“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 »
“Adebayo Adelabu has performed so disastrously, saying he failed would be an honour. But it’s not his fault – it’s the fault of the President who appointed him and the Senate that cleared him for a job that he was clearly incompetent to perform, either based on his record or based on any hope of redemption”
Adelabu’s Power Lines as Laundry Lines Read More »
“This Obi is a Peter of clay – malleable, confused, and lacking in staying power. He’s drifting, mistaking a jungle for a zoo. This should be a great source of worry for his troops, especially the social media-based avatars (without voter cards), who deify Obi and whose political signature tune is “Obi-way or the highway.”
Obi’s Transition From Serious Contender to Mascot Read More »
“I’ve often joked that even if you beheaded El-Rufai and minced his skull, his tongue would still be wagging. Those who have been in his crosshairs might agree. He once said even if President Muhammadu Buhari were hit on the head with a Blackberry phone, the former president might still not know the difference between the phone and a blackberry fruit”
El-Rufai: What A Good Turn Didn’t Deserve 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 »
Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi, who had been alerted by the wife of one of the murdered officers, ran to the police headquarters in his car to plot a counter-offensive. According to the book, Ironsi spent most of the morning of January 15 in the Lagos police headquarters trying to consolidate his position. Sixty years later, no one can say where a general confronted with a similar situation might turn for refuge and reinforcement. However, most would likely agree that it certainly would not be the police headquarters in Lagos or Abuja
A British War Journalist’s Account of How January 15 Changed Nigeria 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 »
If the convention went ahead, it would be a grudge convention, over the party’s dead body. What, by many accounts, would have been the party’s first convention in 17 years is now fatally derailed by court orders
Why Is the Promise of 60 Years Unravelling? 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 »