will suffice due to space constraint. In Hon. Justice Umaru Eri & Anor v. Kogi State House of Assembly & 3 Ors, the Chief Judge of Kogi State was unconstitutionally dismissed from office against an order of Justice Ajileye restraining them from doing so. Justice Ajileye frowned at the State House of Assembly for disobeying his order, leading him to thunder: “When issues involving disobedience to court orders arise, it has to be appreciated that they are matters that transcend the claims and interests of the parties before the court. They even go beyond being just an affront to the judge who made the order. Something more fundamental is involved. We are here talking about a potent destabilizing factor of the social equilibrium. They are issues that frontally attack and challenge the whole concept of judicial powers vested in the courts under the Constitution and a calculated act of subversion of peace, order, and good government. Indeed, disobedience to court orders is a big threat to democracy.”

Nigeria’s appellate courts are the poorer for not numbering such a bold, philosophical and erudite jurist in their ranks, especially at a time technological advances have put inordinate strain on legal interpretations.