Everything came together when Seun Kuti slapped a police officer on the Third Mainland Bridge.

Several weeks ago, in the heat of the 2023 campaign, I commissioned two social scientists conversant with Nigeria to help me map out the DNA of an Obidient. They went to work. Periodically, they sent me their findings. After stating that deep down, the Obidient movement is not about Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Scientist #1 propounds that Obidients are desolate, dejected, and dislocated hitchhikers who saw a shiny wagon on a muddy road and hopped on. Scientist #2, on the other hand, sees them as reluctant anarchists plotting destruction in the bushes, only to be distracted by the sound of a noisy wagon full of hitchhikers enticing them to give the Nigerian project a final chance.

The first time they appeared close to a consensus was when Wole Soyinka intervened in the political process after the election in the infamous Datti/fascism debate. The team thought they had mastered the characteristics of the Obidient. They mentioned one particular trait, anger. They said that these were furious people who were also impatient. They compared them to one specific group during the Civil Rights Movement in the US that forced Martin Luther King Jr. to start to talk about the “urgency of now.”

The social scientists felt that the anger of these people steamed from years and years of being victims of the Nigerian state’s failure. The Obidients, the scientists, argued had become so disenchanted with their situation and the situation of their country that they have relegated the norms of their society to the back burner. They suggested that today’s global village offered new tools to these actors and amplified their sense of violation. When I asked for a better explanation, the scientists told me that what social media exposed them to about situations in other parts of the world heightened their expectations of their country’s leadership. Still, something in their pronouncements did not apply across the board.

Another case in point was when they used the example of Oby Ezekwesili’s intervention in the news story that Pastor Enoch Adebayo said that God would help the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to fix Nigeria. For those who missed the drama, here is how it happened. According to a news report, Daddy GO sent one of his pastors to represent him at an event. When this little-known pastor, Dele Balogun, went, he read a speech. The day after, the newspapers reported what he said. And as it is tradition, they attributed the message to Pastor Adebayo.

Here is the exact thing Dele Balogun said. “Let us pray for the incoming government that God will support it and give it the Grace to do the right thing… Thank God the President-elect has promised to fix Nigeria. If God helps him, Nigeria will prosper in his hands.” The reaction of the Obidients was swift. They tongue-lashed Pastor Adeboye for keeping quiet when the elections were rigged, and voters were suppressed and killed.

Some people did not see anything wrong with what the man of God said. Any true man of God’s job is to pray for his country’s government. It doesn’t matter whether the government is elected, selected, or imposed.

Unfortunately, the Obidients do not pray like this. And they made Pastor Adeboye know that they don’t play like this.

Just like with Soyinka, the reaction of the Obidient shocked the political arena, including Obi himself. Peter Obi had to come out and disassociate himself from the tongue-lashing the Obidients gave Daddy GO Adeboye for daring to say what God told him. Obi even suggested that the people doing the bad stuff were disguised operatives from other parties trying to give his supporters a bad name.

For saying so, he got tongue-lashed by angry Obidients and supporters of other parties, from Reno Omokiri to Omoyele Sowore.

Even those who shared the news story were not spared. Former minister, Oby Ezekwesili, felt the need to defend Pastor Adeboye and to call Reuben Abati an unprofessional journalist and purveyor of fake news for tweeting the story. In the language of Obidients, Oby Ezekwesili called the story “utter rubbish.”

The social scientists agreed that there are numerous secret cells of Obidients across Nigeria. They said that the largest number of latent Obidients is in the North. They are waiting for a perfect trigger to coagulate around a mission, a name, and a movement. Despite the perception, the social scientists noted that the multitude of tomorrow’s Obidients in the North is not satisfied with their lives in relation to their peers in similar parts of the world. They agreed that a day would come when religion and tradition wouldn’t be enough to cage them and stop them from breaking loose and dethroning those who have diminished their lives.

“For now, it is enough for their leaders to point at others outside their region and blame them for the poor life they live,” the social scientists write. “That strategy is too old, but it is still working. But it won’t suffice for long. And when the North ignites, with abundant dry leaves, tears, and heartbreaks, there won’t be time to worry about trifles like respect for elders and constituted authorities. And the nation will be on fire when the North is on fire.”

In a pivotal reminder, the scientists pointed at Sudan, Egypt, and other Arab African states as examples of places where people who shared the same worldview as those in the North of Nigeria had stood up and demanded change. They believed that, eventually, it would get to the turn of northern Nigeria.

Peter Obi used to say that the society we abuse today would take revenge on our children. That was so yesterday. The new mantra is this: The society we abused yesterday is taking revenge on us. And one thing about revenge is that the first sign that it is in progress is that it decouples all the chains that connect it to a structured and functional law and order society. It baffles those who missed the cue, especially the elders, who are apostles of gradual and ordered transformation that will not upturn years of familiar social order and civilization.

In moments like this, philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, noted, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Nigeria wrings everyone born and bread in it until they become an Obidient. Depending on the material one is made of, some transform after just one wring, while others require a lot of wringing, punching, and slapping.

For the social scientists, everything came together when Seun Kuti slapped a police officer on the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos. For the first time, the two social scientists agreed – last last, Seun Kuti becomes an Obidient.

And this conclusion is one that both Seun Kuti and the Obidients will disagree on. And nothing is as Obidient as that.

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Post-Colonial African History at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is also the host of Dr. Damages Show. His books include “This American Life Sef” and “Children of a Retired God,” among others.

By Prince, Oriri Richard 

The Nigerian National Assembly will officially be inaugurated on the 13th June, 2023 for legislative businesses to commence, having successfully completed the 2023 General elections and members of the both Chambers of the National Assembly of 469 members, have been duly elected from their various Federal Constituencies and Senatorial Districts across the Country. 

The hovering controversial issue among stakeholders of the various political parties before 13th June is the leadership  selection process of both Chambers. Who gets what, when and how, according to Harold Laswell’s definition of politics, has been the heated arguments amongst Nigerians.

Foreseeing that the polity would be overheated,  considering the diverse interests from the Eight Political Parties that made it this time into the Nigerian National Assembly, Dr. Abdullahi Adamu, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress – APC, sometimes in March, 2023, said that the Party would work with the President elect to zoning the national Assembly positions.

On the 13th of March, 2023, the APC leaders and the President and Vice President-elect met with all Senators and House of Representatives elect on the platform of APC at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, where issues bothering on zoning were discussed and members elect were advised by the leadership of the Party to go home and wait for Party’s position for the Assembly leadership zoning before inauguration of Parliament.

On the 8th of May, 2023, the ruling party, APC, through its National Working Committee-NWC, came up with the zoning arrangement where the position of Senate President was zoned to South-South and narrowed down to Senator Godswill Akpabio and for the Speakership, the NWC chooses Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, a ranking member of the house of representatives, was chosen as Speaker from Kaduna, North-West and Senator Barau Jibrin, Senator representing Kano North, was selected as Deputy Senate President from Kano, North-West, while Benjamin Kalu, the  current house spokesperson, was nominated as Deputy Speaker from Abia State, South-East geopolitical zone.

Reacting to rumours that Dr. Tajudeen ABASS was preferred by the majority of the Southern lawmakers elect because he’s not from the North, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu Eze, a renowned politician from the South-East, and an 8yrs State Chairman of APC in Ebonyi State and the National President of the newly elected members of the 10th House of Representatives, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu downplayed the issue. Eze opined that newly elected members believed in capacity, competence of aspirant with democratic leadership style, which according to him, can be attributed to Dr. T.J Abbas. 

In his words, “with Dr. Abbas’s democratic leadership style, which the new members have taken note of from his profile and other means of investigation, every member of the 10th Assembly shall be  given equal  opportunity to participate, exchange ideas freely, and discussions shall be  encourage on the floor of the house”. In life, the law of favour is Value and Competence. Dr. Tajudeen ABBAS has alot of values and competence to offers the new members and we want to leverage on that. He stressed.

On National unity, Pastor Eze Nwachukwu Eze said there are broken walls and open wounds along religious and ethnic lines in Nigeria after the general elections. The Country needs leadership that can heal the common wounds and restore unity back, which according to Eze, are qualities the newly elected members have found in the right Dr. T.J Abbas. It will interest you to know that among all our colleagues aspiring to lead us, it’s only Dr. Abbas who has a Christian sister as his personal Secretary from the South-East and a Christian brother as his personal driver also from the South-West. This alone has shown to us how patriotic he is and what he can do if elected by the way of carrying all interests along in his leadership decisions. Eze opined.

Eze went further to reiterated that, he’s a Party man who will always stand by the instructions of the leadership of his Party. By the special grace of God, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas and Hon. Benjamin Kalu will be sworn in as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively as we go in for the inauguration on the 13th June, 2023. He reiterated.

Hon. Dr Abbas Tajudeen was born on October 1st, 1963 in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. He is an educationist and politician representing Zaria Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.

Hon Abbas attended Kaduna Teacher’s College (KTC) Kaduna, where he obtained a grade II certificate in 1981. His quest for further learning took him to the great Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied business administration. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree. In 1993, he obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In 2010 he completed a doctorate degree in business management at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.

Hon Abbas was a primary school teacher from 1981 to 1988. In 1998, he became a lecturer at a polytechnic before moving to the Kaduna State University (KASU) in 1993. He taught at KASU until 2001. From 2001 to 2005, he was a marketing manager at NTC Plc.

Hon. Abbas was elected into the National Assembly in 2011 to represent Zaria Federal Constituency. He was re-elected in 2015 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).  

Honourable Abbas has legislative interests in: appropriation, finance, education, national planning, health and public procurement.

Hon. Abbas has served in various House committees such as National Planning & Economic Development, Public Procurement, Defense, Social Duties, Finance and Commerce. He also served as Vice Chairman at Legislative Compliance Committee from May 2011 to May 2015.

Honourable Abbas target as a legislator is to ensure that the Nigerian masses are better provided with the basic and sound

education, that the  resources of the Nigerian masses are better managed to provide essential services for growth and in the overall interest of every citizen.

Honourable Abbas has many awards & Honours. Some of which includes: Fellow of the Association of Hospitality Management of Nigeria, 

Best Head of Department – Kaduna State Polytechnic(1993), 

Best Service Manager – Nigerian Institude of Management, Zaria (2009).

As the battle for the validity of the results of the elections shifts to the Election Petitions Tribunals, Alex Enumah writes that the judiciary, unlike any other time in the country’s history, is now under unprecedented pressure and scrutiny to deliver justice on the petitions before it

In Nigeria’s history, the judiciary has never been faced with mounting pressure as it is facing currently. Since after the general election when the battle for the validity of the results of the polls shifted to various Election Petitions Tribunals, everybody has turned his or her focus to the judiciary, with many wondering if it would be able to deliver substantial justice without fear and favour.

 When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a technology that would drastically reduce electoral malpractices, Nigerians had thought election results would be more credible and less prone to legal challenges. But this was not the case.

Opposition parties alleged that the same INEC in their estimation flagrantly and willfully refused to use BVAS or followed its rules and regulations in the presidential and governorship elections. This made the several results it announced controversial and subjects of litigation.

With the results of the 2023 general election declared and the aggrieved parties asked to go to court, the only option currently before many Nigerians is to be anxious.

Many are wondering if the judiciary would be able to ensure substantial justice with their decisions reflecting the expectations and will of the people, as expressed at the polls. 

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, who was declared winner of the election by INEC would be sworn in on May 29, and begins to discharge the functions of the president.

But many, especially his opponents, who also lay claim to victory, feel that a brave Supreme Court, like that of Kenya, can annul the election if it is found to be deeply flawed or fraudulent.

While the Supreme Court had on many occasions annulled several governorship elections, it has never tampered with the outcome of a presidential election, whether in the Second Republic or the current dispensation since 1999. This had raised questions as to whether the irregularities that led to cancellations of governorship elections were not present on a larger scale in the presidential elections.

With some controversial judgments by the Supreme Court such as the recent judgment that affirmed the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, as the valid candidate for his senatorial district and a previous judgment that declared a governorship candidate who came fourth in the governorship election as the winner, the question on the lips of many Nigerians is whether the third arm of government would be able to live up to the expectations of the aggrieved people who filed petitions to challenge the process.

 It is against this backdrop that the organised labour and the civil society coalition, under the aegis of the Citizens’ Democratic Movement, on International Workers’ Day, urged the country’s judiciary, especially judges of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, to help safeguard democracy by doing justice to all the election petitions brought before them.

The movement, comprising several civil society and youth organisations, alleged that INEC had seriously damaged the country’s democracy with its poor showing at the elections.

Co-conveners of the movement which included Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Senator Shehu Sanni, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, Professor Udenta Udenta, Salisu Mohammed, and Olawale Okunniyi, were joined by the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joseph Ajaero, and the General Secretary, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nuhu Toro, during the event.

 In his speech, Ajaero appealed to the judiciary to use the opportunity of adjudicating in the petitions arising from the 2023 general election to redeem its fast-waning image. He said the labour movement and its allies were prepared this time to monitor the operations of the judiciary.

 Ajaero, in a speech titled: “The Threatening Decomposition of Democracy in Nigeria and the Urgent Need for Citizens’ Intervention,” said the judiciary had through its many flops attracted many questions from Nigerians, adding that, “if they fail to answer those questions within a short time, we would create a hall of shame for those judges that come up with judgments, for those judges that create such problems, that would happen soon.”

 He further said there was a need for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and all arms of the judiciary to speak out on happenings in the judiciary and frankly ponder whether the judiciary was still the last hope of the common man.

 Ajaero, who reminded the members of the judiciary to remember that the destiny of the country was in their hands, said, “It is either they fulfill it or they betray it once again. When they tell you to go to the court, they’re telling you that, that is the end of the matter. Somebody will steal yam and say go to the court. On what basis are those statements being used?

 “That’s the level of ridicule that the judiciary has brought and as Nigerians, we all need to come out to rescue the judiciary, else there’ll be no need to continue to go to court.”

 Ajaero noted that NLC identified with the movement not necessarily on a political basis, but in order to rescue the country.

Addressing journalists at the end of their meeting at Labour House, in Abuja, the spokesperson of the group, Toyo, accused INEC of attempting to destroy democracy by failing to uphold the provisions of the Electoral Act and even their own set rules.

 Toyo stated, “This 2023 general election became an anti-climax, dashing the hopes of Nigerians for credible elections and denying citizens the emergence of qualitative political leadership across Nigeria.

 “Clearly, INEC in cahoots with some members of our political class has driven a death nail into the democratic experience of most Nigerians, thus, leaving the electorate despondent to resort to self-help in their effort to salvage whatever is left of their vibrant political engagement with the 2023 elections.  

 “Unfortunately, the majority of Nigerians, especially the youths, who fought with patriotism to reset their country through the ballot box, are now wondering if elections have not become the tool for legitimising the corrupt takeover of Nigeria.

 “Therefore, as affected individuals and parties resort to the court as the main conflict resolving mechanism, we hope that the judiciary, as the final arbiter, will ensure that the malfeasances of those powerful individuals and their corrupt allies will not be rewarded but, rather, they will be discredited and punished.

“We are calling on the Justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to rise up to the occasion by restoring the people’s confidence in the processes that were abused by INEC and also stem the deep decline of our democracy.”

Recently, in his Easter message, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, told judges that the future of the country depends on how they arrive at their much-awaited judgment.

He added that Nigerians are saddened that the judges’ sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten their reputation as the last hope for all citizens.

 The renowned clergy said it was sad that their hard- earned reputation is undergoing very severe stress and pressure from those who want justice on their own terms.

 “Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as the interpreters of the spirit of our laws. The future of our coun­try is in your hands. You have only your conscience and your God to answer to when you listen to the claims and counterclaims of Nigerian lawyers and have to decide the future of our country.

 “We pray that God gives you the wisdom to see what is right and the strength of character and conscience to stand by the truth. You have no obligation to please anyone. Our future depends on how you arrive at your much-awaited judgment,” he said.

 On his part, former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan, said it doesn’t make much sense for President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to be sworn in before the conclusion of the election tribunal.

Speaking during an interview on television last week, Onaiyekan said the system of electioneering in the nation should be reviewed, noting that it would produce winners who don’t have the shadow of the court lurking behind their victory.

“There are cases in court that have not been disposed of. That is why we are in an anomalous situation. We have a president-elect whose election is being challenged and the court is handling it. I’m still waiting for the court to tell me who won the election. It doesn’t make much sense to be swearing in people when they are still in court, he said.

 Ahead of the hearing and determination of the various petitions filed to challenge the elections, Olu Fasan had implored the tribunals not to use technicality in subverting the will of the people. He specifically urged the Supreme Court not to treat politicians as if they are fungible or substitutable, but to annul the election and order a rerun for there to be direct electoral links between the governed and those governing them.

 He urged the apex court to be brave like the Supreme Court of Kenya, which can annul the election if it’s deeply flawed or fraudulent.

 “Would the judiciary ensure substantive justice so that their decisions reflect the will of the people, as expressed in elections, instead of perverting it? Or would the tribunal or the court be the continuation of politics by other means, whereby judges give subjective judgments that are not defined by law, evidence and justice? Sadly, based on the past, few can vouch for the judiciary to do the right thing.” 

However, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), had slammed the labour union for threatening to create a hall of shame for judges that undermine the tenets of the judiciary and come up with ridiculous judgments on election petitions.

Keyamo warned that any attempt to ‘intimidate’ the Nigerian judiciary as it prepares to begin hearing in the presidential election petition would be an invitation to crisis.

In a long treatise on Twitter, Keyamo drew attention to a group of people he said had formed themselves into “watchdogs” over the judiciary in respect of the pending election petitions.

“Any attempt to destroy the judiciary as these characters are bent on doing, is an invitation to another Sudan. Just as they often issue the empty boast that they are a different movement and the judiciary should not ‘mess’ with them, they will soon realise that the judiciary is also a different kind of institution with which they cannot ‘mess’ with,” he wrote.

With the alleged failure of the INEC to make the elections credible, free, fair, transparent and therefore acceptable to all the stakeholders, the judiciary is now under immense pressure.