Politics
A Hollow Order of Injustice: How Wike’s Court Ruling Becomes Tinubu’s Weapon Against Democracy
A Hollow Order of Injustice: How Wike’s Court Ruling Becomes Tinubu’s Weapon Against Democracy.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Sahara Weekly
When the judiciary bends, democracy breaks; Nigeria must resist this orchestrated assault on justice.
Introduction: The Court as a Weapon, Not a Sanctuary.
In a country where the judiciary should serve as the last hope of the common man, Nigeria has tragically descended into a terrain where the gavel has been hijacked by political gladiators. The latest ruling (widely seen as a hollow order) emanating from a judge loyal to Nyesom Wike, has revealed once again how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are using the courts as instruments of destabilization rather than bastions of justice.
This is not merely a legal misstep; it is a calculated attempt to cripple democracy in Nigeria. When courts become pawns in the political chessboard, democracy does not just weaken, it collapses under the weight of judicial compromise.
Wike’s Shadow Over the Bench.
Nyesom Wike, a political strongman with a well-documented history of coercion and manipulation, now casts a long shadow over the judiciary. Since his emergence as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), his influence has been systematically extended into the judiciary, where certain judges appear to dance to his drumbeats.
Legal experts have pointed out that the order in question carries the hallmarks of political interference. According to Professor Itse Sagay, a respected constitutional lawyer, “When judicial orders begin to align suspiciously with political interests, one must question whether the courts are still guided by law or by unseen puppeteers.”
This so-called ruling is less about law and more about consolidating power for Tinubu’s APC, with Wike serving as the enforcer of the new political order.
The Judiciary in Chains.
Nigeria’s judiciary has historically faced accusations of compromise, but the present climate is dangerously unprecedented. A 2024 report by Transparency International placed Nigeria among the top 30 countries where judicial corruption is “systemic and politically motivated.”
Instead of functioning as impartial interpreters of the constitution, judges are increasingly being deployed to deliver predetermined outcomes. The hollow order from Wike’s judge is a glaring example of this trend.
The late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa once said, “A judge who has sold his conscience for political reward is worse than an armed robber, for he robs not just one man, but the entire nation of justice.” Today, those words echo like a warning bell across Nigeria’s fragile democracy.
Tinubu’s Playbook: Undermine to Dominate.
President Tinubu’s administration has consistently relied on a pattern: weaken institutions, manipulate the judiciary, and control narratives. During the 2023 elections, multiple cases were dismissed or decided in ways that raised eyebrows among observers. Amnesty International and the European Union Election Observation Mission both flagged “judicial complicity” in electoral disputes.
The hollow order is not isolated, it is part of Tinubu’s broader playbook. By destabilizing legal processes, the APC ensures that opposition voices are weakened, dissenting platforms are strangled and democracy is reduced to an empty slogan.
As Chinua Achebe warned in The Trouble with Nigeria, “The problem is unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example, which is the hallmark of true leadership.” Tinubu’s reliance on judicial manipulation demonstrates precisely this unwillingness.
Democracy Under Siege.
The danger of this trend cannot be overstated. Democracy thrives on separation of powers; executive, legislature and judiciary acting independently. Once the judiciary becomes a tool of the executive, dictatorship is born under democratic disguise.
Political analyst Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed notes, “The greatest danger to Nigeria today is not even corruption or insecurity, but the collapse of institutions meant to protect us from bad governance. The judiciary is top of that list.”
The hollow order from Wike’s judge is not a legal pronouncement; it is a political strategy. It is designed to silence opposition, intimidate civil society and normalize executive overreach. If this trend persists, Nigerians will wake up one day to realize that democracy was overthrown, not by soldiers in uniform, but by judges in robes.
Facts Behind the Hollow Order.
Let us be clear: NO SERIOUS LEGAL FOUNDATION EXISTS FOR THIS RULING. Analysts have described it as vague, contradictory and unenforceable in any constitutional democracy. The order lacks jurisprudential depth and fails the basic test of legal reasoning.
Fact-checking the order reveals:
Constitutional Contradictions ~ Several provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) clearly nullify the premises of the order.
Absence of Precedent ~ No judicial precedent supports the decision, suggesting it was crafted for political convenience rather than legal clarity.
Conflict of Interest ~ The judge’s known proximity to Wike raises ethical questions about impartiality, contravening the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct.
Thus, describing it as hollow is not hyperbole; it is a fact.
Scholars and Experts Weigh In.
Respected voices across law, governance and civil society have condemned the trend.
Professor Akin Oyebode, international law scholar: “When courts become marketplaces for political bargains, justice dies. Nigeria is approaching that dangerous precipice.”
Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, political scientist: “The judiciary has become the last nail in the coffin of Nigeria’s democracy. Unless Nigerians resist, the APC will use the courts to legitimize tyranny.”
Nelson Mandela, though speaking decades ago, provides timeless wisdom: “Our freedom is incomplete without the rule of law.” Nigeria’s current reality proves Mandela right – without law, freedom is fiction.
The International Dimension.
The world is watching. The hollow order has already triggered concerns among international observers. The U.S. State Department, in its 2024 Nigeria Human Rights Report, warned about “judicial partiality and undue political interference.”
If Nigeria continues on this trajectory, it risks isolation. Investors will flee, fearing instability. Civil liberties will shrink. And Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy by population, may slide into the ignominy of authoritarianism.
The People’s Mandate: Resist Judicial Capture.
At this critical juncture, Nigerians must refuse to accept hollow orders as legitimate. Civil society must intensify pressure, the Bar Association must defend its oath and ordinary citizens must raise their voices. Silence is complicity.
As Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Allowing APC and Tinubu to weaponize the judiciary endangers not just political opponents but every Nigerian seeking justice tomorrow.
A Call to Action.
The judiciary must be reclaimed from political hijackers. Reform is urgent:
Judicial Independence: Appointment processes must be insulated from political manipulation.
Accountability: Judges complicit in political rulings must face disciplinary and legal sanctions.
Civil Resistance: Nigerians must demand that the courts serve people not politicians.
The hollow order should be remembered as a turning point – where citizens decided that enough was enough.
Final Word.
Nigeria’s democracy is bleeding and the latest ruling is a dagger in its heart. Wike’s influence and Tinubu’s manipulation have combined to transform the judiciary into a weapon of oppression. But history teaches us that hollow orders cannot stand against a determined people.
The court may have spoken, but its words ring hollow. The people must now speak louder.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Sahara Weekly
Politics
2027 BATTLE: How Much Nigeria Can Save, Invest In Infrastructure By Rotating Power Among Six Geo-political Zones For A Single Term Of Five Or Six Years
2027 BATTLE: How Much Nigeria Can Save, Invest In Infrastructure By Rotating Power Among Six Geo-political Zones For A Single Term Of Five Or Six Years
As a Southernern, particularly from the South East Geo-Political Zone, I believe the most potent argument for us in 2027 is that the North/South zoning arrangement of political power at the center is a scam. It’s a scam because it has only benefitted the South West and the North West geo-political zones since the return of ‘democracy’ (civil rule) in Nigeria on May 29, 1999. Nigeria, it must be clarified has six geo-political zones, not two.
Nigeria was divided into six geo-political zones in 1996 by the military government of General Sanni Abacha. This new zoning arrangement was a brainchild of the 1994/1995 Constitutional Conference chaired by the late Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte and empaneled by General Sanni Abacha.
At that Conference, no less a person than former Vice President Chief Alex Ekwueme and a group called Mkpoko Igbo proposed that since Nigeria will now be divided into six geo-political zones, to give all zones a sense of belonging within the Nigerian State, that power at the center should rotate among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years. In their thinking, if power was rotated among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, within 30 years or 36 years, all six zones would have had one of their own leading Nigeria, particularly, from their first 11 (primus inter pares). The North and the South West delegations at that conference pooh-poohed Chief Alex Ekwueme and summarily shut down that all-important proposal. The rest they say is history.
More than 30 years later, there is yet no national peace, national cohesion, national political stability, national unity, and national loyalty to the Nigerian State. Had the proposal of Chief Alex Ekwueme and Mkpoko Igbo been adopted and implemented since 1999, at least, the 5th Geo-Political Zone would have had one of their own in Aso Villa today, and by 2035, the last geo-political zone would have being sending us one of their own to contest the Presidency across Nigeria’s current 18 political parties. This mathematics is if we had gone with a single term of six years (the maximum limit) as proposed by Dr. Ekwueme and the South East and South South delegates in that 1994/1995 Constitutional Conference.
Fast forward to today, in his recent Arise TV interview, and in some other public and private fora, H.E. Atiku Abubakar asked for Dr. Ekwueme’s forgiveness as he was among key Northern delegates in that Constitutional Conference from the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua group that opposed the rotational presidency among Nigeria’s geo-political zones. Waziri Adamawa had disclosed that he even apologized to Alex Ekwueme when he visited Oko, Anambra State, to pay homage to the former late vice president sometime in 2017/2018.
By and large, for 2027, I believe that the most potent argument that will sell in the South East is that the North East where Waziri Adamawa hails from, just like the South East (our region), had also been marginalized in the scheme of things in Nigeria. Aside from Alhaji Tafawa Balewa from Bauchi State (North East), nobody from the region/zone has been head of national government, head of state, or even president since 1966.
So, H.E. Atiku Abubakar is right in contesting the Presidential election billed for January 16, 2027, to right this wrong, and return Nigeria’s presidency to an equitable distribution of power at the center. When elected, and it’s entrenched in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), that power rotates among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, this new formula will bring about national peace, national cohesion, national unity, and tremendously commandeer national loyalty among Nigerians from across the six geo-political zones for their beloved country, the Nigerian State.
As a budding political scientist of repute and ardent student of contemporary Nigerian history and politics, let me tell us what this formular would do for the Nigerian State. The battle for the soul of the Nigerian State will be ferocious at the zonal level, while the center will become unattractive. So, let’s say it is the turn of the North East Geo-Political Zone to produce the Presidency in 2027, the battle to gift Nigerians their First 11 (primus inter pares) will be ferocious across the States in the region. The people of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe will now be more interested in partisan politics, thus being proactive participants within the current 18 political parties in Nigeria.
Giving Nigeria’s configurations and peculiarities, one of the positives of this political proactiveness is that it’s a win-win situation for the entire region if a man from Adamawa becomes President of Nigeria in 2027. The people from Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Gombe, and Bauchi will be largely happy, contented, hold their peace, love Nigeria better, and be more loyal to the Nigerian State because one of their own is now the GCFR, the primus inter pares, and the No. 1 Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The steep insecurity that has ravaged the North East Geo-Political Zone since 2009, largely owing to perceived agelong marginalisation, oppression, injustices, would largely die down.
This will be the same case for the South East Geo-Political Zone. Biafra secessionist agitations, IPOB, ESN led by Nnamdi Kanu, will die a natural death. Justice and equity for all breeds contentment among men, and contentment among men births peace, unity, commandeers loyalty, and tremendously brings about prosperity. I stand to be challenged on this self-evident truth on any national television station.
When it is the turn of another region to produce the Presidency, after the North East has had their turn, all political parties in Nigeria must constitutionally present a Presidential candidate from the region whose turn it is to produce the presidency for a single term of six years. This rotational presidency formula must be entrenched in Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) by May 29, 2027.
I avow that rotational presidency among Nigeria’s six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years is the best political science solution to the agelong hydra-headed problem of Nigeria, especially in the guise of disunity, unpeaceful, and disloyalty problems among Nigerian citizens. Doing this will also largely curtail the executive rascalities, legislative rascalities, and judicial rascalities currently being perpetrated by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Executive arm; the Godswill Akpabio led Legislative arm; and the CJN Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun led Judiciary arm.
The over desperation of getting re-elected for a second term in office, as shown today by Bola Tinubu, will be eraced for future Nigerian Presidents. The humongous money and depletion of Nigeria’s national treasury just for seeking re-election at all cost, and conducting elections will also be erased.
The Highfalutin, Draining Cost Of Conducting Elections In Nigeria?
For the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proposed N305 billion in May 2022, which was a 62 percent increase over the 2019 budget. Ultimately, the National Assembly approved N355 billion for the exercise, though the commission spent N313.4 billion as of September 2023.
For the 2027 general election, INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan proposed a total budget of N873.78 billion to the National Assembly in February 2026. This proposal includes N375.75 billion for election operations, N209.21 billion for technology, and N92.31 billion for administrative costs. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu led APC regime had previously allocated N1.01 trillion to INEC in the 2026 budget presented in January 2026.
Ladies and gentlemen, INEC’s election budget ballooned from N355 billion in 2023 to a whopping N873.78 billion for a re-election season in 2027? This is approximately a percentage increase of 146.13%. This is unacceptable, opprobrious, and insalubrious.
If we entrench in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), zoning the presidency among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, this proposed N873.78 billion to coduct the 2027 re-election season would have been eliminated.
What Can N873.78 billion Do For Nigerians In Terms Of Infrastructural Developmental Projects?
If hypothetically redirected or matched in scale for infrastructure development, N873.78 billion could significantly advance Nigeria’s infrastructure across key sectors:
1. Roads and Transportation: This amount could fund the rehabilitation of over 10,000 kilometers (6213.712 miles) of rural and urban roads, especially when combined with technical support from institutions like the World Bank’s RAAMP-SU project.
It could complete critical projects like the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway or support the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, enhancing regional connectivity and trade.
2. Railway Development: Based on past projects, N873 billion could finance a new 600–800 km (373-497 miles) standard gauge rail line, similar to the Abuja-Kaduna or Lagos-Ibadan lines, which were partially funded by Chinese loans.
Rail expansion would boost freight movement, reduce road congestion, and create thousands of jobs.
3. Power and Energy: The sum could support renewable energy projects, such as solar mini-grids for 10,000 rural communities, or fund transmission infrastructure to reduce power losses.
For context, Power Africa facilitated $63 million in renewable energy investments over 26 months—N873 billion could scale such efforts dramatically.
4. Water and Sanitation: Funds could build or upgrade water treatment plants, boreholes, and sanitation systems in underserved urban and rural areas, improving public health and reducing waterborne diseases.
5. Agricultural Infrastructure: The NSIA’s Multipurpose Industrial Platform Ltd (MIPL) in Akwa Ibom, including an ammonia and fertilizer plant, is a multi-billion-dollar project. N873 billion could fund multiple such agro-industrial hubs, boosting food security and reducing import dependence.
Analyzing The Current Infrastructure Spending In Nigeria In Relation To N873.78 Billion?
For comparison, Nigeria’s actual infrastructure allocations are much lower than the humongous money INEC is proposing to conduct the shaky 2027 general elections in Nigeria.
The 2025 Federal Budget allocated ₦4.06 trillion ($2.7 billion) for infrastructure—about 7.4% of total spending.
The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) aims to raise infrastructure stock to 70% of GDP by 2043, requiring $100 billion annually—far above current spending levels.
Pension funds invested ₦262.57 billion in infrastructure in the first 10 months of 2025. This is below N873.78 billion being earmarked for the 2027 elections.
Without mincing words, let me aver that the N873.78 billion could transform infrastructural developmental projects in Nigeria, But the fact that this amount is proposed for elections, not infrastructural developmental projects, highlights a mismatch between public needs and government spending priorities in Nigeria, especially under the disastrous APC regime of Bola Tinubu.
Conclusion
While N873.78 billion is earmarked for elections, its scale underscores what Nigeria could achieve in infrastructure if similar resources were consistently invested. Redirecting even a fraction of election budgets toward roads, power, rail, water, and agriculture could accelerate economic growth, create jobs, and improve quality of life in Nigeria. However, transparency, accountability, and long-term planning are essential to ensure such investments yield lasting benefits.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, let’s consider the substantial ingredients of this political seminal and fix this mess of power rotation at the center among Nigeria’s six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years. Let’s stop wasting scarce resources in Nigeria conducting re-elections at the center and across state levels. Let’s stop wasting everybody’s time in Nigeria.
Ikenna Asomba is a political scientist and journalist. He writes from the State of Illinois, United States.
Politics
2027 BOMBSHELL: Dismantling The Myth Around Kwankwaso’s So-Called Electoral Dominance In Kano
2027 BOMBSHELL: Dismantling The Myth Around Kwankwaso’s So-Called Electoral Dominance In Kano
Politics
I am fully ready for the 2027 general elections”- ADP, presidential aspirant, Prof. Omolaja, declares
“I am fully ready for the 2027 general elections”- ADP, presidential aspirant, Prof. Omolaja, declares.
By Comrade Samson Ajibade Alabi, NLP Media Director
A presidential aspirant under the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Prof Muhammad Omolaja, has said that he is fully ready for the 2027 general elections especially the presidential contest.
Prof. Omolaja who disclosed this in an exclusive interview with pressmen in Abuja on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, said he has done his consultations with leaders of the Party, boasting that he is the next president of Nigeria by the grace of God.
He submitted that he has won the heart of the people at the grassroots across all the States and geopolitical zones including the federal capital territory (FCT); and convinced them about his clear vision and mission for Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerians are tired of the APC government and ready to vote them out in favour of his Party; the ADP!
Prof. Omolaja added that ADP is the only Party that can liberate Nigeria and rescue the citizens from the prevailing insecurity and other challenges facing the country.
The presidential aspirant said “you are asking me if I am ready for the 2027 general elections or not, I hereby inform you categorically that I am fully ready for the election; we have done what to be done, we have systematically carried Nigerians along in our preparations especially the people at the grassroots; and we have let them know that ADP is the only credible alternative Party that can liberate them from all the challenges the country is facing under the prevailing APC government. I am confident that I will get the ticket of our great Party being the leading contestant, and win the upcoming 2027 presidential election by the special grace of the Almighty God”
He therefore urged Nigerians to rally support for him and his Party (ADP) at the polls in the spirit of peace, love, unity, and patriotism in Nigeria.
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