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ENDGAME (PART II): When the Constitution Comes Under Fire | Can the rule of law survive a permanent security crisis?

By Law & Society Magazine Investigations

On paper, the Constitution remains unchanged. It still guarantees the right to life, personal liberty, freedom of movement and access to justice. It still places the security and welfare of the people at the centre of public responsibility. Courts continue to sit. Elections are conducted. Legislatures meet. The institutions of constitutional government remain intact.

Yet across many parts of Nigeria, everyday life tells a more complicated story.

Parents weigh the risk of sending children to school against reports of recent attacks. Farmers leave fertile land uncultivated because armed groups control nearby forests. Commercial drivers exchange information about dangerous stretches of highway before setting out. Villages organise local vigilante patrols where residents believe official protection may arrive too late. These decisions are rarely discussed as constitutional issues. They are usually described as security concerns. Over time, however, they begin to reshape the practical relationship between citizens and the State.

The Constitution does not promise a life free from crime or conflict. No democratic charter can. It does, however, assume that public institutions will remain capable of protecting citizens, enforcing the law and ensuring that fundamental rights are more than aspirations recorded in a legal document. Where those assumptions weaken over an extended period, constitutional guarantees become increasingly difficult to enjoy in practice, even though they remain fully intact in law.

Nigeria’s prolonged struggle with terrorism, insurgency, banditry and organised kidnapping has brought that reality into sharper focus. Thousands of people have been displaced from their communities. Schools have suspended academic activities after repeated attacks. Agricultural production has suffered in areas where farmers fear venturing into their fields. Businesses have relocated or closed, while families increasingly organise ordinary routines around security briefings rather than convenience.

Read Also: WHEN TERROR PAYS|The Endgame: How do you make terror stop paying?

These changes rarely occur overnight. They accumulate quietly, often appearing reasonable when viewed individually. A school installs additional security measures. A community restricts movement after dark. A transport operator alters established routes. Residents begin relying on informal security groups because they consider them more immediately available than formal institutions. Each response reflects an understandable attempt to reduce risk. Collectively, they reveal how prolonged insecurity can alter the way constitutional government is experienced at the local level.

Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. The provision is frequently cited after major attacks, but its significance extends beyond political statements. It expresses a constitutional expectation that the State will possess both the authority and the capacity to protect those within its jurisdiction. Security is therefore not merely another government programme. It is one of the conditions upon which the meaningful exercise of many other constitutional rights depends.

The consequences become visible across different sectors of national life. Education provides one illustration. The repeated targeting of schools has forced authorities in several states to rethink security arrangements, school locations and emergency response systems. The rescue of pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area demonstrated what determined coordination among security agencies can achieve.

Days later, however, another school came under attack in Kogi State while students were sitting for public examinations. The sequence of those events captured both the possibilities and the limitations of operational success. One rescue restored dozens of lives. It did not remove the conditions that continue to place other schools at risk.

The same pattern appears elsewhere. Communities affected by insecurity often adapt long before government policy changes. Markets close earlier. Religious gatherings adopt additional security precautions. Traditional rulers, youth associations and local vigilante groups assume responsibilities that once rested almost entirely with formal security institutions.

Many of these responses are practical. Some save lives. Others reflect an uncomfortable reality: where citizens repeatedly doubt the State’s ability to respond quickly, they begin constructing alternative arrangements to protect themselves.

Democratic societies confronted by prolonged violence have faced similar pressures. The United Kingdom during the IRA campaign, Spain’s long confrontation with ETA and Colombia’s conflict with insurgent movements all struggled to balance effective security operations with judicial oversight and constitutional restraint. Their histories differ significantly from Nigeria’s, but they share an important lesson. Public confidence depends not only on reducing violence but also on preserving confidence that institutions remain governed by law even during periods of exceptional danger.

That lesson deserves attention in Nigeria because terrorism seeks more than territory or ransom. It aims to weaken public confidence in the institutions responsible for maintaining order. Every attack carries an immediate human cost. Repeated attacks over many years risk producing something less visible but equally damaging: a gradual decline in citizens’ expectations of what constitutional government should ordinarily provide.

The Republic’s response cannot therefore be measured only by the number of arrests made or operations successfully concluded.

It must also be measured by whether constitutional institutions emerge from this prolonged conflict with greater public confidence, stronger accountability and a renewed capacity to protect the rights they were established to guarantee.

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Statement of appreciation, By Bulus Yohanna Atsen, fsi, Elected NBA Representative on the General Council of the Bar

Dear SANs and Learned Colleagues,

I am deeply humbled by the overwhelming support and the votes you gave me at the just concluded NBA 2026 National Elections, which culminated in my election to the General Council of the Bar.

I receive this mandate with immense gratitude and a profound sense of responsibility.

To my colleagues across the country and in the diaspora who advised, prayed, campaigned, supported and voted for me, I say, Thank You!!

This victory belongs to all of us. Your trust will not be taken for granted.

In my manifesto, I promised Strategic Representation anchored on 3 pillars:

  1. Strengthen Governance of Legal Practice
  2. Promote Strategic Influence for the Bar
  3. Institute a Transparent Feedback Mechanism

I remain committed to serving you diligently and in compliance with the Legal Practitioners Act, the Constitution of the NBA, and the best interests of our members.

I also congratulate all other elected GCB Representatives and members of the National Executive Committee.

Although the electoral process was characterised by numerous challenges, service to the Bar requires that we work deliberately to improve the system and advance the legal profession in Nigeria.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to serve.

Strategic Representation
Bulus Yohanna Atsen, fsi
Elected NBA Representative – General Council of the Bar
19th July 2026

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Courts crack down on ‘miracle merchants’ as fake prophet, native doctor convicted over fraudulent spiritual claims

From promises to raise the dead and multiply wealth to selling ‘Holy Ghost Thunder’ and crime-linked charms, two landmark convictions signal a tougher judicial stance against spiritual fraud.

Nigeria’s courts have delivered a strong warning to self-styled spiritual leaders who prey on desperation, convicting a self-acclaimed prophet and a prominent native doctor in two separate cases that authorities say exposed how fraudulent religious and traditional claims are being used to fleece vulnerable citizens of millions of naira.

Within days of each other, courts in Enugu and Anambra handed down convictions against the two men, underscoring an increasingly aggressive crackdown by anti-graft and law enforcement agencies on individuals accused of exploiting faith, superstition and the promise of supernatural intervention for financial gain.

In Enugu, Justice H.O. Eya of the Enugu State High Court convicted self-acclaimed prophet Godwin Sunday Ajuluchukwucheya, popularly known as Prophet Sunday Koboko, after he pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of obtaining by false pretence and stealing brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to the anti-graft agency, Ajuluchukwucheya fraudulently obtained about ₦136.4 million from members of his ministry between 2023 and February 2025 by falsely claiming he had won ₦30 billion in a Baba Ijebu lottery and inviting followers to invest in a scheme that promised extraordinary financial returns.

Investigators said the cleric used his religious influence to convince worshippers that participating in the scheme would bring prosperity and supernatural breakthroughs.

The fraud allegedly extended beyond investment promises.

One petitioner, Mrs. Ngene Nkiruka Jane, told investigators that the self-acclaimed prophet collected ₦6.7 million from her after claiming he possessed the spiritual power to raise her late husband from the dead while also promising lucrative investment returns.

Another victim, Okey Uwakwe, alleged that he paid ₦6.23 million after being assured that the cleric could spiritually compel his brother, who had lived overseas since 1997, to return to Nigeria.

As investigations widened, more complainants reportedly emerged with similar allegations.

The EFCC also said investigators recovered evidence that the convict sold so-called spiritual products—including “miracle stickers,” “spiritual dragon,” and “Holy Ghost Thunder”—while promising miraculous solutions to members of his congregation.

Following his guilty plea, Justice Eya sentenced him to one year imprisonment with the option of a ₦500,000 fine.

The court further ordered the forfeiture of his landed property in Enugu to the Federal Government, directing that it be sold and the proceeds used to compensate victims.

Native Doctor Gets Maximum Sentence

In neighbouring Anambra State, another court delivered what officials described as one of the toughest sentences yet under the state’s Homeland Security Law.

An Awka High Court sentenced popular native doctor Onyebuchi Okocha, widely known as Onyeze Jesus, to six years imprisonment and imposed a ₦20 million fine after finding him guilty of fraudulent spiritual practices.

Confirming the judgment, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr. Law Mefor, said the conviction formed part of the state government’s broader campaign against individuals accused of deceiving members of the public through claims of supernatural wealth creation and preparing charms allegedly intended to facilitate criminal activities.

According to the commissioner, the prosecution was brought under the Anambra State Homeland Security Law, enacted to combat criminality linked to deceptive spiritual practices, ritual-related offences and fraudulent claims of mystical powers.

Mefor noted that Onyeze Jesus had been arraigned alongside other well-known spiritualists, including Chidozie Nwangwu, popularly known as Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki, and Ekene Igbonekwu, also called Eke Hit, during the state’s ongoing crackdown.

While Akwa Okuko earlier entered a plea bargain and received a concurrent two-year prison sentence, Onyeze Jesus elected to stand trial and was handed the maximum punishment prescribed by the law.

The court also ordered that he be remanded at the Awka Correctional Centre to commence serving his sentence.

A Wider Campaign

Authorities say the convictions reflect a broader effort to dismantle fraudulent enterprises operating under the guise of religion and traditional spirituality.

The EFCC described the Enugu conviction as part of its continuing campaign against financial crimes and its commitment to securing restitution for victims of fraud.

Similarly, the Anambra State Government insisted that its enforcement campaign is not directed at legitimate religious or traditional worship but at individuals who exploit spiritual beliefs to promote fraud, internet crime, kidnapping, ritual killings and other criminal activities.

For years, law enforcement agencies have warned that fraudulent spiritual claims often flourish during periods of economic hardship, when desperate victims become more susceptible to promises of miraculous wealth, instant solutions and supernatural intervention.

The latest convictions suggest Nigerian courts are increasingly willing to impose criminal sanctions on those found to have converted faith, hope and traditional beliefs into profitable instruments of deception.

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AWLA Nigeria condoles Mrs. Titilola Vivour Adeniyi on the passing of her mother

The President of the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) Nigeria, Mrs. Caroline Ibharuneafe, on behalf of the National Executive Council and the entire membership of AWLA Nigeria, extends heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Titilola Vivour Adeniyi, Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), on the passing of her beloved mother, Mrs. Nkechi Rhodes-Vivour.

We are deeply saddened by this loss and join your family in mourning a life that was dearly cherished. At moments such as this, words can scarcely ease the pain of losing a loved one, but we hope you find strength in the treasured memories you shared, the love that surrounds you, and the support of family, friends and colleagues.

As you journey through this difficult time, may God grant you comfort, peace and the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss. We pray that the soul of your dear mother rests in perfect peace.

Please accept our sincere sympathies and the assurance of our thoughts and prayers.

Signed

Mrs. Caroline Ibharuneafe
President
African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) Nigeria

“Eighty Percent Is Implementation”: A reply to Professor Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor, By Eyimofe Atake, SAN

My dear Professor, your graciousness does you honour, and your modesty fools nobody. A man who has taught medicine for sixty years understands implementation better than most lawyers ever will, because medicine is the one profession where the gap between the prescription and the cure is measured in lives. Your old professor’s saying, that eighty percent of any idea is implementation, is not a small complaint about my article. It is the right test, and I accept it completely. So let me answer you through it.

First, let me record how much ground we now share. You agree the present system has failed. You agree reform is necessary. And you have graciously accepted that regional police would need a regional government that does not exist. So only one question now stands between us: will the safeguards in the bill actually restrain power in real life, and not just on paper? That is a serious question, and here is my serious answer.

Read Also: ‘Protection Without a Protector Is No Protection’: Prof. Scott-Emuakpor replies Atake, SAN again on state police

Read Also: AFTER THE RESCUE (PART IV C): The victory that changed the conversation

YOUR TEST IS MY STARTING POINT, NOT MY WEAKNESS

My article’s whole argument rested on the very phrase you quote: that the reform’s worth depends on how carefully it is designed. That is an implementation statement. The bill is not a slogan about moving power to the States. It is an attempt to design the enforcement itself: national standards, certification, filtered appointments, confirmations, prohibitions, a federal trigger, ratification by the National Assembly. You may say the design can fail. Of course it can.

But look where your objection leads if we treat it as a veto. No law enforces itself. No court order carries itself out. No constitution, no electoral law, no anticorruption statute works without willing hands. If the possibility of failed enforcement is enough to stop a reform, it stops every reform, including every alternative you list, and it stops constitutional government itself.

You know this from your own science. No doctor refuses to operate on a dying patient because recovery will depend on nursing, drugs and follow up that may fail. The doctor operates, writes the protocol, monitors, and adjusts. Nigeria is the dying patient. The question is not whether the protocol can fail. It is whether the protocol, even imperfectly followed, gives the patient a better chance than the disease.

THE “SAME POLITICIANS” POINT CUTS BOTH WAYS

You say the same political class that weakened our national institutions will build the State ones. True. But that same class runs the present system too. An objection that condemns both systems equally cannot help us choose between them. What can help us choose is structure: which system makes responsibility visible, which one multiplies the checks, and which one keeps failure local instead of national. On all three, the decentralised design wins, as I will show.

I NEVER OFFERED NEARNESS ALONE

You are right that nearness guarantees nothing, and that local strongmen can capture local institutions. But the article never offered nearness by itself. It offered nearness plus accountability plus design. And consider two things. First, in vast parts of Nigeria today the problem is not a nearby force that lacks the will to act. It is that there is no force there at all. Will cannot act through officers who are not present. Second, the strongman you fear already captures policing under the present system. He simply procures the cooperation of a force his governor does not own, and everybody involved can deny responsibility.

When a known criminal walks free today, who answers? The governor says the police are not his. The President is too far away to blame. Ownership ends that excuse. When a State force ignores a known criminal, every citizen will know exactly whose government failed, and can punish it at the next election. Political will is not a fixed quality of character. It follows responsibility. Today, responsibility has no address. The reform gives it one.

COUNT HOW MANY MUST FAIL

Here is the heart of my answer to your deepest point. You say commissions can be captured, certification can become a rubber stamp, prohibitions can be ignored, and protectors can be politically compromised. Each of these is possible. Now count. For abuse to run unchecked under the reform, the governor must act, his Assembly must go along, the Police Council must look away, the certifying authority must fail to withdraw certification, the federal government must refuse to use its trigger, the National Assembly must stay silent, the courts must fail, 35 other States must watch and say nothing, and the voters must forgive it all. Under the present system, how many must fail? One. The centre.

That is how engineers deal with unreliable parts: they build in many independent checks, so that disaster requires many failures at the same time. No single safeguard is fully trustworthy. The design does not pretend otherwise. It simply ensures that abuse needs many failures at once, while the system we have now needs only one.

And your strongest scenario, a President whose party controls the federal government and most States, so that he never intervenes against a friendly governor, deserves an honest reply: that scenario condemns the present system far more than the bill. Today, that same President already commands, through one Inspector General, the only police force in every State of Nigeria, including the opposition States. The nightmare of fully aligned, politically directed policing is not a risk the reform creates. It is the standing possibility of the system we live under right now. Under the reform, even a completely captured centre does not command the police of Lagos or Adamawa in ordinary times.

THE PROTECTOR YOU LEFT OUT

You ask, rightly, who the reliable protector is. Let me name the one your analysis leaves out: the citizen at the ballot box. The vote is the one enforcement tool that does not depend on officials policing themselves. But the vote can only punish what it can see, and today no elected official in Nigeria can be voted out over policing, because none of them commands it. The reform is what finally puts the ultimate protector to work. A governor who owns his police force answers for it every four years to the very people that force polices. That is not protection on paper. That is the oldest protection democracy has.

WHY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMPARISON FINALLY BREAKS

Your point about the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) taught us where safeguards fail, and I took it seriously. But push it one step further and it breaks, on your own chosen ground: incentives. For an electoral commission, partisan failure is the reward. The governor’s party wins precisely when the commission does its main job badly. The incentive and the abuse are the same thing. Policing is different. A governor’s political survival is served by security succeeding, because voters measure safety in their own daily lives, in the kidnappings that stop and the roads that become safe again. So the main incentive pushes toward performance.

Abuse is a temptation at the edges, and the edges are exactly where the bill posts its guards: the ban on political deployment, the certification, the federal trigger, the courts. Where incentives run in the same direction as the safeguards, safeguards hold far more often. By your own logic, State Police is a much better bet than the electoral commissions ever were.


THIRTY SIX EXPERIMENTS, NOT THIRTY SIX TIME BOMBS

You say spreading power may spread the opportunities for abuse. It also spreads the opportunities for excellence, and it changes the arithmetic of failure. Under one force, one failure is a national failure. There is nothing to compare it with, nowhere to take refuge, no example to copy. Under 36 forces, failure is local and can be contained, while success is visible and spreads. Our political culture is not the same everywhere. Some States are governed clearly better than others. A single national system chains every Nigerian to the average. Decentralisation frees the best States to show what is possible, and shames the worst by comparison. That is how federations learn.

YOUR ALTERNATIVES FACE YOUR OWN OBJECTION

You suggest community policing, operational independence, better funding, judicial oversight, and decentralisation within a national framework. I welcome every one of them, and I note two things gently. First, each of them depends on exactly the same fragile institutions and willing hands as the bill does. Your implementation objection hits them with equal force, so it cannot be a reason to prefer them. Second, most of them have been urged, and tried, inside the present unitary system for decades, and they all ran into the same wall: the constitutional monopoly of one force. They belong alongside the reform, not in place of it. And your own instinct about raising the quality of the officer, better recruitment and better training, lives inside the bill’s national minimum standards, which is the very instrument through which such things can be made compulsory.

YOUR PRAYER ABOUT DELTA AND EDO IS ALREADY WRITTEN INTO THE BILL

Your closing worry, that neighbouring forces will fight over jurisdiction, is real, and my article faced it directly as the problem of two captains in one theatre. But note the bill’s own answer. Any crime that crosses a State line is, by design, a federal matter: the Federal Police lead, and the State forces are bound to cooperate. So the moment your Delta and Edo scenario arises, it already belongs to the federal tier.

Beneath that, the Nigeria Police Council, on which the States themselves sit, is the standing forum for settling rules of primacy and coordination, and the enabling laws can and should spell out rules for hot pursuit, information sharing and joint operations. This is not unknown territory. The United States has run about 18,000 police agencies side by side for over a century, and boundary questions are handled through settled arrangements of mutual help, not turf wars. The seam between two forces is a problem with known solutions. The absence of any force is a problem with none.

PRUDENCE BELONGS AT THE DRAFTING TABLE

You are right that urgency is not proof, and I never offered the bill’s speed as proof of its merit. My point was about the burden of proof. The centralised system has had the field entirely to itself since 1972, more than half a century, and its results are before our eyes, on your own finding. After a trial that long, to demand that the alternative prove itself in advance, something no constitutional reform in history could ever do, is to make the proven failure our permanent default. And let me withdraw any suggestion that your concerns amount to doing nothing. They do not. They are the test sheet against which the standards, the certification criteria and the coordination rules must now be written. Prudence is not opposition to reform; on that we agree. But prudence’s proper seat is at the drafting table, not the doorway.

IN CLOSING

You say you did not recommend a remedy, and you ask who you are to try. Permit me to disagree with you one last time. You have recommended the most important remedy of all: the insistence that enforcement must be designed, and never assumed. That insistence should follow this reform through every clause, every standard and every protocol, and I invite you to keep holding our feet to that fire

Between your caution and my conviction lies, I suspect, the version of State Police that will actually work. Medicine and law meet at the same bedside in the end, Professor. The patient is failing under the current treatment. We do not withhold the operation because recovery will demand vigilance. We operate, and then we keep watch together.

With respect and warm regards,
Eyimofe Atake, SAN, PhD (Cantab)

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‘Protection Without a Protector Is No Protection’: Prof. Scott-Emuakpor replies Atake, SAN again on state police

Wow! Oga Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Eyimofe Atake. Small small deal with me now!! I never knew that you would ever see my small complaint about your well-presented academic article. I am a simple teacher of medicine, with no formal knowledge of politics or law or even social sciences. Please don’t take me too seriously.

Over 60 years ago when I was in Graduate school, my professor told me something that I have never forgotten. He said, “Eighty percent of any idea is IMPLEMENTATION”. It is from that viewpoint that I responded.

Your argument rests heavily on the phrase “if carefully designed,” but that is precisely where many of us remain unconvinced. Institutions do not design themselves; they are created, funded, supervised, and often manipulated by the same political class whose record has inspired public distrust in the first place. Merely relocating power from the center to the states does not automatically produce accountability or effectiveness.

Read Also: A Reply to Professor Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor on State Police, in Plain Terms

Experience suggests that proximity alone is not a guarantee of good governance. We have repeatedly seen situations where those closest to the people—local politicians, traditional power brokers, and influential community figures—have used that proximity not to protect citizens but to intimidate them. The local strongman often enjoys greater influence over local institutions than an ordinary citizen does.

In such circumstances, “local knowledge” may simply mean that the authorities know exactly who the troublemakers are and choose not to act because of political, ethnic, family, or financial connections.
Likewise, the assumption that nearness leads to quicker response is not borne out by experience.

Many communities have witnessed local acts of violence, intimidation, land grabbing, election-related thuggery, and organized criminality continue for years despite the perpetrators being widely known. The problem has not been lack of local knowledge; it has been lack of political will and institutional independence.

Therefore, the real question is not whether a centralized system has failed—it clearly has significant shortcomings. The question is whether state-controlled institutions would be sufficiently insulated from local political pressures to perform better. Without strong safeguards, independent oversight, transparent recruitment, professional command structures, and meaningful consequences for abuse, state-level control may simply replace one form of failure with another.

The choice is not between a failed federal system and a potentially successful local system. The choice is between two systems that can both fail if placed in the hands of unaccountable political actors. Before assuming that decentralization will solve the problem, proponents must explain why the same political culture that has weakened national institutions would suddenly produce stronger and more accountable institutions at the state level.

In short, the concern is not whether local systems can work. The concern is whether our current political reality provides sufficient reason to believe they will work better than what already exists. Until that question is convincingly answered, skepticism remains entirely reasonable.
The argument is persuasive in acknowledging the abuses of the First Republic police and in rejecting the simplistic claim that centralisation automatically solves political interference. However, it understates the force of the historical objection and places considerable faith in safeguards whose effectiveness remains unproven in practice.

First, the fact that abuse continued after centralisation does not necessarily support the conclusion that “history does not condemn the States as a location.” The historical record may instead suggest that the dangers are multiplied when policing authority is fragmented among numerous political actors. While centralisation did not eliminate abuse, it reduced the number of centres from which partisan interference could originate. The burden therefore falls on proponents of state police to demonstrate not merely that safeguards exist on paper, but that they can withstand intense local political pressures.

Second, the comparison with the First Republic may not be as straightforward as presented. It is true that the local forces of the 1960s lacked many of the institutional protections now proposed. Yet safeguards are only as effective as the institutions that enforce them. Independent commissions can be captured, certification requirements can become formalities, and prohibitions on political deployment can be ignored if accountability mechanisms are weak. Many countries possess elaborate legal protections against police misuse while still experiencing significant political interference in practice.

Third, the assertion assumes that federal oversight will reliably correct state-level abuses. That assumption deserves scrutiny. If a federal government is unwilling or unable to intervene against politically connected governors, the safeguard becomes largely symbolic. Conversely, if federal intervention is exercised aggressively, it could undermine the very autonomy that state policing is intended to provide.

Finally, the argument risks presenting a false choice between preserving the current system and embracing state police with safeguards. Critics may accept that the present arrangement is imperfect while still maintaining that alternative reforms—such as stronger community policing, greater operational independence, improved funding, judicial oversight, or decentralisation within a national framework—pose fewer risks than creating state-controlled police forces.

In short, history may indeed “warn the designer rather than sentence the nation to remain as it is,” but the warning is more severe than the assertion admits. The central question is not whether safeguards can be written into a bill, but whether they can realistically restrain powerful political actors when those safeguards are most needed. Until that question is convincingly answered, historical experience remains a substantial argument for caution.

The lesson of SIECs is not simply that they lacked safeguards; it is that formal safeguards often fail when political incentives run in the opposite direction. National standards, certification requirements, legislative confirmations, and federal intervention all depend on institutions that may themselves be vulnerable to political influence. The bill’s protections therefore address the legal problem but not necessarily the political problem. Since police powers are uniquely coercive, proponents of state police must show not merely that safeguards exist on paper, but that they can reliably restrain governors in practice. Until that is demonstrated, the SIEC analogy remains a powerful warning rather than a lesson already learned.

The argument places too much confidence in formal safeguards and too little attention on the reality that institutions are only as strong as the people who operate them. National standards, certification, courts, and federal intervention sound reassuring, but they work only when officials are willing and able to enforce them impartially. Nigeria’s experience shows that institutions can be captured, ignored, or manipulated by powerful political actors.

The claim that a governor who abuses his force “will meet the centre” assumes that the centre will act. But what if the federal government is politically aligned with the governor, or is itself unwilling to enforce the rules? The safeguard then becomes theoretical.

More fundamentally, the argument assumes that dispersing power automatically creates accountability. It may instead disperse opportunities for abuse. Creating 36 police forces means placing coercive power in the hands of 36 political executives in a system where institutions are often fragile and constraints are unevenly enforced.

The real lesson is that laws do not restrain power by themselves. People and institutions do. If those institutions are weak, then multiplying centres of power may multiply opportunities for abuse rather than checks on abuse. The question is not whether safeguards exist on paper, but whether they will hold when powerful actors decide to ignore them.

The argument depends on a protector, but it never convincingly identifies one. It says the President can intervene against an abusive governor, while the National Assembly and the courts provide oversight. Yet this assumes those institutions are sufficiently independent and willing to act. That is precisely the concern. Institutions are fragile; they work only when people obey the constraints and respect the rules.

“Protection without a protector is not a position.” True. But neither is protection that relies on protectors who may themselves be politically captured. If the President’s party controls both the federal government and most state governments, why should citizens assume intervention will occur against a politically aligned governor? If the National Assembly is dominated by the ruling party and opposition voices continue to diminish, its approval cannot be treated as an automatic safeguard.
The flaw in the argument is that it treats legal checks as self-executing. They are not. A takeover power is only as effective as the independence of those who exercise and supervise it. In a system where institutions are weak and political loyalties often outweigh constitutional restraints, the real question is not whether a protector exists on paper, but whether that protector can be trusted to act when it matters most.

I am not a constitutional lawyer, but I find this argument persuasive. A police force must be accountable to a clearly defined government with identifiable legal authority, funding, and responsibility. The proposal for regional police appears to raise more questions than it answers: Who controls the force? Who appoints its leadership? Which legislature exercises oversight? And who is ultimately accountable when things go wrong?

What I find most convincing is the point about responsibility. Security works best when authority and accountability are clearly located. If six governors share control of a regional force, there is a real risk that responsibility becomes blurred and decisions become politicized or delayed. In that sense, a regional police structure could create the very problem it is intended to solve—power that is diffused enough to avoid accountability, but concentrated enough to cause confusion.

For those reasons, I agree that a regional police force would require a regional government framework to function effectively. Without that, the chain of command and democratic accountability remain unclear.

The argument overstates its case by treating urgency as proof. The fact that a bill is moving through the National Assembly does not make it the right solution. More importantly, it assumes that safeguards, federal triggers, and oversight mechanisms will work as intended. Yet institutions are fragile; they only work when those in power respect and enforce them.

The central question is not whether the current system has failed—many, including this writer, agree that it has. The question is whether state police will be constrained when governors choose to ignore the rules. A reform cannot be judged solely against the failures of the present system; it must also be judged against the risks it creates. Calling concerns about those risks “doing nothing” avoids rather than answers them.

I also thank the legal luminary, Dr. Atake, for his engagement. We agree that Nigeria’s security architecture is failing and that reform is necessary. Where we differ is in our confidence that legal safeguards, however carefully drafted, can restrain political power in practice. Institutions are not self-executing. They work only when those entrusted with enforcing them are willing and able to do so.
That is why my concern remains. The debate is not simply about the design of State Police on paper, but about whether the institutions meant to check abuse are strong enough to withstand the pressures of real politics. Protection without a reliable protector is no protection at all.

The case for reform is strong, but the case for entrusting coercive police powers to governors in a system of fragile institutions remains unproven. Prudence is not opposition to reform. It is a recognition that, in matters of state power, the hardest question is not what the law says, but who will enforce it when it matters most.

Why am I praying that, whenever the State Police arrangement becomes operational, Delta Police and Edo Police OR Edo Police and Ondo Police, OR Oyo Police and Ogun Police, etc, will not engage constantly in struggle for jurisdiction. State demarcations are fragile, as far as I know. Let not the perceived solution to one problem be the beginning of unintended conflicts.

I HOPE YOU NOTICE THAT I DID NOT RECOMMEND A REMEDY. WHO AM I TO TRY?
Ajovi

Professor Ajovi Scott-Emuakpor writes from Michigan State University.

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For the Nigerian Bar Association, a time for a bold retool

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

The history of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has traveled a path that parallels the political evolution of the country. It began in 1900, the same year in which the government of Queen Victoria assumed formal authority over the country after revoking the Royal Charter of Taubman Goldie’s Royal Niger Company.

For the next 59 years, leadership of the NBA was a lifetime preferment. Christopher Sapara Williams became Nigeria’s first lawyer in 1888. 12 years later, he emerged as the first Chairman of the national bar. Sapara Williams served in that role until his untimely death in 1915. His successor was acclaimed colonial collaborator, Sir Kitoyi Ajasa. Like Sapara Williams, Sir Kitoyi served until his death in 1937. He holds the record as the longest serving national leader of the NBA.

Olawolu Eric Moore succeeded to the role until his death in 1944. Eric James Alex Taylor – whose son, John Idowu Conrad, would later become the founding Chief Justice of Lagos – followed and died in that position in 1950. His successor, Adeyemo Alakija did the same in 1952. Alhaji Jubril Martins, the sixth chairman of Nigeria’s national bar died in June 1959.

The emergence of Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams as the first President of the NBA coincided with the arrival of independence in 1960. With a tenure that lasted until 1968, Chief Williams is the longest-serving president in the history of the association. Since the three-year tenure of Richard Akinjide from 1970-1973, no president of the association has held office for more than two years.

In the tradition of the NBA, it is assumed that the association invests the president with authority. Occasionally, the weight of the association has been advanced by the authority of a charismatic president with moral authority. One example was the presidency of Alao Aka Basorun during the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida from 1987 to 1989. Olisa Agbakoba arguably did the same from 2006 to 2008 in the fraught transition from the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo to the flawed mandate of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Since 1960, the NBA has had 32 presidents. In the third week of July 2026, the association will elect its 33rd president. The mission of the president of the association is encapsulated in its motto: “promoting the rule of law.” Yet, from its very beginning, this has been a fraught mission.

The first two leaders of the NBA illustrate two different ideological pathways that have framed the mission of the association. Sapara Williams was regarded as radical, with a reputation for confronting white arrogance. He defended the rights of natives, argued for freedom of expression and was the father of “restructuring.” In 1904, he reportedly proposed to Lugard that “the present boundary between the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria be readjusted by bringing the southern portion into Southern Nigeria, so that the entire tribes of the Yoruba-speaking people should be under one and the same administration.”

By contrast, his successor, Kitoyi Ajasa, made his career as a collaborationist in the colonial subjugation of natives. A close confidante of founding Governor-General, Frederick Lugard, Sir Kitoyi was also seven-time Worshipful Master of the Lagos (Masonic) Lodge No. 1171 between 1901 and 1928.

These themes of confrontation and collaboration have been durable in the politics of the NBA to the present day. As the country’s political economy has evolved and the demographics and reach of the bar have ramified, the factors that now define leadership at the Nigerian Bar and its orientation have also adapted, presenting the association with a third possibility – pragmatism.

In 2016, the association re-designed its leadership selection processes in three ways that are somewhat in tension with one another. One was the introduction of universal suffrage. The second was the emergence of ethno-tribal politics in the NBA. The third was the introduction of digital balloting. There is a fourth issue which is the role of money in leadership selection in the association. A fifth is the role of outside interests and politically-exposed persons. These five issues will require attention in the years ahead if the NBA is to retain both relevance and salience in the country’s affairs. It is useful to advert to each briefly.

First, the replacement of the much-maligned delegate system with universal suffrage privileges the young lawyers among whose population the most votes lie. The goal was to force senior lawyers to take a lot more seriously their obligations to the younger lawyers in the knowledge that if they do not, their ambitions could get punished through rejection by the younger lawyers. The exponential growth in the population of lawyers in the country creates a need to improve data management capabilities. The association has made progress, but it still has considerable room for improvement.

Second, the NBA formalized the rotation of its most important positions across the three original regions of the country. In the short-hand of Nigerian politics, this is known as “zoning”. At its best, it is an acknowledgement of the ethnic diversity of the country. At its worst, it is a genuflection before the gods of grubby ethno-tribal politics. The original design is that while ethnic cabals may be needed to bless leadership ambitions, those have to ultimately be acceptable to a broad majority of the  membership of the association in order to succeed. In the contest for the leadership in #NBADecides2026, one candidate turned this engineering of political convention into a destructive weapon of political entitlement with backing from forces who inveigled the Attorney-General of the Federation into endorsing this in principle. It took the Court of Appeal to – momentarily – save the day.

Third, the migration of balloting to digital platforms has created its own problems. The twin bugs of energy and bandwidth hunger have sustained a deficit of belief in the integrity and administration of the NBA’s election systems. In successive cycles since 2018, voting has been afflicted by growing allegations of cyberattacks. In the latest cycle, voting had to be delayed by over seven hours because of what the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) called “a coordinated cyberattack on its electronic voting platform.” This cannot be condemned too seriously but it was entirely foreseeable and reveals a failure of adequate stress-testing and firewalling ahead of the balloting. The organs of the NBA have a duty to now institutionalise effective and transparent post-ballot forensics in order to adapt ballot administration to the rapid changes in digital capabilities. It seems clear that this will be a site of vigorous contest in the aftermath of the current ballot.

Fourth, since at least 2014, the contest for leadership of Nigeria’s legal profession has become a liquidity derby. In that year, expenditure on the campaign for the presidency of the association broke the one billion Naira barrier. It has been on the rise since then. The pay-off is significant because the NBA is a multi-billionaire organization and its leader commands real powers of both access and patronage.

But the result is also that the candidates have to raise campaign funds from sources outside the association. In many cases, this puts them in hock to politically exposed persons (PEPs) who control the largest war chests in Nigeria. The accompanying bargains, even when implicit, can undermine the commitment of the association to “promoting the rule of law.” The responsibility to rein in this runaway inflation in the costs of associational politics in the NBA belongs to the ECNBA. A succession of leaders of the electoral umpire have, however, capitulated on this issue. That must change.

The road to the ballot in #NBADecides2026 has encountered more obstacles than a demolition derby. The contest is unlikely to end with the announcement of a winner on 19 July 2026. It is well possible that the outcome will return to the courts yet again. Howsoever it ends, the association must confront with bold transparency the duty to continuously improve the administration of its leadership processes. It must also understand that failure to do so will endanger its commitment to promoting the rule of law. This is not an option as the country confronts a bumpy election year in 2027.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected] 

The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.

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AFTER THE RESCUE (PART IV C): The victory that changed the conversation

What Oriire teaches Nigeria about rescuing hostages—and why one successful operation is not yet a strategy

By Law & Society Magazine Investigations Desk

For years, mass abductions in Nigeria have followed a grim and familiar script. Gunmen strike with speed, communities descend into panic, anxious families wait for news, governments promise action and the country gradually adjusts to another tragedy before attention shifts elsewhere. Every successful rescue has been welcomed, but each new kidnapping has reinforced the impression that criminal networks retain the initiative while the State struggles to keep pace.

The rescue of the pupils and teachers abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area interrupted that narrative.

Fifty-six days after armed men invaded classrooms and marched children and their teachers into the forest, the victims returned home through a coordinated security operation that involved the Armed Forces, intelligence agencies, the police and other security institutions. The operation demanded patience, intelligence gathering and sustained coordination. It also came at a terrible cost. Two teachers lost their lives in captivity, while Lieutenant Felix Ademe Isaac of the Nigerian Army, Private Silas Musa and Sergeant Abena John Jerome of the Nigeria Police Force died during the rescue mission.

Even so, Oriire achieved something that extended beyond the return of the hostages. It altered the national conversation about what is possible.

Read Also: AFTER THE RESCUE (Part IV B): Fifty-Six Days | What the survivors’ accounts reveal about life in captivity—and the changing character of organised kidnapping

Until then, many Nigerians had come to regard prolonged mass kidnappings as crises with only two likely endings: negotiated release after ransom payments or indefinite captivity. Oriire suggested that another outcome remained possible. It demonstrated that carefully coordinated rescue operations, supported by intelligence and sustained operational planning, could recover large numbers of hostages alive without allowing criminal groups to dictate the terms of the outcome.

What makes this distinction important is because public expectations have changed. Families whose loved ones remain in captivity elsewhere are no longer asking only whether government is trying. Increasingly, they are asking why similar efforts cannot be mounted on behalf of those still waiting to come home. And the question is understandable.

Across several parts of northern Nigeria, communities continue to live under the constant threat of abduction. In Borno State, dozens of civilians, including schoolchildren abducted during examinations, remain unaccounted for. In parts of Kwara, Zamfara, Katsina and Niger States, kidnapping has become so frequent that it risks being reported as routine rather than exceptional. The figures differ from one incident to another, but the underlying reality is the same: many families are still counting days in captivity, just as the families in Oriire once did.

It is against that background that the calls by the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders Forum for the Federal Government to replicate the operational success recorded in Oyo State assume wider significance. Their appeal was not simply a request for another rescue mission. It reflected an expectation that the methods which proved effective in Oriire should be studied, refined and, where appropriate, adapted to other theatres of operation.

That expectation deserves serious examination.

Successful security operations are rarely the product of a single factor. They emerge from a combination of intelligence, planning, logistics, cooperation among agencies and, often, timely information from local communities. Operational details surrounding the Oriire rescue have understandably not been made public in full, but enough is known to conclude that the outcome did not result from chance. It reflected coordination across institutions that have not always worked seamlessly in previous crises.

Equally significant was the determination to sustain public attention without allowing it to compromise operational security. For fifty-six days, parents, teachers, traditional leaders, civil society organisations and the media refused to let the victims disappear into anonymity. Every passing week reinforced the urgency of the operation. The abducted children never became statistics. They remained identifiable human beings whose names, families and futures continued to occupy the national conscience.

That sustained public engagement is often overlooked when analysing security operations, yet it forms part of the environment within which governments make decisions. Public pressure cannot substitute for intelligence or military capability, but it can ensure that a crisis does not quietly fade from institutional priorities.

None of this, however, justifies the conclusion that Nigeria has found a definitive answer to organised kidnapping. Events elsewhere suggest otherwise.

Barely had the celebrations in Oyo begun to subside when armed men attacked Government Secondary School in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State during the ongoing NECO examinations. The attackers abducted the school principal, an examination official and several students before security agencies launched another rescue operation.

The swift response prevented what might have become another prolonged national ordeal, but the incident also served as a reminder that criminal groups remain willing and able to target schools despite the publicity surrounding the Oriire rescue. That is perhaps the most sobering lesson of all.

A successful rescue operation, however remarkable, does not by itself dismantle the networks that sustain kidnapping. It does not automatically disrupt the financing of criminal groups, eliminate recruitment pipelines, secure vulnerable forests or remove the economic incentives that have transformed mass abduction into an organised enterprise across parts of the country.

Rescue is an operational achievement. Prevention is a broader national project. Taking particular note of this is critical because it shapes how success should be measured.

Governments deserve recognition when hostages are brought home safely. They also carry a continuing constitutional obligation to reduce the likelihood that similar crimes will occur again. That requires stronger intelligence capabilities, better protection for schools, more effective policing of rural communities, closer cooperation with local populations and, above all, credible prosecution of those responsible when arrests are made.

Oriire demonstrated that the Nigerian State can still marshal its institutions to rescue citizens from heavily armed criminal groups.

Its greater significance will depend on whether that achievement becomes the foundation for a more consistent national strategy rather than an exceptional operation remembered largely because it succeeded.

That is the challenge now confronting policymakers. The country has seen what coordinated action can accomplish. The task ahead is ensuring that such success becomes increasingly predictable rather than pleasantly surprising.

Watch out for the concluding part.

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Special Report: Who Owns the Truth? The law, the family and the fight over Mary Habila’s autopsy

When a family wants burial, investigators seek answers and the public demands accountability, where should the law draw the line?

Justice is not only a two-way traffic. It is a three-way traffic—justice for the accused, justice for the victim and justice for society.

Those enduring words of the late Supreme Court Justice, Chukwudifu Oputa, have echoed through Nigeria’s criminal justice system for decades. Few recent cases illustrate that principle more vividly than the controversy surrounding the death of Mary Habila.

Her family wants her body released for burial without an autopsy.

The Minister of Works has insisted that a forensic examination should determine the cause of death.

The Ebonyi State Police Command earlier indicated that a post-mortem examination was necessary to establish the medical facts.

Student organisations have endorsed that position, arguing that only an independent scientific examination can dispel speculation and ensure public confidence.

The disagreement has produced a legal question that reaches far beyond one family: Can the search for truth end because relatives no longer want an autopsy?

An Autopsy Is Not About Blame

Popular opinion often treats an autopsy as an accusation. Lawyers and forensic pathologists say that assumption is mistaken. A post-mortem examination is, first and foremost, an investigative tool. It may confirm that a death resulted entirely from natural causes. It may reveal an accident. It may identify an undiagnosed medical condition. It may equally uncover evidence of poisoning, violence or another criminal act.

Just as importantly, it can clear innocent people whose reputations have become entangled in public suspicion. In that sense, an autopsy protects everyone—the deceased, relatives, investigators and those whose names have entered public debate.

Does the Family Have the Final Say?

Many Nigerians understandably assume that next of kin alone determine whether an autopsy should take place. The legal position is often more nuanced.

Across Nigeria, coronial procedures differ because states operate under different Coroners Laws or related legislation. However, where a death is sudden, unexplained, violent or otherwise considered a matter of public concern, investigative authorities may seek judicial approval or rely on statutory powers to establish the medical cause of death.

Read Also: Autopsy or Burial? Mary Habila’s death leaves court, family and investigators facing a difficult choice

Ultimately, the question is not simply what the family wants. It is whether the law considers further investigation necessary in the interests of justice. That determination belongs to the legal process rather than public opinion.

Why Courts Sometimes Permit Autopsies Despite Objections

Courts in many common-law jurisdictions—including the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa—have recognised that the public interest may occasionally outweigh objections from relatives where an unexplained death requires independent investigation.

The reasoning is straightforward. The justice system has responsibilities extending beyond private grief. It must determine whether a crime occurred. It must protect innocent people from suspicion. It must preserve public confidence in criminal investigations.

Without reliable forensic evidence, those objectives may become difficult to achieve.

Social Media Cannot Replace Science

The controversy surrounding Mary Habila’s death has generated intense online discussion. Some commentators have demanded criminal investigations. Others have defended those mentioned in public discourse. Many have advanced theories unsupported by official findings.

None of those opinions—whether sympathetic or accusatory—constitutes evidence.

In criminal investigations, courts rely on forensic findings, witness testimony, documentary evidence and expert opinion, not social media verdicts.

Justice demands proof. Not popularity.

The Rights of the Dead

Modern legal systems increasingly recognise that every unexplained death engages more than private interests.

The deceased has an interest in the truth being known. The family has an interest in dignity, closure and respect. Any person whose reputation may be affected has an interest in a fair investigation. Society has an interest in ensuring that unexplained deaths are neither ignored nor politicised.

Justice Oputa’s famous observation captures that balance perhaps better than any statute. Justice belongs to all three.

The Shifting Accounts

It must be noted however that Umahi has provided several shifting accounts regarding the tragic death of Mary Habila

1. Her Profession

  • Initial Statements: Umahi initially stated that Mary Habila was a physiotherapist employed by the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, and was assigned to his residence to provide physiotherapy.
  • Later Clarification: In subsequent press conferences, he corrected this, stating she was a nurse who lived in his residence and had administered drugs and injections to him and his staff for three years.

2. The Cause and Circumstances of Death

  • Medical Complications: Umahi stated that Habila died from natural causes related to excessive bleeding. He suggested her medical records would verify that she had been managing existing health issues and had been receiving treatment at a Turkish hospital.
  • The Boyfriend’s Account: Umahi narrated a final phone conversation the victim allegedly had with her boyfriend hours before her demise. According to the Minister, she complained of a nosebleed but declined to go to the hospital, saying she would take a bath instead. The boyfriend told investigators he cut the call, and when he called back three minutes later, she did not respond.

3. The Discovery and the “Second Woman” Affidavit

  • The Discovery: Umahi stated that the following morning, her door was locked and had to be broken down. She was found lifeless in her room while the bathroom tap was allegedly still running.
  • Anita Baaki’s Sworn Affidavit: To support the sequence of events, a colleague and friend who travelled with Mary, Anita Baaki, submitted a sworn affidavit. She corroborated that they stayed in adjoining rooms in the Uburu staff chalet and that Mary had complained of extreme exhaustion the night prior.

4. Investigation and Autopsy Requests

  • Dismissal of Foul Play: Umahi continuously dismissed speculations of a cover-up or foul play, emphasizing that he stayed in a separate part of the estate and would not have been involved. He threatened legal action against commentators who politicized the incident.
  • Insistence on Autopsy: Amid public outrage and conflicting reports, Umahi officially requested that the Nigeria Police conduct a thorough forensic autopsy to establish the exact cause of death.

Controversy and Public Scrutiny
Reports from police sources have also surfaced disputing aspects of the Minister’s account and challenging attempts to quickly release the body for burial prior to a conclusive autopsy.

The Question Nigeria Must Answer

Mary Habila’s case will eventually leave the headlines. The legal principle will remain.

Whenever an unexplained death attracts exceptional public concern, should investigators be permitted to establish the medical facts before burial, even where relatives object?

Reasonable people may answer differently. Yet one principle commands almost universal agreement. Truth is strongest when it rests on evidence rather than speculation.

Whether that evidence ultimately points to natural causes, accident or criminal conduct, the justice system owes every deceased person—and every citizen—the same obligation: To pursue the facts carefully, impartially and without fear or favour. Only then can grief give way to certainty.

And only then can justice, in Justice Oputa’s words, serve not only the family or those under suspicion, but society itself.

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US House passes bill to block Nigeria aid until government tackles terror attacks

Gregory Steube, lawmaker who sponsored the bill on Nigeria | File photo

The United States ( US) house of representatives has agreed to an amendment bill that would increase withholding of assistance to Nigeria from 50 percent to 100 percent until the West African nation takes effective steps to prevent and respond to violence within its territory.

Gregory Stuebe, who represents Florida’s 17th congressional district in the house, introduced the amendment on Wednesday.

Lawmakers later agreed to the move with a voice vote.

The house had first proposed to halve funds appropriated for Nigeria in April until the secretary of state certified that the Nigerian government had taken “effective steps to prevent and respond to violence and hold perpetrators accountable”.

Speaking in support of his motion, Steube said withholding only 50 percent of the funds appeared to reward the Nigerian government “despite failure to meet its fundamental obligation to protect citizens”.

“I rise in strong support for my amendment to increase the withholding threshold for assistance to Nigeria, from 50 percent to 100 percent. While keeping in place benchmarks that demand Nigeria take effective steps to address the violence and persecution that continue to devastate the country,” Steube said.

“Nigeria has faced a horrific wave of violence that its corrupt government has failed to address.

“For years, and especially in recent months, Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria have been subjected to violence and terrorism at the hands of extremists operating with impunity.

“Christian women and girls continue to be abducted, assaulted, tortured, and killed. Their churches are burned, and entire communities are erased.

“If the aid conditions included in the bill are important enough to withhold half of all the funding to the Nigerian government, then they are important enough to withhold all of the funding.

“The generosity of our taxpayers is a reflection of the American values we hold so firmly. 
Never should we allow their hard earned tax dollars to be funnelled to corrupt regimes that fail to uphold religious freedom, fail to adequately confront terrorism, and fail to protect the innocent from persecution.

“So, why are we rewarding a government that fails to meet such a basic obligation?”

Steube said it is absurd to expend foreign aid to Nigeria in the face of rising insecurity, especially as America’s national debt approaches $40 trillion.

He said his amendment proposal would ensure that US aid is appropriately leveraged to defend, reflect, and uphold American values.

In 2025, US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) over Christian genocide claims, before following up with a missile strike on Nigerian territory on Christmas Day.

Nigeria and the United States have since entered a military partnership targeting terrorists in the country’s arid and vast northern region.

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TIPS