CACLD International, 811 44th Street, Washington D.C., DC (2026)

06/12/2025

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR
AT THE JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN COMMEMORATION OF
DEMOCRACY DAY, 2025. THURSDAY, 12TH JUNE 2025
Protocol:
With profound honour, I stand before this joint session of our National Assembly; a parliament that embodies the will of the Nigerian people.

Today, as I entered this grand edifice built from the sweat and toil of our democratic yearning, my heart stirred. It was a blend of accomplishment and resolve.
I felt a sense of collective accomplishment when I realised how far we
had come as a nation. Since 1999, democracy has risen from the ashes and
destitution of military rule to take its rightful place as the only mode of
governance of our resilient and beloved people.
With every footstep I took through these hallowed halls up to the
moment I now stand before you, I remembered that we still have much
further to go.
To achieve this progress, we sought an elective office to lead this
nation forward. Thus, I hereby affirm before our Merciful and Almighty God
and all men my resolve to do all that I can to safeguard and build our
democracy as the Divine hand intends for us to do.
Since 2018, we have celebrated Democracy Day on this day; to
commemorate the sacrifices of the men and women who fought to restore
democratic governance to Nigeria.
Let me pay tribute to former President Muhammadu Buhari for
reaching back into history to rectify a national misdeed by making June 12
Democracy Day and by officially acknowledging Chief Moshood Kashimawo
Olawale Abiola and his running mate, Babagana Kingibe, as the victors and
thus duly elected President and Vice President respectively of Nigeria after
the June 12, 1993 elections.
Year by year, election after election, every time we debate instead of
battle, discuss instead of fight, and argue instead of destroy, we preserve
the institutions of democracy. More importantly, we weave the culture of
democracy into the very fabric of our nation.
Whilst Chief MKO Abiola is June 12’s central figure, we must not forget
the long list of those who equally deserve to be called heroes of Nigerian
democracy.
We must celebrate the courage of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and Pa Alfred
Rewane, both of whom were murdered by agents of military repression. We
also remember the many civil rights activists, journalists, and politicians
imprisoned, exiled, tossed aside, tortured and beaten by the military regime.
We remember Chief Anthony Enahoro, Commodore Dan Suleiman,
Chief Abraham Adesanya, Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Balarabe
Musa, Ganiyu Dawodu, the journalist Bagauda Kaltho, and Commodore
Ndubuisi Kanu. I mention these names not to exclude or degrade the
profound contributions of anyone else, but to illustrate, through these few
heroes, the universality of our pursuit of democracy.
The struggle was never the province of any one group or section of the
country, it was pan-Nigerian in its conception and will be even more pan-
Nigerian as we strive to perfect it.
It is fitting that I come to this chamber. You are the authors of the
people’s law, and I must be their faithful implementer. While we may not
always agree, we must forge a way to work together because this is what
democracy demands of us. I pledge myself to this cooperation and ask that
you do the same for the good of our people.
Mr. Chairman, the National Assembly has acted to uphold democratic
ideals at every critical moment in our national history. In 2006, the 5th
National Assembly protected our democracy against an unseemly third-term
bid that would have ripped our constitution apart. In 2010, the National
Assembly, through the doctrine of necessity, opened the door for then-Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan to become the acting President following the
illness of his predecessor.
Even under the military, the National Assembly tried to protect our
democracy. After General Abacha took over power on November 17, 1993,
and dissolved the National Assembly, some of us, led by Senator Ameh
Ebute, the Senate President in the 3rd Republic, defied the General and his
goons to reconvene in the Old Parliament Building in Lagos. We were jailed
for our defiance.
On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend your invaluable role in
lawmaking, oversight, and constituency representation.
At this point, I plead for your indulgence so that I may put a terrible rumour to bed.
To those who ring the alarm that the APC is intent on a one-party state,
I offer you a most personal promise. While your alarm may be as a result of
your panic, it rings in error. At no time in the past, nor any instance in the
present, and at no future juncture shall I view the notion of a one-party state
as good for Nigeria. I have never attempted to alter any political party
registration with INEC. Equally, my friends, we cannot blame anybody
seeking to bail out of a sinking ship even without a life jacket.
Look at my political history. I would be the last person to advocate such
a scheme. In 2003, when the then-governing party tried to sweep the nation
clean of political opposition through plot and manipulation, I was the last of
the progressive governors standing in my region.
In all their numbers and false grandeur, they boasted of ruling, not
governing, Nigeria for the next half century or more. Where are they now?
Yet, I stood alone. My allies had been induced into defeat. My
adversaries held all the cards that mortal man could carry. Even with all of
that, they could not control our national destiny because fate is written from
above. A greater power did not want Nigeria to become a one-party state
back then. Nigeria will not become such a state now.
The failed effort to create a one-party state placed progressive political
forces on a trajectory to form the APC. It put me on the trajectory which has
brought me before you today. I dare not do such a favour to any political
adversary by repeating the same mistake of political overreach.
A one-party state is not in the offing. Nor should it ever be. That said,
we would be guilty of political malpractice if we closed the door on those from
other parties who now seek to join the APC and I sincerely welcome our
party’s newest members from Delta and Akwa Ibom States led by Governor
Sheriff Oborevwori and Pastor Umo Eno and other members of this National
Assembly.
Political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by
examining their internal processes and affairs rather than fearfully conjuring
up demons that do not exist. For me, I would say try your best to put your
house in order. I will not help you do so. It is, indeed, a pleasure to witness
you in such disarray.
We must welcome and accept the diversity and number of political
parties just as we welcome and embrace the diversity of our population. Our
efforts must never be to eliminate political competition but to make that
competition salutary to the national well-being by working across the political
aisle whenever possible.
One area in which democracy calls us to work together, whether in the
legislative or executive branch, whether in this or other political parties, is
that of economic and social development.
Upon assuming office, my team and I moved to reform our ailing
economy. We introduced fundamental reforms to correct structural
imbalances that prevented maximum growth.
We are already seeing results. GDP grew by 3.4 per cent in 2024, with
Q4 hitting 4.6 per cent, the highest quarter of growth in over a decade.
Inflation is easing gradually, steadying the price of food staples like rice and
beans. Our net foreign reserves have increased fivefold, and the Naira
exchange rate has stabilised. Our balance of payments position is positive;
our sovereign credit rating is improving as we continue to promote oil and
non-oil exports. States now do not need to go about borrowing to pay
salaries.
In less than one year, over one hundred thousand Nigerians, including thirty-five thousand civil servants, have benefited from affordable consumer credit through the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP), enabling them to purchase vehicles, light up and improve their homes and purchase life essentials. This July, we will launch a bold new initiative to empower four hundred thousand young Nigerians, including youth corpers, with consumer credit.
We are committed to giving more opportunities to young people through job creation and skills development. Through such programs as NELFUND, we are investing in education, vocational training, apprenticeships, and internships to ensure our youth are job-ready and
future-ready.
In addition, we have embarked on an ambitious project to lay fibre optic cables across the nation, a transformative step toward bridging the digital divide and fostering greater connectivity. This initiative promises not only to enhance the speed and reliability of internet access but also to revolutionize how businesses operate, how students learn, and how communities stay connected. By extending this critical infrastructure, we are empowering entrepreneurs, enabling digital education, and providing the tools for our youth to compete in a globalized world.
Our “Nigeria First” policy will further enhance progress as we consolidate market-driven growth. The improved economic performance is encouraging and validates the soundness of our policy measures. Our medium-term growth target remains an economy growing at a 7 per cent clip with a stronger manufacturing base. We must learn to produce and grow most of our food and we are on the path to achieving food sovereignty.
These and other reforms have placed the economy on a more rational footing where critical decisions regarding large-scale investment can now be made.
I ask you, the legislature, to join me as we enter the second half of our term to put forth innovative legislation that further encourages industrial development and job creation in our urban centres while also drafting laws that improve food security and production.
To further underpin our economic vision, we introduced a comprehensive Tax Reform Package, a vital component of our economic re- engineering. I am deeply grateful to both chambers for your thorough consideration and deliberation of these bills, and I look forward to signing them into law soon.
Again, your collaboration across party lines on these bills has been a model of democratic partnership.
As elected leaders, we must continue to do more to make real the dream of Nigeria’s political and economic democracy.
We must be vigilant in expanding the political space. We must always value dialogue over dictatorship, persuasion over suppression and rights over might. Be tolerant and broad-minded in your legislative action regarding speech and civil liberties.
Do not be afraid to hear an unkind word spoken against you. Some of the best advice a politician gets sometimes comes from his most ferocious opponents. We dare not seek silence because the imposed silence of repressed voices breeds chaos and ill will, not the harmonics of democracy in the long term.
While malicious slander and libel should not go unattended, no one should bear the brunt of injustice for merely writing a bad report about me or calling me names. Democracy requires a fair degree of tolerance for harsh words and stinging insults. Call me names, call me whatever you will, and I will still call upon democracy to defend your right to do so. Mr. Senate President, Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members.
Our nation is not perfect, but it is strong. Our democracy is not invincible, but it is alive. And this means our dream of a prosperous, happy nation is still within reach and worth fighting for.
Mr. Chairman, Nigeria is at an inflexion point, undergoing structural and fundamental change toward a secure future.
Our administration is fully committed to boosting the economy’s productive base. Through investment in critical infrastructure, roads, expansion of port operations, rail, and power we are creating a new environment in which industry and manufacturing can thrive. Our tax and fiscal policy reforms will streamline tax administration and eliminate burdensome and multiple taxes enabling our industrialists and entrepreneurs to operate in a more conducive environment.
Governance must work and deliver value to the people. As part of our tax reforms, we have provided small businesses with an exemption and established the Office of the Tax Ombudsman to ensure transparency and protect taxpayer rights. Digital tools now help us track performance and reduce waste. The Diaspora Bond and Non-Resident BVN are bringing
Nigerians abroad into the national development fold.
In line with my promise during my New Year address to the nation, I recently appointed the board of directors of the newly established National Credit Guarantee Company. The company backed with 100 billion naira in initial capital; with BOI, which, by the way, is performing very well in supporting SMEs, NSIA, CreditCorp, and MOFI as stakeholders, will play a significant role in transforming the nation’s industrial landscape and reducing
corruption.
National Security is the foundation of peace and progress. We have intensified security operations to reclaim communities from criminals and terrorists. We are better at coordinating intelligence, and inter-agency cooperation has improved. Our highways are safer, and we invest in technology and training to secure every inch of this country.
Let us take this opportunity to thank the men and women of our Armed Forces for their bravery in service of the nation. Their selfless dedication to protecting our sovereignty and ensuring the safety of citizens should serve as an inspiration to us all. As we celebrate the progress of our democracy, we must not forget the pivotal role they play in safeguarding our freedoms. For their courage and commitment, they deserve not only our gratitude but
also our continued support, prayers and recognition.
Fellow compatriots, our achievements are not the work of one man. They are the result of a collective effort to make possible the Nigerian Dream. Yet, the journey is not over. We must work even harder to translate broad macroeconomic gains into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. We must stay the course, reject cynicism, and believe Nigeria can and will rise again.
As we mark a twenty-sixth year of unbroken democracy, it is right to honour those who have made sacrifices in the past, braving all the odds and the guns to ensure we have a regime of democracy in our country.
In this light, I announce the conferment of the posthumous national honour of CFR on Kudirat Abiola, the heroine of the June 12 struggle.
I also confer posthumous national honours on Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (GCFR), Prof. Humphrey Nwosu (CON), Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (CON), Alhaji Balarabe Musa (CFR), Pa. Alfred Rewani (CFR), Bagauda Kaltho (OON), Chima Ubani (OON), Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti (CON), Alao Aka Bashorun (CON), Chief Frank Kokori (CON), Emma Ezeazu (OON), Bamidele Aturu (OON), Fredrick Fasehun (CON), Professor Festus Iyayi (CON), Dr John Yima Sen (OON), Alhaja Sawaba Gambo (CON), Dr. Edwin Madunagu (CON), Dr. Alex Ibru (CON), Chief Bola Ige (CFR), Pa. Reuben Fasoranti (CFR), Sen. Ayo Fasanmi (CON), Sen. Polycarp Nwite (CON) and Dr. Nurudeen Olowopopo (CON).
I also confer national honours on Prof. Wole Soyinka (GCON), Prof. Olatunji Dare (CON), the journalist and journalism teacher; Kunle Ajibade (OON); Nosa Igiebor (OON), Dapo Olorunyomi (OON), Bayo Onanuga (CON), Ayo Obe (OON), Dare Babarinsa (CON), Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (CON), Senator Shehu Sani (CON), Governor Uba Sani (CON), Barrister Femi Falana, SAN (CON), Prof. Shafideen Amuwo (CON), Barrister Luke Aghanenu (OON), Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi (CON), Hon. Labaran Maku (OON), Dr. Tunji Alausa (CON), Mr Nick Dazang (OON), Hon Abdul Oroh (OON), Odia Ofeimun (CON), Seye Kehinde (OON), Barrister Felix Morka (CON) Barrister Ledum Mitee (CON), Hon. Olawale Osun (CON), Dr. Amos Akingba (CON), Prof. Segun Gbadegesin (CON), Mobolaji Akinyemi (CFR), Dr. Kayode Shonoiki (CON), Prof. Julius Ihonvbere (CON), Prof. Bayo Williams (CON), Sen. Abu Ibrahim (CFR), and Sen. Ame Ebute (CFR).
Additionally, I confer the national honour of CON on Uncle Sam Amuka Pemu, a legendary journalist and publisher who remains true to his lifetime calling as he marks his 90th birthday tomorrow, June 13.
Furthermore, I also confer posthumous national honours on Ken Saro Wiwa (CON), the leader of the Ogoni Nine and his fellow travellers, Saturday Dobee (OON), Nordu Eawo (OON), Daniel Gbooko (OON), Paul Levera (OON), Felix Nuate (OON), Baribor Bera (OON), Barinem Kiobel (OON), and John Kpuine (OON). I shall also be exercising my powers under the prerogative of mercy to grant these national heroes a full pardon, together with others whose names shall be announced later in conjunction with the National Council of State.
Finally, it is my great privilege to now decorate the presiding officers of the National Assembly with the National Honours earlier conferred upon them last year:
Presiding National Assembly Officers

Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, GCON – SENATE PRESIDENT
Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, PhD, GCON – Speaker
Senator Jibrin Ibrahim Barau, CFR – DEPUTY SENATE PRESIDENT
Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, CFR – Deputy Speaker

In conclusion, let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals of June 12; freedom, transparent and accountable government, social justice, active citizen participation, and a just society where no one is oppressed.
Happy Democracy Day, and may God continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and protect our troops.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR
President, Commander-in-Chief of The Armed Forces,
Federal Republic of Nigeria

07/22/2024

Competition with eternal purpose. This programme will help our youth to sharpen their minds through memorization.

07/11/2024

A father used to say to his children when they were young: —When you all reach the age of 12, I will tell you the secret of life. One day when the oldest turned 12, he anxiously asked his father what was the secret of life. The father replied that he was going to tell him, but that he should not reveal it to his brothers.
—The secret of life is this: The cow does not give milk. "What are you saying?" Asked the boy incredulously. —As you hear it, son: The cow does not give milk, you have to milk it. You have to get up at 4 in the morning, go to the field, walk through the corral full of manure, tie the tail, hobble the legs of the cow, sit on the stool, place the bucket and do the work yourself.
That is the secret of life, the cow does not give milk. You milk her or you don't get milk. There is this generation that thinks that cows GIVE milk. That things are automatic and free: their mentality is that if "I wish, I ask..... I obtain."
"They have been accustomed to get whatever they want the easy way...But no, life is not a matter of wishing, asking and obtaining. The things that one receives are the effort of what one does. Happiness is the result of effort. Lack of effort creates frustration."
So, share with your children from a young age the secret of life, so they don't grow up with the mentality that the government, their parents, or their cute little faces is going to give them everything they need in life.
Remember 👇👇
"Cows don't give milk; you have to work for it."
~Author Unknown

05/31/2024

OPEN LETTER TO WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATION COUNCIL ON THE CONDUCT OF EXAMS ON MAY 30 – THE BIAFRA MEMORIAL DAY

I write you this day, NOT as an activist or social critic but first and foremost as a parent with three children in secondary schools; and secondly as an educationist with an understanding of the psychology of learning and evaluation; and thirdly as a theologian and teacher of pastors who understands the impact of trauma and fear on human performance. It is within these contexts that I wish to draw your attention to the implications and effects of scheduling exams on May 30 of any year when the Igbo ethnic group and citizens of the Southeastern Nigeria mourn their loved ones killed in Biafra.

Firstly, it is difficult or almost impossible to hold an impartial exam on May 30 without putting some students to avoidable disadvantage. As you know, a child needs a safe physical and emotional environment to prepare for an exam and a safe environment to take the exam. Scheduling an exam on May 30 when you are fully aware of the yearly contention and threats of security on that day does not create an impartial level ground for all the participants in the exam. How can the children be able to do their best in an exam in which they are afraid for their lives? How can the children do their utmost best in an exam in which the environment of preparation is tensed up and even more as the date of exam is being contended between legal state coercive forces and non-state actors? How can an examination body with a sense of impartiality evaluate the script of a student of Southeastern Nigeria who took exams on this date on the same judgement scale with students from other places? It can be argued that every part of Nigeria has security problems. Even as true as this may sound, there remains a difference between daily thresholds of insecurity which people are accustomed to and a scheduled avoidable day of insecurity in which two contending forces seem to have access to the instruments of violence. Scheduling an exam on a day of contention introduces partiality to the exam process as it places the candidates in that location at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers elsewhere. When you release statistics on the performance of students, according to states and regions, would you consider the statistics the outcome of an impartial examination?

Secondly, it looks insensitive and devoid of emotional intelligence to schedule an exam for a people on a day of mass mourning. It is common knowledge that the Igbo is one of the three most populous ethnic groups in Nigeria and hence among the most populous ethnic groups in West Africa. How wise can it be to ignore the history and popular sentiments and emotions of such a major population in choosing dates for their children’s exams? Would WAEC claim ignorance of the History of Nigeria with Biafra and the fact that every family including the families of candidates to WAEC exams lost a loved one in that war due to deliberate official starvation policy? Will any examination body fix exams on the date the Jewish people are called out to remember the holocaust? How will the rest of the world look at that examination body?

Thirdly, scheduling exams on May 30 puts the families of the Southeastern States in difficult positions as by so doing, they are denied the opportunity to mourn and grieve as a family. By fixing exams on that day, children are forced to separate from their morning parents and parents who choose to mourn properly by including their children will have their students miss the exams. Asking those who grieve their loved ones to choose between mourning as a united family and mourning without their children is an inhumane ask and should not be emanating from an educational institution, such as WAEC.

Finaly, scheduling an exam on May 30 endangers the emotional and physical wellbeing of the students by making them the rope in tug of war between government forces and non-state actors. On one hand, Government forces are pulling them in one direction, commanding them to go to their exam halls and on the other hand, non state actors are pulling them in opposite direction asking them to stay at home. Is this a befitting condition for an exam? As I write this, many students might have been traumatized by the tensed circumstances of this past May 30 without their parents even knowing what their children are suffering. Many others will under-perform and some will fail outright because of the unhealthy emotional environment of May 30 Exam date.

In view of the aforesaid, I appeal to you to use your good offices to ensure that exams are not scheduled on May 30 of any year so that our children are not exposed to another avoidable emotional and physical danger. Furthermore, not scheduling exams on May 30 will enable our children to prepare as well as take their exams in an impartial environment, an essential level ground for conducting an impartial examination.

Thank you for your kind attention,

Rev Joshua Amaezechi
Concerned Parent, Educationist and Theologian.

05/27/2024

ARE NIGERIAN LAWYERS REALLY "LEARNED" OR ARE THEY VICTIMS OF A DYSFUCTIONAL SOCIETY?

Why is it that what "unlearned" men can do in 3 minutes in foreign countries, a Nigerian lawyer with all his or her being "learned" cannot do it in 6 months? Some agencies of government in Nigeria make Nigerian lawyers look very "unlearned". The most disappointing part is that these so called "learned men" cannot raise a finger to bring these agencies to book. They are even afraid to take these agencies to court for dragging their image to the mud. After paying a Nigerian lawyer, he or she will tell you one story today, next two months they tell you another story and you wonder whether you are paying them to tell stories or to get things done. Nigerian lawyers need to wake up. You cannot not have a country that obeys the rule of law when lawyers are so docile and complicit in condoning incompetence and inefficiency.

05/03/2024

The learning infrastructure at the LEMA Theological Seminary, Mbaitoli, Nigeria.are designed to international standards and equipped with state-of-the-art resources to promote effective learning. If God is calling you, LEMA will train you and sponsor you.

12/26/2022

PERSPECTIVE: Nnamdi Kanu: Held hostage by the Attorney General
By Obi Nwakanma

It is Christmas today. But there is no Christmas celebration for Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. Why? Because, to all intents and purposes, Mazi Kanu, IPOB leader, is held hostage. He is no longer officially a ward of the prisons.

He is now held hostage by order of an official of this government intent on settling a private score. It is now ideological and personal. Kanu is held on the orders of Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of Nigeria because he thinks he can. In other words, Kanu’s detention is not by an order of the courts, it is illegitimate hostage-taking based on the whims and caprices of a powerful figure of the Buhari administration. It is serious and it is taking the powers of the Attorney General of the Federation too far.

Where the Attorney General, the presumptive custodian of Law in Nigeria, engages in hostage-taking, in the name of the Federal Government, using some obscure detention rule, and out of spite for his victim, he risks bringing down the entire edifice on which the rule of law is built. He must thus be indicted.It is now imperative for that process to be considered, and for the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to be investigated for serial abuse of power by the National Assembly. This is particularly so because Malami’s action – his decision to take Nnamdi Kanu hostage in defiance of the courts – continues to threaten the peace and security of Nigeria. It is war mongering. For if Mr. Nnamdi Kanu had been freed as the courts ruled, the situation in the East would have been long resolved, because there would be no more fuel to the lint of the presumed crisis of the East. I will come back to this point.

But let us first place in context the basis of the claim of this Sunday’s ‘Orbit’: The Nigerian courts have freed Nnamdi Kanu. In a clear judgment of the Court of Appeal, the Federal Government lost a case in which the Buhari administration tried Kanu as a terrorist. In that landmark decision, a panel of the court boldly and unambiguously told the Attorney General that Mr. Kanu has no case to answer. It fully discharged Kanu from the ruling of a lower court. “In view of the fact that the trial court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case because the process of extradition of the appellant from Kenya to Nigeria was unlawful since due process was not followed, this appeal succeeds,” the Appeal Court ruled.
It basically asserts that Nnamdi Kanu was held under illegal detention orders. But in a turn, amounting to a very serious abuse of his powers as the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami defied the orders of the court, and continues to detain Nnamdi Kanu on very washy grounds without a basis in the laws of the federation.

Nigeria is not under any emergency rule, and the National Assembly has not yet granted, or conferred any extraordinary powers on the Attorney General to detain a citizen of Nigeria under any guise, or presumption, including the presumption of law. The consistent fact of this case as it now stands is that Abubakar Malami, presumably on the assent of the President, ordered the kidnap, rendition, and incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. In doing that, the Attorney General turned Nigeria, and presumably by the express authority of the President of Nigeria, into a terrorist state! Nigerian cannot afford the image of a terrorist state. Nigeria cannot afford to be a nation without laws or due process. It drives away investors. It stanches the flow of visitors and tourists.

It limits the bounds of the kind of international amity which Nigerians can enjoy as a free and democratic state. It humiliates Nigeria. It distorts its laws. It provokes the possibility of radical defiance by a large segment of the population who would no longer trust the institutions of laws because of its selective application.

Distrust would crash the protection that commonly held principles of law provide. If those for whom laws are made begin to distrust its protection because those who should safeguard its highest principles deliberately undermine it, then we create disorder. Under this Attorney General, Nigeria has broken so many laws against the general interest of the federation, and Malami must understand that while the President might enjoy immunity, he, the Attorney General, has no such privileges, and there is no statute of limitations to kidnaping and hostage taking using the resources of the state under his care. This is what Malami has done. He is using the office of the Attorney General to settle personal ideological scores. It may be Nnamdi Kanu today.

But Malami should watch his own back because what he uses today to oppress Nnamdi Kanu might be deployed against him tomorrow to force him to account for his serial misuse of the law under his watch, and nothing can protect him from this. Wise men have long known that power is transient. And this is why the balance of justice must be kept at all times.

Today, Mr. Malami holds Nnamdi Kanu hostage using the privileges of his office. Next year it might be Malami held in the stockade. Last week, Mazi Kanu’s lawyer and members of his family reported that even the DSS in whose detention facility Kanu is kept on the orders of Malami is starving him. They feed him once a day. The DSS complained to Kanu’s Attorney that they have no money to feed their prisoner. This is unconscionable.

The lawyer also reported all kinds of torture and other inhuman and humiliating conditions meted out to Mr. Kanu by the DSS. They had to resort to crowd funding to feed the IPOB leader. The Attorney General and his goons are not only keeping Mr. Kanu against the express orders of the Nigerian courts, they are now attempting to starve him to death. This is unconscionable.
So, the question is, why is Malami keeping Nnamdi Kanu by force rather than by law? Why is he intent on murdering him while held hostage using starvation? Why is he using the power of the Attorney General to hold Kanu hostage in the first place, even as the courts to all intents and purpose have freed him? These questions bring me to the point I was making earlier, to which I now return. Why give fuel to the issue of political agitation in the South-East?

It is actually simple: it is about keeping the South-East of Nigeria in a state of restlessness and disorder. Investigations by various independent Study Groups, and by the Igbo Security and Intelligence Research Group (ISIR), in a briefing to certain key Igbo interests, last week, noted that the current administration continues to see the South-East as the key “outlier” in its short and long term goals, and, as a result, they are using the IPOB defiance to “simulate continuous conflict” in South-Eastern Nigeria. What are the long term goals? To destabilize the South-East and bring it to its knees to the point where it can no longer offer any resistance should such a necessity arise.

How can the South-East, zone of the so-called separatists, be enjoying peace, while the rest of Nigeria burns? The startling fact seems to be that while Nigerian security operators continue to manufacture and fund crises and conflicts in the East, and accuse the IPOB and the ESN of the troubles – the killings, the kidnappings, the extortions, and the general sense of insecurity – they deliberately inseminate foreign armed bandits that are invading and killing Nigerians from Eha-Amufu to Lokpanta and beyond in the South-East.

Under coverage, these hooded fighters and killers, some of them Igbo, many of whom include ex-cons freed from prison breaks, are given let, and are surreptitiously armed by shadowy operators inside the Nigerian security forces to cause and simulate mayhem in the South-East. There is also the drug cartels angle.
There are very worrying speculations that shadowy figures inside the Nigerian security operations are involved in the manufacture and distribution of crystal m**h in the South-East, and are using the money, in a way reminiscent of the Iran-Contra situation, to fund the deliberate destabilization of the South-East.

They target Igbo youth: first to damage them with crystal m**h addiction, and then arm and handle them as part of their internal security operations in the South-East. Many of these killings are related to this drugs business, with the Russians, the Italians, the Asians, the South Americans, the Brazilian angle, fighting turf wars to establish a beach head in the South-East for the drug trade. There are strong speculations about the active connivance of the Nigerian security services.

It is all very sophisticated and perverse. This administration has unleashed the demon of hunger and unrest in the South-East and they blame the IPOB which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the violence because it (a) gains nothing from it, and (b) it is against their pacifist m**hod which is the reason behind the sit-at-home in the first place.

But the Buhari government continues to scapegoat IPOB, because it is convenient. Abubakar Malami continues to hold Kanu hostage because he understands that once Kanu is released, there will no longer be any logical reason to blame IPOB for the atrocities committed in the South-East by the Federal Government.
It is imperative that at the end of this administration, the incoming National Assembly must be compelled to investigate the Office of the Attorney General and the National Security Agency and their operational policies in the South-East.

If the National Assembly fails, the incoming President must institute a judicial panel of inquiry on the conduct of an Attorney General who ordered the invasion of the homes of Supreme Court judges; humiliated a sitting Chief Justice; ordered the arrest by the DSS of the Central Bank governor, and authorized the illegal and violent rendition of a citizen from a foreign land. The Nigerian Bar Association must also conduct its own inquiry on the Attorney General for hostage-taking and misuse of his powers.

DISCLAIMER: PERSPECTIVE is an opinion page of the CACLD public information service. All credits and liabilities connected with information published in this opinion page belong fully to the author. As an international Human Rights organization, the CACLD protects the rights of all peoples under the law, does neither encourage nor advocate violence but enjoins all peoples as well as state actors to pursue integrity, peace and justice in all their affairs. CACLD, however, upholds the right of all peoples to self-determination and self-defense.

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