Azu Ishiekwene

a picture of atiku, tinubu and obi seated in front of a backdrop of the supreme court and Themis, the Greek goddess, who represents law, order, and justice

Atiku, Obi and the Road to Kilimanjaro

politics /

On a good day, it’s improbable that any of Abubakar’s or Obi’s lawyers would say, with a straight face, that they believe that the constitution created Abuja as an enclave of super voters. Even for a constitution widely criticised for its clutter, it would be taking a malicious lack of clarity too far to suggest that the writers meant that Abuja voters were greater than the rest of us. Not even in the US, famous for its ‘federational’ oddities, does the capital, Washington DC, hold an electoral veto vote over the other states. In fact, the whole point of the Electoral College is to equalise the states. Nigerian courts have also made this point repeatedly. But obviously, the election petition industry will stop at nothing to reinvent its growth, expansion, and prosperity

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An image of fct minister, nyesom wike, imposed on an image of gumi sitting with bandits

Gumi’s Extremism Shames Decency

politics /

His most deadly venom was not for Wike. It was for Tinubu, the enabler of the “Satan” called Wike, and the hundreds of smaller Southern devils of all faiths roaming the woods of the country in a murderous rampage since 1966 but who have resurged with Tinubu’s election, holding the trigger. Their poor, dispossessed Northern compatriots are left to occupy empty shells as offices. This translation is a mild version of what Gumi said

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an image of Keren-happuch in tears in front of a school building

A School Crime Scene That Won’t Go Away

Human Interest /

As Keren-happuch’s mother’s story goes, the night after she took her daughter home, the girl became gravely ill. She had to be taken to Queen’s Clinic, Area 6, Abuja, where urine and virginal swap tests had allegedly revealed dead spermatozoa, apart from a piece of festering condom also removed from her inside. When her personal effects were retrieved from Premiere Academy, she had marked a place in her Bible, “What I always feared has happened to me (Job 3:25).”

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president of nigeria, bola ahmed tinubu and indian Prime minister, narendra modi seated on a backdrop of the g20 india logo

Begging for a seat at the table

Africa, Economy, politics /

Nigeria is not even among the eight countries currently participating in AfCFTA’s Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), a platform that is supposed to boost the region’s trade policy framework. How can Nigeria, which ought to be in the forefront of turning this state of affairs around, but which is sadly one of the laggards in AfCFTA commitments, covet a table at the G-20? And on what terms when, like most of the continent, Nigeria is still largely a market for primary commodities with the inherent disadvantages?

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silhouette image of a judge giving judgement in a court room

From the Mouth of His Lordship

politics /

Akintan was assigned 52 petitions in Port Harcourt alone. On top of that, the President of the Court of Appeal told him he had to go to Jos for eight pending governorship election petitions, which the president of the court obviously needed a trustworthy judge to handle. To avoid contact with litigants and their lawyers, never mind the felicity of some determined folks even thinking of sending him Sallah ram directly or by proxy as we heard in a recent case in Kano, he moved his base from Port Harcourt to his home town, Idanre, Ondo State

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picture of godwin obaseki and philip shaibu in a fighting ring

Obaseki and Shaibu Deserve Each Other

politics /

Obaseki, the other significant party in this pathetic drama playing out in Edo, is a man of infinite contradictions, whose chameleonic gifts are matched only by his ruthless deployment of power. Against the run of fair play, Oshiomhole imposed him as his successor in 2016, in a self-aggrandising bid to copy the Tinubu-Fashola model in Lagos; he being the Tinubu of Edo, and Obaseki, the former stockbroker from Afrivest, Edo’s Fashola.
The experiment turned out to be a catastrophic fiasco. Barely two years after take-off, the falcon began to defy the falconer, and the monster created in the process now threatens not only the creator but also the supplicant who has dared to challenge it

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