“If Amupitan digs in, as is likely, and his appointor, Tinubu, indulges him, the commission will struggle to retain public trust. INEC may argue that suspicion is not proof and that, in any case, no forensic, platform-level evidence has been found against it. That is precisely what the National Assembly should do: Initiate a forensic probe. INEC is independent, but not unaccountable”
Amupitan’s Yanga Wakes Trouble Read More »
Delisting the ADC’s leaders was hasty and prone to needless controversy. Whatever its legal department may be telling the commission, Amupitan, a professor of law and senior advocate, should know that INEC’s action gives the impression that the commission is an interested party in the dispute, and calls his judgment and independence into question…I offer a comfort phrase to the ADC’s distressed leadership from the diminishing repertoire of street Latin: Potestas non est ad libitum – power is not given at one’s pleasure. It’s not served a la carte
INEC, ADC and the Latin Phrase: Another View Read More »
Two days of protests are good, but they will not be enough to hold the politicians and INEC to account this time next year. Voters, civil society, and the press must continue to exert pressure and maintain vigilance for free and fair elections. The ingenuity of the amended Bill is that it gives protesters a sense of victory while still retaining its pernicious essence: allowing INEC to determine what to do with election results and how
To Catch an Election Thief Read More »
“From twice forecasting that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would lose (2019 and 2023, he’ll lose again in 2027), months before the election, to predicting that at least five ministers would be fired in 2025 (seven were fired), nothing has given me greater pleasure than the Nostradamus-like thrill of watching a situation foretold unfolding”
What You Might Expect in 2026: A Valedictory Edition Read More »
Not that he cannot throw his hat in the ring, damning any legal consequences. Or because 10 years after he left office, life seems better retrospectively than it was. Whatever anyone might say, when Jonathan looks in the mirror, his incompetent five-year record looks back and responds with the question, Can this be true? The former president cannot believe his good luck
Why Jonathan Won’t Contest, Whatever the Courts Say Read More »
For reasons best known to him, instead of focusing on repairing the LP, broadening his base and appeal, Obi has fallen for the seduction that his salvation lies with joining Atiku, Amaechi, and former Governor Nasir El-Rufai in a coalition to nowhere. I’m shocked. Obi has forgotten what brought him this far
Peter Obi’s Dangerous Game Read More »
I forecast that by May 29 or earlier, the president will replace ministers, especially those who have since outlived their IOU value. As pressure mounts ahead of the pre-election year, no fewer than five of them will be replaced or reassigned by the end of 2025
What You Might Expect in 2025 Read More »
“Whether, apart from its business attraction, Ghanaian jollof would also best Nigeria’s jollof in the unending cuisine war between both countries in the next four years under Mahama remains to be seen”
Why Ghana’s Election Matters Read More »
The result of the party’s “inconclusive” primaries on Saturday showed that the surprise came early. From reports, Oshiomhole, APC’s certified nemesis in Edo, managed to suborn forces in the Presidency to hand over the party’s flag to Dennis Idahosa – a candidate that Oshiomhole’s government had once described as “untrustworthy,” the most flattering of the government’s description at that time.
APC Digging Its Own Grave in Edo Read More »
Jurisprudential jiggery pokery has a very long history in Nigeria, even though it wasn’t always rampant or brazen. It was with a heavy, tormented heart, for example, that Justice Fatai Atanda-Williams said the judgment of the Supreme Court in the famous case of Awolowo v Shagari in 1979 was never to be cited as precedent. Today, the Supreme Court has made so many conflicting and confusing judgments that even if it were to make exemptions it would find itself too entangled in the knot of its own self-inflicted misery to know where or how to start
The Road to Thanksgiving Read More »