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OPINION: Time Ticks For Nigerian Ruling Elite

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2023

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

I take a bet. The judgement of God and of the people is nigh! Check your neighbourhood. For weeks, and in some cases, months, there is no electricity. But in your houses, you run your generator. Neighbours come around to charge their phones, rechargeable lamps and what have you in your compound. How do you tell them that you are not part of the oppressors? What about water? As early as 5 am, neighbours are already on the queue in front of your house to fetch water. They don’t have the boldness to knock on your gate to wake you up. They know that they are at your mercy, and so, they wait until you wake up to turn on the tap for them. Many of these people grew up with functional water corporations and dams in their towns and villages. We are already in the festive period. How many Nigerians have what to eat during this season? How many can afford a bag of rice? How many will be able to buy clothes for their children and wards? How many are already calculating the school fees for the second term which begins by the first week of January 2024? When you consider these, you will realise that there is no time to postpone fixing Nigeria. The elite just have to fix Nigeria now or Nigerians will fix them, and permanently too. The masses are like the sheep. Those are the most gentle of all animals. But they have the most poisonous teeth ever! You can read me again. Sheep have teeth. Just pray they don’t bite you with them. There is no anti-rabies vaccine that can cure that.

Dr Kashim Shettima, the vice president, is a brilliant man. As a politician, he may not be a good man. No Nigerian politician of this inglorious era is good. I make no bones about that. I saw Dr Shettima a couple of times on television during the 2023 campaigns. I enjoyed his dramas when he served as the Director General of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation during the All Progressive Congress (APC), presidential primaries. He was blunt and assertive. He appeared then to know what he wanted, or what he was briefed to do. In the delivery of his mandate then, he did not spare anyone. He took no prisoners. He insulted as many as he could. He befriended those he considered useful to the project at hand. He was acerbic in his dealing with the then Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Fortune smiled on Shettima at the end of the primaries. His principal, Tinubu, picked him as his running mate. The duo went ahead to win the general election. Today, Shettima occupies the office he once said was only good for selling ice cream and popcorn! Unfortunately, since May 29, 2023, Dr Shettima and the government he serves as the vice president have been serving Nigerians more than ice cream and popcorn. The government of his principal serves Nigerians pains and agony. He is aware of this and the inherent danger. He spoke about it not too long ago.

In his recent outing in Abuja last Saturday, Shettima sounded more of a populist than a realist. He spoke at the graduation ceremony of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 16 participants from different security agencies and nominees of state governments. His submission was that with the present high cost of living, Nigerians “are angry with government officials.” If he expected us to clap for him for saying that, I can tell him for free that he is damned wrong! Absolutely WRONG! The vice-president talked about the parlous condition of the common man in Nigeria of today. He said that the ruling elite had between 10 to 20 years to do something, otherwise, something will give. Here are his exact words:” … But now, as we cruise around in our bulletproof cars, one will see contempt in the eyes of the poor. We have to improve the quality of governance. And what we have is a tiny window of not more than 10 to 20 years. Let’s improve the quality of governance.” He is, again, wrong! With the situation of things in Nigeria, the bomb can go off any moment. Call me an alarmist; the time ticks precariously. Shettima and his gang don’t have five years, not even two years. The time to make corrections and bring back life to the people is now.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Gbelebu As Agbelebu Of Misgovernance

The locusts that had before now eaten up of our vegetation had been buying time. The current generation of vampires in power thinks it can buy more time. There is no more time. Things are bad. No! Things are at their worst ebb. The middle class is eliminated, completely. What we have now are two contrasting stratifications of the super-rich, and super- poor. Poverty is shared in equal proportions. Those who have no reasons to beg are now corporate beggars. We are all engaged in ‘fine bara’. I am not exempted. The other time, my laptop collapsed beyond repair. I couldn’t raise the money for a new one. Who did I turn to? My 65-years plus first cousin! I struggled to call him. I felt ashamed calling a 65-year-old man to come to my rescue, when he is supposed to be resting. But I thank God he did what I asked for without hesitation. He must have known that I was at the end of my tether to have called him in far way UK for a laptop. Truth be told; I was at my breaking point before I made that call. I ask this: how many people have cousins or relations who would respond promptly to that type of Macedonia call? How many of such requests can I respond to if occasions demand? This is not because one is wicked or selfish. The means are not just there. Many relationships have broken because of this. We ignore calls we would hitherto have picked with enthusiasm. This is our situation, Dr Shettima. This is the level crass misgovernance has pushed us to. I don’t see the projected 10 to 20 years of redemption as realistic. The time to do it is now!

Why am I so worried about the present situation? Something happened to me last weekend. I was in Ekiti State last weekend. From Ado Ekiti to Odo Oro through Ijesa Usu Ekiti, I saw poverty in its naked form. Driving around the neighbouring Ikole Ekiti axis, at a spot, a big female goat ran across the road, and I slammed the break. The resultant dust from the dusty road attracted curses from the people around. “Rírá lu à rá nú” (may you be lost forever), they pronounced. I recognised two of the people. I parked the car, turned off the engine, and alighted. One of them, who felt that I was coming to challenge them said something in our Ekiti dialect: “Hìn jé ha bò; erun rè à kan (let him come, his mouth will go sour). I approached them. They recognised me. The most elderly of them said: “Hùwo hà hin, Suyi (So it is you, Suyi). We exchanged greetings, and apologised for the dust.

The most aggressive one among them said something similar to what Dr Shettima alluded to. While apologising for the curse, he added: “Hà rò wípé òkàn núnú hìhan olórí burúkú hàn nì ni (We thought it is one of those bad heads). That is the level of aggression in the land. Hunger is already mixing with anger. My screeching of the brake attracted curses and aggression from people, who before now would have shown sympathy and thanked God on my behalf for not damaging the car. As I left them, I kept wondering what had happened. They knew the goat ran to the road. They knew I avoided killing it by applying the brakes Yet, they still cursed me. Now, ask what would have happened if I were not someone they are familiar with. Or, I was to be a top government official, the type the people had already labelled hìhan olórí burúkú (bad heads). If we continue like this, the bullet-proof cars will not be enough. I deliberately employed the plural pronoun, “we”, because whether we like it or not, we shall all be victims of the people’s reaction. It does not matter whether one had been in government before or not. As long as you drive a nice car, put on fine cloth, and you look ‘fresh’; you belong to the ruling elite in the estimation of the poor.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Rivers Of Betrayals

Someone foresaw our situation long ago. He equally forewarned us of the looming danger hanging over us all. His name is Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo. Before he joined the sages on May 9, 1987, he granted an interview on a wide range of issues. Professor Moses Akin Makinde captured some of the things the Avatar, Awolowo, said in that interview in a book: “AWO: The Last Conversation” (2009). The philosopher-politician talked about the attitude of the northern elite to the poverty over there and warned thus: “But I think that sooner than later, the leaders of the north will see the repercussions of their selfishness and carelessness in their attitude towards western education. But the time will be too late, and if they don’t regret it or blame themselves for lack of foresight, the northern youth may ask their leaders some questions when they see the rate of development that goes with education in many parts of southern Nigeria. They may then wonder whether it was in their stars or in the selfishness, carelessness and lack of foresight of their past and present leaders.” If the dead do see the living, Awolowo would have seen that it is not only the northern youths that are asking questions now. All Nigerians do. The questions are too dangerous. The question, ‘how did we get here’? is not asked with joy and happiness. The western education Awolowo donated to the south, particularly the Western Region in the early 50s is now a waste today. Or, what do you make of a child with two post-graduate degrees that has remained jobless for over five years? How useful is that education? What has happened to all the cottage industries established by the founding fathers of the nation? Who wasted them?

Awolowo, in that same interview, talked about the qualities of his ministers and advisers. He said he chose them “strictly on merit and because of their education, standard and discipline.” He added: “Every minister or adviser and top civil servant had to do his homework properly before bringing anything to a cabinet meeting or any other important meeting where it will be subjected to rigorous debate. Where there are grey areas, expert opinion would be sought for the purpose of objectivity…It is because of this service to the public that I often maintained that the office of the President, or Prime Minister is not for pleasure. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, it looks as if the office of the President, Minister or Adviser is for pleasure, like dining and wining and carousing with women of easy virtue both at home and abroad.” Sad! If I should trouble the sage in his rest, may I announce to him that in the Nigeria of today, ministers pay to be given ‘juicy’ portfolios; that members of the National Assembly now rise to sing solidarity songs whenever the president comes calling. May I inform the legend that in the Nigeria he left behind, some felons killed our darling Deborah Samuel on May 12, 2022, at her Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, and they got away with it. But Rhoda Jatau, who condemned the killing, was arrested on May 20, 2022, and spent 18 months in prison custody in Bauchi before she was finally released on bail! And she would still have her days in court for alleged blasphemy, incitement and cyber-stalking.

From Sokoto to Ibadan, Kafanchan to Eduabon; from Okigwe to Jalingo, and from Makurdi to Ode Irele, poverty walks on all fours. On the faces of the people are frustration, anguish and anger. Dr Shettima saw this in his Maiduguri. He once had the opportunity to change the narrative and improve on the lots of the people. He was a governor for eight years. Under his watch, over 280 school children were kidnapped in Chibok. His reaction was to reward the principal of the school with an appointment as a commissioner! Now, in the year 2023, the same man, as the number two citizen in Nigeria, is asking for a moratorium of 10 to 20 years to “improve the quality of governance”. No sir, Mr. Vice President. Do it now for the time ticks!

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[OPINION] Gov Adeleke: Cure Madness With Madness

Published

8 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.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Death Has Made Another Mistake

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.

MIRE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: The Unkingly Timi And Lousy Wasiu Ayinde (2)

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

12 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.

News

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

Published

12 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)