Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami will face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr next February in the Riyadh Season Cup for what could be the final showdown of the global football icons.

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi, who joined the US squad in July and sparked a championship run in the Leagues Cup against US and Mexican clubs, is expected to meet Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Messi, 36, led Argentina to last year’s World Cup crown and has long been a rival of Portugal captain Ronaldo, 38.

Inter Miami was named the guest international side and will join Saudi Pro League sides Al-Hilal and Al Nassr in next February’s Riyadh Season Cup, but no exact dates for matches at Kingdom Arena in the round-robin competition were announced.

Miami also features Messi’s former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets who combined for five La Liga crowns.

Ronaldo, a five-time Champions League winner, is joined by former Liverpool standout Sadio Mane and former Inter Milan captain Marcelo Brozovic on Al Nassr.

Al-Hilal features Brazil all-time leading scorer Neymar, who is recovering from a knee injury.

Last January, Ronaldo made his first appearance in Saudi Arabia following his move to Al Nassr with a Riyadh All-Star XI that lost 5-4 to a Paris Saint-Germain side featuring Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Sergio Ramos.

The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has announced the commencement of the application phase for the Erasmus+ postgraduate scholarship programme for 2024.

The scholarship programme offers Nigerians the opportunity to pursue Masters and Ph.D. degrees in European countries fully-paid by the European Union.

The EU has awarded post-graduate scholarships to over 800 young Nigerians since 2014.

According to the EU, the Erasmus scholarship programme aims to promote academic excellence and international collaboration.

The European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, underscored the significance of the initiative, which she described as a success story the EU was particularly proud of.

The statement said: “The Erasmus+ Scholarship Programme offers a beacon of opportunity for Nigerians seeking to advance their academic pursuits in Europe. It is not only about expanding educational horizons but also about building bridges of knowledge and fostering cultural exchange.

“Erasmus+ scholarships offer Nigerian students a gateway to experience world-class education, engage with diverse cultures, and broaden their academic horizons. This year, the programme extends its scope to include teaching and non-teaching staff of higher education institutions, promoting knowledge-sharing and professional growth.

“Eligible Nigerians, including higher education institutions staff, are encouraged to visit the official Erasmus+ Scholarship website for comprehensive details on application procedures, eligibility criteria, available fields of study, and invaluable opportunities for career advancement.”

Ambassador Isopi reaffirmed the European Union’s commitment to skills development in its partnership with Nigeria, emphasising that “Erasmus+ nurtures not only individual development but also strengthens the bonds between Nigeria and the European Union through the power of education.”

[DailyTrust]

Ghana’s cocoa marketing board, COCOBOD, has agreed to its yearly loan for cocoa purchases with international banks at a record-high interest rate of 8% according to reports from Bloomberg.

This increase comes in the wake of the West African nation’s debt restructuring this year, which adversely impacted investor appeal. 

The deal is said to be the most expensive the board has ever agreed since 1992-93 when the arrangement began.  

It is the first time the loan will be signed in November as it is usually signed around September at the conclusion of the COCOBOD’s road show in the month of July. It involves eight participating banks, with Coöperatieve Rabobank UA acting as the lead arranger, alongside Standard Chartered Plc and Societe Generale SA, according to sources. 

The COCOBOD’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Ray Ankrah told Reuters saying, “We want to draw down as quickly as it is approved,” 

Last week, Ghana’s parliament granted approval for the transaction, enabling the board to proceed with finalizing paperwork in collaboration with the participating banks. 

Structure of the loan 

As outlined in the loan terms presented to lawmakers by the parliamentary finance committee, COCOBOD will be required to pay the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) for one month. The current SOFR, standing at approximately 5.3% according to the New York Fed website, will be augmented by a margin of 2.65%. 

Reason for the high-interest rate 

The COCOBOD’s deputy CEO explained that the record interest does not reflect the creditworthiness of the agency but rather a result of tightening funding sources.  

In his words, “The rate is high because of the SOFR, and that is a reflection of the tightening of funding sources on the global money market. This is a self-liquidating facility which is collateralised, and the risk to it is zero.” 

COCOBOD intends to secure a total loan amount of $1.2 billion for the current season. Of this sum, $800 million is earmarked to be obtained from the syndicate of lenders, while the remaining $400 million is set to be raised from alternative sources such as Olam Group Ltd. and Barry Callebaut AG to top up.

The 36 states of the federation have spent N1.71tn on recurrent expenditures including allowances, foreign trips, office stationery, aircraft maintenance, and more in the first nine months of 2023.

This is according to an analysis of their budget performance reports sourced from Open Nigerian States, a budgIT-backed website that serves as a repository of government budget data. 24 states analysed by The PUNCH had budget implementation data covering the first three quarters of the year while 12 states had data for the first two quarters of the year.

The states cumulatively spent N802.43bn on salaries across the data period available, but The PUNCH isolated this data set to focus on other recurrent spending items. If salaries were added, total recurrent spending would have been N2.52tn.

Other recurrent spending items covered in this report include the amount spent on foreign and domestic travel, Internet access fees, entertainment, foodstuff, honorarium/ sitting allowance, wardrobe allowances, telephone bills, electricity charges, stationery, anniversaries/special days, welfare, aircraft maintenance, and more.

Of the 36 states, only 30 states have disbursed security votes (N87.45bn) so far. Also, the total borrowings of the states grew to N988bn as of the third quarter of 2023.

In the first nine months of 2023, Abia spent N17.61bn on housing/rent allowance, meal subsidy, entertainment allowance, wardrobe allowance, social benefits, pension, gratuity, internet access charge, telephone charges, local and international travels, office stationeries, maintenance services, consulting and professional services, fuel, financial charges, miscellaneous expenses, and others.

In the first two quarters, Akwa Ibom spent N92.54bn on allowances and social contributions, social benefits, travel and transport, utilities such as electricity chargers, Internet access charges, and more, materials and supplies such as office stationery, drugs, laboratory and medical supplies, maintenance, training, and more. So far, the state has spent N10 million on hosting/mobilisation of political associations and interest groups, N841.83m on entertainment at meetings, and more.

Adamawa has so far spent N40.90bn on non-salary expenditure as of the end of Q3, 2023. Part of its recurrent expenditure which includes allowances and social contribution includes N1.29bn on furniture allowance, N1.19bn on travel and training including domestic and foreign, N214.37m on office stationery and consumables, and N413.32m on refreshments and meals.

Anambra’s non-salary spend was N15.17bn as of the end of Q2, 2023; Bauchi was N70.25bn. By the end of Q2, 2023, Bayelsa had spent N58.26 on non-salary recurrent expenditure. These expenses include N2.18bn on training and travel, N1.81bn on welfare packages, N78.60m on burial logistics, N1.48bn on town hall meetings expenses, N48.20m on praise night/thanksgiving expenses, N17.70m on marriage ceremony support, and more.

Benue’s non-salary spend was N34.44bn. It spent N387.55m on special day celebrations, N434.17m on welfare packages, N7.06bn on security votes, N1.23bn on materials and supplies such as office stationery, books, and more.

Borno’s non-salary spend as of the end of Q3, 2023 was N32.63bn, Cross Rivers was N43.71bn, Delta was N152.15bn, Ebonyi was N30.91bn, and Ebo was N41.11bn. As of the end of Q2, 2023, Ekiti’s non-salary spend was N31.33bn. Part of this expense includes N2.74bn on local and international travel and transport, and N1.97bn on miscellaneous such welfare packages, refreshments, honorarium and sitting allowances, and more.

Enugu’s non-salary spend as of the end of Q3, 2023 amounted to N33.36bn, Gombe was N24.73bn (for Q1 and Q2). Imo was N58.21bn, where N1.21bn was spent on refreshments and meals, N866.81m on welfare packages, N3.26bn on allowances and more. Jigawa’s non-salary spend was N49.64bn which included allowances of N22.07bn, N1.18bn on transport and travelling, N1.83bn on materials and supplies including drugs, vaccines, medical supplies, stationaries, and more.

Total non-salary spend in Kaduna was N27.87bn as of the end of Q3, Kano was N17.79bn (Q1 and Q2), Katsina was N40.49bn, Kebbi was N24.51bn, Kwara was N41.19bn, Kogi was N58.02bn. Lagos’s non-salary spend was N289.49bn. These expenses include N741.34m as severance pay for political office appointees, N340.95m on aircraft maintenance, N8.07bn on plant and generator costs, N1.13bn on special days/celebrations, N107.79bn on special duties, servicing of meetings N11.45bn, N2.53 on welfare packages for the public, N3.69 on enforcement expenses, and more.

Nasarawa’s non salary spend as of Q3, 2023 was N28.13bn, Niger was N23.43bn (as of Q2), Ogun was N49.27bn (as of Q2), Ondo was N59.70bn, Osun was N42.59bn, Oyo was N24.52bn, Plateau was N7.99bn as of Q2, Rivers was N51.96bn (as of Q2), Sokoto was N20.89bn, Taraba was N24.73bn, Yobe was N25.07bn (as of Q2, 2023), and Zamfara was N29.14bn.

Total spending by states, including capital expenditure, amounted to N4.59tn in the period under review. States may not match their 2022 spending (N8.2tn) due to reduced revenues and macroeconomic challenges. However, there is growing concern that states are spending a lot on irrelevant items.

Government spending has come under increased scrutiny, especially considering the worsening economic challenges in the country. Recently, the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Congress in Lagos, Funso Doherty, called out Lagos State for how it was spending public funds. This has since been met with public outcry.

In a letter to the government, he wrote, “I have had the opportunity to go through the register of public procurement awards by LASG, its ministries, and Department Agencies for the second and third quarters of 2023, as reported by the Public Procurement Agency.

“This attached schedule highlights selected awards which, in my opinion, require greater scrutiny.”

In the period under review, state governments increased their borrowing to N988.48bn to augment their FAAC allocations and internally generated revenue. 29 states now owe financial institutions and other government enterprises N536.01bn while borrowings from short and long-term borrowing from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Afrexim, and African Development Bank by 33 sub-nationals increased to N452.47bn.

The PUNCH observed that the Lagos state had the highest domestic debt (N200bn), then Delta (N70bn) and Oyo(N58.87bn).

Similarly, Delta state is the highest borrower from multi-lateral lenders with N71.45bn in debts, followed by Lagos with N51.36bn, Akwa-Ibom (N27.04bn) and Ogun (N22.82bn).

Recently, The PUNCH reported that state governments borrowed about N46.17bn from three banks to pay salaries between January and June 2023.

Borrowing for recurrent expenditures is a growing concern to economists. An economist and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof Akpan Ekpo, recently told The PUNCH, “The situation is bad, but most states do not have enough in terms of internally generated revenue. A lot of the states, even their federal government allocation, cannot pay salaries, which is very dangerous. You should not borrow to pay salaries.

“You should borrow to finance capital projects. States have to think of new ways of increasing their IGRs. If they continue borrowing to pay salaries, it is not good for the economy.”

A development economist, Dr Aliyu Ilias, further noted, “With the current hardship we have in the country, they may not have an alternative than to resort to borrowing. But borrowing to pay salaries is becoming a problem. We must stop borrowing for recurrent expenditure. We can borrow for capital expenditure; that is okay. The consequence is that we are digging ourselves into more trouble.”

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Government has denied media reports that the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu spent the sum of N7.3bn without the approval of the state House of Assembly.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Richard Olatunde, in a statement on Tuesday said, “It is important to state unequivocally that the referenced N7.3bn constituted the cumulative amount of palliative funds received from the federal government.

“These funds were allocated under the contingency sub-heading to address unforeseen expenses not initially budgeted for but deemed necessary during the fiscal year.

“While the original contingency fund in the 2023 budget was N1.07bn, the additional N7bn represents funds received from the federal government labelled as ‘Infrastructure Support Fund,’ specifically for palliatives meant to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.”

[Punch]

Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, yesterday revealed that Boko Haram members held in prisons across the country still carry out their criminal operations through the help of some prison warders.

General Musa made the disclosure, yesterday, during the sectoral debate with service chiefs organized by the House of Representatives at plenary in Abuja yesterday.

At the parley, the service chiefs gave reasons the security agencies appeared to be under-performing, their challenges and how to overcome and secure the country.

The service chiefs present included Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar; Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; and Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

The House had rescheduled the meeting from last week to today after the security chiefs could not appear for the debate in person.

Boko Haram plan operations from prisons with aid of warders

According to Musa, in the North-East, while debriefing some of the Boko Haram elements, they confessed how from the prisons they could plan operations and pass funds to the field through the help of some prison warders.

He said: “They passed funds across and we asked how. They told us they use some of the warders. We are not saying all of them are bad, but they use some of the warders’ accounts to transfer money and the deal is anybody whose account it is transferred shared it 50-50. Those are the challenges.”

Armed forces under-funded

Speaking further on purchase of equipment, Musa lamented that the high dollar rate had hampered the purchase of relevant equipment needed to fight insecurity.

According to him, all the items procured are bought with hard currency, none in naira, and that most times when funds are converted, only very little could be bought.

His words: “We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items.

“For example, during the last regime, about $1 billion was set aside for defence procurement. Out of that amount, over $600 million was for the procurement of aircraft. So, the whole money had gone.

“So many times when people see that funds are being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars you do not get much.

“One precision missile for our drone costs $5,000. So imagine how many we would be able to use and how many we can procure. So, those are the challenges.”

Leveraging new military tech, AI 

He said there is need for the Armed Forces to leverage emerging military technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and robotics.

Musa said: “Similarly there is need to exploit the contemporary global shift in the utilisation of space technology and cyber warfare for national defence and security. 

‘’We have initiated the process of establishing a joint cyber warfare intelligence command where such emerging technologies will be exploited to enhance the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“Security is not only the responsibility of security forces. Everybody has a responsibility to play. We cannot be everywhere. So, we need education and sensitisation programmes to educate Nigerians that security is everybody’s responsibility. 

‘’If you see it, you talk about it. You just don’t keep quiet and say it is for the Police. Everybody has a role. In our neighbouring countries, if you enter there as a visitor, I give you 30 minutes, they would know you are a visitor. Before you know it, the gendarmes are after you.

“People tend to think it is not their responsibility. We are not magicians. We need to have a system where we train from schools, let every Nigerian understand that they should take ownership of security.

Good governance, best weapon against insecurity

“We have realized that the magic wand to address insecurity is good governance. Anywhere you have good governance, insecurity goes down. The security forces can only produce 30 per cent. We can only provide an enabling environment. If other aspects are not addressed, it is a problem.

“People can’t eat. People are hungry. No matter how you tell them to keep the peace, they will not because they have to eat and it aids criminality. 

‘’So, we must have good governance and everybody should have belief in the country that this is their country.”

Activities in Judiciary as factors

He also fingered delayed prosecution as a challenge in the war against insecurity, adding that some terrorists found wanting had not been prosecuted. 

His words: “For keeping them for a lengthy period, people are accusing the Armed Forces of keeping them against their human rights but we cannot prosecute. 

“I have been in the North-East, there were a lot of Boko Haram elements that were captured and kept. We have kept them for five or six years. We in the Armed Forces cannot prosecute; we can only provide protection for them.

“Another aspect of the judiciary is this, you take risks, make an arrest, you hand-over, but before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released. Now you have risked yourself in doing that. 

“By the time he is released, he goes to tell your family members that you are at risk. So, it gets to a stage where the security forces are not even willing to do anything.”

Ekpa, a threat to security in S-East, Nigeria 

On the South-East, the CDS stated that Simon Ekpa had become a serious threat to the country,  adding that the government must act fast, diplomatically, to tame him.  

“Simon Ekpa has become a menace to this country. The country must act on it diplomatically. Finland is having a free way encouraging him to be doing what he is doing. His utterances and actions are affecting what is happening in Nigeria.

“We should never allow that. Our foreign service needs to step in to address the issue. It is either we invite the ambassador or somebody. They must explain why they are protecting him. He is doing us more harm with his utterances. A lot of people are being killed. We cannot sit back and keep quiet.”

Troops’ challenges – CAS 

On his part, the Chief of Air Staff,   Hassan   Abubakar, outlined challenges hampering the Nigerian Air Force from attaining its operational objectives. 

The challenges include rising cost of aviation fuel and introduction of surcharges.

According to him, the situation continues to worsen with the cost of Jet A-1 fluctuating at N1,150 per litre, against the budgeted N360 per litre.

He said there is need for an intervention fund for the Nigerian Air Force as an independent importer of Jet A-1 fuel to sustain air operations.

He also lamented delays in release of funds for procurement, noting that about 85 per cent of Nigerian Air Force capital budget is for procuring military hardware abroad.

“Since hardware by original equipment manufacturers are time-bound, delay in budget funding may lead to late delivery due to late payment. Timely disbursement of approved funds would surely solve this challenge,” he said.

Complexity in targeting terrorists  among populace

He also identified the problems of terrorists living among the populace and Nigeria’s porous borders. 

“The Nigerian Air Force’s kinetic operations are supported by credible intelligence to minimize undesired casualties. 

“The country’s land borders, including those with Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, spanning about 4,000km, are mostly insecure and poorly manned. These porous borders exacerbate arms proliferation and illegal movement of people and goods, which contribute to the problem of insecurity and further enable insurgents to operate freely.”

On manpower challenges, given the recent acquisition of new platforms, he and a three-year sustained training plan has been put in place beginning from 2024, “as long as the National Assembly expeditiously facilitates smooth passage of our increased training and operations requirements.”

Police operating in difficult environment – IGP Egbetokun

For the Nigeria Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun  said that the Police were operating in a very difficult environment with inadequate manpower, noting that he met a battered force.

“The United Nations Police ratio of 1 to 400 is not attainable in Nigeria as of today. The ratio in Nigeria is one to 1,000, which suggests that we have to double the manpower.

“We have 1,537 police divisional headquarters across 774 local government areas. But getting operational vehicles for the divisions is difficult. Each of these divisions requires at least four functional patrol vehicles. But we have divisions which don’t have any patrol vehicles as of today.

“Training in the police is still inadequate. The welfare of personnel is nothing to write home about. Funding is critical to achieving the mandate of the Nigerian Police. Unfortunately, the citizens are not interested in our excuses for under-performance. They want us to serve them. We are ready to serve them. We need your cooperation. We need funding. We need more manpower.  

“In spite of these inadequacies, the police have been doing so well. We have been doing our best to protect lives and property across the country.  No agency can perform beyond the limit of resources available to it.  

“In the last five months, we have made a lot of arrests. We have made a lot of recovery of illicit weapons. Some of these suspects are undergoing prosecution, as we speak. But no amount of arrest that we make will solve our security problem. 

“It is   not possible to arrest all the criminals and recover all the weapons. But within the environment we function, the police have done so well and we are still doing so much.

“We appeal that Nigerians should please support the police. We are implementing community policing strategies in all our communities. We want to take into consideration the peculiarities of each community in the strategies that we employ in policing a particular community.  

“Recently, I announced the establishment of a special intervention squad, a standby unit of at least 1,000 men in each of the states. These men will   be specially trained. They will be specially equipped and remunerated and ready for deployment at shortest notice to any area of the country where there   are crises.  

“This way we intend to join the military in fighting terrorism in the North- East; armed banditry in the North-West and North-Central; kidnapping, and armed robbery across the country and ensure that we reduce violent crime in our country to the barest minimum.”

Speaking earlier during his opening remark,   Speaker Tajudeen Abbas said that for the 10th House, the sectoral debate marked a significant milestone in the implementation of its legislative agenda.

“The sectoral briefs will provide us with an opportunity to scrutinize the policies, activities and plans of each MDA. It will also allow the House and members to understand better the challenges facing government agencies, their programmes and areas for legislative interventions,” he disclosed.

He said further:  “Let me emphasize from the onset that appearance in person for all invited heads of MDAs are required throughout this sectoral briefing. As such, the House shall not accept proxy representation for any reason whatsoever. Notices are sent well in advance to forestall any excuses.’’

Insecurity’ll soon history in Nigeria, says defence minister

However, the Minister of State, Defence, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, assured that the insecurity bedevilling the country would soon be over.

The minister, who gave the assurance while speaking to newsmen at his Maradun town residence, Zamfara State, said the ministry had procured helicopters and other fighting equipment, to fight banditry, insurgency and other criminal activities in Nigeria.

“In fact, the Federal Government, under President Bola Tinubu, made arrangements for what is needed to fight insurgency, banditry activities and all sorts of crimes in the country,’’ he said.

According to him, a few days after their swearing-in as ministers, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave them a marching order to rid the country of insecurity.

He added:  “I assure you that the issue of insecurity in the country would be history because very soon our military will commence manufacturing their weapons in the country.”

Matawalle said he had inspected the military equipment provided by the Federal Government to security personnel, especially the Army, adding that what was being awaited was a positive result.

Meanwhile, civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on President Tinubu to declare a national emergency on kidnappings across the country.

The rights group, in a statement, said the federal and state governments should come up with a framework for the declaration of kidnapping as a national emergency.

HURIWA also stated that the 36 state houses of Assembly and the National Assembly should consider amending the relevant criminal laws applicable and then pass a uniform law recognizing kidnapping as a capital offence and set up special courts to fast-track trials of cases of kidnapping. 

The rights group urged state governors to stop observing moratorium on the execution of convicted persons tried under capital offences, such as kidnapping.

Freedom is the battle cry of a group meeting this week in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, to draw world’s attention to the remaining territories still under colonial rule.

The body, Baku Initiative Group, is a non-governmental organisation launched in Baku on  July  6 this year during an international conference staged by the Non-Aligned Movement with  the theme: “Towards the Complete Elimination of Colonialism.”  Azerbaijan, an oil and gas-rich nation of about 10 million people, is located between two continents – Asia and Europe.  Azerbaijan is currently the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement. A former Soviet republic, Azerbaijan is a close ally  of Russia. A political-military pact subsists between Russia and Azerbaijan.  Russia has imposed a five-year  ceasefire in the dispute between  Azerbaijan and Armenia on the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. About Almost 2,000  peacekeepers have been deployed  along the line  of contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, thereby creating a “Lachin Corridor” on the road liking Armenia. According to Russia, the peacekeepers are  to forestall “the mass death of the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The list  of the last colonies on the globe  as updated by the United Nations on September 22, 2020 includes the following 17 territories: New Caledonia, United States Virgin Islands Montserrat, Saint Helena, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, , Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Turks and Caicos Islands, French Polynesia, American Samoa, Guam, Pitcairn and Tokelau. Closer home to Nigeria, it should be remembered that Western Sahara is still being claimed by Morocco and the Saharawi Democratic Republic. Given the passionate tone and tenor of the discussions by participants at the Baku meeting, the peoples of these territories seem to the feel that their cause for national independence seem to be a forgotten issue by the rest of the world.   Worse  still, the territories  represented at the meeting  have  tiny populations.

For  the people of the southern hemisphere, the struggle for national independence was the major issue  on the global democratic agenda in the last century. 

At the birth of the  United Nations  on October 24, 1945, about a third of the countries in the world were under colonial rule. Following World War II, the wave of decolonisation  more less defined the UN  in the second  half of the 21 st Century. In the process,  more than 80 countries achieved national independence. And among these countries  are 11 Trust Territories, which secured their  self-determination by way of independence. Some, of course, elected to be in association with  independent states.

However, in this century only South Sudan, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and East Timor have attained national independence. The decolonisation process  of the last century in different continents is  still considered one the greatest successes of the United Nations. Unfortunately, the attention of the world body appears to have  shifted away from the problems of those peoples still seeking national sovereignty. This appears to be a historical regression. Freedom should come to all countries regardless of the sizes of their populations.

It is in the context of the foregoing that the Baku Initiative Group (BIG) is focusing  on “Neo-Colonialism: Violations of Human Rights and Injustice.”  As  a side event, a session was held on “Decolonisation: Women Empowerment  and Development.” This provided a  forum for  the specific oppression of women under colonial to be  extensively discussed. And diverse experiences were  shared. Names of many heroines of  the women’s struggles in different countries came up for the great lessons they offer. The role of women  in the process of decolonisation also received a lot of attention. Political parties  and other organisations  from the territories under colonial rule and dependencies were represented.  

Among the main  colonial masters are the France, the United Kingdom,  the United States,  Spain, Netherland and Australia.

However, France received the greatest knocks from the representatives of 14 countries  at the Baku meeting. The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, seemed to have set the tone in a message to the conference. He recalled that in the 1955 conference that led to the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement in Bandung, Indonesia, one of the basic principles proclaimed was as follows:  “The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitations constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an evil which should speedily be brought to an end.” He said that Azerbaijan was concerned about colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Here is what Aliyev said, inter alia, of France: “Overall, most of the bloody crimes of the colonialism history of mankind were committed by none other than France. France had occupied tens of countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America, plundered their resources, and for many years oppressed their peoples while perpetrating numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. The French troops subjected hundreds of thousands of civilians to ethnic cleansing based on their ethnic and religious affiliation.

“Throughout 30 years in the 20th  Century, France had conducted nearly 200 nuclear tests in French Polynesia and 17 nuclear tests in Algeria. The dire consequences of those tests have, to this day, affected Polynesia and the Algerian people. In response to the appeals by the multitude of organizations, it is imperative to evaluate the repercussions of the nuclear tests and disburse appropriate compensations.”

Aliyev’s anti-French rhetoric is understandable because France is an ally of Armenia, a country which Azerbaijan is having a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. Only last month, France agreed to  supply  arms to Armenia just Russia has agreement to supply  arms to Azerbaijan.

Coincidentally, the  groundswell of anger over France’s colonial domination of some territories is coming at  the same period with the  upsurge of anti-French sentiments  in some of its former colonies in West  Africa – Mali, Burkina Fasso, Niger, Gabon etc. The socio-economically asphyxiating influence of Paris in these countries are now being rejected openly on the streets by the people.  Military regimes are  even  embraced in some of the Francophone countries because people consider the toppled politicians as lackeys of France.

The  case of for decolonisation promises to be another ideological and moral challenge to liberal democracy in  this century. This  because the hypocritical  colonisers happen  to be the police of   democracy around the world. Meanwhile, one of the basic principles of liberal democracy  is the respect for the civil rights of  human beings everywhere. Whether in the metropole or in the colony the dignity of the human being should be respected. The  provenance of liberal democracy could be located squarely in the European Enlightenment  of the 17th and 18th centuries. The inspiration for the pursuit of liberal democracy came from, among other sources, the American revolution of 1776  and the French Revolution of 1789. The following words  are  embodied in the American declaration of independence: “ “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator  with certain inalienable Rights,  that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  The slogan of the French revolution was “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.” All these rights and virtues have universal applications. The rights belong  to all human beings.

However, as the participants at the Baku conference are making  the case quite eloquently more than 200 years democratic revolutions in the United States and France, the colonial masters have historically denied the people of the colonies of their rights. Meanwhile, the greatest  thing a people could gain from democracy is freedom. A colonised people lack freedom to claim  their nationhood.

The participants at the Baku conference recounted how  this denial was sometimes  done  with the brutality of colonial suppression. Today, the approach of the imperial powers is more subtle. It is done through ideological manipulation. For instance, when referendums are called in some territories the colonial powers sometimes prop up some  elements within the colonies to argue against independence  as if the colonised people  suffer from the Stockholm syndrome.

As  one of the participants, Ella Tokoragi, a member of the Tavini Party Independence of French Polynesia, puts it, in the struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism the western ideology that has sustained the systems should be questioned.  

Apart from corruption, which has become the badge of the Nigerian judiciary, the other defining characteristic of Nigeria’s judiciary in electoral petition is incoherence.  Decisions of the Nigerian judiciary in electoral petitions are grossly incoherent with the fundamental principle of electoral democracy: to give the people the power to choose those who will make and execute laws on their behalf.

Incoherence in this sense is about the lack of unity in decisions on electoral petitions. This lack of unity can be logical or structural or both. Logical incoherence is a mortal failure of adjudication because the chief merit of adjudication is that it is not whimsical. Judges are not politicians. They are not ordinary folks either. They are Hercule, Robert Dworkin’s mythical judge with the extraordinary ability to unify all disparate principles of law into a coherent moral universe. Judges do not make decisions by instinct or inclination; or by fancy; or even in pursuit of a strategic personal objective. They make decisions that are COMPELLED by the gravitational force of logic. They always strive to make the RIGHT decisions. And the RIGHT decisions cohere and explicate a consistent theory of either the constitutional text or the moral code.

It is the fact that judges are not whimsical or fanciful that makes them trustworthy. The people accept judicial decisions because, although they may not understand the fullness of the reasoning of judges, they trust that they will apply logical principles to established facts. Citizens who are legally enlightened may dispute judicial application of principles to facts, but they do not doubt that judges are coherent and consistent even in their misapplication of the law. The claim that judges are not making law in the guise of adjudication rests on the fact of logical coherence. Without it, the mythology collapses.

Sadly, in recent times, some of the decisions of the Nigerian appellate courts indicate that there is a crisis of coherence in whatever passes as electoral jurisprudence in the country. Every now and then there is a judgement from the higher courts that contradicts the previous decision in terms of the principles they establish. But more dangerous that the inconsistence is the incoherence with fundamental ideas and principles of democracy. This incoherence is dangerous because it demystifies the idealism of judicial decisions, presents them as politics by other means and invites the conclusion that judges are abrogating democracy in the guise of adjudication. We should never forget that the only justification for allowing a few bewigged elites to decide something as fundamental as a dispute about who gets to exercise political authority in a society is that judicial decision-making is assumed to be a search for what is right and wrong. Judges find the RIGHT answers to disputes.

The incoherence of the Nigerian adjudication of electoral disputes lies in the failure to relate decisions on election to principles of democracy. Anyone who reads through some of the notable decisions from the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court would wonder what the point of it is. What theory of democracy are these decisions explicating. For example, where the court announces that a person who did not contest election should be declared the winner of the election because he or she ought to be the candidate to emerge from a properly conducted party primary, what concept of democracy is the court trying to articulate? The legality of such a decision may be evident, but the principle of democracy it explicates is missing. What element of democracy is served by installing a non-candidate to any election as a Governor? How can a person the citizens did not vote for be their choice as Governor?

Before we look at some of these instances of confusing jurisprudence, it is necessary to note that the real problem of incoherent electoral adjudication in Nigeria is that it undermines democracy and creates pernicious forms of both the politicization of judiciary and the judicialization of politics. If decisions by judges do not make moral and logical sense, then it means that we ought to see judges as political actors whose decisions reflect prior strategic commitment to preferred outcomes. It then justifies efforts to mobilize them to our political wagons through inducement or coercion. When this happens, judges themselves conscript the political space and make decisions that citizens should make as voters. This is politicization of the judiciary leading to the judicialization of politics. Either way, democracy is undermined.

The problem starts with not understanding the core elements of an electoral jurisprudence that is fit for a democracy. The starting point for such understanding is to know that elections are an instrumentalization of the principle of self-determination. Shorn of its technicality, election is an enablement for people in a complex society who can no longer come together to determine their wellbeing by their deliberations and choice to still do so by appointing some of their fellow citizens to act on their behalf. In legal terms, election confers a power of attorney on fellow citizens to represent others in making and executing laws. In olden, small city-states, these citizens could all come together at the Agora or townhall as adult males to exercise the power of rule daily. This is the case with the direct democracy of Athens or of the acephalous Igbo villages. But as society expanded and complicated, direct democracy was no longer possible, necessitating representative democracy, hinged on the right of the people to choose representatives through the ballot.

Three key elements of elections emerge from this intellectual history of democracy. First is that since elections are an instrumentalization of the right of citizens to choose leaders, it is fundamental in a democracy that all adults should be entitled to vote. This element is institutionalized in Nigeria in the constitutional right of all adult citizens to vote. The second element focuses on the quality of the environment in which citizens vote. The essence of self-determination is autonomy. There is no valid election if the citizens do not have the right to form opinions and beliefs, express them freely and organize themselves to advocate such through peaceful means. This constitutes the edifice of political rights, otherwise called fundamental rights in our constitution. The final element of election from the genealogy of democracy is equality of votes. All votes must count equally. No one vote should count more than the other. Therefore, accuracy in counting votes is the heart of electoral democracy. From this perspective, it might be true as Stalin reportedly said that those who count the votes are more important than those who cast the votes. This is why we clamor for an independent and honest electoral management body to supervise elections.

This is the moral universe of electoral democracy which our constitution embodies, and which electoral law and electoral adjudication should explicate and apply in electoral disputes. For adjudication of electoral petitions to promote democracy, it must express these fundamental elements of election. Elections are credible, free, and fair only if these elements are present. The electoral process must be conducted in a political economy of political freedom; citizens must be free to vote without intimidation or violence and the result declared must reflect the actual choices they made at the polls. Electoral jurisprudence is therefore a judicial effort to search out and uphold the will of the people in the choice of their leaders as reflected in actual votes. Any judicial search that ends up substituting the will of people with the will of a technocratic elite, or that pursues a mission of establishing any other form of legality that does not result in confirming the decision the people have made about who governs them is a misnomer. Judges do not have authority in a democracy to decide who rules. They only have authority to enforce the choice the people have made through their votes. If they do otherwise, they fail the coherence test.

The above statement of the essence of electoral jurisprudence appears simple and non-controversial. But it has been several violated even by the Supreme Court. Electoral adjudication in Nigeria could easily be read as an audacious violation of this simple principle. Let us start with the notorious case between Rotimi Amaechi and Celestine Omehia. Here, the Supreme Court held that the winner of the PDP governorship primary was not Mr. Omehia who stood for the governorship election, but Rotimi Amaechi who was not presented to the electorates as candidate. The court ordered Amechi to be sworn in as ‘elected’ Governor of the state. Now, the argument of the Supreme Court for sanctioning such a travesty of justice is that Amaechi who apparently won the primary election was wrongly replaced by Omehia. To avoid a situation where the party will frustrate its decision like in the Ararume case where the PDP still campaigned against Ararume even after the Supreme Court had imposed him as its candidates, it declared Amaechi elected rather than order a fresh election.

The decision has earned deserved ignominy. But it remains an important example of failure to apply the right electoral jurisprudence. We see aspects of this illogic in some other electoral decisions that lose focus on the central principle of electoral democracy, which is to allow citizens to choose leaders through votes. In many of these decisions, the court imposed those who did not contest elections because they OUGHT to be candidates. Part of the supporting logic of this misstatement of the principles of electoral democracy is a statement in the constitution that it is a political party that sponsors candidates for elections and the votes belong to the party. In the reckoning of some of the justices, the court can transfer the vote of the party to the person who ought to be its candidate.

This is a gross error. It is true we do not have independent candidacy. Every candidate is sponsored by a party. But electorates vote for candidates, albeit candidates sponsored by political parties. The essence of election is that the people are afforded the opportunity to choose a candidate. If the people as electorates never had the chance to choose a candidate, the court should not give such a person the mandate to rule under any form of adjudication. This also applies to candidates who stood for elections and are chosen by the people through valid votes. Such candidates should never be removed from office based on procedural failures unconnected with invalid votes. The only reason to remove from office a person who participated in any election and was voted for by the people should be that he or she did not win the election by proper count of valid votes, and never because he or she ought not to be candidate ab initio.  This relates to some of the recent cases like the governorship election in Plateau. It defeats democracy to override the votes of the people on the pretext that relevant agencies that ought to certify candidature failed in their job. If the failure was not rectified before the people went to vote, it stays. The votes of the people trump over any other legality. This means that pre-election matters should be resolved before voting. Votes are supreme in a democracy and should never be upset in pursuit of any other formal legality.

This may look like an abridgement of legalism. Yes, it is, and rightly so. The point of electoral jurisprudence is to uphold the votes of the people, not to promote legalism. The parties and INEC have work to do to ensure regularity. The courts can judicially review what those agencies do before election and determine eligibility. It is the responsibility of INEC to review the emergence of candidates before certifying them fit for elections. Citizens have the right to challenge any of those procedures in court based on the provisions of the electoral law. Once INEC certifies candidates and presents them to the people as fit and proper to be considered for election, and the people make a choice, the time has passed for the legality of eligibility. What now matters is the choice the people make. The court’s province after election has been conducted is to validate the choice the people have made, not to make its own choice in any guise, be it in the guise of legal compliance.

Collins Enebeli Ajereh, the father of famous Nigerian record producer and music executive, Don Jazzy, has revealed that he is not pressurizing his 40-year-old son to get married.

He said Don Jazzy had been married before but he and his estranged wife decided to go their separate ways.

Speaking in a recent interview with TVC, Ajereh maintained that he would not pressurize Don Jazzy to remarry, stressing that marriage is a personal decision.

He said, “He [Don Jazzy] was married. But they [he and his ex-wife] decided to end their marriage.”

Asked if he still has hope that Don Jazzy would remarry, Ajereh said, “Well, that is his choice. The question of marriage is individual choice. Some people choose marriage and some don’t and yet have relationships that might blossom into what makes their lives complete.”

He added that he does not think Don Jazzy’s decision to stay single was because of the nature of his job.

Olumiyi, the mother to the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, has alleged that the father of the deceased is behind the reason he is not buried.

According to Mrs Olumiyi, the police had released the body of the late singer but were waiting for his family to come to take it for burial.

Naija News gathered that Olumiyi revealed this in a viral video on Tuesday.

She called on President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians to appeal to the father to collect the remains of the singer from Lagos State Police Command.

According to her, Mohbad’s corpse has been released since the completion of the autopsy by the pathologist assigned by the police.

She said, “Nigerians, I cry to you to help demand the release of my son’s corpse. I pray that you will not witness your children’s death too.

“Mohbad’s corpse has been released since the completion of the autopsy, but his father has refused to let his corpse be released for burial despite me begging him repeatedly.

“I went to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police last week, and he told me that Mohbad’s remains had been released before now, questioning why we are letting his body waste away and if we are happy that he’s dead.

“All of you that have gone to exhume Mohbad’s body should wake up now and insist that he be buried. It is not like I have not been willing to voice out since but I leave everything to God. All the things the father has been saying are also left to God.”

Recall that Joseph Aloba, the father of the late singer, had warned that nobody should collect his son’s body for burial without his authorisation.

The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, met with the service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun.

Naija News reports that the service chiefs in attendance include the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.

The meeting was held after the House of Representatives expressed fury last week over the absence of the security heads who sent representatives to the plenary and were rejected.

The service chiefs and the IGP after the meeting listed their challenges and needs in a bid to improve the security situation in the country.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, requested that the National Assembly intervene in enhancing surveillance to cover the backwaters, creeks, and other areas behind the coastline.

According to him, if this is done, oil theft, pipeline vandalisation, and illegal refining will be monitored 24 hours consistently.

The IGP outlined some challenges within the force, including poor logistics provision, insufficient patrol vehicles for police divisions, inadequate training, and poor welfare of personnel.

CDS Musa requested improved funding, disclosing that every military man including himself is fed N1,500 per day.

The defence chief wanted the collaboration of the judiciary to ensure that criminals are not released on technicalities and that special courts address the arrest of high-level criminals.

He expressed concern that it puts the safety of security personnel at risk, adding that Simon Ekpa, a leader of the Indigenous was of Biafra, was a menace to the country and that action must be taken diplomatically.

Gen. Musa, who alleged that Ekpa was being protected by Finland, said there was a need for the government to engage the government of Finland and possibly invite its ambassador to Nigeria.

Gen Musa on illegal mining expressed a desire for states to take over for proper management.