News From Nigeria
Women in the North Central geo-political zone on Wednesday urged President Bola Tinubu not to allow forces of progress to be intimidated.
‘’The recent action of the Senate leadership can only lead to moral and political disorder’’
They also criticized the leadership of the Senate for contributing to the general frustration of bright and articulate minds in the National Assembly.
‘’The Senate appears to have become a casual blackboard for juvenile graffiti’’
The women in a statement in Makurdi applauded the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for its stand on the issues in the Senate.
They described the position of the Senate leadership on Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as an ascendancy of evil in the country.
‘’Majority of the senators now find themselves as hostages in the crude hands of the Senate leadership’’
The statement issued by the Chairperson of North Central Women Front (NCWF), Mrs. Mary Adamu lamented the activities of the forces of despotism in the country and the degradation to which Akpoti-Uduaghan has been subjected by the leadership of the Senate.
‘’Of what use are people who stay put and cowardly allow evil to exist?
The women described Akpoti-Uduaghan as a leading activist and one of the intellectual pillars of the Senate.
Particularly, the North Central women denounced the contention made by the Clerk of the Senate and called on other geo-political zones to join them in freeing the majority of the senators from the clutches of the so-called leadership.
The statement emphasized fascism, crude, beastly nature and style of deciding when to allow Akpoti-Uduaghan to the Senate.
Religion in Nigeria will always be a cog in the wheel of progress because this is the Trojan horse the colonizers left behind. It is the only thing that leads to arrested development of any intelligent discussion of finding solutions to what is holding Nigeria back.
At the time the British left, they were very happy that the religion they brought had displaced our traditional methods of worship. Besides, the African religion is not inducing passion for hatred and killing of each other as their religions needed constant sacrifice of the unbelievers. They trained the African how to kill and die for their gods and forget self-inquiry and self-improvement.
In Nigeria, they made it potent for these religions to constantly be at war with each other and forget they are the victims of a master puppeteer. The African especially the Nigerian has lost his mind in the macabre of this zealotry. He is always in a perpetual state of hallucinations, religious ecstasy and zealotry. The White man’s god became African with all its hateful passions and pride.
Since we hate ourselves, we kill the self we see in each other. It is not necessary for the white man to kill us. We can do that better than him. Now and then, we call them for supervision. This reassures them of the superiority of their god. Their religion always reminds us that we are birds of different plumage. We have to deny our brothers, friends and family in order to devote our time to their god who has blessed them with technology. It must be true that their god gave them the gadget directly. We also have to build big houses for their gods because he does not like huts.. We sleep there every day but don’t see god. They tell us to just continue to pray and have faith. We don’t have to work or think. Nothing is needed but faith.
If you are a Muslim, you have to kill your neighbor if you see him tear a page from the Holy Book. Islam is peace you know! The only requirement is prayer. Five times a day or make it continuous for effect. The decibel of the loudspeakers has to be increased to drive out the demons. Those who cannot make it through the noise be damned or join in this state of lost civility. The brainwashing has started. These religions made the African supplicant and will always see the white god as their savior.
We have white Jesus and we have off white Mohammad. An African can never have any angel that looks like him and he has to always turn the other cheek. Mission accomplished. Africans cannot look for solutions from within. If a problem is too difficult to solve, all he has to do is to go to Mecca or Rome. He has to talk to the white god personally because the white god has all the answers. If he cannot see the white god, the white man will do as his deputy. This is the beginning of white worship which is the most common idolatry in Africa. The ways and whys of the conqueror become supreme; He cannot pray in Africa because his prayers will be thwarted by the many demons that abound in Africa. The land of Africa is not holy enough for the white god. This took away the agency and self-confidence of the African. Nothing in his vicinity reminds him of his divinity. Gradually, his self-confidence erodes and he sees himself as having everything in common with his colonial oppressors. Any attempt to loosen these chains of oppression is vehemently opposed by the guard of his oppressor. These guards are the various pastors and imams who play the role of interpreting the white man’s god to him. Any dream of the sheep leaving the plantation and finding the meaning of his existence, the chains is tightened and he continues with his anesthetic prayers that confuse and consume him. He can’t leave if he is a Muslim because he will be killed in the North of Nigeria. If he is in the South, he is ashamed to enforce compliance. From the cradle to the grave, the African lives with the fog of knowingness that gnaws at him. He lacks the courage to break free from the shackles of these foreign religions and he gradually evolves a duality in his existence. In most cases, he will seek the help of his ancestors to intercede by stealth. So it can be said that the African maintains a duality that is necessary to survive his environment. This duality results in double loyalty; one to the oppressors and one of his traditional roots which he has been forced to vilify. On Sundays or Fridays, he goes to the church or mosque. On the days that he can have his privacy, he goes to the Babalawo for his incantation. This double loyalty places him in an uncomfortable position where his loyalty to his imported religion becomes the same as loyalty to his colonial oppressor.
Nothing can highlight this more than the death of Charlie Kirk in America. Before the bullet could land, Nigerians have already taken sides because of this loyalty to the oppressor. All they heard is that he was a Christian. They don’t have the presence of mind to know the definition of Christianity in the land of their oppressors. They make statements that are ignorant and out of context with the issues. They start speaking and arguing about issues they know nothing about with the authority and bravado of ignorance. All they hear is that a prominent American Christian was killed. That is all. They suddenly become Christian warriors trying to force the gate of heaven to be opened for this “lovely” Christian who was killed by the devil. They will even prepare a sermon to tell their congregation to live the righteous life of Charles Kirk who was killed by the devil.
Now we may ask: Who was Charlie Kirk? To answer this question, you have to know American culture and politics in real time. Nigerians without any iota of fact will pontificate about this man’s exemplary life. Due to the fact that he is white, they will go further and equate him to Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe this, just read comments coming from Nigerians on YouTube and other social media.
This lack of knowledge and loquaciousness is very embarrassing to those of us who live in this culture and follow the issues closely. These ignorant discussions can place us in danger as those who don’t know the difference assume every Nigerian has sympathy with the white oppressors of America who use Christianity for their hateful actions against black people in America.
A white Christian went into a black church. He was welcomed. After prayers, he brought his gun and killed everyone there. His Christian god told him to do so. When he was arrested, the police took him to MacDonald for lunch. They are Christian police. What did this “good “Christian police do when they arrested George Floyd? They strangled him in plain view of the public. Here in America, rational people don’t jump to conclusions or make saints out of sinners just because they say they are Christians.
The Kkk that terrorized and lynched black Americans after the civil war were Christians. The burning cross is their insignia. Right wing Christianity in America is a white supremacy organization. Here in America, people look at the issues with objective lenses. We even ask questions and go to the archive to examine the records. The Nigerian will not do this because he cannot see beyond his narrow lens of religion and confuses his version of Christianity with American right wing Christianity which is nothing but white Supremacy organization. Please stop. Your ignorance will get a lot of people killed in America.
In America, the pace of news is very rapid and a big story today is overshadowed by bigger stories tomorrow and what seems monumental today becomes a footnote tomorrow. Who was Charlie Kirk? He was thirty one year old and dropped out of college after the first semester. He is a Christian but he preached the gospel of the Pharisees. He engages in revisionist history and uses pseudo intellectualism to argue points that cannot be factually verified. His main hatred is against Black Americans and any other blacks who live in the US. His organization, Turning Point, USA was sponsored by racist American billionaires. He does not let facts get in his way when he is talking about black people. Time after time, he says black people are mentally inferior. He tells the World that black people are very violent, and they are 13 percent of the population and fifty percent in jail. This is clearly a lie. He was the one who started the rumor that white South Africans are being subjected to genocide. This is what led to the confrontation of Donald Trump and the South African president. Trump did not believe the South African president. He sent a plane to South Africa to carry the white people to America and granted all of them asylum. I just use these few points to introduce Charlie Kirk to the Nigerian audience who have been blinded by religion.
Charlie Kirk is your oppressor. He is not a follower of Jesus. He uses the name of Jesus the way the colonial master used the name of Jesus for slavery and colonialism. Charlie Kirk was the person encouraging counter protests when George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by strangulation at the hands of the police. On January 6, 2017, he was the one who bused protesters to riot at the capitol. He is what is known as an agent provocateur. He is a right winger. He believes there should not be any amendments to the second amendment of the constitution which gives the American citizens the right to bear arms. He is opposed to any legislation that will interfere with the people’s right to bear arms. He says any death from gunshot in America should be considered collateral damage in the fight for freedom. Due to the bellicose stand of these right wingers like Charles Kirk, it is impossible to pass any sensible gun laws. These people believe very deeply that guns don’t kill people. People kill people. One can actually deduce from this summary that Charles Kirk died from his own hemlock. His hatred of black people is so visceral that at the time he was killed, he was talking about black violence in an auditorium in University in Salt Lake City, Utah. This cannot be rationalized. Utah is more than 98 % white. Why would a white man talk about the violent criminality of black people to an audience of mostly white people in Utah? The only reason is that he is on a crusade to unite white people against black people in America. He was telescoping racism to young white people who live in Utah to start hating black people they have not met. He was fomenting racial animosity. He frequently goes to Europe to give lectures and recruit white Europeans to his violent anti-black racism .This is the stuff the right wing of America feeds on.
In this journey of hatred, they identify themselves as Christians. They are Christians alright but they are not followers of Christ who taught love, tolerance and charity. He hates immigrants and wants borders closed. Recently, he said in a speech that America does not need more Indians. Are these the actions of a Christian? If he is Christian, then Donald Trump must be his pastor. They worship at the temple of bigotry. He is one of the architects of the policies that trample on the vulnerable in our society. I don’t wish for anyone dead but he is a victim of his own poison. In his own words, he can be considered collateral damage. If you ask me to shed a tear for him, then it is okay to cry for Osama bin Laden. We don’t worship the same God, so I cannot ask God to open the gates of Heaven for him even when a majority of those he hurt with his hatred have opened the gates of hell without any bumps and unambiguous road signs.
Charlie Kirk said it himself. Empathy is a bad thing. Mourning his death is against his personal wishes.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday described Senate’s persecution of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as a descent into legislative dictatorship and democratic anarchy.
The Union also condemned the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate’s decision to continue barring Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan from performing her sacred constitutional duties.
‘’This act is not merely an error in judgement; it is a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy itself, a direct threat to the social contract, and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance’’.
NLC in a statement issued by its President, Comrade Joe Ajaero said the action, led by Senator Akpabio, constitutes a gross abuse of power that shames the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and spits on the collective will of the people of Kogi Central who elected Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
‘’That you suspended a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles depriving her people proper representation is not sinful enough, but you went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of your illegal suspension, you are still denying her a return is the height of impunity and morally reprehensible. This is no longer democracy’’.
The statement dismissed the Senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal technicality that the matter is subjudice; after the expiration of a patently illegal six-month suspension.
‘’This is the height of legislative bad faith. It is a cynical ploy that reveals a sinister agenda to silence dissent, crush opposition, and manipulate the judiciary as a tool of political persecution’’.
The union labeled Akpabio’s action as a direct attack on the Nigerian people.
‘’It is a declaration by a privileged political elite that they are not accountable to the citizens they purport to serve. By willfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the political representation for which the people pay taxes. This denies Kogi Central its right to participate in lawmaking, oversight, and the appropriation of national resources, directly impoverishing the constituents and perpetuating a system of exclusion and economic injustice. It signals to all Nigerians that their votes are meaningless and can be invalidated by the whims of any tyrannical leadership’’.
According to the union, ‘’the action of the Senate is a calculated test-run for the emasculation of opposition and the subjugation of sovereign will as 2027 approaches’’
‘’It is an attempt to punish integrity and honour and hound men and women of conscience out of the political space. A Senate that operates as a court in its matter, suspends members, and then ignores the expiry of its own sanctions, is a Senate that has declared war on the very principles of representative democracy and on our nation’’.
The union warned the leadership of the National Assembly and their enablers.
‘’The Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy. The labour movement, as the historic defender of justice and the common good, will mobilize its immense membership and moral authority to resist this slide into autocracy. An attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow’’.
PRESS RELEASE
10TH OF SEPTEMBER, 2025*
SENATE’S PERSECUTION OF SENATOR NATASHA AKPOTI-UDUAGHAN IS A DESCENT INTO LEGISLATIVE DICTATORSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC ANARCHY
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rises in vehement condemnation of the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate’s decision to continue barring Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from performing her sacred constitutional duties. This act is not merely an error in judgement; it is a brazen, premeditated assault on democracy itself, a direct threat to the social contract, and a dangerous slide towards fascism masquerading as governance.
That you suspended a fellow Senator from her constitutional roles depriving her people proper representation is not sinful enough but you went ahead to ignore the rulings of the Court that voided her suspension and at the expiration of your illegal suspension, you are still denying her a return is the height of impunity and morally reprehensible. This is no longer democracy.
The Senate’s pathetic recourse to a frivolous legal technicality; claiming the matter is subjudice; after the expiration of a patently illegal six-month suspension, is the height of legislative bad faith. It is a cynical ploy that reveals a sinister agenda to silence dissent, crush opposition, and manipulate the judiciary as a tool of political persecution. This action, led by Senator Akpabio, constitutes a gross abuse of power that shames the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly and spits on the collective will of the people of Kogi Central who elected Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan.
From our standpoint, this action is a direct attack on the Nigerian people. It is a declaration by a privileged political elite that they are not accountable to the citizens they purport to serve. By willfully disenfranchising an entire senatorial district, the Senate is effectively stealing the political representation for which the people pay taxes. This denies Kogi Central its right to participate in lawmaking, oversight, and the appropriation of national resources, directly impoverishing the constituents and perpetuating a system of exclusion and economic injustice. It signals to all Nigerians that their votes are meaningless and can be invalidated by the whims of any tyrannical leadership.
The NLC stands on the side of democracy and wishes to state that this action is: a calculated test-run for the emasculation of opposition and the subjugation of sovereign will as 2027 approaches. It is an attempt to punish integrity and honour and hound men and women of conscience out of the political space. A Senate that operates as a court in its matter, suspends members, and then ignores the expiry of its own sanctions, is a Senate that has declared war on the very principles of representative democracy and on our nation.
We warn the leadership of the National Assembly and their enablers: the Nigerian people, united across ethnic and religious lines, will not stand idly by while you cannibalise our democracy. The labour movement, as the historic defender of justice and the common good, will mobilise its immense membership and moral authority to resist this slide into autocracy. An attack on one senator today is an attack on the sovereignty of every Nigerian voter tomorrow.
Comrade Joe Ajaero
President
We must teach our history. I cannot find any reason why Nigeria’s history is not being taught in Nigerian schools. This is a terrible mistake. What are we afraid of? Whose idea is it, that teaching Nigerian history will be unhealthy to our nation?
This must be one of the mediocre ideas of the mercenaries that imprisoned Nigeria for more than fifty years. Our history is who we are and why we are here and where we are going.
As a nation, we are not perfect. We have made mistakes and we have done some good things. Our history is the record of this journey as a nation. Our history should give us constant hindsight so that we don’t repeat mistakes. If we take the good and bad and give a proper account, it will be discovered we have made some great strides as a people.
We fought wars and we have managed to win the peace. Out of the cacophony of our existence, we have produced the Nigerian character. The Nigerian is the product from this blast furnace. It is this character that is under attack throughout the world. Nigeria does not have the monopoly of criminality. What the West is attacking is the virility of Nigeria. If we know this, it will give us the fortitude to persevere.
We cannot know who we are if our history is not made known to us. Knowing who we are will give us the ammunition to fight in a world that has become hostile to the Nigerian. We will be able to define ourselves instead of letting others define us. We must tell our story if not others will tell it and are unpalatable by using our least common denominator. We are Nigerians and we are not more corrupt than any other group of people.
The western press can make you hate your friends and make you love your enemies. At the end, it induces its audience into a state of celebrated ignorance. As Africa is waking up from its doldrums, the west is beginning to recalibrate their positions. They have chosen Nigeria as the bogeyman because the Nigerian represents everything they fear about the awake African.
For centuries, they used their instrument of coercion and education to tell the lion that it can only survive by stealing food from the hyena. A few Africans and the Nigerian never accepted this. The lion, within, was never slayed. It roamed without a purpose and it used its strength to attack its own kind and listen to the tails of the gazelle. It wandered in self-doubt. Every now and then, there is a glimpse of the glorious past which appeared as hallucinations. The dreams became more vivid and took on a reality of real life. He is the lion and must not wait for the meals provided by the hyena. He is the lion and must make his own kill and establish his pride. This is Nigeria from Slavery to Colonialism and Neo-colonialism. We lost our way. It is this awakening that the World is fighting. They have made the Nigerian a pariah because he wants to stand on his own two feet. The attack on the Nigerian is the attack on the manhood of Africa.
From wars, coups and disrespect, we have survived what the world has thrown at us. Out of this crucible, we have created a citizen who believes in himself and his people. This is what the world is attacking. Every one of these attacks tries to gain legitimacy by using our own against us. In South Africa, the black South Africans blamed the Nigerian for his problem. In West Africa, the Ghanaians blamed Nigeria for their problems. In America, the black America blamed Nigeria for their problems.
When Trump started his orgy of deportation, the black Americans were celebrating the deportation of Nigerians. When the world and our own are against us, we have to rely on each other and our history. Due to the lack of this history, we cannot tell the world what Nigeria has done for the freedom of all black people in the world. If we have history, we will tell the South African that we paid a heavy price to fight for their freedom. Western Companies like Shell, Barclays and others were nationalized due to their relationship with apartheid South Africa. Nigeria spearheaded and funded the anti-apartheid committee that negotiated the final phase of apartheid.
If we have history, we will tell the Ghanaian that the stability they enjoy in West Africa today was made possible by Nigeria. When Sierra Leone and Liberia caught fire, Nigeria became the fire fighters. America that created Liberia was nowhere to be found. People were dying in thousands and they were preaching human rights to those who were dying. Nigeria created the peace and did not ask for their land or their gold. Nigeria brought the soldiers who died in that war to be buried in Nigeria. We did not even ask for a place to bury our dead. We did not ask for their Diamond or their Gold. Nigeria did not impose any system of government on them. America or Britain will never give that kind of selfless service.
My country Nigeria did that. If we have that history, we will tell the black Americans that during the oil embargo of the 1970, a certain American president visited Nigeria to request for energy. The price of energy was prohibitive .Americans were losing their homes and could not afford to mitigate the brutal winters. Nigeria helped America by supplying them fuel at a very reasonable price, and also donated fuel to various foundations in America who were helping the poor to survive those brutal winters.
To top it all, Nigeria took an unprecedented step to assist Historical Black Colleges in America who were in danger of closing due to a serious financial crisis. Nigeria seized this opportunity. Nigeria awarded scholarships to many Nigerians to further their education at these Historical Black Colleges.
This is the beginning of Nigerians moving to the United States for education. The presence of Nigerians in those colleges brought a new lease of life to them. Today the Black American and the South African and the rest have joined the league of those who hate Nigeria with passion. Out of our difficulties, we have created a unique individual we call the Nigerian. He may be beaten but his head is unbowed. He is not bound by geography. His identity is justice, enterprise and fair play. We may tear at each other from North to South, East to West; let us never forget that the strength of our fabric will stand the test of time if we learn to understand that we are one people bound by a common identity that seeks justice and fair play in our common struggles. This struggles, created this individual we call the Nigerian.
When the World tugs at us, we remember that we are more than the sum of our differences. The Nigerian is not bound by geography or race. The Nigerian has a keen sense of justice. and knows that we are more than the sum total of our differences. He is indefatigable. The Nigerian is the hope of the African renaissance. The World is beginning to recognize this Nigerian and they all want to be members of this tribe. All that is needed to be members of this tribe is a keen sense of justice, agape love and fair play. Indeed, love of service and enterprise. Let us be this Nigerian. The world is waiting.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) over “the proposed salary increase for political and public office holders in Nigeria particularly the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers.”
RMAFC had last month disclosed the commission’s proposal to increase the salaries for the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria, claiming that the salaries for these office holders are ‘paltry.’
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1834/2025 filed last week at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether RMAFC’s proposed salary hike for the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria is not unlawful, unconstitutional and inconsistent with the rule of law.”
SERAP is asking the court for “a declaration that the proposed salary increase for the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria is unlawful, unconstitutional and inconsistent with the rule of law as it violates the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and RMAFC’s Act.”
SERAP is seeking “an order of injunction restraining RMAFC, its agents and privies from taking any step to review upward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria.”
SERAP is also seeking “an order directing RMAFC, its agents to review downward the salaries and allowances of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria to reflect the economic realities in the country.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “restraining the commission from arbitrarily increasing the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers would serve legitimate public interests.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “The RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates do not imply the unrestrained powers to increase the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers.”
According to SERAP, “Reviewing downward the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors, their deputies, and lawmakers would be entirely consistent and compatible with the Nigerian Constitution, the country’s international human rights obligations, and the current economic realities in the country.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Ms Oluwakemi Oni, and Andrew Nwankwo, read in part: “When the exercise of RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates clashes with Nigerians’ fundamental rights, the public interests in upholding these rights ought to prevail.”
“The imminent pay rise for political office holders is a gross violation of the provisions of chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution relating to Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, and the country’s international human rights obligations.”
“The combined provisions of chapter 2, and chapter 4 on fundamental rights particularly section 42 give meaning and substance to the socio-economic rights of Nigerians and their right to equality and non-discrimination.”
“The RMAFC should properly discharge its constitutional and statutory mandates to ‘monitor the accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account and ‘advise the Federal and State Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue can be increased.”
“The imminent pay rise for political and public office holders in Nigeria particularly the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers is a gross misuse of the RMAFC’s constitutional and statutory mandates.”
“The RMAFC has neither unrestrained constitutional and statutory mandates nor unbridled discretion to increase the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers.”
“The RMAFC has improperly and incorrectly exercised its constitutional and statutory mandates by increasing the salaries of political office holders. The proposed salary increase is a violation of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, the country’s human rights obligations and the legal doctrine of reasonableness.”
“RMAFC cannot legitimately or justifiably increase the salaries of the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers at a time when over 133 million Nigerians are poor and several state governments are failing to pay salaries of workers and pensions.”
“RMAFC seems to act consistently to give advantage to political office holders over the interests of poor Nigerians. The RMAFC, in the exercise of its constitutional and statutory mandates ought to balance the interests of the marginalised and vulnerable sectors of the population against the ‘interests’ of political office holders.”
“The RMAFC ought to prioritise cutting the excessive amounts yearly budgeted as allowances for political office holders and life pensions for former presidents, vice-presidents, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers.”
“The idea of representative democracy, fairness and equality and non-discrimination would mean little if the salaries of political office holders are arbitrarily increased while millions of poor Nigerians continue to pass through harrowing times and watch their standards of living plummet.”
“The grim condition of many Nigerians is worsened by the deterioration of public services where access to pipe-borne water and affordable health-care remains a dream and the supply of electricity is epileptic and unreliable in an era in which globalisation has made such services ubiquitous and cheap.”
“The RMAFC Chairman Mohammed Bello on 18 August 2025 reportedly stated the commission’s decision to propose a pay rise for the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies, and lawmakers in Nigeria on the seriously flawed ground that the salaries for these office-holders are ‘paltry.’”
“The commission claimed that the ‘review package’ ‘remain fair, realistic, and sustainable,’ and ‘align with the country`s current socio-economic realities.’”
“According to him, the allocation formula was last overhauled in 1992, saying that there had been several executive adjustments since 2002, but a full-scale overhaul had not been undertaken until now.”
“Justice Chuka Austine Obiozor of the Federal High Court Lagos ordered the RMAFC to review downward and fix the salaries, remuneration or allowances of members of the National Assembly to reflect the economic realities in the country.”
“The judgment dated 4 June 2021 followed the consolidated suits brought by Mr Monday Ubani, Mr John Nwokwu, more than 1,500 concerned Nigerians, SERAP, BudgIT and Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE).”
“Under sections 154(1) and 156(3) and paragraph 31, Part I of the Third Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution, members of the Commission are appointed by the President subject to the confirmation of the Senate.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
7/09/2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202
The prize of democracy is eternal vigilance. It will be reckless and the failure of democratic norms to leave a bull in a China shop. America has seen this kind of presidency before. Andrew Jackson was known for being crude and lawless when he rose to the presidency through populist campaigns in 1824.
American presidents have always genuflected to the caprice of land-owning white men. The demand for land by this group led to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This was when America was a frontier nation. All Indians living in the east of the Mississippi were forcibly removed. This led to the trail of tears.
His presidency was just as erratic as Donald Trump’s presidency. He was censured by the US congress for firing the treasury secretary and trying to turn the American treasury to a private depository. He had slaves but was not outwardly hostile to blacks. But his statements on black slaves were telling: They should remain slaves or sent abroad. When asked whether he owned slaves, he said he has not bought or sold more than one or two slaves and he believes he was more or less the slave in the relationship.
He suppressed any movement for abolition of slavery during his presidency. He was a southern plantation owner with a lot of slaves who testified to his cruelty. What he is known for is his erratic nature, cruelty towards non-white peoples and lawlessness like Donald Trump.
Thomas Jefferson was so alarmed that he wrote of Andrew Jackson “He is one of the most unfit men for the place, he has no respect for law, his passions are terrible, and he is dangerous “.
Some of his actions supporting nullification of federal laws increased tension between North and South that led to the American civil war. It appears Donald Trump is copying a lot from Andrew Jackson.
The pardon of the rioters of Jan 6 has left a sour taste in the mouth of most Americans including a lot of his supporters. At this moment, Republicans are in the majority, and they are too scared to say no. There is no one to bell the cat.
Some of his policies are beginning to be seen as cruel to those who have no voice. He started with undocumented persons, now he is moving to cut care for elderly and disabled. This is why the opposition is growing.
The answer to Trump is not escapism for black people. Black Americans are the conscience of America. Democracy in America today is the result of black struggles. In fighting for their freedom, they freed everyone to enjoy the promises of America. They are the only group who has consistently spoken the truth to Pharaoh. A lot of immigrants who don’t understand this history always think they are succeeding until they meet the impediments of irrational white people who want to claim back their lost glory and make America white again.
Trump is the result. During the elections, you can see this irrationality in immigrant voters, descendants of Palestinian and Mexican and probably Nigerians too. The Palestinians mocked Kamala as being in the pocket of Netanyahu. They called her genocide Kamala. They gave victory to Donald Trump in democratic strongholds of Michigan. White women have also started crying. I don’t care.
They proudly cast their vote for Trump without knowing some basic history of Netanyahu and American politics. American politics is always crazy. The constant is Israel. The Democrats tried to moderate the behavior of Israel, while the Republicans are in support of anything Israel wants. For a Palestinian to look to a Republican president for some relief against Israel is like looking for water in the Sahara.
Netanyahu is also a special case. In his first year in office, Clinton was fuming after he had a meeting with Netanyahu. He asked his staff who he thinks he is, talking to the President of the United States that way. His staff replied. That is Netanyahu, Sir, he thinks he is the President of the United States, and you are his chief of Staff. That was then.
Bibi Netanyahu is all American. He grew up and studied in the United States. He knows the ways of Washington more than Donald Trump and Donald has surrendered the driver seat to him. Now the Palestinians and Mexicans are calling on black America to help them fight back. Black Americans say: we are looking forward to going on vacation at the new holiday resort that Donald Trump is constructing in Palestine. We have fought so much, we deserve a break. See you guys in four years if you have not been deported for protesting Israel occupation and Trump’s New Jerusalem: A place where all the angels of the choir are well paid by ELON MUSK. The angels are all white not Jews.
God bless Donald Trump. He has concentrated his energies on immigrants and the police have forgotten about black people. That is freedom!
All these folks voted against their personal interests and are supposed that Donald Trump will do Donald Trump. Now that the chickens are coming home to roost, they are crying ignorance. This is a democracy. It is your responsibility to know.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
The person who cries loudest when a stone is thrown into the market is the one who has been hit. To him, everything is about tribal affiliation. For someone to grow, he or she must at some point learn whether his interaction is positive or negative with the people around him
A recalibration is not a weakness. I am an Isoko man from Delta state. This is what people like you will call a minority. Unlike you, I don’t wear my tribe on my forehead. I only use it as a reference point here .It does not connote power to me and it is not my whole identity.
When you use yours, it is everything to you because you have been raised to believe that without it, you have no power, and you have no identity.
When you are not invited to the high table, it means you are totally subjugated, and you feel your entire tribe is marginalized and your whole existence becomes meaningless.
It is a sad life when the definition of us becomes the group. This illusion obscures our humanity and our real identity as a person. This is the limitation that takes away the natural order of growth that increases our understanding of our environment and we are glued to the mirror and Narcissus becomes our best friend. Any counter view is considered an existential threat that must be eliminated with acidic fervor. Language becomes crude and vulgar and meaning is lost and progress stunted.
I don’t have those kinds of attachments and hang-ups because my existence is beyond anything that confines me. You have been raised to think otherwise. You are your tribe and your tribe is you. This ossification makes your cage very uncomfortable. No matter where you go, you can never belong.
I am a citizen of the world. I am home anywhere because I have never been raised to lord it over other people. I am not disappointed when I don’t meet your expectations which are clannish and subterranean. You take it as a personal affront when an independent observer talks about the need to rethink. From my vantage position, I can see how the interplay of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba affects the other people that you and others hardly think about. From the way I mentioned the tribes, you can see that they are in alphabetical order because someone like you will complain that i did put Igbo last.
I have written more on the Hausa / Fulani relationship and its effect on Nigeria. No one from there has accused me of myopia or stupidity. I am an equal opportunity offender. Why would you want me to include the South-West in an essay about Igbo and Fulani? You can write about the marginalization of Igbos if that is what you are worried about. You can also write about the relationship of Igbo and Yoruba. That should keep you busy because you have so much grudge. It is time the South-East people learn to deal with issues dispassionately.
How can a member of the big tribe preach marginalization to those of us you call minority? Everything in our land is harvested, devastated and divided among Igbo, Hausa and the Yoruba in Nigeria. Do the people from the dominant groups actually spend any time talking about justice? Your attitude is poor because it is self-serving. People like you only talk about justice when your tribe’s man is affected.
The Igbo candidate lost in the last election. If he had won, he would make everyone around him Igbo. I see nothing wrong with that. My quarrel is that we are not restructured, and the federation is lopsided. If we are well structured and every region is in charge of their resources, I will not care if you become president and all your family members become your cabinet. This is because most of the decisions they will make will not affect me and at that time, there will be a workable system that will check that kind of abuse. It is normal for people in high places to appoint people they can trust and have the vision of the leader. Buhari put all his people there. It was terrible because most of them were incompetent. In a well-structured country, it will not be necessary to be a kinsman in order to be appointed. We just want those who could do the job. The system we have now is the winner takes all. When Goodluck Jonathan was president, the majority of the cabinet was Igbos. The West and the North complained and they wrestled power from him. It was due to the insularity of the Igbos that Jonathan lost.
You are wrong to complain that you are marginalized when you could not work hard to re-elect the person who gave most of his cabinet positions to the Igbos. Your marginalization is self-imposed.
Learn how to work with others and they will work with you. It is pathetic when people like you whine about marginalization, when in actuality, you lack the discipline, dedication and the humility needed to form workable alliances.
For your homework, go and study how Bola Tinubu gained power. He stooped to conquer. I don’t think stooping is in the lexicon of the Igbos. This is why power will always elude you. You think we should beg you to lead because you are very smart. You are going to wait a very long time if you don’t change your attitude
Remember I am an equal opportunity offender. I will revisit this subject.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS
It takes time to form a country. It takes patience and dedication to change attitudes. When people from disparate places and cultures are brought together to form a Nation, it is never easy. In the long run, the tears and toil are worth it because the interactions lead to expansion of consciousness which drives human progress.
The journey of nationhood is not for timid souls. It was never easy for countries like India and China to rise. These countries have more divisions, ethnic, religious cleavages and groupings than we can ever imagine. The main thing that worked for them was that they never gave upstart military officers the chance to upend their civilian administration and throw their country into a fratricide war.
In times of distress, there are people in Nigeria who still look to the military for solutions. This is shameful. The military caused our problems. How did we arrive at this place where a lot of Nigerians still think the military have solutions to our problem? Are these folks’ victims of Military Induced Mental Retardation (MIMR) (pronounced Mama)? These people still think this way despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is the reason why the various legislative bodies have not seen it fit to abrogate the decrees of the military that ruled Nigeria on behalf of a certain group of people. This mentality is dangerous to our body politics. This is why a lot of these politicians pay courtesy visits to these soldiers of fortune that turned Nigeria into the Pariah nation.
MIMR is the reason the Nigerian lawyers don’t know their role in a democratic society. MIMR is the reason why we don’t have legal reforms. In a constitution that guarantees freedom of movement, the Nigerian is harassed daily on the highways by state agents.
Are we at war? Why is our freedom restricted? No lawyer has taken the government to court for this constitutional violation. This is pathetic. We need serious legal reforms. The method of appointing judges is very antiquated. We need to know the character of those who will be judges. Knowledge of jurisprudence should not be the only criteria. During the military years, the Nigerian lawyer played the role of stenographer for military decrees, and the judges took their decisions from the soldiers. Now they are playing almost the same role as politicians who have no idea why they were elected. They have abandoned the practice of law to become jesters at the feet of reckless politicians and conveyors of injustice at our courts. Our courts harbor judges who suffocate justice under their robes and consider military decrees of bygone era as a guild post for our state of jurisprudence.
All over the country, you see governors and other politicians seizing and damaging people’s properties without just compensation and there is no lawyer in sight to argue on behalf of the afflicted. A Dangote truck will damage and incinerate people on the highways, and no case is brought on behalf of the victims. The Nigerian Armed Forces go into a village for security duties and destroy the village, no justice for the victims. The governor pays a courtesy visit to the commander in chief. No lawyer files a lawsuit on behalf of the victim. The officer who issued the command to murder sleeping villagers is left to repeat the same scenario in another jurisdiction. We will protest if this happens in Palestine. It is happening in the Democratic Republic of Nigeria where the rights of the citizens are undermined daily by those they elected. These politicians did not gain power by a coup. If you listen to them with your eyes closed, you will think they are military officers who have just gained power through a coup d’etat. They don’t seek consensus. They give directives. Some of them defy court rulings with fanfare. The military infantilized everyone in Nigeria, but they pushed the lawyer back into the womb. This is atrocious.
As a nation, we must consider the fifty-five years of military rule in Nigeria as the years of locust. The journey of great nations is always evolutionary. The military years were the years when hatred of each other became ossified and personalized as the military played us against each other to prolong their power. The revolution is always a lie.
In history, most periods of revolutionary zeal turn to mirage. We will have good leaders, and we will have bad leaders. Each period is an opportunity to learn what to do and what not to do. The rush to think that some army general will appear and use a magical wand to achieve all we wish for is infantile and dangerous. No soldier can develop any nation. Nigeria is a testament to that foolery. It is the willingness of the people to understand the necessity to build bridges and lasting institutions of harmony that moves a nation forward. The rule of law is the cornerstone in this exercise. If we have the rule of law, the Nigerian will feel protected in any place he calls home. Ethnic crisis and tensions will dampen because he knows no matter what happens, the law will protect him from ethnic or religious vigilantism that is the breeding ground for timid souls that are still married to the past.
These people must be made to see the supremacy of the law as the sign of our progress. The journey is arduous, and our dream should be about building frameworks that last beyond our existence, because the nation that we dream of should always be a continuous journey of those who believe in tomorrow and understand that the yearning and aspiration of our people shall never die. This is all we can ask for as we toil in our little corner, to build tomorrow for the next generation.
We must strive to make tomorrow a brighter proposition for those coming after us. It is when we arrive at that place, we can say our work is done. This singularity is love that binds us beyond ethnic and religious proclivities, which robs us of our basic humanity. We can start this journey today and also understand that others who share the same aspirations with us may start their journey tomorrow. The wisdom we seek should give us the patience to know the difference and endure the pain and loneliness of waiting for those who are not ready today but will join us tomorrow.
For those who seek truth, justice and fairness, tomorrow is a distant horizon we must gaze at with hope, endurance and fortitude. Tomorrow is not a destination; it is a state of our being. The futuristic tomorrow may never come but our state of will be fulfilled and rewarded as our collective struggles will build monuments that last beyond our time. That is the tomorrow we seek, a place where our dreams will never die.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON TEXAS