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Battle for the Bar: Former NBA presidents divided as audit call gains momentum

The controversy surrounding the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national elections has entered a new phase, with two former presidents of the Association advancing sharply different prescriptions for resolving the growing dispute, even as another past NBA leader called for an independent constitutional audit as the only credible path to restoring confidence in the electoral process.

Their interventions come against the backdrop of a pending suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to halt the inauguration of President-elect, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, and other newly elected national officers over allegations of irregularities in the electronic voting process.

The latest exchange began after former NBA President, J.B. Daudu, SAN, questioned the legitimacy of the July 2026 election, arguing that widespread technical failures, cyberattacks and voting glitches substantially undermined the integrity of the exercise. While acknowledging that he had supported one of the presidential candidates, Daudu maintained that the election could not command the confidence of the profession when thousands of lawyers reportedly encountered difficulties in exercising their franchise.

Pointing to the disparity between the more than 82,000 lawyers listed on the voters’ register and the significantly lower number of votes eventually recorded, Daudu contended that the election raised fundamental questions about inclusiveness and credibility. He also called for a full explanation of reports that the electronic voting platform had been migrated to a replacement server during the exercise, warning that unless the concerns were addressed transparently, confidence in the NBA’s electoral system could suffer lasting damage.

His intervention drew a swift response from another former NBA President, Chief O.C.J. Okocha, SAN, who challenged what he described as assumptions underpinning claims of mass disenfranchisement.

Rather than defending every aspect of the election, Okocha questioned whether the allegations had been supported by verifiable evidence. He asked whether all lawyers now complaining had actually registered to vote, who compiled the register of eligible voters, whether it could be established that every lawyer claiming disenfranchisement genuinely attempted to cast a ballot, and, more significantly, whether there was any evidence that the reported glitches, cyberattacks or technical disruptions benefited any particular candidate.

Okocha observed that Daudu himself had publicly supported a preferred presidential candidate, noting that every lawyer was equally entitled to vote for the candidate of his or her choice and that those whose candidates emerged victorious also deserved to have their votes respected.

“As we know too well, the syndrome of sour grapes is part and parcel of our partisan human nature,” the former NBA President remarked, while urging lawyers, particularly the candidates who participated in the election, to move beyond the contest and focus instead on strengthening the Association’s electoral architecture.

He nevertheless conceded that the NBA’s electoral process “is undoubtedly in need of reform,” calling on members of the Bar to channel their energies toward improving future elections rather than prolonging divisions arising from the last poll.

As the debate intensified, a former 1st Vice President of the NBA, John Aikpokpo-Martins, proposed what many observers regard as a constitutional middle ground. He noted that the NBA Constitution already provides for an audit of elections and argued that the Association should allow that mechanism to determine the fate of the disputed poll instead of allowing speculation and competing narratives to dominate public discourse.

According to him, the President-elect has publicly undertaken to resign if any independent audit establishes that the election was manipulated in her favour, a commitment he said should now be tested through a transparent verification process.

“At this point, the responsible and statesmanlike call that well-meaning lawyers—including the other candidates and their supporters—ought to be making is for an independent and transparent audit of the election,” he said.

He argued that if the audit established that the election had indeed been rigged in favour of the President-elect, she should honour her public commitment by stepping aside to pave the way for a fresh election. Conversely, if the audit vindicated the process, he maintained that she should be allowed to enjoy the mandate freely given to her by members of the Bar and be sworn into office without further controversy.

Anything short of such an institutional process, he warned, amounted to little more than “deliberate gaslighting” capable of inflaming passions without factual foundation.

The interventions by two former NBA presidents and a former 1st Vice President underscore a deeper constitutional question that now confronts the Association. Beyond political preferences and competing post-election narratives lies a more fundamental legal issue: what standard should govern the invalidation of an election conducted under the NBA Constitution?

For many legal observers, that question mirrors the principles regularly applied by Nigerian courts in election petitions, where irregularities, however serious, do not automatically nullify an election unless it is demonstrated that they substantially affected the outcome. Whether that jurisprudential principle should equally guide internal professional elections is now emerging as one of the defining legal debates arising from the 2026 NBA poll.

The controversy has already spilled into the courts. In a suit pending before the Federal High Court, the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) is seeking, among other reliefs, an order restraining the swearing-in of the newly elected NBA leadership pending the determination of questions relating to the conduct of the election.

Regardless of how the litigation ends, there appears to be one point on which even opposing voices increasingly agree: the NBA’s electronic voting framework requires significant reforms. From cybersecurity safeguards and independent audit mechanisms to voter authentication, transparency and post-election accountability, many senior lawyers believe the Association must now use the present controversy as an opportunity to build a more robust electoral system capable of commanding the confidence of the profession in future elections.

Dennis Amachree on Abacha’s death: Bogus investigation, scandalous conclusion

By Tony Eluemunor

I’ll never presume to teach any Department of State Security (DSS) agent how to conduct investigations because they are supposed to be adequately trained. I will be grateful to learn from them. So, the best I can grant from ex-DSS Assistant Director, Mr. Dennis Amachree’s bloopers (including mere lapses and terrible blunders) is not to blame his teachers, but to assume that he betrayed them, at least on his conclusion that the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, died from
a heart attack during a tryst with a woman. The gaffes and blunders are contained in the excerpted part of his book, “DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield”.

In case you assumed from the title that he authored a Nigerian version of “Every Spy A Prince: The Complete History of Israel’s Intelligence Community” published in 1990, please, hold your piece; this book is Amachree’s personal story. His take about how Abacha perished while in bed with a woman, is filled with errors any secondary school student would have easily corrected.

First example: The Vanguard newspaper of July 22, 2026 published that “Amachree recalled that a few days before his death, Abacha received Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s emissaries and later hosted Pope John Paul II, who appealed for the release of political detainees”.

Just when I thought that Vanguard must have misrepresented the author, the paper seemingly quoted him: “Indeed, the Pope was the last visitor that Gen. Sani Abacha received”. These few lines contained three errors: One, Arafat himself, not emissaries, visited. Two, the Pope was not Abacha’s last visitor; three, Arafat was and the sunset Abacha saw on his way to the Airport was the last he saw on earth
because he didn’t survive the night.

Why am I picking holes in Amachree’s tall tale? Oh, from the Vanguard of July 25 this year comes this: “Amachree said that his decision to write about the incident was informed by a desire to preserve what he believes is an accurate account. Yet, Amachree made little attempt to achieve accuracy. Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II) visited Nigeria on March 23, 1998. But Arafat made a brief, high-level
stopover visit to Nigeria on June 7, 1988, meeting with military head of State, General Sani Abacha at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. This visit is historically notable as the final public engagement and public appearance of General Abacha, who died less than 24 hours later on June 8, 1988”. I just posted “Arafat’s visit to Nigeria” on google and that quotation popped up.

So, if Amachree was not sure about such easy items and yet saw no reason to cross-check them, it is easy to understand why he was wrong about weightier matters, such as how Abacha died. For nstance, if he had been humble enough to phone the Director of National Operations at the time under reference, Barr Mike Ejiofor, to verify when the Pope visited, he would have avoided his “error”. Mr. Ejiofor who is a popular national security analyst now, was in charge of the Pope’s security and personally took the “Pope’s Mobile” back to Lagos enroute to Rome, after the visit.

Mr. Ejiofor was also in charge of the DSS security matters concerning Gen. Abacha. So, if Amachree had cross-checked the relevant timelines with his superior or such other superiors of his in the DSS, he would have understood the suspicion Nigerian security agencies attributed to Abacha’s and Arafat’s Airport rendezvous.

Terribly, without his knowing when Abacha hosted Arafat, that is if the Vanguard quoted him correctly, he totally dismissed every other version of Abacha’s death, saying: “Many accounts were published but few were based on verifiable facts. These range from fictional stories of a poisoned apple from disaffected soldiers to more sensational claims involving foreign intelligence agencies”.

Then, only the Almighty God knows what came upon Amachree when his hubris level brimmed over, and he went ballistic: “As a security professional who was in the thick of it, I feel compelled to set the record straight and provide the true narrative for posterity”. Please, someone should tell Amachree that he
couldn’t have been in “the thick it” because he was actually Assistant Director, Travel Control (overseeing Airports, Sea Ports and Land Borders) and he left the DSS in 1999. So, he handled migration and people on the watch list matters, not Abacha’s security.

Even about the single interview he conducted concerning Abacha’s death, on which his entire story about Abacha rests, he verified nothing. He wrote: “At roughly 4:05am, the pharmacist” whose sister was Abacha’s girlfriend but had left her to spend the night with the General, noticed that Abacha had died, returned to the Abuja Hilton Hotel, and she and her sister escaped to Lagos”. Then Amachree
interrogated the pharmacist in Lagos, as the DSS Director of Operations the national headquarters instructed him. “The first thing she said to me was: ‘I did not kill him, he died on top of me.'” Then
Amachree sent the lady back to Abuja immediately. Finish!

Mr. Amachree’s publication is an indictment on the DSS! Any journalist who would base his conclusion on such an unverified tale would be issued a query. What if she smothered him with a pillow or poisoned Abacha but lied that the man died while having illicit sex, or worked for a foreign secret agency?

Worse still, Amachree who sent the lady back to Abuja for further interrogation said nothing about Abuja’s findings. Showing that ignorance could actually be bliss, he rated his unverified conclusion
above those of the DSS headquarters’ final determination of what killed Abacha. That Amachree never referred to the findings of his DSS head office is his greatest self –indictment.

So, the most charitable one could be to Amachcree is to wave off his claim as that of an ill-informed ex-agent who was blissfully ignorant of the concerted efforts at the controlling heights of the DSS,
National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Military Intelligence and coordinated by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) over Abacha’s death. I assume Amachree had no role in the investigations
but was contacted to watch the Airports for that lady or some people being investigated. Worst of all for Amachree, he may never have knownof the conclusive findings…which I now lay bare here.

Though two women, Filipinos and not Indians, had visited Abacha that night, the informed opinion was that he died after an asthma attack. As he did not plan to stay away from home for long, he did not take his anti-asthma inhaler with him. So just when he was about to leave the girls, he was said to have slumped at the steps, fully clothed, yes he was certainly fully clothed.

It is almost certain that nothing hanky-panky happened between the late General and the Filipino damsels that fateful night as wasn’t well, and his doctor had plied him with steroids, as usual. That enabled him to leave his sick bed after some sleep, welcomed some visitors, attended to his very last
official duty – signing a cheque and giving it to former military officer and Sports Minister, Air Commodore Emeka Omerua, for our national team’s South Korea trip. Really, Abacha was very ill with
diabetes and liver sclerosis.

Signs of trouble appeared well before Abacha died; on returning from the Airport after seeing off Yasser Arafat, Abacha’s health deteriorated and his doctor gave him an injection by 6 P.M and advised
Abacha to have a bed rest. He did, but rose up by 9p.m and began to receive guests.

His last visitor, the late General Jeremiah Timbut Useni, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, remained with him till about 3.35a.m. So, between that time and the 5 a.m. when Abacha’s
Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza al-Mustapha (rtd) was informed about Abacha’s health emergency, was what Amachree termed a critical unaccounted for period.

But he had no way of verifying the story he claimed that the lady told him. And this is tragic for he published the information he wasn’t in a position to verify as a fact and so fouled up Nigeria’s institutional memory. Gen. Useni said in the Sunday Vanguard of April 3, 2010, in “How Abacha Died, by Jerry Useni”, “May be around 5 A.M or so”. Abacha’s doctor said so, too, at the Oputa Panel.

Soldiers summoned Hamza al-Mustapha to see a dying Abacha, as opposed to a dead one. Al Mustapha met him alive but gasping for breath and so summoned a doctor. Amachree’s Pharmacist
told him that Abacha died by 4.05 A.M, and he published it as the truth though he verified nothing. Haba, hubris should have a limit!

There is this hole any journalist would have noticed but it escaped Amachree. Did Amachree, a trained security agent, believe that a soldier guarding Abacha for the night would have, on his own, ordered
a car to smuggle Abacha’s visitor out of Aso Rock, just because the lady said so? Of what rank would that soldier have been to order a vehicle to take Abacha’s guest out of Aso Rock without going through Abacha’s ADC, Security Officer or the like? Not even the protocol office people would do that. That would never have been possible when Nigeria had no mobile phone by then. Or, did the soldier abandon his duty post of guarding a Head of State to wake up a driver?

Then, if truly the lady fled, who informed the soldiers who in turn informed Mustapha that Abacha needed help? Or did the soldiers barge into the room to tell Abacha to get up and go home? This is the
question Amachree didn’t address. Answer: The female visitors who were with Abacha did. But they were not prostitutes. Those two Filipinos were old time visitors to the presidential villa. They grew up in Kano, a city with a large Asian population.

So, what killed Abacha? Though Abacha was lethally ill, he was pushed off the cliff and into the abyss. Abacha’s last public assignment was the airport departure formalities for the late Palestinian leader,
Yasser Arafat, in the evening. In Arafat’s entourage was a Palestinian, who Nigerian security agencies identified as a double-agent – who was collaborating with the Americans.

It was during the Airport formalities that the double-agent tapped the head of his pen repeatedly and dropped some poison on Abacha as he introduced members of Arafat’s entourage to Abacha, and he shook their hands, during airport formalities. A review of the video recording showed the double-agent undoing Abacha – and such video reviews and other security issues were carried out after Abacha’s death to determine what killed him.

The NIA took that task very seriously because that organization was at war with the global West in its attempt to thwart their numerous efforts to bump Abacha off. But the West succeeded through that man Arafat brought to Nigeria.

Tony Eluemunor covered the Presidency (Doddan Barracks, Lagos, for Newswatch and Aso Rock, Abuja, for the Guardian and later Daily Independent). Abacha’s death details came from his manuscript for a book, “AUDACITY OF HYPOCRISY: 24 Years of Nigerian Leadership from 1999 – 2023.

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

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Mother at 51, Pregnant Again at 53: The extraordinary journey to baby No. 4

A woman who welcomed her third baby at 51, is pregnant again at 53 and she’s hoping her story will inspire older women who want to start a family.

Grace Collins, a Texas mom-of-three who shares her life online on social media, is 17 weeks pregnant with her fourth baby.

Collins tells PEOPLE that having another baby at 53 is something she and her husband spoke about for a while. People& Society

“My husband and I did not go into this lightly. We have been praying about this for years,” Collins told Today.com. “It wasn’t a willy-nilly decision.”

“I know the ramifications of having a child at 53 years old,” she continued, adding that she underwent extensive testing, including a colonoscopy, skin cancer screening and full cardiac workup, before deciding to have kids.


“People are like, ‘Do you know that you’ll be this age at his high school graduation?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I do.’”

Collins met her husband Chris, who is 15 years younger, when she was 40 and he was 25.

She got married to him when she was 42 years old and she went on to welcome their first baby, daughter Maggie, at 44. They also share daughter Goldie, whom she welcomed at 46, and son A.J., whom she welcomed at 51.

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“We are not expecting our children to take care of us,” she told the outlet. “We made those arrangements beforehand. When I saw that I’m in better health at 53 than I was at 33, I can absolutely stand by that statement.”

The mom has been inviting her audience behind-the-scenes of her entire pregnancy journey. She says she hopes to inspire other older women to feel empowered to start their own families.

“I’ve reiterated that we have used every aspect of assisted reproductive technology available to us,” she told Today.com. “My whole goal is to support women who are looking to build their families that just are just on a different timeline.”

Collins said that because she’s an older mom, having younger kids has helped maintain the “best version of me.”

“I was a hot mess for a long time. I’ve worked all through those deep-seated issues that a lot of us have growing up,” explained Collins. “My relationship now with myself and with God is the strongest it’s ever been.”

She also described her husband as an “old soul” and said the two aren’t concerned about not being present to see their kids become parents themselves.

“Nobody’s promised tomorrow. Will I be here for my grandchildren? I might be,” said Collins. “I trust that God already knows and has made provisions.”

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Otu Oka‑Iwu Abuja demands immediate sack of police officer over ethnic profiling Of Ndi‑Igbo

Otu Oka‑Iwu Abuja, strongly condemns the recent incident in Ondo State where a police officer was caught on video threatening to detain a motorist simply “if he were Igbo.” This statement, dripping with ethnic prejudice, is not only disgraceful but a direct assault on Nigeria’s unity, the dignity of Ndi‑Igbo, and the constitutional guarantees of equality before the law.

We state without hesitation that the evidence of misconduct is overwhelming. The video footage is clear, the words are unambiguous, and the intent is unmistakable. This is not a matter requiring endless panels or prolonged investigation. The Inspector‑General of Police and the Police Service Commission must act decisively by ordering the immediate dismissal of the officer involved, alongside disciplinary sanctions for his colleagues who enabled such conduct. Anything short of this will amount to tacit approval of ethnic profiling within the Nigeria Police Force.

There is no doubt that ethnic profiling by law enforcement is a cancer that eats away at the fabric of our nation. To suggest that detention or harassment should be determined by one’s ethnic identity is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The Nigeria Police Force is mandated to serve all Nigerians equally, not to perpetuate ethnic bias.

When an officer openly declares that being Igbo is sufficient reason for detention, it sends a chilling message, that justice is not blind, but tribal. This is unacceptable in a country striving for unity amidst diversity. It is a betrayal of the oath of office and a dangerous precedent that must be stamped out immediately!

In fact, this shameful episode is not isolated because Ndi‑Igbo have long endured harassment and extortion along the notorious Lagos–Benin Expressway, where police checkpoints have become synonymous with intimidation. Igbo traders, transporters, and motorists have repeatedly reported being singled out for undue scrutiny, arbitrary detention, and financial extortion.

We recall instances where Igbo travellers were branded “fraudsters” or “smugglers” without evidence, subjected to degrading treatment, and forced to part with their hard earned money just to continue their journey. These patterns of abuse mirror other ethnocentric remarks across the country, where officers have criminalised entire communities with sweeping generalisations. Such conduct is not only unlawful but corrosive to national cohesion.

Beyond all arguments, the human suffering is immense. Families travelling for business or social occasions are delayed for hours, subjected to humiliation, and stripped of their dignity. Traders lose money, students miss opportunities, and ordinary citizens live in fear of the very institution meant to protect them. For Ndi‑Igbo, the Lagos–Benin Expressway has become a corridor of pain, where extortion and profiling thrive unchecked.

Incidentally, the problem extends beyond Lagos-Benin Expresway. In the South‑East, highways such as the Onitsha–Owerri Road, Enugu–Onitsha Expressway, Aba–Port Harcourt Road, and Awka–Onitsha corridor are littered with police and military checkpoints that have become notorious for extortion. Motorists often encounter dozens of roadblocks within short distances, each demanding “settlement” before passage.

Recent reports revealed that between December 2024 and January 2025 alone, security personnel extorted an estimated ₦21.8 billion from motorists in the South‑East. Of this staggering sum, police officers allegedly pocketed ₦15 billion, while military personnel took ₦6.8 billion. Specific checkpoints such as Uga Junction and the Atani Road Naval post in Onitsha were identified as the most lucrative, with over ₦600 million extorted at gunpoint.

The human cost of this extortion is devastating. Traders transporting goods are forced to pay bribes, commercial drivers inflate fares to cover these illegal costs, and ordinary citizens are subjected to harassment and humiliation. In one tragic case, Inspector Sani Suleiman allegedly shot a young man at a checkpoint in Anambra after he refused to pay a ₦100 bribe, a chilling reminder that extortion is not only an economic burden but also a deadly threat.

These checkpoints, instead of providing security, have become tollgates of intimidation. Traders transporting goods are forced to pay bribes, commercial drivers inflate fares to cover extortion costs, and ordinary citizens are subjected to harassment and humiliation. This practice cripples commerce, and disproportionately affects Ndi‑Igbo, whose livelihoods depend heavily on road transport and trade.

To this end, we call on the Inspector‑General of Police to sanitize the entire Lagos–Benin Expressway corridor up to Onitsha, Anambra State, and extend reforms across the South‑East highways, which have become notorious for police misconduct. This vital artery of commerce and social interaction must be freed from the chokehold of extortion, intimidation, and ethnic profiling. The checkpoints along these corridors should be reformed, closely monitored, and staffed only by officers trained in professionalism and respect for human rights. Ndi‑Igbo deserve safe passage without fear of harassment, humiliation, or discrimination.

Otu Oka‑Iwu Abuja is not only demanding dismissal and disciplinary action in passing. We will formally send a demand letter to the Inspector‑General of Police and the Police Service Commission insisting on the immediate dismissal of the officer involved. We will follow up relentlessly until the officer is served the consequences of his words, words which reflect not a slip of the tongue, but the trade and practice of intimidation that has become routine along Nigeria’s highways.

We will monitor the process, engage the police hierarchy, and ensure that this matter does not fade into silence. Justice must be done!

For the avoidance of doubt, we call on the Inspector‑General of Police and the Police Service Commission to:

  1. Immediately dismiss the officer involved in the Ondo incident, as the evidence is incontrovertible.
  2. Institute a zero‑tolerance policy against ethnic profiling within the Nigeria Police Force.
  3. Reform checkpoint practices along the Lagos–Benin Expressway and other notorious routes in Ala-Igbo, ensuring that Ndi‑Igbo can travel without fear of harassment.

Otu Oka‑Iwu Abuja stands firmly against any form of ethnic discrimination. We denounce the officer’s statement as a disgrace to the uniform and a betrayal of the oath to serve all Nigerians without bias and urge the Inspector‑General of Police and the Police Service Commission to act now.

SIR. CHIDIEBERE NWABUEZE UDEKWE ESQ
PRESIDENT
OTU OKA-IWU, ABUJA

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Tinubu’s government of ghosts, doubles and phantom agencies, By Farooq Kperogi

A disturbing pattern of unending, self-destructive administrative chaos in appointments to consequential public office positions is defining President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, which signposts Tinubu’s lack of control of his government and the reality of a shadowy, disorganised, feuding and mercenary cabal of conscienceless influence peddlers in the Presidential Villa.

Muhammadu Buhari pioneered this sort of disabling administrative anarchy, but Tinubu has upped it a notch, to the point that no one can be certain of the validity or even legitimacy of appointments announced by the presidential spokesperson.

As I’ll elaborate shortly, there is now a recurring pattern of the Presidency repeatedly announcing appointments before verifying the legal office, the incumbent’s status, the supervising minister’s knowledge and the SGF’s capacity or willingness to implement the decision. The result is a government in which press releases conflict with appointment letters, agencies announce presidential decisions of doubtful origin and incumbents disregard publicly announced replacements.

In this atmosphere of administrative anomie, it’s no surprise that someone can forge, or be assisted to forge, presidential instruments to establish a fraudulent presidential council that can pass through multiple layers of the Nigerian federal bureaucracy.

Buhari’s administrative infirmity expressed itself chiefly through lethargy, vacancy and spectacular absent-mindedness. He took more than five months to constitute his first cabinet in 2015. After dissolving the boards of federal agencies in July 2015, he waited until December 2017 to announce 209 chairpersons and 1,258 board members. At least eight of the appointees had died. In 2020, Buhari appointed Tobias Chukwuemeka Okwuru to the Federal Character Commission two months after Okwuru’s death. By August 2020, reports counted about 80 federal agencies without substantive heads or governing boards or both.

Buhari’s major weakness was that he forgot to appoint people when he needed to, which I used to characterise as “ungovernance”, but Tinubu’s is a different hue. He appoints, unappoints and reappoints people with the nervous rapidity of a man changing television channels during a thunderstorm.

The examples have become too numerous to ignore. Maryam Shetty arrived at the National Assembly for ministerial screening in 2023 and discovered that her nomination had vanished. Tinubu replaced Niger Delta Development Commission nominees within 24 hours of naming them. Kashim Imam’s appointment as chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency lasted less than a week.

In August 2025, the presidency reappointed Muheeba Dankaka as chair of the Federal Character Commission at 6:35 p.m. and announced Ayo Omidiran as chair at 10:44 p.m. One commission acquired two presidentially appointed chairs within four hours.

The Nigerian Television Authority provided an even more dramatic case. Tinubu, through his official spokesman, appointed Rotimi Pedro as director-general in August 2025 while Salihu Dembos still had an uncompleted tenure. Two weeks later, the presidency reversed itself and restored the incumbents. Premium Times reported that the supervising information minister learned of the original appointments through the media. Its investigation traced the upheaval to a presidential aide who had bypassed the minister and supplied allegations that an official review found spurious.

That episode illuminates the anatomy of the disorder. Access appears to have become authority. An aide can insinuate an allegation into the presidential bloodstream, procure a consequential announcement and leave ministers scrambling to discover what their own government has done.

Then came NIPOST. In October 2023, the presidency appointed Tola Odeyemi postmaster-general with immediate effect. But NIPOST’s own communications channels subsequently announced the reinstatement of Sunday Adepoju. Workers barricaded the headquarters against Odeyemi. She eventually assumed office.

The current imbroglio at the Border Communities Development Agency perfects the absurdity. On June 27, 2026, the presidency announced Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas as the agency’s new director-general, replacing Dakorinama Alabo George, who it said had resigned to run for an election in Rivers State.

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Namdas reportedly still awaits the formal appointment letter from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. George says he never resigned, claims his announced replacement was an error and continues to act as head. On July 9, he met the finance minister to discuss agency funding. Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga answered with two words: “Namdas stays.”

Who, then, leads BCDA? The man announced by the presidency, the man recognised by the bureaucracy or the man exercising operational control? Trust TV’s analysis sharpened the question by pointing out that the BCDA Act creates the office of executive secretary, while the presidency calls the office director-general. The Act also makes clear that the executive secretary is the accounting officer who controls contracts, staff and public property. This semantic confusion therefore carries fiscal consequences. One agency now has two titles, two claimants and three divergent sources of authority: public announcement, formal instrument and administrative possession.

A president has the prerogative to hire and fire appointees. State authority, however, requires legible procedure. An appointment exists in law and administration through an authenticated instrument, a clear effective date, a lawful office and an orderly transfer of power. A press release floating free of these elements is risible political theatre. Repeated reversals convert presidential words into provisional rumours.

The suspicion of a cabal arises here. “Cabal” often functions in Nigerian discourse as an all-purpose name for invisible conclave of devils in the seat of power, an informal constellation of aides, patrons, bureaucratic gatekeepers and political financiers who can insert a name into a presidential announcement, withhold the letter that activates it, reverse the decision after resistance or sustain an incumbent against a published presidential directive.

The observable pattern establishes that Tinubu has lost the monopoly over the voice and force of his own presidency and that a cabal rules on his behalf. Competing nodes around him appear able to originate, obstruct and annul decisions. His government speaks in tongues, with each tongue claiming the presidential seal.

The scandal of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, or PFIPC, becomes intelligible within this administrative Babel. The presidency says Adeniyi Adeyemi fabricated an appointment as director-general of a fictitious presidential agency. Yet this phantom acquired a ₦1.3 billion line in the 2026 budget, occupied federal office space, met foreign diplomats and secured an approved staff establishment after official verification failed. The Central Bank opened dollar and pound accounts for it on the Accountant-General’s mandate, although the accounts remained empty and inactive.

Calling Adeyemi a con man explains his intention, but his success diagnoses the sad, cabal-infested, fraud-prone, dysfunctional pathology of the Tinubu government.

A solitary impostor cannot travel through the Office of the SGF, Head of Service, Budget Office, Accountant-General, Central Bank and diplomatic system unless verification gates have collapsed or helpful insiders have opened them. PFIPC became a government agency through serial bureaucratic authentication. Fiction accumulated official stamps until it acquired the material attributes of fact.

How do we reverse this? We can learn from our former coloniser. Britain subjects many public appointments to a published Governance Code and oversight by an independent Commissioner for Public Appointments. Nigeria needs a publicly searchable presidential appointments register showing the statutory office, appointee, tenure, effective date, instrument number and current status.

Every presidential council and every entity in the federal budget since 2023 deserves a forensic audit. The National Assembly should trace who inserted PFIPC into the budget and who validated each stage of its bureaucratic incarnation.

PFIPC surfaced because its counterfeit authority collided with the real Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission. How many silent phantoms flourish because they have avoided such a collision? How many presidential appointments originate from people Tinubu cannot identify? How many announced decisions die inside the SGF’s office while their ghosts roam the news?

A government that cannot authenticate its own voice invites impostors to speak for it. A president whose appointees cannot tell whether they have been hired, fired or duplicated presides over a dysfunctional, self-dealing banana republic. His authority has become divisible, tradable and deniable.

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

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Former porn star Ortiz sworn in as Senator in Colombia

An ex-adult movie actress, Deyci Alejandra Omaña Ortiz, has been sworn in as a senator in Colombia.

Ortiz, popularly known by her stage name, Amaranta Hank, secured the seat after a March election victory on a platform advocating rights and protections for adult entertainment workers.

According to Colombian outlet El Tiempo on Thursday, Omaña will represent Colombia’s Norte de Santander region as part of the leftist Historic Pact bloc for the 2026-2030 parliamentary term, having placed 23rd on the coalition’s closed list.

The Historic Pact is currently the strongest political force in the country, with data from Colombia’s National Registry showing the bloc secured 22.72 per cent of the Senate vote, more than 4.4 million ballots, translating to 25 seats.

The lawmaker, who transitioned from journalism into the adult film industry before returning to public life, has said her past should not stand in the way of her legislative work.

According to Infobae Colombia, she argues that women who have worked in the sexual economy contribute meaningfully to the country’s finances and deserve legal recognition rather than continued stigma.

She pushed back against critics questioning her fitness for office in a TikTok video addressing the controversy around her win. “¿Por qué una mujer que estuvo en la industria para adultos no puede aspirar a un cargo de elección popular?” she asked, which translates to why a woman who was in the adult industry cannot aspire to a popularly elected office.

Omaña, born in the city of Cúcuta, has said her broader agenda in the Senate will also include mental health and sexual abuse initiatives.

Her emergence marks one of the most closely watched developments in Colombian politics in recent years, coming months after her appointment, alongside fellow former performer Juan Carlos Florián, as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Equality had already stirred controversy within President Gustavo Petro’s cabinet.

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Trump Finally Pays: E. Jean Carroll receives $5.63m after landmark sexual abuse verdict

After years of bitter courtroom battles, repeated denials and unsuccessful appeals, United States President Donald Trump has, for the first time, paid damages to writer E. Jean Carroll following a landmark civil verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.

Court records show that Carroll has now received nearly $5.63 million, representing the original $5 million awarded by a federal jury in 2023 together with accrued interest, after a judge authorised the release of funds that had been held in a court-supervised escrow account pending appeals.

The payment follows the refusal of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Trump’s appeal, effectively leaving intact the jury’s verdict and clearing the way for the money to be released. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the disbursement despite strenuous objections from Trump’s legal team, which argued that the funds should remain frozen while the President pursued further legal options.

The case stems from Carroll’s allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s before later defaming her by publicly dismissing her account as fabricated.

Although the 2023 jury concluded that Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation, it did not find that Carroll had proved the legal claim of rape under New York’s civil standard. The jury nevertheless awarded her $5 million in damages.

The latest payment marks the first time Trump has actually compensated Carroll, despite her winning civil judgments totalling $88.3 million against him over two separate lawsuits.

A second jury, in January 2024, awarded Carroll $83.3 million after finding that Trump continued to defame her through statements made while he was serving as President. That much larger judgment remains the subject of further appeals.

Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s allegations, insisting he never assaulted her and describing the lawsuits as politically motivated. Following the latest court order, his legal team again characterised the litigation as a “witch hunt” and accused political opponents of weaponising the justice system.

Before the funds were released, Trump’s lawyers unsuccessfully urged the court to delay payment, arguing that the President would suffer “irreparable harm” if Carroll disposed of the money before the legal process was fully exhausted. Carroll’s lawyers responded that the funds would remain in an interest-bearing retirement account, not be immediately spent or donated.

Carroll’s lead counsel, Roberta Kaplan, welcomed the development, saying the payment finally enforced a unanimous jury’s verdict holding Trump accountable for sexually abusing and defaming her.

Beyond the monetary award, legal analysts say the significance of the case lies in the principle it reinforces—that even a sitting President is not insulated from civil liability once the judicial process has run its course. After years of litigation, appeals and political controversy, the case has become one of the most consequential civil accountability decisions involving a serving American president in modern history.

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Nigerian-American Harvard graduate designs world’s first braid-assist robot

A Nigerian-American engineer and Harvard graduate, Yinka Ogunbiyi, has developed HaloBraid, described as the world’s first braid-assist robot designed to ease the physical strain on hairstylists and save time for salons.

The US Mission in Nigeria disclosed this in a post on X  on Friday, saying the innovation had raised $7m and attracted more than 7,000 salons to its waitlist.

“Nigerian-American engineer & Harvard grad Yinka Ogunbiyi built HaloBraid, the world’s first braid-assist robot, easing strain on stylists & saving salons time.

“$7M raised, 7,000+ salons waitlisted. American innovation, global impact. #AmericanExcellence in action,” the mission wrote.

It hailed Nigerian-American entrepreneur after she raised $7m in seed funding to launch HaloBraid, described as the world’s first patented braid-assist mechanical technology.

The funding round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with additional investments from AlleyCorp and Bling Capital.

The funding will support the market rollout of HaloBraid, which already has more than 7,000 professional hair salons on its waiting list.

Ogunbiyi holds a joint Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Engineering School and Harvard Business School and has a professional background in developing connected smart home appliances and consumer electronics.

The idea for HaloBraid emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic after Ogunbiyi spent four days installing her own protective knotless braids.

Recognising the opportunity to apply technology to the labour-intensive process, she partnered with co-founder David Afolabi to develop an automated alternative.

However, the technology is designed to assist human hairstylists rather than replace them.

The robotic system is designed to handle the repetitive mid-shaft braiding process, which accounts for a significant part of a typical salon appointment.

Under the system, the hairstylist begins the process by parting the scalp, sectioning the hair and creating the initial anchor knot by hand.

The HaloBraid unit then attaches to carry out the repetitive braiding sequence before the stylist removes it to finish, trim and seal the ends according to the client’s preferences.

PUNCH Online reports that HaloBraid is official website for the robotic braiding assistant.

Addressing concerns that automation could dilute the cultural essence of heritage hairstyling, Ogunbiyi said, “I don’t think anything will get lost from the experience.

“If anything, it enriches it. Technology simply assists with the repetitive movements that consume the most time and place the greatest strain on the body.”

The technology is also designed to address the physical strain associated with professional hair braiding, including the repetitive hand, wrist and back movements that can affect stylists over years of work.

By reducing the most physically demanding part of the braiding process, HaloBraid aims to help stylists increase their capacity, improve salon turnover and extend their working lives.

The company’s development comes amid growing demand for protective hairstyles and concerns about the time required for lengthy salon appointments.

According to the report, nearly 95 per cent of surveyed Black women said they would opt for protective styling more frequently if salon visits were less exhausting and time-consuming.

With the $7m funding and a waiting list of more than 7,000 salons, Ogunbiyi’s HaloBraid is now moving from development towards commercial rollout.

PUNCH

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Supreme Court seals Ex-AGF Aondoakaa’s fate, affirms lifetime disqualification from public office

  • * Emmanuel Obot’s 15-year legal battle ends in landmark rule-of-law victory as apex court upholds NBA disciplinary referral

A constitutional battle that began with a disputed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election has culminated in one of the most far-reaching judicial pronouncements ever delivered against a former Attorney-General of the Federation, with the Supreme Court affirming orders that effectively bar Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, from holding public office in Nigeria.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on December 10, 2021, in Appeal No. SC.939/2015, the apex court dismissed Aondoakaa’s appeal and affirmed the concurrent decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in favour of Hon. Emmanuel Bassey Obot, bringing to an end a legal contest that lasted nearly fifteen years.

Although the dispute originated from the 2006 PDP primary election for the Uyo Federal Constituency seat in Akwa Ibom State, where Obot challenged his substitution as the party’s candidate, the litigation ultimately evolved into a defining constitutional case on the powers, duties and ethical responsibilities of Nigeria’s chief law officer.

Delivering the lead judgment, Chief Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun agreed with the findings of the lower courts that Aondoakaa, while serving as Attorney-General of the Federation under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, acted contrary to the rule of law by issuing official letters that sought to frustrate compliance with valid court judgments recognising Obot’s rights.

The Supreme Court endorsed the Court of Appeal’s condemnation of the conduct as “a most sordid low in the administration of justice,” stressing that it was wholly incompatible with the constitutional obligations of the nation’s chief law officer.

Significantly, the apex court upheld the trial court’s declaration that Aondoakaa was not a fit and proper person to occupy the office of Attorney-General of the Federation. It also affirmed the consequential order permanently restraining him from holding the office of Attorney-General and agreed that, given the gravity of his conduct, he “ought not to be entrusted with any other public office at all.”

The court further upheld the award of ₦50 million in exemplary damages in favour of Emmanuel Obot, awarded an additional ₦2 million costs against Aondoakaa and affirmed the referral of the former Attorney-General to the Nigerian Bar Association for appropriate disciplinary proceedings arising from conduct the court considered inconsistent with the ethics of the legal profession.

Beyond the immediate parties, constitutional lawyers regard the decision as one of the judiciary’s strongest reaffirmations that no public official—including the nation’s chief law officer—is above the Constitution or at liberty to obstruct the enforcement of lawful court orders. The judgment reinforces the principle that the Attorney-General’s constitutional duty is not merely to represent government but to uphold the rule of law, protect the integrity of the justice system and ensure respect for judicial authority.

For the legal profession, the decision is equally significant. By endorsing disciplinary action against a serving Senior Advocate at the time of the impugned conduct, the Supreme Court underscored that professional eminence carries heightened ethical obligations and that breaches capable of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice will attract judicial censure.

For Emmanuel Obot, the judgment represents the culmination of almost fifteen years of litigation. For Nigeria’s constitutional order, it stands as an enduring affirmation that the authority of public office remains subordinate to the rule of law and that even the country’s highest legal officers are accountable to the courts.

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Judgment Day for Royal Family: Court to decide fate of monarch’s son, sister over wife’s controversial death

The High Court of Imo State sitting in Owerri will on Wednesday, July 29, deliver judgment in the high-profile murder trial of Prince Uchenna Orji, son of the traditional ruler of Otulu Autonomous Community in Oru West Local Government Area, and his younger sister, Precious Orji, over the controversial death of Uchenna’s wife, Mrs. Njideka Orji.

Justice Alma Eluwa, who presided over the trial, fixed the date for judgment after counsel for both the prosecution and the defence adopted their final written addresses in Charge No. HOW/4C/2026, bringing months of criminal proceedings to a close.

The case has attracted widespread public attention since the death of Mrs. Orji in October 2024, with conflicting accounts of how she died eventually leading to a police investigation and criminal prosecution.

Prince Uchenna Orji and his sister are the biological children of His Royal Highness Eze Festus Orji, the traditional ruler of Otulu Autonomous Community.

According to evidence presented before the court, the deceased had undergone surgery for an ectopic pregnancy in September 2024, after which she reportedly recovered, held a thanksgiving service and resumed her normal activities.

The prosecution told the court that tragedy struck on October 23, 2024, when Mrs. Orji was said to have collapsed in her room after dinner. She was rushed to hospital, where medical personnel reportedly found no heartbeat or respiration and, despite efforts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, confirmed her dead.

However, suspicions surrounding the circumstances of her death emerged after members of her family alleged that she had, during her lifetime, complained of repeated domestic violence. One of the prosecution’s witnesses, identified as the deceased’s elder brother, testified that she had informed relatives of several instances of physical assault allegedly inflicted by her husband during the marriage.

Prompted by those concerns, the family petitioned the police, resulting in an investigation and a post-mortem examination.

According to the prosecution, the autopsy revealed multiple fractures and other severe injuries on the deceased’s body. Medical experts who testified during the trial reportedly informed the court that the pattern of injuries was inconsistent with the defendants’ account that the deceased suffered a fatal injury from a single fall.

The prosecution argued that the medical findings undermined the explanation offered by the defendants, who maintained that Mrs. Orji sustained the injuries after falling in her room on the night she died.

Throughout the proceedings, both the prosecution and the defence called three witnesses each and tendered documentary and other exhibits in support of their respective cases before closing their evidence.

With final addresses now concluded, Justice Eluwa is expected to determine whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt or whether the defendants are entitled to an acquittal when judgment is delivered on July 29.

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