Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN, LL.D: Exit Of A Legal Colossus

 By Mike Ozehkome

Introduction 

The death, on Sunday, the 29th day of October, 2023, of Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN, brought to an end, arguably, the first generation of Senior Advocates of Nigeria. The first ever set of SANs in Nigeria comprised legal giants, Chief F.R.A. Williams and Dr. N.B. Graham-Douglass (both now late), who took the Silk on 4th March, 1975.

*Prof Nwabueze
There was a three-year period of interregnum between 1975 and 1st of December, 1978, when this academic and legal colossus was silked with 12 other legal titans such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Mr. T.A.Bankole-Oki, Mr E.A. Molajo, Mr. Kehinde Sofola, Chief Richard Akinjide, Mr. G.O.K. Ajayi, Mr. Olisa Chukwura, Dr. Nwakanma Okoro, Dr. Mudiga Odje, Mr. P.O. Balonwu and Dr. Augustin Nnamani. Nwabueze was certainly the first from the academia, based strictly on his published works. His first love was the classroom and he bestrode it like the colossus he was. He was thus justifiably called “the Professor of professors”. He remained a teacher and mentor of many generations of legal academics, both in Nigeria and beyond, till his last breath. I am one of his beneficiaries who compared notes with him and drank from his inexhaustible well of knowledge and wisdom.

Zik’s 119th Posthumous Birthday: Celebrating An Iconic Tall Image

 By Enyinnaya Appolos 

Today is the 119th birthday of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle-Osowa-Anya of Onicha, affectionately called Zik of Africa, a remarkable figure in Nigerian and African journalism and political history. 

*Zik

As the world marks Zik’s 119th posthumous birthday today, tribute must be paid to an iconic tall image who left an indelible mark in the nation’s sands of time. Dr. Azikiwe’s life and contributions as a journalist, politician and statesman are not only worthy of celebration, but the story about Zik should be religiously told and transferred to generations unborn, in remembrance of a Great Icon.

Lessons From Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Victory

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

“Success is not measured by the position you reach, but by the obstacles you overcome” – John Harold Johnson( late publisher of Ebony Magazine)

*Natasha 
She is a rare breed; an iconic combination of brilliance, beauty, and boldness. But more than these, she has become a jinx-breaker of some sort, making history by becoming the first Ihima-born politician to climb up to the pedestal of senator-ship, in Nigeria’s chequered history of democracy.

Wike As FCT Minister: An Insult To Nigeria’s Sensibility

 By Olu Fasan

Let me say this unequivocally. A Southern-Christian is perfectly eligible to be Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Without a shadow of a doubt, a Christian from Southern Nigeria is as much qualified as a Muslim from Northern Nigeria to administer the FCT.

*Wike 

So, this intervention is not an endorsement of Sheikh Ahmad Gumi’s recent diatribe against a Southern-Christian Minister of Abuja. However, while a Southern-Christian is eligible to be FCT Minister, that Southern-Christian, just like any Northern-Muslim, must be a fit and proper person. I submit that Nyesom Wike, the rumbustious and self-regarding former governor of Rivers State, is not a fit and proper person to be FCT Minister. Why?

Effects Of Hardship, Hunger And Poverty On Mental Health

 By Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu

It does no one any good to dissimulate or dissemble our feelings in a bid to hide or escape the present-day realities in the lives of citizens all over the world. Yes, there is high inflation, food insecurity all over the world but the case in Africa and Nigeria in particular calls for serious concern and attention.

The level of hardship and hunger witnessed in Nigeria in recent times has never been imagined nor occurred to anybody as something that would come to be.

Hamas’ Mission Impossible

 By Ochereome Nnanna

On October 7, 2023, the Jewish State of Israel suffered the most painful, unprovoked terrorist assault on its innocent citizens who were holidaying. What an irony that they were attacked while celebrating the Festival of Sukkot, marking God’s protection of their Biblical ancestors in the desert on their epic journey from the land of enslavement, Egypt, to the Promised Land! It fell on a Sabbath Day, and people relaxed at home, while some youngsters attended a music festival at Kibbutz Re’im in Southern Israel.

It was on such a day that Hamas invaded Israel by land and air. They breached the border fences and flew paragliders through the Israeli airspace. They attacked unsuspecting, innocent and unarmed soldiers and civilians, massacred, slaughtered, raped, tortured and dehumanised Israeli citizens. The details of their atrocities are available in cybersphere for those who have the stomach to view them.

Governors, Thugs And Settlement Of Disputes

 By Owei Lakemfa

In 2011, we in the Trade Union Movement were worried that the new National Minimum Wage of N18,000 consented to by the Federal and State governments, and signed into law the previous year, was not being implemented.

Negotiations had gone pretty well with the Federal Government, but had hit a brick-wall when its team said on a note of finality it had reached the limit of the wage bill it could shoulder. We needed an additional N2 billion. Labour met directly with then President Goodluck Jonathan and he directed that the additional fund be added to the Federal wage bill.

Concerning Courts Of Electoral Kleptocracy

 By Chidi Odinkalu

In 1968, Stanislav Andrzejewski, the former Polish soldier and prisoner-of-war, who later founded the Sociology Department at the University of Reading in England, coined the word ‘kleptocracy”, which he defined as “a system of government [that] consists precisely of the practice of selling what the law forbids to sell.” He saw in the system of Nigeria’s First Republic, “the most perfect example of a kleptocracy” in which “power rested on the ability to bribe.” 

According to Andrzejewski, the defining characteristic of a kleptocracy “is that the functioning of the organs of authority is determined by the mechanisms of supply and demand rather than the laws and regulations.”

Nigeria: The Chief Justice Has No Clothes!

 

By Ugoji Egbujo

In The Emperor’s New Clothes, by Hans Christian Andersen, two rogues go to a vain Emperor to say they can make him a wonderful dress that will be invisible to fools. The emperor, who believes he is as wise as Solomon, agrees. With the new clothes, he will sift the competent and clever from the chaff amongst his ministers and special advisers.

*Cheif Justice Of Nigeria: Ariwoola 

The swindlers tell the self-absorbed Emperor that the dress will fit a special parade. He agrees. The emperor loves pomp and parades. Parades allow him to flaunt himself and bamboozle the public. The swindlers collect exquisite royal linen and threads and stash them away in their roofs or banks. In Nigeria, judges loot looters—politicians—and stash away. Mugu having paid, the crooks resume at their looms.

Oludele Idowu on Ben Nwabueze; Undiluted Nastiness!

 By Tony Eluemunor

Which infernal forces seized Mr. Oludele Idowu when he poured scorn on  late Prof Ben Nwabueze, a man well-respected whether in life or death, an author of over 30 books, the second Nigerian to have a PhD based on his publications and the second Nigerian academic to become a SAN based simply on his publications?

*Prof Nwabueze 

It is a testimony to the nasty times in Nigeria that a man could disdain verifiable facts, and actually not feel ashamed that his name should be associated with crass untruths, and actually publish such nastiness to further bury the concept of unity in Nigeria. 

Benjamin Nwabueze: Teacher, Lawyer, Lawmaker And Scholar

 By Evance Kalula

The sad news of the passing on of Professor Benjamin Obi Nwabueze, first academic Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), “Professor of Professors”, as he was fondly referred to in Nigeria, is still reverberating in academic, legal fraternity and international circles. Many well-deserved tributes to the remarkable man and his memory are still circulating.

*Nwabueze 

Please indulge me, l also thought I should share a personal tribute to him, expressing my gratitude and indebtedness to the great man. Ben Nwabueze was a remarkable man, an outstanding teacher, lawyer, law maker and scholar. He typified the excellence that Africa produces, for the most not fully acknowledged. He was an African treasure of the highest quality.

Saturday’s Governorship Elections In Nigeria And The Credibility Of The Electoral Commission

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As the November 11, 2023, governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states draw close, widespread and justifiable concerns continue to mount about the capacity and willingness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize free, credible and transparent polls to gratify the deep yearnings of the people to be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to choose their own governor.

*Oti and Yakubu: Tale of two professors 

Given the very demoralizing performance posted by INEC in the last general elections earlier in the year, whose glaring evidences are showing their egregious faces at the various Election Petitions Tribunals across the country, the people have every reason to be very apprehensive and distrustful of INEC under the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu.

Nigeria: The Lost Hope!

 By Obi Nwakanma

In the last three weeks, I have suffered from a very devastating writer’s block. I could not move my mind. It felt stiff and unyielding – unwilling to grasp, or grapple with any kind of ideas, relating particularly to Nigeria. I have felt completely drained; as though there was no more gas left in my tank. I have felt like there is nothing left to be said about Nigeria.

We have imagined the impossible. We have become the impossible. I just felt cynical. In these last few months, I have also thought long and hard about fully and completely giving up my Nigerian citizenship. I mean, what is left of this country, really? What is Nigeria to me? I have asked these questions, rolled it in my mind; weighed it. And I very nearly made the move of officially renouncing any more affiliations with Nigeria, and thereafter, stay quiet, and stop worrying about this very tragic and demonic country.

Nigeria’s Democracy And The Sin Of Self-Deception

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

In recent times, I have asked myself why anyone should bother about Nigeria since no matter how hard you try, evil still triumphs.

For the first time in recent history, Nigerians from all walks of life, having agreed that military rule was an aberration, and their hopes buoyed by the assurances of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that their votes in the 2023 elections will not only be counted but will count in determining who superintends over their affairs, came out in their numbers to make a difference.

Tribalism Is The Emperor Of All Isms

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Tribalism is the ism topping all isms! All the talk of Socialism, Communism, Humanism and so on must now be put on one side to make way for the true king of the jungle: Tribalism! Of all the isms of the whole wide world, the most triumphant ism is without any question whatsoever Tribalism.

Look, I’m not just writing about Nigeria where the current wave of Tribalism has exposed all the erstwhile charlatans of the land. Many pseudo-intellectuals and para-academics have made a meal of wearing tattered beards all over the place and crowning themselves Emperors of Communism or Kings of Marxism. The former Marxists have all been unmasked and the erstwhile apostles of Communism have all been excommunicated.

Rotimi Amaechi’s Glib Talk And Threat To Democracy In Rivers

 By Alabi Williams

Rotimi Amaechi, former minister and governor of Rivers State, at a public lecture on Thursday, October 26, sounded rather melancholic. For a man who has been in government since 1999, first as two-term speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly and later as governor for eight years, before he served as minister of the Federal Republic for another eight years, all on a platter, the privileges he amassed do not justify the grief he attempted to offload. And he was most unfair and incorrect as he tried to blame the polity’s woes on the people.

*Rotimi Amaechi

That same week, Port Harcourt was in turmoil as former governor Nyesom Wike vainly and desperately sought to protect a so-called political structure he claimed to have built. In a democracy, do individuals own political structures to the exclusion of the political party? And whose resources did he deploy to build the structure, Rivers’ taxpayers’ monies?

Peter Obi: Our Democracy As Victim Of Miscarriage Of Justice

 Remarks at a Press Conference by Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, CON, Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party on The Supreme Court Judgment of 26th October, 2023  On the 2023 Nigeria Presidential Election Held in Abuja, FCT, on Monday 6th November, 2023

*Peter Obi 

  1.Fellow countrymen and women. Gentlemen of the Media, Good day and welcome to this press conference. Kindly permit me to make some brief remarks on the recent ruling of the Supreme Court, the highest court in Nigeria.

2. About a fortnight ago, I was traveling abroad on a prior scheduled engagement when I received the notice that the Supreme Court would give judgment on Thursday 26th October 2023 on our challenge of the ruling   of   the   Presidential   Election   Petitions   Court   (PEPC).   That judgment has since been delivered as scheduled. The leadership of the Labour Party has already pronounced its position on the judgment.

Judiciary’s Double Standards, A Danger To Our Democracy

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The Constitution gives our Judiciary a role – sacred one at that – in our democracy. It is mandated to give justice to whom it is due. But we are now in a situation where some corrupt members of the Bench collude with powerful politicians to remove and emplace those rejected at the polls. The Nigerian Judiciary is now a self-styled “power broker”.

Nigeria is not the only country where the courts are called upon to adjudicate in electoral cases. Even in the United States where we copied our presidential system from, the courts had their hands full at the end of the 2020 controversial elections. Back home in Africa, the Kenya Supreme Court was saddled with adjudicating a presidential election outcome, and it delivered justice to the true winner of the August 9, 2022 presidential election, William Ruto.

The Wages Of INEC

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

“Truth must be told, the non-transmission of results to the IReV portal may also reduce the confidence of the voting population in the electoral process.” – Hon Justice Inyang Okoro, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

These are words on marble, coming from the highest court of the land. They simply summarise the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the 2023 general election and they remain indelible marks on the record and history of the electoral umpire.

We have now gradually come to the reality of the bastardy of democracy. An institution established to strengthen democracy is daily eroding it, through crooked elections, dribbling tactics and electoral malfeasance.

Professor Ben Nwabueze And Moses Oludele Idowu’s Apostasy

 By Chuks Iloegbunam

Ihechukwu Madubuike’s new book is entitled Aka Ekpuchi Onwa: Ndigbo Unbowed, (Eminent Biographies Limited; 2024). Professor Madubuike devoted the book’s Chapter Five to demolishing the infantile thesis of Moses Oludele Idowu, a poseur with claims to political punditry and Christian evangelism. Idowu posited a fallacy on Ndigbo by arguing that "The Igbo political culture of compromises is at the root of the lackluster, unenviable position of the Igbo as a people in the political process and equation rather than any conspiracy as their scholars and hagiographers have always maintained.”

*Prof Ben Nwabueze 

A sample of Dr. Madubuike’s rebuke

 

I am troubled that some of our Yoruba cousins keep drawing us backwards, because they believe the Igbo are their immortal political enemies. To make the above assertions about the Igbo without qualms by Moses Oludele Idowu in his Wages of Compromises: The Igbo Race As Object Lesson is pushing provocation and illogicality to the level of the absurd. The thesis is as unsustainable as it is otiose. If the article is intended to be seen as part of the continuing conversation to interrogate the Nigerian geopolitical space, to inquire into and understand the fundamentals of nation-building, and the overall importance of justice in determining the affairs of human beings, then it can be tolerated. But the write-up is about none of these.