The saying: ‘silence is golden’ is always very apt but the first lady of Ondo State, and All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant for Imo East, Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, evidently rebuffed the maxim, following her experience at the APC senatorial primary.

Anyanwu-Akeredolu withdrew from the race abruptly citing irregularities in the contest. The Ondo State First Lady, who is fondly called by her traditional title, Ada Owerri, cited intimidation and the use of force, among others, as her reasons for withdrawing from the party’s primaries.

At her declaration for the post, she said her aspiration to represent her constituency in the Senate was informed by the need to address the gross under-development and infrastructural deficit in her maiden home of Emeabiam in Owerri West local council and the other eight local councils that make up the zone.

Anyanwu-Akeredolu, who hails from Emeabiam in Owerri west LGA of the state had to compete with four other aspirants — Alex Mbata, Kemdi Opara, Jerry Chukwueke and Ugochukwu Nwachukwu, for the legislative ticket.

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Her withdrawal paved way for the emergence of a business mogul, Prince Alex Mbata, as the candidate of the party in the Owerri zone.

Anyanwu-Akeredolu had on the day of the election cried foul while the primary election to pick a candidate of the APC for Imo East was going on.

She alleged that some forces in the party skewed the primaries in favour of a particular candidate.

In a statement titled, ‘Notice of withdrawal from senatorial race’, she said: “I wish to declare my decision to withdraw from the Senatorial Primaries of Imo East Senatorial zone. This decision has become necessary following brazen irregularities, use of force and intimidation meted out on my person and supporters.

“I have received reliable information that arrangements have been concluded by some high authorities within the party to scheme the whole process in favour of a particular candidate. Delegates are being harassed and intimidated to comply with this directive.

“I believe in free and fair elections, equity and a level playing ground. The circumstances that have shrouded events preceding this primaries have proven to be far from these ideals which I hold so dearly. It is expedient therefore for me to withdraw from this race which I believe is also in the interest of the party in the state.

“I must, at this juncture, appreciate Ada Owere team, all my friends and supporters who stood by me during this period. Special thanks to the delegates who believed in me but were denied the opportunity to express their support.”

In what appears to be a bizarre development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national delegate, Tanko Sabo during the week stunned Nigerians, when he shared ‘money made’ at the party’s primary elections to indigent members of his community in Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Sabo who took part and voted at the PDP presidential primary, held in Abuja, met with different aspirants, with all of them soliciting for his vote. It took the aspirants time and token to woo him.

As it was widely reported, the PDP presidential primary which produced former vice-president Atiku Abubakar as the winner, witnessed the splashing of naira and dollars to the delegates in many states. Delegates reportedly got between N500,000 and N2 million, and even higher from the aspirants.

Sabo, who was hitherto unknown, attained instant popularity as news about him went viral on social media, after sharing pictures of himself displaying huge sums of money received. His action elicited a flurry of mixed reactions.

While there was a gleeful response from many, saying his action graphically illustrated the extreme poverty of the Nigerian political enterprise, some others commended his action, describing him as a “delegate with a difference.”

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But in a fair explanation, Reuben Buhari, a former aide to a former governor of Kaduna State, Ibrahim Yakowa, said Sabo spent the “money well.”

“Whatever is the argument on whether he was right in collecting the money or not, my consolation is that hundreds of the less privileged in his community are smiling today. For that, I say well done Tanko.”

In the breakdown, Sabo used N7 million from the bribe he got, to pay for the secondary school leaving examination fee for pupils of his community. He paid N100, 000 as logistics fee to the five-man committee that went round the schools in his community to pay the pupils’ examination fees.

Sabo also shared N6.9m to 150 orphans and the less privileged in his community. He spent N3.2m to buy and customise the kits of a youth football team in his Dogon Daji community, named Samba Boys.

He also spent N700,000 to support the elderly, women and beggars known as “Maroka,” while he gave one Danladi Janda, N100,000.

Sabo then kept N1.3 million of the largesse for himself. He explained that he made so much money because he was a delegate to the State assembly, National Assembly, governorship and presidential primaries of his party.

In total, Sabo shared N19.3m being the money he got from the primary elections.

Conceit, peculiar to the individual, is the genre of private experience. But when co-opted with hard currency and wile, and wielded by a politician in his mathematics of social space, it becomes a weapon.

A weapon to seduce large segments of the electorate. For this purpose, Ademola Adeleke is armed to the teeth. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is poised to buy the votes of the Osun electorate at the forthcoming July 16 gubernatorial elections, boasting that he was loaded with enough money to prosecute the election.

Adeleke bragged that he was prepared for the contest unlike in 2018 when Governor Adegboyega Oyetola defeated him. In a 55-second video, he told his supporters, in the presence of some party leaders, that he has brought money for the 2022 Osun governorship poll.

“My fellow Osun residents, you are the one to decide. It is not by force, not by gimmicks, if it is money, I have brought money and not only Naira but dollars, pounds and Euro. This time around, it is fire for fire for Osun governorship election,” said the aspirant, who was recently declared as the PDP candidate for Osun governorship election.

In a nutshell, Adeleke is planning to buy the votes of residents of Osun state with hard currencies.

Predictably, the utterance has provoked mixed reactions among the electorate and on social media.

The campaign Director-General of Adegboyega Oyetola, Senator Ajibola Bashir, in a statement on Monday, chided Adeleke and PDP for planning to buy the votes of Osun electorate.

He noted that the utterance of the PDP candidate is absurd, describing it as unthinkable and totally unacceptable. According to the statement: “The Campaign Council declared that Osun was not for sale to the highest bidder, the PDP candidate is proving to the Osun electorate that he had nothing to offer.”

The campaign Director-General of Adegboyega Oyetola, Senator Ajibola Bashir, in a statement on Monday chided Senator Adeleke and PDP for planning to buy residents of Osun state with hard currencies.

He noted that the utterance of factional candidate of PDP is absurd, describing it as unthinkable and totally unacceptable.

According to the statement: “The Campaign Council declared that Osun was not for sale to the highest bidder, the PDP candidate is proving to the Osun electorate that he had nothing to offer.

“Osun people are not gullible. We have left them in no doubt of the quality our party, the APC and our Administration are made of, including the capacity of our candidate to deliver in the past three and half years. We have proved through our inclusive governance strategy that our people are our strength and that we do not take them for granted and we will never take them for granted.

“This explains why in spite of the way the 2018 election went, our administration began infrastructure intervention from Ede, the hometown of the PDP candidate.

“Osun people are enlightened, they know that the State and its citizens are not up for sale to the highest bidder. Therefore, the PDP candidate should keep his money. Or better still, he could deploy those resources to establish industries to provide jobs for the people.

“This way, he will also be supporting the present Administration’s noticeable efforts in the last three and half years to industrialise the state and change its narrative as a Civil Service State, to one bubbling with economic activities.

“It is on record that the Oyetola-led administration has since inception taken concrete steps to open up the State for investments, and has been able to attract a number of investments into Osun, contributing to the economic growth of the State.

“We assure the PDP candidate that, as the Administration did to other players in the private sector, we will provide a level playing ground for his business to thrive and ensure Osun and its people derive maximum benefit from the investment.

“As a responsible party, we urge Senator Adeleke and his party to embrace peaceful conduct and decorum in their political engagements and electioneering. We must avoid any comment or action that can jeopardise the peace and stability of our State.”

Adeleke’s boast is actually a symptom of a deeper malaise. The governorship aspirant’s outburst assumes a worrisome dimension at the backdrop of his penchant for throwing caution to the winds and dancing in careless abandon at every public function.

His recent boast depicts an exercise of brawn, not of the psyche. At best, it commands the passing tribute of a sigh. `But what’s Osun to do? What should Nigeria do? The aspirant’s party, friends, associates and aides are apparently in favour of the curious bent of his political strategy.

But while they commend and stroke his whim, can each man and woman on Adeleke’s team and political platform, suppress the mind’s wars with his horrifying outburst.

Were he discerning enough, Adeleke would understand that Osun needs something more than politics of the weaponised token.

Let us also hope, that, his target audience was aware that his boast at the rally reveals resounding rhetoric about his promise as a governorship candidate and capacity to lead Osun State.

The only conversation that the Osun electorate should be having right now, should be about the qualities, antecedents and capacity of the ideal candidate for the state’s much-coveted governorship office.

Adeleke’s platitudinous chant seeks to divert attention from the crucial issues that require relentless exercise of the mind.

Just like the proverbial hunter becoming the bushmeat, the country’s Accountant-General, Ahmed Idris, was arrested during the week over alleged money laundering and diversion of public funds.

Some of the many duties of the Accountant-General is to detect and deter corruption through a timely audit, and to also carry out external audit functions and scrutiny of public funds, but unfortunately, Idris allegedly failed to uphold these duties.

On different occasions, he got summoned by the House of Representatives for carrying out some activities ‘without due process.’

He got caught by the long arm of the law during the week; Idris was intercepted in Kano and was subsequently flown to Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in a statement explained that Idris allegedly diverted and laundered N80billion – about N78 billion more than convicted former pension boss, Abdulrasheed Maina diverted from the pension fund.

Uwujaren disclosed that Idris laundered the money through real estate investments in Kano and Abuja. At least 17 properties were traced to Idris. Uwujaren explained that Idris was arrested after he failed to honour invitations by the EFCC to respond to issues connected to the fraudulent acts.

All of the preliminary investigations showed that the country’s chief accountant allegedly used proxies to buy some of these properties.

With all of these controversial allegations, Idris has since been suspended by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

In a letter dated May 18, 2022, the minister said the suspension “without pay” was to allow for “proper and unhindered investigation” in line with public service rules.

“Following your recent arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of diversion of funds and money laundering, I write to convey your suspension from work without pay effective 18th May 2022,” the letter read in part.

The suspension, Finance Minister said, is in line with Public Service Rules to give room for proper and unhindered investigation.

The letter, titled, ‘Letter of Suspension’, also bars Idris from visiting his office or contacting any official in his office during his suspension except for disciplinary proceedings that might be initiated against him.

Prior to his appointment as Accountant-General, Idris had served as Director of Finance and Accounts at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) headquarters, Abuja. His rich profile shows he is a chartered accountant with over two decades of working experience.

He joined the public service as Assistant Director Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) in charge of Financial Analysis in 2000. He was at the National Poverty Eradication Programme(NAPEP), Ministry of Police Affairs and Ministry of Interior as Assistant Director Finance. He was Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Interior and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) before his promotion as Director Accounts in OAGF in 2011.

Idris, born on November 25, 1960, is a 1984 BSc Accounting graduate of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Idris obtained Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Bayero University Kano and Master of International Affairs and Diplomacy (MIAD) from ABU Zaria.

He was specifically first appointed on June 25, 2015, as the country’s Accountant-General. He was re-appointed on June 25, 2019.

Idris is a Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria and Fellow, the Association of Financial Analysts of Nigeria, he is Member of other professional bodies including the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Certified Institute of Cost Management of Nigeria, and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Despite all of these enviable antecedents, it is quite ironic that Idris fell for the temptations attached to his office, and now he is left with a stained record.

As the nation moves closer to 2023, former president Goodluck Jonathan’s name has remained a ‘recurring decimal’ in political discussions and permutations.

Jonathan is a member of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform he served as president from 2010 to 2015, after the death of Umar Yar’adua until his defeat by the ruling party.

But his membership of the PDP has also been a matter of speculation of late.

The Bayelsa-born politician has had his palm kernel cracked for him and enjoyed some sort of ‘political grace’. He is the only Nigerian who had tasted the four positions in the executive arm of government: the deputy governor, governor, vice president, and president.

After his exit from office, Jonathan had visited President Buhari several times in the last couple of months, more than any other former head of state. The Presidency claimed he came to brief Buhari over happenings in troubled African countries.

Also, Jonathan had not been seen at any event organised by the PDP in the last year. He has scarcely identified with the party’s activities since losing his second term bid to President Buhari of the APC in 2015. He was also absent at the party’s national convention last year.

But in the past weeks, there have been calls for the entrance of Jonathan into the race to occupy Aso Rock in 2023.

But Jonathan’s lack of clarity on the issue, which many believe confirms that he is testing the waters for the presidential bid, has continued to encourage many – faceless and known – groups to mount pressure on him to run.

Thus the speculations in the past couple of weeks that Jonathan will compete for the ticket of the ruling party despite not being a member of the ruling party.

Some observers have warned and advised him against riding on the back of the tiger – the All Progressives Congress (APC) – that consumed him.

During the week, a coalition of northern groups consisting of nomadic Fulani pastoralists and Almajiri communities purchased the presidential expression of interest and nomination forms of the ruling APC for Jonathan.

This unexpected development sparked mixed reactions. Many wondered the rationale behind the strange political calculus for Jonathan to join the race.

But Jonathan’s former aide, Reno Omokri, swiftly reacted saying that his former principal won’t join the 2023 presidential race secretly.

Omokri posted, “Jonathan has nothing to do with the reported purchase of some forms. He has an official spokesman and his own staff. He is a man of honour and will not do anything surreptitiously. The media and the public should be guided.

“I could have denied this hours ago, but I deliberately declined in order to watch his enemies and mine dance deliriously at the thought that they’d demystified @GEJonathan. There is no Nigerian alive that has the national and international credibility that HE GEJ has.”

Then later, a statement issued by Jonathan’s Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, explained that his principal didn’t authorise the purchase of the forms.

Jonathan described the purchase of the form, ‘without his consent’ as an ‘insult.’

But in what appears to be a U-turn, there have been trending yet-to-be-confirmed reports that Jonathan has made up his mind to vie for the top post.

Meanwhile, there have been controversies over the eligibility of Jonathan due to the alteration to the 1999 Constitution. Legal gladiators engaged in an intellectual battle over the legal propriety or otherwise of Jonathan.

Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had argued that Jonathan is not eligible by virtue of 137 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, which provides as follows:

“A person who was sworn in to complete the term for which another person was elected as president shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term.”

But Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and Abdul Mahmod have argued otherwise, saying that Jonathan is eligible to serve another term of four years.

Amid all of these controversies surrounding Jonathan’s 2023 presidential ambition, he has secured an international appointment with the European Corporate Council.

Jonathan was appointed to the international advisory board of the European Corporate Council on Africa and the Middle East (ECAM Council).

As the clock ticks faster towards 2023, many are holding their breath as they await the outcome of a crucial decision to be taken in the next few days, especially with respect to the ambition of Jonathan.

Eleven years after her appointment to the Supreme Court bench, Justice Mary Peter-Odili bowed out of service as the country’s second most senior judicial officer on Thursday, upon attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Her retirement brought the curtains down on a nearly 44-year relationship with the judiciary, which began with an appointment as a Magistrate Grade III in November 1978.

Born Mary Ukaego Nzenwa, a princess and second daughter of United Kingdom-based lawyer and later monarch, Eze Bernard Nzenwa and Ugoeze Nzenwa, on May 12, 1952, in Amudi Obizi, Ezinihitte-Mbaise, Imo State, she graduated with an LLB (Hons) from the University of Nigeria (UNN) in 1976 as the best student of the department of commercial and property law.

That was where she met a young medical doctor from Rivers State, Peter Odili, who later became Rivers State Governor on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The duo got married in 1979.

Following her appointment as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (JSC) on June 23, 2011, by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Justice Peter-Odili made history as the third woman to ascend the revered apex court bench since 1963 when the Federal Republic of Nigeria was proclaimed. Before 1963, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) served as the highest court of the land and sat on appeal over any disputed judgment of the Federal Supreme Court, which existed at that time.

“This day is indeed significant because we have just witnessed the swearing-in of another female Justice of this honourable court, Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili. This brings to three the number of female justices in the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, said at Justice Peter-Odili’s swearing-in.

Her previous appointments were as Judge of the Rivers State High Court in 1992, Court of Appeal Justice in 2004, and Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division.

But Justice Peter-Odili’s Supreme Court appointment was not without controversy.

Her nomination for the office followed the National Judicial Council (NJC)’s discovery that the slot of the southeast and the southwest on the apex court bench had become vacant, owing to the retirement of the justices that previously represented the zones.

But some legal pundits opposed her nomination to represent the southeast, insisting that despite being from the geopolitical zone, she had become a south-southerner by her marriage to Odili, and thus unqualified to take the southeast slot.

They also faulted her appointment on the ground that she was among the low-ranking judges at the appellate court.

Nevertheless, the CJN quelled the controversy by insisting that Justice Peter-Odili’s elevation met the 35 percent affirmative action promised to women by ex-President Jonathan.

That was just the beginning of a few notable controversies that directly or indirectly dogged her career. Her status as a judicial officer – perhaps the most conservative of all professions – married to a politically-exposed person – her doctor-turned-politician husband, made her a soft target in the intrigues of the political rivals of her husband and his party.

An example was the backlash from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) following the Supreme Court judgment of February 13, 2020, that sacked the APC’s David Lyon as governor-elect of Bayelsa State, barely 24 hours to his inauguration.

The five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Peter-Odili nullified Lyon’s election because his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, presented false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the November 16 governorship election in the state.

The Supreme Court agreed with an earlier ruling of the high court on the matter.

But the opposition criticised the judgment with some focusing on and unfairly describing Justice Peter-Odili as a “PDP Judge”, an allusion to her husband’s political affiliation, even though the judgment was unanimous.

They questioned why she sat on the case considering she was the first lady to a former governor who is a member of one of the two parties whose case was before her.

However, the criticisms were mostly seen as unfair and it was noted that Justice Peter-Odili was also part of the Justices that affirmed the 2011 victory of an APC candidate Rochas Okorocha over his PDP rival Ikedi Ohakim.

Without a doubt, one of the most controversial incidents in the country’s justice sector was the October 29, 2021 attempted siege to the Abuja residence of the Odilis.

A Chief Superintendent of Police, Lawrence Ajodo, obtained a search warrant from the Wuse Zone 6 Magistrate’s Court in Abuja, for execution at the residence.

Ajodo allegedly claimed he was acting on behalf of a certain Joint Asset Recovery Team allegedly being coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

He said the application was based on an ongoing investigation of a tip, by a whistle-blower, suggesting that “criminal activities” were taking place in the house.

Security operatives invaded the Odilis’ home on October 29 to execute the warrant but were stopped by vigilant security officials who found inconsistencies in the warrant.

The magistrate who issued the warrant reportedly revoked it later that day on the ground that he was misled to issue it.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who superintends over the Federal Ministry of Justice, distanced himself from the raid. So did the police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Department of State Security (DSS).

There were several wrinkles on the face of the matter and the public was suspicious.

The incident, reminiscent of a similar raid on judicial officers’ homes in 2016, caused nationwide outrage with fingers immediately pointed at Federal Government security agencies.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the National Assembly, the Supreme Court management, and human rights groups among others all demanded action against the perpetrators.

In perhaps its strongest terms yet, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Tanko Muhammad-led Supreme Court blew hot over the raid.

So far, 15 suspects said to be involved in the raid are undergoing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Last November, an activist-lawyer, Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Justice Peter-Odili, alleging that she sat as “Complainant, Prosecutor and Judge in Criminal Appeal No: SC 250/2010 (TIMIPA OKPONIPERE Vs. STATE) which came before the Supreme Court in 2013.”

He claimed that an earlier petition he wrote to the National Judicial Council (NJC) on the matter was not acted on.

Some of Justice Peter-Odili’s trials also arose over her other family ties, particularly concerning one of her four children, Njideka, Peter, Adaeze, and Chinelo, two of whom are judges.

On June 8, 2013, it was reported that long stretches of public roads in Abuja, were blocked due to a wedding involving the Odilis’ second daughter Njideka to Uzoma Iheme Nwosu, the son of a Judge of the Court of Appeal, Justice Chioma Iheme-Nwosu.

Both Madera Road and a stretch of Aguiyi Ironsi Road were blocked and manned by armed and fierce-looking soldiers and policemen, due to the wedding at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory.

A large portion of the Aguiyi Ironsi Road was also converted into a parking lot by the wedding guests.

As a result, motorists and Abuja residents going in that direction were made to park far away and walk to their various destinations.

On May 6, 2020, the conveners of the Open Bar Initiative, including Silas Onu and Prof Chidi Odinkalu, alleged that the relatives of at least eight judges were on the list of 22 new judges of the Federal Capital Territory sent to the President for confirmation.

Following Buhari’s approval, CJN Muhammad inaugurated the 22 judges last November.

Four of the newly-inaugurated judges are children of serving and retired judges in the country while one other is a sibling of a serving judge.

They include Njideka Nwosu-Iheme, daughter of Justice Peter-Odili; Fatima Abubakar Aliyu, daughter of the immediate past President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa; Mimi Katsina-Alu Apena, daughter of late CJN, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, and Ibrahim Mohammed, the son of a former Grand-Khadi of the FCT.

The Open Bar Initiative and many other Nigerians condemned the appointments as examples of nepotism.

However, a spokesman for the NJC, Soji Oye, said the appointments were made in line with NJC rules and full awareness of the president.

Oye said the 22 individuals were among the 33 candidates vetted for the positions last year, but out of which 11 were confirmed.

Nevertheless, Justice Peter-Odili’s more than a decade stay in office has been seen as having enriched the Supreme Court bench.

Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, stated this at the valedictory court session held in her honour on Thursday.

He poured encomium on the jurist for her “irrepressible voice in the temple of justice,” describing her as the “epitome of jurisprudential finesse.”

“We are honouring an amiable lady of alluring qualities and excellence that transcend the legal profession,” Justice Muhammad said.

The CJN emphasised that Justice Peter-Odili “offered the best of her intellect to the advancement of the legal profession through her several years of inimitable adjudications at different levels of courts in Nigeria.

“She is a specimen of hard work, industry, discipline and high moral rectitude”.