News

OPINION: It Is Finished

Published

2 years ago

October 31, 2023

By Suyi Ayodele

If I were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, after the Thursday, October 26, 2023, affirmation of my election as the winner of the February 25, 2023, keenly contested and equally controversial presidential election, by the Supreme Court, I would call my diviners and offer them praises. I would call on Títírí lorí ogbo (the aged one). I would summon Bììrìpé lomi okòó dà (the water that drifts the canoe are both ways). I would ask Dídà lomi okòó dà, omi ókò kii yi (the water that drifts the canoe simply waves, it doesn’t overturn) to come in haste. I would remember the day the trio sat on the divination mat for Oodua, whose praise name is Atèwònrò, when his enemies told him that he would never ascend the throne of his forebears. When they all arrive, I would pay homage to the ones who assured Oodua that whether he offered the prescribed sacrifices or not, he would ascend the throne of those before him.

And to my opponents, the very ones who travelled as far as the United States of America (USA), and fought me up to the Supreme Court, I will let them know, the same way Oodua told his opponents that: Sábèé lóró (The people of Sábèé have full arsenal); Tògún lófà (The people of Tògún have arrows). I will warn them that: tí wón bá tún sígun Ìlúbìrin kì wón má ba won lo mó (When next they wage war against Ìlúbìrin – the town of women – they should not participate again). It was a battle badly fought. It was a victory won with blood and sweat. The scars will remain indelible. Generations yet unborn will tell the story. The international community will marvel at our ingenuity. The merits and demerits of the Supreme Court decisions will be topics for future symposia. As individuals, we will have lessons to learn and unlearn. While the bottom line is that a winner has finally emerged and all disputes are settled, the echoes of how we arrived at this stage of our nationhood will keep ringing in our brains.

Someone asked me what my take-home from the Supreme Court judgement was. I answered by saying that every parent or guardian now has the onerous responsibility of impressing on their children and wards alike that crime does not pay irrespective of the opinion of the highest court of the land. The Supreme Court is the final authority in all legal matters in Nigeria. Its finality, however, does not mean that its decisions on all matters are without human errors. But the court is covered by the very provisions of the constitution which makes it final. Besides, the legendary Justice of the Supreme Court, the late Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa, recognised this fact when he submitted thus: “We are not final because we are infallible; rather we are infallible because we are final.” One of the cases similar to the Atiku versus Tinubu matter in Nigeria’s legal jurisprudence is that of the 1979 Awolowo versus Shagari matter, where the Supreme Court then, under the leadership of the late Justice Fatayi-Williams, ruled on the contentious issue of what constituted two-thirdsof the then 19 states of the Federation. After the legal fireworks, their Lordships ruled in favour of Shagari and added a caveat: the case must never be cited in future legal matters. Till date, not a few Nigerians believe that the Supreme Court then erred by the calculation that 12 states, and not 13, would make two thirds of a 19-state structure. In his piece titled: “Awolowo vs Shagari- A case of Compromise Between Law and Political Expediency”, M. Olu Adediran, says: “… It was a case in which all Nigerians and in fact the whole world was highly interested. The case further showed the sign of the attitude or toga, the Supreme Court would wish to put on, concerning constitutional issues likely to arise in the second Republic.” That was some 44 years ago.

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The question we may wish to ask ourselves today as a people is: What has changed? The lesson in the final warning of the apex court that its decision on the matter should never be used as future references, to a lay man like me is that the Supreme Court then knew that it suffered human error in arriving at that decision, especially on the issue of two-third of 19. The court, in its supreme decision, threw overboard the expert calculation and opinion by the late Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics, Ayodele Awojobi, who submitted that no one could determine a two-thirds majority in Kano without the use of a computer. Interestingly, just like in the present case, the apex court then also held that there was non-compliance with the provisions of Section 34A(1)(c)(ii) of the Decree 1977, which spelt out the modus operandi for the election that for a candidate to be declared winner of an election, he has to have a majority of the votes cast and not less than one-fourth or one-quarter of the votes in two-third of the states in the Federation. In the alternative, the court ruled that by the provision of Section III subsection 1, which provides that non-compliance with part II will not affect the result of the election, it dismissed the case and Shagari was sworn in as the president. Justice Kayode Eso, however, gave a dissenting judgement, which suffered what all minority opinions suffer in the hands of the majority. The rest is now history. But history will always repeat itself, when the lessons therein are not learnt by all the parties concerned.

Truth be told, there can never be a completely perfect judgement, especially in a clime like Nigeria, where the judiciary is precariously tied to the apron string of the executive. Our judiciary will only be free, fair, and just when it truly gains independence, and is no longer treated as an appendage of the executive arm. No matter how independent-minded our judges and justices pretend to be, if their appointments, or the ratification of their appointments is determined by the head of the executive, the judiciary will continue to suffer mistrust from the public. While no one expects perfect judgment from the scenario we have here in Nigeria, our judicial officers must have at the back of their minds that they owe the people the duty to build confidence in the system. One of the lessons of the Supreme Court judgement in the Tinubu vs others is the fact that our judiciary is not snail-speeded as they have made it to be. What the seven wise men did on Thursday last week is novel in the annals of Nigeria’s judiciary. Nobody has ever given it a chance that a matter could come before our courts on a Monday and by Thursday, it has been dispensed with! When the news broke that the Supreme Court would be delivering the judgement on Thursday after listening to all parties on Monday, many Nigerians did not believe it. But it happened. It did not just happen, all the seven Justices were unanimous in their decision that irrespective of the flaws in the elections, the result cannot be invalidated. Where did that speed come from? Why has it been impossible for the same court to apply the same speed to all other matters that have been before it over the years? One man answered these questions. He is one man who should know, and actually knew what the problems are with our apex court. His name is justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Justice, Supreme Court (JSC). He is now retired.

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Until Friday, October 27, 2023, when he took his final bow as a JSC, Justice Dattijo was the second -in-command to the Chief justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola. As is customary, a valedictory session was organised for the retiring JSC, who was in service for 47 years, and had attained the age of 70. Against “his will”, Dattijo spoke at the event and what he said speaks to the reasons why cases gather dust on the shelves of our Supreme Court, and possibly the courts below it. According to the foremost jurist, the biggest problem of the Supreme Court today has to do with the composition of the court. Hear him: “The conversation about the diminishing number of justices at the Supreme Court has become a refrain. As I bow out today, the number is further reduced to 10 against the Constitutional requirement of 21 justices. That this avoidable depletion has affected and will further affect the court and litigants is stating the obvious.” Justice Dattijo did not stop there. He spoke to the contentious issue of election petitions and the need to properly constitute the Supreme Court Panel that would hear the appeal emanating from the presidential election petition tribunal, and the governorship elections. The retired jurist lamented thus:

“We are in an election season where the Election Tribunals and appellate courts are inundated with all manner of petitions and appeals. The Supreme Court is the final court in the Presidential, Governorship and National Assembly election appeals. Yet, there are only 10 justices left to determine these matters. Constitutionally, each of these appeals requires a panel of seven justices to sit on them. When a panel of seven justices is constituted to sit on a particular appeal, only three justices are left out. Even when regular appeals are being heard in the Supreme Court, a panel of five justices is required to sit. We must not forget that the Court, being the highest in the land, receives all manner of appeals from the court below… Again, beside election matters which are seasonal, the Supreme Court’s docket is overflowing with civil and criminal appeals, some of which took many years to arrive. Most of these are still pending. Several have not even been assigned hearing dates.”

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He went to the crux of the matter by submitting that: “To ensure justice and transparency in presidential appeals from the lower court, all geo-political zones are required to participate in the hearing. It is therefore dangerous for democracy and equity for two entire regions to be left out in the decisions that will affect the generality of Nigerians. This is not what our laws envisage. Although it can be posited that no one expected the sudden passing of Hon. Justice Nweze JSC, yet, it has been two years and seven months since the previous Justice from the South-East died and no appointment was made. Ditto for the replacement of Justice Eko JSC of North-Central.” With his exit from the apex court, Justice Dattijo pointed out that “the North Central zone that I represent ceases to have any representation until such a time new appointments are made. My lord Hon. Justice Ejembi Eko JSC who also represented the zone retired on the 23rd of May 2022. It has been a year and five months now. There has not been any replacement. With the passing of my lord, Hon. Justice Chima Centus Nweze, JSC on 29th July 2023, the South-East no longer has any presence at the Supreme Court. My lord, Hon. Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta JSC died on 7th March 2021. There has not been any appointment in his stead for the South-East.” The retiree stressed that there had been sufficient time for the management of the apex court to fill all the vacancies in the Supreme Court and ensure that all the zones are adequately represented as provided for, but it failed to do that. Yet the rule says all geo-political zones must be represented in the hearing of the presidential appeals.

The seven JSCs who sat on the panel that determined the Tinubu vs Atiku matter are Justice John Inyang Okoro (Akwa Ibom, South-South), Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji (Yobe State, North-East); Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba (Zamfara, North-West); Justice Ibrahim Saulawa (Katsina, North-West); Justice Adamu Jauro (Gombe, North-East); Justice Tijani Abubakar (Yobe State, North-East), and Justice Emmanuel Agim (Cross River, South-South). The issue before us is the fact that, as Justice Dattijo openly pointed out, the Supreme Court “deliberately” refused to have a full complement of justices as provided in the statutes establishing it. Could the absence of three geo-political zones (North-Central, South-East and South-West), on the presidential appeal panel that heard the Tinubu vs Atiku matter be fatal to the decision of the Supreme Court in the matter? The answer is hanging in the air. Why, for instance, was there no JSC from the South-West on the panel, when Justice Dattijo said that the zone has three serving Justices? Was it an error of omission, or a “deliberate” act? We may never know. However, Justice Dattijo’s words, to wit: “…Appropriate steps could have been taken since to fill outstanding vacancies in the apex court. Why have these steps not been timeously taken? It is evident that the decision not to fill the vacancies in the court is deliberate” and will continue to assail our consciousness. The retired JSC did not only point out the anomaly, but he also equally did justice to the imperial power wielded by the CJN, who is the alpha and omega as the “Chairman of the National Judicial Council,NJC, which oversees both the appointment and discipline of judges, he is equally Chair of the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), that appoints Senior Advocates of Nigeria.” When you have an “’absolute CJN’ as we do, presiding over a Supreme Court that has the final say in all legal jurisprudence, we can only seek solace in the bosom of the Creator, who is the Ultimate Judge. Consummatum est – it is finished!

News

How To Calculate Your Taxable Income

Published

2 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Editor

Contents

Current Personal Income Tax Brackets (2026 Onward)

Personal income tax applies to:

*Residents: on worldwide income

*Non-residents: on Nigeria-sourced income

For employees, tax is usually deducted at source under the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system.

Current Personal Income Tax Brackets (2026 Onward)

Nigeria operates a progressive tax system, meaning income is taxed in layers. Only the portion of income within each band is taxed at the applicable rate.

Annual Taxable Income (₦)	Tax Rate
First ₦800,000	0%
Next ₦1,400,000 (₦800,001 – ₦3,000,000)	15%
Next ₦9,000,000 (₦3,000,001 – ₦12,000,000)	18%
Next ₦13,000,000 (₦12,000,001 – ₦25,000,000)	21%
Next ₦25,000,000 (₦25,000,001 – ₦50,000,000)	23%
Above ₦50,000,000	25%

Your tax bracket refers to the highest (marginal) rate that applies to any portion of your income.
For example:

₦10 million → 18% bracket

₦60 million → 25% bracket

Steps to Calculate Your Taxable Income

1. Determine Your Gross Income

Add all annual earnings, including:

Salary and wages
Bonuses and allowances
Business or professional income
Rental income and other earnings

2. Subtract Allowable Deductions and Reliefs

These include:

Pension contribution: 8% of salary (employee portion)
National Housing Fund (NHF) (where applicable)
Rent relief: higher of ₦500,000 or 20% of annual rent paid
Other approved deductions (e.g. life insurance premiums, eligible mortgage interest)

Note: The former Consolidated Relief Allowance (CRA) has been abolished.

3. Arrive at Taxable Income

Taxable income = Gross income – deductions and reliefs

4. Apply the Progressive Tax Rates

Tax each portion of income according to the applicable band.

Worked Example

Annual gross salary: ₦15,000,000

Pension (8%): ₦1,200,000
Rent relief: ₦600,000

Taxable income:
₦15,000,000 − ₦1,200,000 − ₦600,000 = ₦13,200,000

Tax Breakdown:

First ₦800,000 @ 0% = ₦0
Next ₦2,200,000 @ 15% = ₦330,000
Next ₦9,000,000 @ 18% = ₦1,620,000
Remaining ₦1,200,000 @ 21% = ₦252,000

Total tax payable: ₦2,202,000
Marginal tax rate: 21%
Effective tax rate: ~16.7%

Important Notes

Low-income earners, including those below the minimum wage threshold, may be fully exempt.
PAYE administration may vary slightly by state.
For exact figures, taxpayers should consult their state internal revenue service or a licensed tax professional.

Source: Tribune

News

Foundation Offers Free Medical Serves To Edo Community

Published

15 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Editor

As part of its campaign against extractive activities and promotion of healthy living in the Niger Delta region, an environmental think-tank organisation — The Ecological Action Advocacy Foundation (TEAAF) on Monday offered free medical services to the people of Gelegele community in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State.

The free medical services which included eye screening, sugar level and BP tests, general medical examination and counseling, etc, saw over 150 people benefitting from the free medical outreach.

The beneficiaries were also offered the appropriate reading eyeglasses and medications as the outcome of their tests required.

In her speech, Project Director, TEAAF, Ann Ajirioghene Offi, said though it was not the first time her organisation is taking free medical services to the community, the need to offer the current free medical services to Gelegele people arise during a dialogue with them where they narrated different health challenges to the representatives of the organisation.

A cross section of beneficiaries of the outreach

Offi, who described Gelegele as a Community of Particular Concern to her organisation, said the health challenges keep increasing by the day as a result of extractive activities, gas flares and negligence.

She said: “We have seen that there are a lot of health challenges in this community, and this is as a result of the location of the community, and the ongoing extractive activities in the community, most especially the gas flares in the heart of the community. The gas flare has resulted in a lot of health challenges in the community, according to our research.

“We felt it’s very vital for us to bring free medical services here going by the health challenges facing the people.

“The challenges keep increasing by the day as a result of negligence. Negligence in the sense that the health centre in the community is not functional as it ought to be, and from my observation, no medical equipment in the clinic to take care of people.”

Eyeglasses display displayed during the medical outreach for distribution.

One of the beneficiaries, Clement Eyenmi, expressed joy and appreciated TEAAF for the free medical services, saying “our people need an organisation as this to come to their aid.”

He lamented that despite his age, he’s already having eye challenges as a result of the gas flares in the heart of the community.

“In this our environment, and personally for me, I have an eye challenge as a result of this gas flaring in the heart of our community. But today, I was attended to; I was given a reading glasses.

“The oil company flares the gas but does not bother about the welfare of the people, or show concern about the environment. This is a major problem we have here.

Medical personnel attending to a beneficiary.

“What this organisation is doing today is what we expect the government and the oil company to do, but they will never do such,” he added.

Also speaking, another beneficiary, Bobby Ikinbor, also appreciated TEAAF for the free medical services, saying “we do not have a standard hospital here, so, today, as this organisation brings this free medical services, it is a relief to us. We appreciate the organisation.”

He added: “You see, at times when we have an emergency health challenge and we try to rush the person to the city, we have to pray because of the bad condition of the road. At times the emergency patient dies before we get to the city.”

News

OPINION: Nigeria Deserves A President Donald Trump

Published

22 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

“I spoke with AJ on the phone to personally convey my condolences… He assured me that he is receiving the best care in the hospital.” From wherever he then was, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu relayed that Anthony Joshua, the British-born boxer of Nigerian descent involved in a recent car accident, had told him he was receiving the best medical attention in Nigeria.

Yet, with something as ordinary as a headache, the same president routinely jets out of the country for treatment, sometimes to the United Kingdom, sometimes to France, sometimes to destinations left undisclosed. No one asks Mr. President why he can not stay behind and partake of that same “best care in the hospital” available at home.

Instead, we busy ourselves with tallying the number of days he spends abroad, and when the arithmetic is done, we move on. Nothing more is demanded; nothing more is explained.

So, if tomorrow a President Donald Trump were to bar Nigerians from travelling to the United States for medical treatment, we would promptly denounce him as a racist. Yet the very next day, we would assemble a cultural troupe to welcome home a medical tourist president, one who left Nigeria quietly, without telling us what ailed him, and returned triumphantly after treatment abroad.

That is our lot; the predicament of a people wedded to decay and decadence. And it is precisely this contradiction, this ritual of self-deception, that makes it easy for some world leaders to dismiss Nigeria as a disgraced country.

President Trump is a man many love to hate. And justifiably too. The man attracts ‘hatred’ for himself as if his mission on earth is to do what many consider ‘despicable.’

I, however, have a different opinion about the man who rules America at the moment. I see him as more of an American patriot than the brute many people project him to be. I don’t see anything wrong in a president asking non-nationals to go back and fix their own countries. That, to me, is the central message of the Trump Presidency. My understanding of his philosophy on governance is that citizens should hold their leaders accountable, rather than fleeing their countries.

This is one of the reasons I hardly argue about Nigeria and its numerous failing institutions with any Nigerian living outside the shores of the country, especially those who japa less than 20 years ago. My position is simple: if you know that Nigeria is being run by the best of men now, just pack your bags and baggage and come back home. A friend once asked me why I don’t see anything wrong in “the racist called Trump”, and I responded by asking him to come back home and enjoy our nationalist president. If farming is an easy venture, blacksmiths will not sell hoes and cutlasses. Those are the words of our elders.

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Three days into the New Year 2026, President Trump opened the New Year on a very good note for the people of Venezuela. Venezuelans, at home and in the diaspora, woke up that Saturday, January 3, 2026, morning to discover that they had no president. Trump, using the sophisticated American soldiers in the US elite corps, invaded Venezuela in the dead of the night and abducted, if you like, kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Surprisingly, the people rejoiced at the news!

The husband and wife were in bed when the American soldiers came calling. One can picture how startled they were when they saw the strange faces in their inner room. The shock, especially when Maduro had, less than a month ago, boasted that he was safe and secure and dared America to come after him, is better imagined! What if the couple were making out when the intruders arrived?

Hours later, Trump boasted of the feat as “an extraordinary military operation,” during which “air, land, and sea were used to launch a spectacular assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since World War Two.” He then described the operation as “…. One of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history” as the Venezuelan military capacities were “rendered powerless”, and “…. the men and women of our military working with US law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night.” Could this be the reason why our elders advise that when one’s mother’s co-wife is older, one must call her mother (Tí ìyàwó ìyá eni bá ju ìyà eni lo, ìyá làá pèé).

A great public speaker, Trump warned that “This extremely successful operation should serve as a warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.” He listed those to be warned to include Cuba, saying, “I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now, a very badly failing nation. And we want to help the people. It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba.”

Trump is a consummate power wielder. He did not forget Colombia. It is a known fact worldwide that Colombia and drugs are Siamese twins. If President Maduro of Venezuela could be ‘captured’ because he was accused of importing cocaine to America, the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, President Trump warned, should “watch his ass”, because “He’s making cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his ass.”

We must get this right from the start. No law permits what President Trump did in Venezuela. The invasion of the presidential palace and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife are bad in all ramifications. America is not the world police. At least, the United Nations (UN), that toothless world bulldog, Charter does not permit such an infraction. The sovereignty of Venezuela was raped by Trump. The sanctity of the human person of President Maduro was violated. Oh, yes, I must add this: the solemnity of the bedroom of Maduro and his wife was desecrated! What if Maduro and his wife had slept naked, as most couples do?

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits any member state from using force against the territorial integrity (sovereignty) of an independent country. The Charter, in Article 51, only allows the use of force in self-defence, while Articles 24 and 25 permit only the Security Council to use joint or collective force against any independent nation that threatens world peace. So, where did President Trump derive the power to invade another country, pick up the incumbent president, and transport him to America in handcuffs, as he did to President Maduro of Venezuela?

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I have read many comments about the Trump Presidency. This recent action in Venezuela added fuel to the inferno of hatred for the American President. If Nigerians in the Diaspora in America were to choose who governs God’s Own Country, Trump would not have smelled the presidency. In fact, he would not have been elected as the mayor of any city. But unfortunately for the entire world, the American people, or, as someone argued, ‘the American skewed system’, elected Trump as president. Everybody, haters or lovers alike, would have to deal with that fact.

From day one, Trump never hid his identity. He never pretended to be a gentleman. He did not tell anyone that he would run America for foreigners. His ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) mantra is self-explicit. America would be for Americans, he promised. And he has lived up to that. That is honesty in its illiterate form! If you ask me, that is the type of president every nation deserves. No pretence, no diplomacy; all that matters is American interests. I wish Nigeria had such a President, the one who thinks, sleeps and dreams of Nigeria. We have been unfortunate with the selfish individuals that we have had as leaders. The present crop of transactional leaders is the very worst in our recent history.

If I were to choose a president for Nigeria, I would not think twice before picking a character like Trump. A man who places the nation’s interest above any other consideration is the man after my heart. This is what is lacking in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria. A nation that has no defined national interest is bound to be in ruins, like most nations of Africa.

Nigeria has the capacity, in all ramifications, to be great. What we lack is a president who is purposeful, courageous and above all, patriotic. We can imagine that our military became suddenly effective and efficient only after Trump ‘invaded’ Sokoto and cleared out a good number of terrorists. Yet again, nobody is asking what went wrong before the coming of Trump.

I have read so much about the sovereignty of Venezuela. I have no problem with that. But the one question I keep asking the proponents of national sovereignty is: at what time does the respect for a nation’s sovereignty stop? If, for instance, the sovereignty of Nation A threatens the peace of Nation B, what should Nation B do? Should it act in the interest of its own peace or fold its hands while the rudderless nation A acts anyhow?

If President Maduro was exporting drugs to America as Trump alleged, what should be the response of President Trump? I also find it curious that many who talked about the sanctity of the American judiciary in the case involving President Tinubu and the Chicago University certificate are the same set of people saying Maduro would not get justice in America! What a people!

After the ‘capture’ of President Maduro, the American President said that the US would “run” Venezuela. Many said that Trump was only interested in Venezuelan crude oil. Trump himself did not deny that. His press conference after Maduro had been taken into custody was clear enough. America had a huge investment profile in the oil sector of Venezuela. One of the responsibilities of President Trump, and this is applicable to all presidents, is the protection of the American economy at home and abroad. If the US investments are threatened in Venezuela because of the activities of Maduro, would Trump not be failing in his responsibility if he did not act in the name of sovereignty?

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Nnamdi Kingsley Akanni, a professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Rivers State University, in a 2019 paper on “The Concept of Sovereignty in International Law and Relations,” suggests that the concept of sovereignty may be a ruse after all. According to him, “The paper found that what third world countries enjoy is not sovereignty but ‘sovereignty on dictated terms’ of the so-called developed powers.”

The erudite scholar states further that at the end of the research exercise, “The paper also found that smaller States are not accorded protection from developed countries and that until that is done, the concept of sovereignty will continue to be elusive to smaller nations.” He then recommends “…that the UN should take proactive steps to give greater recognition and voice to developing countries as well as offering them the platform to assert their sovereignty in line with international law.”

What the scholar is saying here is that the concept of ‘sovereignty’ exists only when the developed countries are involved. When there is a conflict of interest between the world superpowers and any of the developing or ‘disgraced’ countries of the world, the principle of “Just War” applies. This is why Trump is going to get away with the Saturday invasion of Venezuela and the impending similar exercises in Cuba and Colombia, as the American President hinted.

If the UN wakes up today and gets its mojo back to interrogate Trump on Venezuela, the US can simply hide under the cover of the principle of ‘Just war’ as the invasion of Venezuela and the ‘capture’ of its president satisfied the jus ad bellum requirements of the ‘just cause’, just intention’; ‘just peace’; reasonable chance of success’; and ‘expected benefits outweighing anticipated cost.’. We don’t need a seer to predict that many drug-friendly leaders across the globe will think twice before making America their ‘depots.’ Trump took the American oath of office to protect American interests. This is why there has been no serious condemnation of the invasion in the US today.

The invasion of Venezuela is a lesson for third-world countries. The argument that Trump took that decision because of the last Venezuelan election and economic interest is noble in my opinion. That is what he was elected to do: protect America and its interests world over.

In Africa, in general, and in Nigeria in particular, let our leaders learn to develop our lands. Let those saddled with the responsibilities of paddling our canoes do so with utmost patriotism. And more importantly, let those who want to lord it over us do so through free and fair elections. Otherwise, we will all clap and celebrate should Trump decide to ‘capture’ and ship all undesirable elements with questionable character to America for trial. Venezuelans set the precedent on Saturday when they trooped to the streets in jubilation at the news of the removal of Maduro!1