‘Shadow Government’: The Irrational Hounding Of Pat Utomi

 By Olu Fasan

There are two views about Professor Pat Utomi’s decision to float what he called “Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government, BTCSG”. One is that he should not have stirred up a hornet’s nest with something as “provocative” as a “shadow government”.

*Utomi
Another is that any democracy that cannot tolerate a non-violent pressure group, by whatever name it is called, is not a true democracy. I subscribe to the second view. For me, the first view, by being censorious about the BTCSG, misunderstands the true nature of democratic pluralism.

However, there’s a third position, far more pernicious, which seeks to demonise Professor Utomi and treat him as an enemy of the state. From the hysterical, even apoplectic, reactions of the state, you would think Professor Utomi created a “shadow government” to overthrow the Tinubu government and not merely to hold it accountable.

Bola Tinubu And His Game

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Today, May 29, 2025, is exactly two years since Bola Tinubu took the oath of office as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria. And it is more than enough time to assess his stewardship.

*Tinubu

Even those who said, as Professor Wole Soyinka did in 2023, that the traditional 100 days was too short a time to make such an assessment will hardly have any excuse now. For those who may have forgotten, on December 24, 2023, Soyinka paid a visit to Tinubu in his Lagos home. Asked to assess Tinubu’s performance, the Nobel Laureate claimed that three months was too short a time to assess any government.

Nigeria: Lawmakers’ Exotic SUVs

 By Robert Obioha

The 10th National Assembly (NASS) is always in the news for the wrong reasons since its inauguration some months ago. Although such hiccups are not unexpected with the newly elected leadership, but when they became so frequent without any sign of abating soon, there is indeed something to worry about the present crop of legislators. This is also not actually the best of times for the turbulent NASS. Some members are still grieving over how the current leadership of the NASS emerged and the sharing of perks of office. It is time to bury the hatchet and move on.

When the members are not protesting over the sharing of committee jobs, they are complaining over the sharing of some perks of office or what Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio humorously described as prayer points sent to their bank accounts, sorry, mailboxes, or both, for want of better expression. Nigerians were not deceived over what actually transpired with the prayer point episode. Recently, the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, from the North-East, walked out of the Red Chamber over minor issues as point of order or point of correction over how Akpabio handles issues. The Senate President promptly overruled Ndume.

Akpabio Must Get Serious

  By Charles Okoh

Perhaps, the greatest reason good leadership has continued to elude us is because the executive has consistently cowed the other arms of government into total submission and capitulation. Such that the executive can effectively do without the necessary input of the other more critical arms of government; the legislature and judiciary.

*Akpabio 

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the legislature and judiciary were reduced to mere appendages and branches of the executive. In fact, Ahmad Lawan’s 9th leadership of the Senate hit an all-time low in that regard. For Lawan, he was even proud to announce to a bewildered nation that under his watch, the senate would never have any reason to disagree with the executive. And that promise was kept until the end of Buhari’s second term. And for that he was rewarded with another tenure at the Senate in a move that would pass as the 8th wonder of the world.

Police Should Kill Bandits, Not Democracy In Plateau, Nasarawa

 By Emmanuel Aziken

Arguably the best Inspector General of Police since the exit of Solomon Arase, Nigeria’s top police shot, IGP Usman Alkali Baba appears to have now run himself into an unnecessary controversy.

Given the foibles of the ruling political class, he had within reasonable expectations held his dignity in the face of the rascality of political actors here and there during the recent General Election.