Paul Anyebe was a judge of the High Court of Benue State in north-central Nigeria who had a young son with sticky fingers and a sense of adventure  It was his role as a dad that endangered his job as a judge.

One night around 1983, Anyebe caught his son attempting to steal from his bedroom. In response, Anyebe pulled his gun in an effort to scare the boy. The gun went off, discharging a bullet which hit and seriously injured the boy.

The Attorney-General of Benue State decided to prosecute Paul Anyebe for attempted murder. The Penal Code applicable in Benue State at the time had ample provisions for the crime of attempted murder.

The Attorney-General also added a charge of illegal possession of firearms, a federal offence. Unlike the crime of attempted murder, which was a state crime in Benue State, all firearms offences are federal. The Attorney-General of Benue was well within his powers to prosecute for attempted murder but only the Attorney-General of the Federation could prosecute or authorize prosecution for federal offences.

At the conclusion of the trial, the High Court of Benue State discharged Paul Anyebe on the charge of attempted murder, a state offence, but convicted him on the charge of illegal possession of firearms (a federal offence)for which it sentenced him to three years in prison. The Court of Appeal reduced this sentence to six months in prison or a fine of one hundred Naira. Following this decision and while his appeal was yet to be heard by the Supreme Court, Paul Anyebe was dismissed as a judge.

When the Supreme Court decided Anyebe’s appeal in January 1986, Dahunsi Olugbemi Coker, a Justice of the court, summed up the issue for decision in one sentence: “The short point is whether a State Attorney-General can prosecute an offence created by an Act of the National Assembly.” To this question, the court unanimously responded in the negative. They nullified Anyebe’s trial and ordered the fine paid  – one hundred Naira – refunded to him. The Court of Appeal ordered his reinstatement with full benefits.

Adolphus Godwin Karibi-Whyte, one of the justices who decided Anyebe’s appeal at the Supreme Court, said of what the case decided that ”the Attorney-General of a State has no general authority to exercise the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute in respect of Federal offences.”

One effect of this decision is to preclude the prosecution of federal crimes before state courts. A Magistrates Court is a state court. It does not have jurisdiction over federal crimes.

38 years after the Supreme Court of Nigeria established this principle in Anyebe’s case, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on 4 December arraigned lawyer and writer, Dele Farotimi, before a Magistrate in Ekiti State on 16 counts of crimes under the Criminal Code Act, a federal legislation.

Three years ago, Ekiti State enacted into law the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, no. 12 of 2021, which repealed and replaced the state’s pre-existing Criminal Code Law of 2012. Comprising nine parts, 429 sections and 140 pages, Ekiti State’s Criminal Law of 2021 does not include the crime Criminal libel or defamation. Section 70 of the law contains a crime of causing disaffection or breach of the peace through offensive publication but that is a simple offence punishable by six months in prison. It is not in issue in this case.

Last week, on 3 December, operatives of the NPF heisted Dele Farotimi from his residence in Lagos State, where the crime of criminal defamation is similarly unknown to law. They raced him across state lines to Ekiti where they detained him. The following morning, on 4 December, the police arraigned Dele before a Magistrate in the state capital.

This is important because the gist of the charges purportedly preferred against Dele Farotimi before the Magistrate in Ekiti is precisely criminal defamation which is not a crime in Ekiti State.

It seemed quite clear that the charges presented by the police did not disclose a crime known to the laws of Ekiti State nor did they disclose a crime over which a Magistrate in Ekiti State could purport to exercise lawful jurisdiction. Despite the evident absence of jurisdiction on multiple fronts, the Magistrate proceeded with undue haste to order the remand of Dele Farotimi in prison custody for one week until 10 December. The Magistrate probably did not realise that 10 December is International Human Rights Day.

Even if the Magistrate had jurisdiction, which he did not, the crime alleged was punishable with two years in prison. Under section 4(5) of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, this is classed as a “misdemeanor” at best, that is to say “an offence punishable by imprisonment for not less than six months, but less than three years.” These are bailable on liberal terms. Offences punishable by more than three years in prison are called “felonies”. Those are regarded as serious offences. The order of remand in this case seemed wilful with a whiff of the pre-determined about it.

The United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power has a name for what happens when a court orders prison remand for a crime which does not exist in law and in proceedings over which it lacks powers. It is called “criminal abuse of power.”

Many people claiming to be senior lawyers have invited Dele Farotimi to have his day in court where he can prove the allegations the subject of these charges or face the consequences. This is clearly designed to make all this seem like an invocation of law. It isn’t.

First, Dele Farotimi can only do so before a court of competent jurisdiction. A Magistrate claiming to sit over a crime that does not exist in the state is not such a court.

Second, the burden in criminal proceedings is on the state to prove that the accused guilty. So, criminal proceedings in Ekiti or anywhere cannot possibly be the forum for Dele Farotimi to prove the truth of his claims. Anyone who makes that assertion is either wilfully jejune or must concede that the only opportunity to put that to test has to be in civil proceedings.

Third, insisting on the kind of proceedings now going on in Ekiti state without any sense of irony only reinforces the kinds of claims that Dele Farotimi makes in his best-selling book about supposedly legal and judicial processes which seem to occur in the pockets of human principalities given to playing god. A lot of things may yet happen in those kinds of proceedings but it does not look like law will be one of them.

Moreover, in 2021, the Supreme Court of Nigeria – no less –  condemned as “vexatious and oppressive” and “dangerously rampant”, the “misuse of the criminal law machinery for getting reliefs in disputes that are civil in nature, by using the instruments of State.” The court also required that “a complainant who initiates a prosecution with the knowledge that criminal proceedings are unwarranted and the remedy lies in the civil law, should be made accountable in law for pursuing misconceived criminal proceedings.”

In that same case in 2021, the Supreme Court described the crime of criminal defamation as “an innovation in Star Chamber”, a reference to a notoriously arbitrary and captured judicial forum dating back to late mediaeval England. It was not a judicial endearment.

Dele Farotimi himself was perspicacious about the events as they have so far unfolded. Shortly before he was taken from Lagos, he warned: “abducting me to be tried in Ekiti State is not justice but a witch-hunt.”

Somewhere in Ekiti State on International Human Rights Day 2024, the very rights consecrated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will face the Guillotine with Dele Farotimi strung up as the sacrifice. Those who think this vindication may yet live to rue their affliction with terminal hubris.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

At Independence in 1957, Ghana’s founding father Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah asserted that “the independence of Ghana would be meaningless unless it was tied to the total liberation of Africa”. The foremost Pan-Africanist went on to lead Ghana in playing a central role in the decolonisation process and liberation struggles across Africa. 

Nkrumah in his usual impeccable use of words with such calm precision became the motivation for Africa's long move from the decolonisation era, and this generation of Ghanaians have carried on this enviable bequest – this time becoming a leading light in addressing Africa’s challenge of peaceful democratic transitions, by demonstrating this is possible, over and over again.

Self-evidently, today, the country has earned its pride of place in the global world order, and is celebrated as one of the models in the Global South, for economic stability, democratisation, and peaceful transitions. Undoubtedly, the West African country keeps strengthening her institutions and enacting enabling legislations that would ensure this legacy of peaceful transitions endure.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that the replica of America's 2024 general elections in Ghana yesterday 7th of December was yet another landmark event in the black continent of Africa. The American 2024 presidential election which marks a historic and improbable comeback for Donald Trump, who left office in 2021 after failing to overturn the 2020 election results. The only difference is that as a sitting President, John Dramani Mahama did not attempt the Trump's malady of 2020.

For the records, John Dramani Mahama (JDM), is set to return as Ghana's president after his main rival accepted defeat, even though the electoral authorities are yet to announce the official results. It is said that true leaders lead the people towards abundance. The paragon of democracy, JDM remarked as follows:

"I seek the mandate of the people of Ghana once again, confident that together, we have the human and natural resources to build the Ghana we all want. I approach this quest with the humility, introspection, integrity and urgency of an experienced leader convinced that Ghana is headed in the wrong direction and must be rescued." This is from a pure democrat in a great nation republic of Ghana in Africa where democracy is constantly on the downward trend.

The enviable records and lessons for the other troubled Nations of the continent of Africa particularly Nigeria, is its seamlessness unlike others. General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2024 to elect the president and members of Parliament. The next day 8 December 2024,Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the ruling party’s presidential candidate, has conceded defeat in Ghana’s 2024 elections and congratulated former President John Mahama.

"Let me say that the data from our own internal collation of the election results indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama has won the presidential election decisively,” Mr Bawumia said

Furthermore, a few days before the election, the incumbent President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stated: “I came to office as a result of a peaceful and credible election, and I want to go out through the same process,” Akufo-Addo told the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission, led by former Nigerian Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, during a meeting at Jubilee House in Accra on 3rd December.

Far too often, people learn from their experiences that one of the reasons why our well deserved systemic change has continued to elude us is because of weak INSTITUTIONS, bad precedences, sentiments and not principles that guide our judgements and decisions.

In conclusion, I'd like to share with my readers a poignant, provocatively and profoundly incontrovertible fact as posited by Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana. He said it is “incomprehensible” that Africa — a continent of 1.4 billion people — has no permanent voice in shaping decisions that affect global peace and security. “Yes, we are a continent rich in potentials and resilient in the face of adversity, but we have also been disadvantaged by a global system that has generally treated us as an afterthought,” he stressed, adding that the people of Africa are not asking for handouts. Rather, they are demanding opportunities in a new global architecture."

Finally, I wish to dedicate this contribution about today's events in Ghana to the evergreen memory of Ghana's former President Jerry John Rawlings whose life and legacy continue to resonate deeply with Ghanaians. Known as a "man of the people" Rawlings is remembered for his steadfastness, dedication to Justice, Integrity, and the fight against corruption. His contributions to the Ghana's political landscape are undeniable, and unprecedented. So, therefore, I wish to join millions of our compatriots across the globe in celebration of the events in Ghana, particularly the victory in pools of Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings who is the eldest daughter of JJR, a Member of Parliament for the Klottey-Korle Constituency and humanitarian.

Earlier in the month, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, obtained a ruling on a final forfeiture of an estate in Abuja containing 753 units of duplexes. The ruling of Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, on Monday, effectively transfers the estate measuring 150,500 square metres on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja, to the federal government. It is easily the single largest asset recovery by the agency since its inception in 2003, a landmark and cheery news coming from an organization that has for some time faltered on its mandate.

Beyond the celebration of that landmark, however, questions have been raised about the refusal of the EFCC to identify the culprit in the case. Though it referred to “a former top brass” in government and “a government official who fraudulently built the estate,” the anti-graft agency refused to lift the veil on the criminal involved, a decision that represents a troubling lack of transparency in the actions of the agency that has in the recent past worked so hard to earn public trust.

In a country where corruption has undermined governance and public trust, the opacity gives rise to rumours and conjectures and widespread suspicion has fallen on former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele as owner of the property. For a man whose tenure was marred by allegations of mismanagement, corruption, and abuse of power, such suspicion is easy to stick. While the EFCC defends itself that the action is in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam, against a property and not an individual, and which allows it to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel that is not a juristic person, it does not answer the key question of public trust.

The judgment as well as the pronouncements by the agency also contradicts this position. At least Justice Onwuegbuzie pointed to a ‘he’ when he held that the “respondent has not shown cause as to why he should not lose the property which has been reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.”

If Emefiele is indeed the owner, the silence is even more troubling considering it would signify a monumental breach of public trust and nobody believes the EFCC which, in admitting that “the substantive criminal investigation on the matter still continues”, insists that it would be unprofessional of it to mention names. Has that always been the practice in the agency that has always gone to town with the names of suspects?

The excuse, double standards in this case, flies in the face of its claim to a renewed offensive against corruption, an offensive that must thrive on transparency as a key pillar. With a solid judgment in hand, the agency which is the nation’s leading anti-corruption body, failed in its responsibility to demonstrate transparency in its dealings; rather, it chose to contradict its mandate of promoting accountability in public office, an action which further erodes the public’s confidence in it. While opening itself to accusations of selective justice, the action has the capability to reinforce the perception of the agency’s scandals where looted properties are reportedly re-looted by connected officials.

The scale of the assets and the high-profile nature of the alleged suspect—if indeed it is Godwin Emefiele or another “top brass” figure—places this case squarely in the public domain. The public has a right to know who is responsible for amassing such wealth, especially since the EFCC has previously disclosed the identities of individuals implicated in high-profile cases, often to demonstrate its resolve in fighting corruption. For instance, names of politicians and former public officials linked to fraud or illicit enrichment are routinely released to the media. Why, then, is this case different?

While the EFCC argues that withholding the name preserves the integrity of an ongoing investigation, the justification fall short in the face of overwhelming public interest. The seizure of 753 duplexes, which are collectively worth billions of naira, suggests an unprecedented case of economic crime, an issue that transcends individual privacy and demands public disclosure. The EFCC has a duty to ensure consistency and adopt a uniform policy regarding the disclosure of suspects’ identities in high-profile cases, as this helps sustain public confidence that is critical to fostering a culture of accountability and ensuring that the fight against corruption is sustained.

When a baby chick ventures into the Village Square alone under the midday sun, it has volunteered to be snatched up as a snack by any hovering hawk. When a chick which does not venture into the Village Square, ignores the “kwom-kwom” calling sound of the mother hen, it is bound to get into the trouble sooner than later. Against the background of the foregoing, let those who are prancing all over the place today and threatening to redefine pristine Igbo cultural values, customs and tradition wake up to their folly.

It takes more than preposterous self-inflation and self-delusion to be a leader of subsisting value. Look at Agbogidi and several other traditional rulers in Igbo land. How do they come across to you? Now look at the would-wielders of un-nuanced leadership authority, as well as their major promoters. They are all demanding to be taken seriously, right?

Utter bunkum! Stupidity is stupidity, not a different approach to doing anything under the sun.

The following three factors seem to be partly responsible for the attempt to prop up a new-found, and fortunately still-born, excrescence and cultural monstrosity called Mayor Ndigbo: (1) Swollen egos that are threatening to get bigger than the national stadium in Abuja, even while the core of the habour nothing profound; (2) Some people’s false perception of their financial worth in the grand scheme of things, as well as their bankable social network and value in society outside the tiny worlds they have created and within which they are mini deities; and (3) A vaulting desire to preside over some kind of court of great significance, not minding if their Royal Stools bestride a sewer in some low-grade neighbourhood.

As our people are wont to say: “You do not give the title of Onu n-ekwuru Oha (spokesman of the People, or The Voice of the People) to a drunkard, or a stammerer”. The title of Ogbuagu (Leopard Killer) is not bestowed on the village coward.

The first thing I noted, on seeing the invitation card to the conferment of the title of Mayor Ndigbo on Chief Chidi Anaegbu, was the absence of any reference to the person, persons, group, or groups conferring the title/honour on the man. The second was the conspicuous display of the names of President Obasanjo and others, Obi of Onitsha and other traditional rulers, as well as the names of many state governors. How could this assembly agree to do such harm to Ndigbo, I wondered.

Allen Onyema, proprietor of Airpeace, was on the card as Chairman of the occasion. That people of repute and substance would gather for what seemed to me a vacuous and perfectly scandalous innovation.

No! I forwarded a soft copy of the invite to a very close and trusted friend of Onyema, along with this text: “Allen’s name is most probably being used for a scam here. He had better check it out”. The recipient of my text replied me thus: “I am aware. This is authentic. MAYOR NDIGBO LAGOS. By the entire Igbo community in Lagos. I will be at the event also”.

It all came across as a bit incomprehensible, even patently irresponsible and, anon, roundly cheap and ridiculous to me. I called another mutual friend and shared my concerns. I also brought up my once-expressed misgivings about Allen Onyema’s occasional choices for self projection over the years. I reiterated my view that such a well-meaning, and highly successful business man is badly in need of native guidance and sobriety on many issues. But that is a matter for another day.

Mayor Ndigbo kwa? Ejikwa m ogu o! Now that it has all gone burst, it seems like everyone is running for cover.

The questions for me are these: (1) Will this Mayor Ndigbo, based on this title conferred by persons of questionable ontological credentials, break the kolanut in the presence of any genuinely titled person even in Lagos? (2) Will the title give him precedence over anyone of his own kindred in his village, or in the city, at any official function when the question of who should break the kolanut arises? (3) Can a Mayor Ndigbo walk into the Council Metting of his own traditional ruler uninvited, based on this absolutely inconsequential title? Just asking.

Our people say that the fact that a bat can fly does not make it a bird. Our people also say that any reckless insect that gets too close to an open flame out of ignorance gets burnt to death or, at best, loses its flamboyant wings for good.  Thus de-winged, the insect ceases to fly. Not being able to fly, it becomes a crawling thing, and no longer a flying thing. Thus diminished, it ends up being eaten by a toad, a worm or a rodent.

Our people say that is the name you give your dog that people will call it. They say that it is how you present yourself that determines how your observers will rate you. They know, and say, that a full-bodied man who elects to walk with a limp has himself to blame if he is called a cripple, or if his name is not included in the list of those who can take part in a race.

The Igbo also say that anyone who enters the village square during a wrestling event without being prepared for a fight will find his back on the ground, sooner or later. He will have “defeat” recorded against his name, even if he argues later that he entered the arena by mistake. Do the Igbo not say that a woman who brings out a dreadful pot of bitter leaf soup cannot complain that her cooking condiments were not complete, since she was the one who brought out the culinary abomination for public inspection and enjoyment.

Part of the point being made here today is that there are Rules of Engagement in all things. There is also always be the right or wrong decibel of propriety and dignity for whatever anyone wants to do in the name of a people. The matter of Mayor Ndigbo would probably not have arisen if some people thought through the philosophical underpinnings of the serious business of the Kolanut ritual for group cohesion.

As was said here on February 14, 2014, “There is probably no greater forum for the display of the solemn, almost priestly, majesty of a mature Igbo elder than in the process of blessing and breaking a kolanut. I speak of ‘process’ here because there is the process of dealing with the kolanut and then there is ‘the fact’ of the breaking of the kolanut among the Igbo. That is why you have the Igbo saying: “When an old dibia (native doctor) makes an offering to the gods it is as if he is the handing over of the sacrifice to the spirits by one who is seeing them face to face”.

The core community values encapsulated in the ‘process’ of eating the kolanut are such that the person whose duty it is to break the kolanut does not just pick it up and break. He may begin by saying: “He who brings kolanut brings life’. To explain this common preface to the kolanut business in Igboland, we need only remember that when kolanut is served, no one eats it without first calling on the gods and the good ancestors for protection and guidance.

This means that the presence of the kolanut at a gathering is, first and foremost, an opportunity for prayers. The purpose of prayers is to strengthen life and the living. Therefore, to bring kolanut is actually to bring an opportunity for prayers, for humble appeal for guidance and for the strengthening of life and the living.

The living envisaged in the Igbo notion of community is always a ‘living together with one another in goodwill’. The person praying over the kolanut before breaking it will say: ‘He Who lives above, the Giver of life, protect us’. He will also say that the river should not dry up and that the fish should not lack water to swim in, thereby emphasizing the interdependence and reciprocity in nature.

Against the background of the foregoing, I invite Ndigbo to take a close, cool, calm and sober look at the concept of “Mayor Ndigbo”. Look at the Ikenga of the individuals concerned. While at it, remember that a man’s Ikenga tells you everything you need to know about him, because it is all etched on the Ikenga. An Ikenga that is mostly front-loaded with material success, business longevity and sociopolitical prominence may still lack the full ontological credentials to stand forth as embodying leadership qualities and not have its fundament challenged

When it is said, in the process of breaking the kolanut “Elders shall live and the young shall live”, or the one who says: “Our harvest shall be rich and none shall pray for the misfortune of another, lest his farm be the only patch of earth without rain” it is all about community of all things, in that broader, overarching notion of spiritual reciprocity.

There are quite a few things that the progenitors, and propagators, of the idea of Mayor Ndigbo most probably dd into think through. Who did they consult. How would Mayor Ndigbo stand before real traditional rulers? What messages are they conveying to the younger generation, with the invention of mayor Ndigbo? Will some Yoruba people in Ugwuoba, Onitsha, or Enugu metropolis choose for themselves a “Mayor” without recourse to their “Custodians of Value”, in the form of traditional and culture icons? Will Fulani, Ijaw, or Igbira people do the same.

These are the real questions for many who think that they are helping to advance Igbo interests, values and culture by all manner of excrescences.  They should remember the virtues of the kolanut ritual for the good of all and restrain themselves from taking domestic matters to the monthly village market.