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OPINION: Recommending Oba Erediauwa To President Tinubu

Published

4 months ago

June 24, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

Everyone has someone he adores. I have many such people; men and women who made or are making meaningful impacts. One of such men was Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin (22 June 1923 – April 2016). May his soul continue to rest peacefully in the midst of his ancestors. Isee! The Oba was an epitome of what a good leader should be. Diplomatic, humane with a deep milk of kindness running in his veins, Oba Erediauwa was the people’s Oba. He was close to his subjects and drew strangers to himself, too.

People, from time immemorial, do funny things to get closer to their leaders. In some extreme cases, some do weird things to get noticed by their rulers or leaders alike. A woman and a man did something weird and funny to get the attention of Oba Erediauwa a few years ago.

Some years into the reign of Oba Erediauwa (1979-2016), a woman used to come into the palace chanting two sentences to wit: Emwenoba romwonu (I have something to say to the Oba), and Edohia gha hena humwenhe (Benin must hear what they are doing to me). She would target whenever the Oba was within earshot to utter the statements and would leave.

Initially, Oba Erediauwa pretended not to hear. But like the story of the persistent widow in the Bible as recorded Luke 18:1-8, the woman kept coming to the palace until the Omo N’Oba could no longer resist her. So, one day, Oba Erediauwa asked her to be brought forward and asked her what she wanted to tell the king and what she wanted Benin to hear.

The woman, who hailed from Kwale, Delta State, narrated how her husband, also a Kwale man, died and was buried in accordance with Kwale tradition and Benin custom of Igiogbe. Despite those rites of passage fulfilled by the eldest son of the man, the extended family of the deceased wanted to chase her and her children out of the house which the deceased husband built and where he lived, died and was buried. Then she asked Oba Erediauwa if that was right.

Omo N’Oba Erediauwa wasted no time. He settled the matter and assigned some senior palace chiefs to follow the woman home and restore her rights and those of her children to their late father’s estate. Till date, nobody has ever gone to trouble the woman in her matrimonial home. The Oba’s pronouncements, especially on land matters, are final. It is not for fun that the Benin people say: Aiguobasimwin-otor (You don’t drag land with the Oba). But what if that woman had no access to Oba Erediauwa? Think about that while I share the second short story.

Again, a man was brought before Oba Erediauwa by some palace functionaries. The crime the man committed was that he inscribed a chieftaincy title on his car and was in the habit of driving the car frequently around the King’s Square otherwise known as Ring Road. After repeated warnings to the culprit to remove the inscription failed, he was ‘arrested’ and brought before the Omo N’Oba.

After listening to the complaint against the man, Oba Erediauwa asked those who ‘arrested’ him to state which offence the accused had committed. The palace functionaries explained that the title the man claimed did not exist in the Benin Kingdom. But more importantly, he must give the name of the Omo N’Oba who conferred the chieftaincy title on him.

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Turning to the accused, Oba Erediauwa asked him to respond to the issues raised by the palace chiefs. The man, paying obeisance to the Oba simply said in Benin Language: “Ima yegbemwen-yunu vbiayasekenuye sir. ” The simple interpretation is: “If I had not fooled myself, how could I have ever reached your presence sir?”

Omo N’Oba Erediauwa looked at his chiefs and looked back at the man. He asked his chiefs if they heard what the accused man said, and they answered in the affirmative. The Oba asked again if there was still anything the chiefs wanted to know, and they chorused “No”.

Turning to the man again, Oba Erediauwa prayed for him that now that he (the accused) had fulfilled his life ambition of standing in the presence of the Omo N’Oba, may he prosper and live long. The king rose. The man simply went outside and removed the sticker on his car and drove off.

To see his king, the man conferred on himself a non-existent chieftaincy title. Thank God for the wisdom with which Oba Erediauwa handled the message. The monarch was sensitive enough to know that there were many of his subjects out there who longed to see him, but protocols, traditions and custom would not allow them.

The Omo N’Oba was knowledgeable enough to realise that a lot of commoners would do anything from the funny to the weird and the absurd, just to catch a glimpse of him. These two occasions were just a few of how many times the monarch descended from his high throne to meet with those at the bottom of the ladder in his kingdom. Oba Erediauwa knew that without the people, there is no kingdom. He was a monarch with the mantra: the people first!

An incident close to these happened in Kaduna last week when Citizen Mohammed Umar, whom the Kaduna Police called a ‘madman’, attempted to get close to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the podium where the President was addressing the dignitaries that were present in the event the number one man had with Kaduna people.

The narratives that followed the short video of that incident are not complimentary ones for the President. The commentaries show the feelings in the land. The police responded by saying that the narratives were by the enemies of the President. Honestly, I believe the police. President Tinubu himself must believe the police too. With the way Tinubu has handled the lives of Nigerians in the last two years, he has successfully acquired a horde of enemies!

But if I were President Tinubu, I would be wary of those who call themselves my friends. The President is no doubt surrounded by too many friends who don’t tell him the truth. Those are men and women who are members of the Hallelujah orchestra; the máa jó lo mò ún wo èhìn e (keep dancing, I am watching your back) gang. Those are the ones who tell the president how much Nigerians love him and his non-existent or pain-inflicting reforms and how Nigerians wished they had had a Tinubu long before now!

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The President’s friends he should be wary of are the ones who hailed him when he announced, to the embarrassment of the entire nation, that he could not travel to Yelwata, where over 200 Nigerians were slaughtered and roasted last week by bandits because of “the rain, flood and bad road!”

I listened to President Tinubu utter those words; those flimsy excuses from the Commander-in-Chief, and all I could say was sè e ùngbó òrò burúkú lénu eye (hope you can hear terrible chirp from the mouth of the bird)? What did Tinubu go to do in Benue State if he could not get to Yelwata? Who did he go to ‘sympathise’ with? What happened to the road? What is the duty of a government if it cannot fix roads and control erosion? If the President needed to go to Yelwata to canvass for votes, would “the rain, erosion and bad road” be hindrances?

Was it not the same rain that the Benue State Government pushed school children to, to welcome Tinubu? What is the value of a president that could not defy the rain, brace the erosion and suffer bumpy rides to reach Yelwata where those God has put under his watch were slaughtered? How much was spent on the reception for the President in Makurdi, and how much would it have cost to do emergency palliative work on the Yelwata Road? Did the government not clear the bushes on the roads the president would use within Makurdi?

And come to think of it. Are the choppers in the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) bad? Not a single of the five helicopters “tailored for VIP transport” is functional enough to convey the President to Yelwata and back?

What President Tinubu did in Benue State is a bad example of how a leader should not treat the dead or demean the living. It is also a negative testimony of how distant our leaders are from the people they pretend to lead. This is why we will continue to have the likes of Mohammed Umar of Kaduna who are ready to do anything to catch a glimpse of the president.

Incidentally, President Tinubu is not alone in this malady of distant rulership. Check your neighbourhood and ask how many times you get to see your councillors. How many local government chairmen are accessible to their constituents? Once they have the prefix, “Honourable”, do we get to see our legislators? How many so-called ” Distinguished ” senators walk the same paths with the commoners once they ascend those lofty heights? Here in Nigeria, the convoy of a governor is as long as the entire length of the Niger Bridge in Onitsha!

That is why our leaders don’t feel what we feel. They don’t go to the marketplaces; they don’t attend the shambolic death houses they call hospitals for us commoners. Protocol men and women are there to screen us when we approach them. Overzealous security agents are handy to rough handle the common men that try to get close to ‘His Excellency.

I saw how startled President Tinubu was when Umar made that weird attempt in Kaduna. Nothing wrong in that; the President is a human being. But his gesture sent a strong message to me. I don’t know who shares the same feeling. President Tinubu was momentarily rattled in that video! He was scared; he was fazed! It was written all over him! So, the rich also get scared? Can someone help tell the President that that is the common food of poor Nigerians; we live perpetually in fear!

Seriously, President Tinubu has something to learn from that incident. A good leader needs not fear by the appearance of a mere ‘madman’, especially when he is in the midst of his people. Thank God, Umar, as we were told, was just a fanatical supporter of Tinubu. And he was not armed. So, if the President was that scared seeing one of his own approaching him, what would he do if he were to be in a hostile environment?

The lesson here is not for President Tinubu alone. Our leaders should learn how to lead well and make life more abundant for the people. The streets are not smiling, as we say in our usual street lingo. Things are not adding up for the common man. The next few months are going to be tough. This is not my prediction; Lasisi Olagunju said so in his Monday Line Column of yesterday (Monday, June 23, 2025)

While concluding the column: “Let Tehran, Tel Aviv bleed, Abuja will pay the price” the columnist wrote: “They pull the trigger, the mugus of the world pay the price.” Olagunju said this with the valid projections that the war in the Middle East would gravely affect the African continent. I could not agree less.

When the pangs of the ongoing madness in the Middle East begin to take its toll on us, our leaders will witness more weird behaviours from the citizens. The poor will get more desperate. And in gatherings like we had in Kaduna last week, more’ mad’ fanatics of our leaders will show up. The security aides will have more work to do. And, who knows, the number of the ‘mad fanatics’ may one day become too large for the security aides to rein in!

But we can avert that. Our leaders can drink water and drop the cups peacefully if only they will do the right thing. What I prescribe here is that the leaders should get close to the people. Feel their pains, share in their agony and stop giving excuses of “the rain, flood and bad road.” It is not an honour for the chief hunter to announce that he was chased out of the forest by a wild animal! Bad road is too cheap an excuse for the President not to visit the victims of a genocide as we had in Yelwata.

It is not too late. Let the President begin to ameliorate the pain in the land. Let Tinubu begin to give human face to his governance. Should the prices of crude go up with the war in the Middle East without corresponding measures to cushion the effects on hapless Nigerians who will be made to buy petrol at higher prices, many ‘mad’ men and women; those who adore and those who hate, will approach presidential and gubernatorial podiums with the vociferous lunacy birthed exclusively by either anger or hunger!

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[OPINION] Gov Adeleke: Cure Madness With Madness

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Tunde Odesola

This is the definition of shock. A squirrel’s stomach rumbles like a faucet belching water, despite a barn of walnuts in full view. But the barn is utterly inaccessible. Fidgety on the same spot, the squirrel sits, skips, sighs and yawns in hunger, furtively watching four moustachioed scarecrows guard the four pillars of the barn. Two of the scarecrows wear buba and sokoto, the other two wear agbada and abeti aja caps.

Then came a whirlwind. The squirrel, head peeping out of its burrow in the earth, watches as one abeti aja cap goes up in the air, while the scarecrow donning the abeti aja cap crashes facedown on the barn gbooaa!

Terrified, the squirrel dashes into the ground on the limbs of lightning. By the time it came back to peep from its burrow, another scarecrow had crashed and crumbled like Humpty Dumpty. If it were human, the squirrel would have spoken in pidgin English, with a thick Warri accent, “Ehn-ehn? I see. So, na effigy I bin dey fear since all dis days wey hunger dey wire me? Human beings wicked o. I go show dis farmer pepper!” In this moment of sudden realisation, the look on the squirrel is the definition of shock.

If I told you I became an Ambassador when I was 12 years old, I’m sure you would be shocked. But that’s the truth. It was at Araromi Baptist Church, located at 42, Sokunbi Street, Mushin, that I was made an Ambassador in the Layode Chapter of Royal Ambassadors – a male youth group that mentors teenagers and young adults in faith, leadership and service. The motto of the Boy Scouts-like organisation is, “We are ambassadors for Christ,” a quote domiciled in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Though our church is located in Mushin, where we grew up, Royal Ambassadors didn’t take marijuana, not to talk of colos, loud, codeine, tramadol, cocaine, heroin, etc, hard substances popular among today’s youths.

According to Royal Ambassadors’ cherished manual, which contains the philosophy and guidelines of the organisation, “An ambassador is the one who represents a king at the court of another king.” All churches under the Nigerian Baptist Convention have Royal Ambassador chapters. In my days as an ambassador, we learnt how to pitch a tent in an open-air camp, make a lanyard, control traffic, conduct a march-past, sing and play martial and secular musical instruments, and preach the word of God.

Of late, in Nigeria, however, there’s a strong umbilical cord connecting shock and the term ambassador. Thesaurus, the book of meanings, says scandalise is a synonym for shock. It also gives ‘emissary’ as the equivalent of ambassador.

From popular marijuana-smoking Naira Marley to tarmac-invader, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, and the content-creating irritant, Ayomiposi Oluwadahunsi, aka Mandy Kiss, who sought to bed 100 men in 24 hours, and earn Guinness World Record fame – the official reward for infamy in Nigeria is an ambassadorial award.

But the ambassadorship conferred on me by Araromi Baptist Church is in Christ, not in crisis. Nigerianly, the ambassadorships conferred on Naira Marley, Wasiu Ayinde and Mandy Kiss were rewards for the crises they precipitated.

In the southwestern domain of Governor Nurueen Ademola Jackson Adeleke, three issues stand out as either befitting of Nigeria’s present-day ambassadorial awards or outright condemnation. They are the embarrassment the Osun Amotekun Corps is fast becoming, the Apetu of Ipetumodu saga, and the gassing Oluwo of Iwo. Thank goodness, Adeleke has not yet glorified the ridicule these three have smeared on public consciousness by making them ambassadors. It is, however, instructive to note that he has yet to condemn any of them. And, silence, wisdom whispers, is another name for consent.

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Dear Governor Adeleke, the people of Osun are asking, “Where has one of the kings in our State of the Living Spring, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, gone? The people of Osun are saying the Apetu’s royal head that wears the beaded crown of Ipetumodu has been exposed koroboto in a US jail, shining to the derision of inmates who wonder why a king dragged his nobility in criminal mud. It is too big for my basketmouth to ask the Oba Elewon if it was greed or ambition, or both, that pushed him off the throne into the trash of dishonour. Your Excellency can help the people of Osun ask him, using the authority of your office.

My governor, the Oriade of Ipetumodu will not only be sleeping outside his domain in the next four and a half years, the Igba Keji Orisa will be sleeping in a foreign prison, wearing prison clothes, eating prison food, bathing with fellow prisoners and doing prison labour. Abomination! Do the Yoruba not say ‘oriade kii sun ita?’ Governor Adeleke, this oriade has slept outside; it should not be allowed back into the palace.

Thank heavens, Governor Adeleke has no visual challenge; thus, I ask, “Is the optics of Apetu in prison orange uniform good for the integrity and image of Osun? If it is not, why has the Peoples Democratic Party-led Osun administration kept quiet for many weeks after the jailing of the Alayeluwa? Remember, Mr Governor, many months after the Apetu was arrested in the US over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud, your administration said it would await court judgment to know the direction to go on the matter.

On August 28, 2025, however, a US Distinct Judge in Ohio, Christopher Boyko, found Oloyede guilty of leading a conspiracy to exploit COVID-19 emergency loan programmes designed to assist struggling small businesses, sentenced him to 56 months in prison and ordered him to refund $4,408,543.38, $90,006.89, forfeiting the house he bought in Medina, Ohio, with the proceeds of the fraud.

Speaking exclusively to PUNCH newspaper after the judgment, Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dosu Babatunde, said the Adeleke administration would not act based on social media reports.

Babatunde said, “While it may be true that the monarch has been convicted and jailed, there is no official record with us. We cannot rely on Facebook posts and stories to justify such a serious matter.” Babatunde added that the government would get the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment before making any decision regarding the stool.

In a shocking move that unfolded two days after his imprisonment, however, persons believed to be loyal to the 62-year-old Oloyede, subsequently ransacked the palace and allegedly carted into hiding crowns and royal paraphernalia in a bid to stall the appointment and installation of a new king. While the people of Ipetumodu are calling on the state government to commence the process of appointing a new king, the deafening silence on the part of the Adeleke government appears to be a tacit tactic to stall and hold the crown down for the criminal king.

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As a US resident, I know it is not likely to take up to 15 minutes to obtain the CTC of a case in a US court, upon application, having obtained information myself in a court sometime ago. The statement by the Osun State government that it needed a CTC to commence action on the Apetu’s case reeks of foot-dragging and hypocrisy when the king had been held in prison since April 2024, sentenced in August 2025, with the report of the sentencing on the official website of the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio.

By asking for the CTC, does the Adeleke administration intend to appeal the judgment on behalf of the Apetu? If yes, did the state governor or government benefit from the proceeds of the fraud? And, why has the government not obtained the Almighty CTC since judgment was given? Oba Oloyede is the second case of an Osun monarch jailed for criminal offences in the US, the first one being the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba, Emir, Alaafin Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Telu I. Why is the Adeleke government buying time for a king whose royal gourd Ipetumode kingmakers should have smashed into oblivion by now? Is the state government saying the monarch has been on a sabbatical holiday since April 2024, when he was held in the US? Now that the king has been jailed and the report has grabbed headlines across the world, it is absolutely unthinkable that the Osun State government appears undecided and clueless on the matter. The people of Osun need an answer to the question of the jailed Apetu urgently.

My governor and aburo Serubawon of blessed memory, getting a CTC in a US court is far less stressful than the energy you exert dancing. The people of Osun voted for you to show good leadership. There is no better time to prove your mettle than now. You bear the illustrious title of Asiwaju; it’s time to prove you are not the snail that carries two horns on its head, but lacks the power to butt.

Egbon Ademola, the lastborn of Pa Ayoola Adeleke and Mama Esther Adeleke, remember the son of whom you are. You’re the descendant of Timi Agbale, Olofa ina. You are omo arogun ma fi t’ibon se, omo Mapo Arogun, iyako agbo, omo aji lala oso, aji f’ojo gbogbo dara bi egbin. The pall of darkness cast over Ipetumodu by the Apetu’s imprisonment needs your Imole. Shine your light to chase away darkness in Ipetu.

I’m sure you know Dr Olusegun Mimiko. He is a former Governor of Ondo State. His nickname is Iroko. When the then Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adeshina Adepoju, engaged his wife in a public brawl, Iroko uprooted him and flung him outside the palace, replacing him with the incumbent king, Oba Adegboye Adesida. Baba B-Red, please, prove to the world that if Ondo State had Iroko, Osun State has a true Asiwaju, too.

But if Imole is jittery to take action on Oloyede because of his re-election bid in 2026, I’ll advise him to listen and take courage from the song titled, “Were la fi n wo were,” by a Juju musician named G Melody.

Is the governor surprised that the song doesn’t even belong to Taye Currency, a low-current Ibadan-based Fuji musician, who inappropriately sang the song at the recent coronation of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Adewolu Rashidi Ladoja? I was surprised, too. The song belongs to G Melody. But Currency sang it energetically as if it were his own, without giving credit to Melody.

While investigating the ownership of the song, I called music aficionado, Bimbo Esho, of the Evergreen Musical Company fame, and asked who owns Were la fi n wo were. Bimbo sent me a voice note containing the voice of Ogun State-based G Melody in which he told the story of how he got the inspiration to compose the song.

Melody said, “It’s my song. People have been calling me about the song. Some of the boys I trained, like Ola Liberty, sing it. Ola Liberty is my very good son. I’m not a noise maker. It’s my song. There’s another song of mine, “Kilode te n ya were, abosi?”, that they are singing all over the place now. I composed Were la fi n wo were song in Imeko, where I had gone to sing at a political rally. Some guys were trying to disrupt the rally, and I said they should calm down, that they cannot stop me. I infused it with political undertones, saying they cannot steal our votes, and if they do, we would cure madness with madness – were la fi n wo were.”

Governor Adeleke, it is high time you cured madness with madness in Osun. It is not right for a hunter to flee homeward from the forest, shouting, “Help! Help! Save me! A ferocious animal is on my heels!” Please, restore the Omoluabi ethos of dignity, integrity and honour to Ipetumodu royalty.

It’s obvious the same affliction of greed that plagues the Ipetumodu crown plagues the Iwo monarchy; àrùn to n se Ipetumodu lo n se Iwo, but Iwo manifests a malignant and metastasised cancer needing urgent surgery. First, the Oluwo should be deposed for his criminal conviction in the US over fraud, just like the Apetu. Second, the public actions and utterances of the Oluwo negating the honour and source of the Yoruba should be investigated and sanctioned by the state government.

In an old video, Oluwo said, “Me and Ooni do talk, we have a very good relationship. He (Ooni) is the head of all kings in Yorubaland; that is the source. It doesn’t matter what anybody says; Ife is the source of all crowns. Ife is where Oduduwa lived and got his crown from. Every other king who is from ancient town is a prince from Ife. I am a prince from Ife. Every other crown that you see, that is an ancient crown in Yoruba land, is prince from Yorubaland. So, the crown he (Ooni) is wearing is the father of all the crowns. It doesn’t matter what anybody says.”

In a new video, Akanbi, who named his palace, “Aafin Olodumare Iwo,” dares the Ooni to speak Ife dialect in Ibadan, and inferred that the Ooni was not a Yoruba king because he does not wear ofi clothe, insisting that Yoruba kings do not tie their clothes over their shoulders as the Ooni does. In a moment of epiphany, fueled by God-knows-what, Akanbi also says Ife is not the source of the Yoruba, leaving people who had watched his earlier acceptance of Ife as the source of all crowns, wondering if all is well with the Oluwo of Iwo.

Were la fi n wo were. Governor Adeleke, as a matter of urgency, should take this song to the headquarters of the Osun State Amotekun Corps, where a malignant form of madness is festering.

Reports emanating across Osun against the modus operandi of Amotekun indicate that the corps has turned into a full-fledged organ of terror. The corps, under the leadership of a retired policeman, Isaac Omoyele, is a classical example to be cited by antagonists of state police. Evidence abounds that the corps now extorts the citizenry, detaining people and charging them money for bail.

In June, officials of the corps were accused of illegal arrest of residents in the Itaapa community, a situation which led the residents to stage a protest in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. The Odofin of Itaapa, Olusegun Owoeye, who led the protesters, said Amotekun officers arrested some members of the community’s security volunteer team alongside some chiefs, following a complaint by a leader of the governor’s party, the PDP.

Omoyele had insisted that those arrested were criminals armed with guns, but the community said the guns belonged to the town’s vigilante members.

Before he was appointed by Adeleke as Amotekun commander, Omoyele, in 2022, was accused of brutality by an #ENDSARS panel while serving as a police officer.

In its latest show of barbarity, officials of the corps stormed the Akinlalu community and opened fire on innocent citizens, killing no fewer than four people, while claiming that they did so in an attempt to retrieve a pump-action gun some youths of the community seized.

Before Osun is turned into a lake of fire, the governor should tell his Amotekun that it is wrong to carry out reprisal attacks on innocent people while trying to retrieve a gun, just as the arrest of 20 members of the corps by a special squad of the police is commendable.

Omoyele, who was the chief security officer to Adeleke, should be relieved of his post, while a more mature, disciplined and experienced replacement should take his stead.

I won’t mind if my governor gyrates to Were la fi n wo were, sliding two fingers over the corner of his eyes while his followers shout themselves hoarse, but he must truly cure the madness in Osun with madness.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

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Jonathan To Meet Tinubu Over Nnamdi Kanu’s Detention — Sowore

Published

21 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, said former President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to engage President Bola Tinubu on the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Sowore disclosed this on Friday via his X handle after meeting with Jonathan in Abuja.

According to him, their discussion centred on the “urgent and compelling need” to address Kanu’s case “decisively and justly.”

Sowore said, “Earlier today in Abuja, I met with former President @GEJonathan (Goodluck Jonathan) to discuss the continued incarceration of Mazi @NnamdiKanu

“President Jonathan agreed that there is an urgent and compelling need to address this matter decisively and justly. I thank him sincerely for recognising the importance of resolving Kanu’s case in the interest of peace, fairness, and national healing.

“Particularly assuring was that he promised to meet @officialabat (President Bola Tinubu) to discuss this issue as soon as possible.”

He noted that with this development, Jonathan joins a growing list of Nigerians who have called for justice in Nnamdi Kanu’s case.

“A list that already includes ex-Vice President @atiku, Femi Falana SAN, Senator @ShehuSani, and many others across political and regional divides,” Sowore said.

The activist reiterated his call for Kanu’s release, saying the IPOB leader “remains in detention today because he took up the just cause of confronting the long-standing issue of marginalisation in Nigeria.”

He also urged political, cultural, and religious leaders, including Peter Obi, Chukwuma Soludo, Alex Otti, Francis Nwifuru, Peter Mbah, Hope Uzodinma, Oby Ezekwesili, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s John Mbata, to join the campaign for Kanu’s release.

Kanu has been in detention since 2021 after being re-arrested abroad and returned to Nigeria to face trial on charges bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

Several court orders granting him bail or ordering his release have yet to be implemented.

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Yiaga Africa, Kukah Centre, Others Demand Live Broadcast Of INEC Chair Screening

Published

22 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have appealed to the Senate to ensure that the screening of Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) for the position of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is broadcast live to the public.

According to the groups, a live broadcast of the screening would promote transparency, accountability, and public confidence in the process of appointing the head of the nation’s electoral body.

In a statement made available to The Guardian on Friday, they emphasised that, given the crucial role INEC plays in safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy, citizens have a right to witness and assess the integrity, competence, and independence of the nominee being considered for such a sensitive position.

The CSOs include Yiaga Africa, Women Rights Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA), International Press Centre, The Kukah Centre, Centre for Media and Society, TAF Africa, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Accountability Lab Nigeria, and YERP Naija Campaign.

According to the organisations, live coverage would help dispel any suspicion of bias or backroom dealings, while allowing Nigerians to engage more meaningfully in discussions about electoral reforms and leadership within the electoral body.

“We call on the Senate to ensure that its confirmation hearings are transparent, televised, and inclusive of citizen and civil society input through memoranda, petitions, and participation in the confirmation hearings.

“The Senate should undertake a rigorous examination of his competence, public records, vision for electoral reform, INEC’s institutional strengthening, as well as his capacity to resist political interference and uphold electoral integrity.

“The Senate should also interrogate the nominee’s plans to address systemic challenges, including voter registration, result transmission, and enforcement of INEC’s regulations and guidelines.

“Nigerians expect the Senate confirmation process to be open to citizens’ participation in line with the Framework for Citizens’ Engagement in the INEC Appointment Process previously submitted to the Senate by the undersigned civil society organisations. This includes full disclosure of the nominee’s credentials, public service history, and capacity to manage elections without political interference,” the statement reads.

While acknowledging Professor Amupitan’s academic and professional accomplishments, they declared that they have no objection to his nomination, even as they tasked him to “demonstrate moral courage and resistance to political interference,” if confirmed by the Senate.
(GUARDIAN)