The use of plea bargain agreements by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is drawing renewed scrutiny, with court records highlighting disparities in how the mechanism is applied to high-profile suspects and low-level offenders. A review of proceedings from the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, the Federal High Courts in Lagos and Abuja, and...
BVAS AND THE EXCLUSIVITY OF DIGITAL ACCREDITATION UNDER THE ELECTORAL ACT, 2026 BY HON. JUSTICE [PROFESSOR] ALABA OMOLAYE-AJILEYE (RTD) Digital accreditation refers to the electronic verification of a voter’s identity and eligibility before being allowed to vote. Under the Electoral Act, 2026, accreditation is unambiguously required to be digitally conducted through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation...
BY MONDAY UBANI When INEC Stays Away: The Legal Consequences of Non-Observation of Party Congresses and Conventions Under the Electoral Act 2026 My interest in this subject has grown steadily as a result of recent developments in Nigeria’s political horizon. As 2027 approaches, the emergence of nominees for elective offices has become a matter of...
First part – Political Right from the time of Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), led by Senator Arthur Nzeribe and Abimbola Davis, any discerning person in 1993 knew that these were the people the Babangida junta was using to truncate the June 12 election. They used Justices Bassey Ikpeme and Dahiru Saleh. Then, there were...
There’s hardly any doubt that the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), is making waves with his bold stance against impunity and commitment to justice. I am very privileged to be a chairman of a branch under the leadership of Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN as the President of the association. His achievements inspired me...
BY MONDAY ONYEKACHI UBANI THE UMUAHIA/IKWUANO/IKOT EKPENE ROAD: A SHAMELESS ATTEMPT TO REWRITE A KNOWN STORY I read with a mixture of amusement and sadness the statement credited to one Mr. Chidi Uwaeziozi, who claims to be the Controller of Works for Abia State in the Federal Ministry of Works. In that statement, he asserted...
By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu For nearly five years, Abia State has been the site of a bewildering contest over the crisis of corruption that now bedevils Nigeria’s judicial appointment process. Essentially, the appointment of judges in Nigeria has become something akin to a life-and-death contest, not for or on behalf of those seeking to get...
By Uche Ihediwa On 14/2/26, Chidi Anselem Odinkalu posted an article captioned “Fraudsters-In-Law; The Conspiracy Against Abia State”. In it, he fed the reading public with odious diatribe of and concerning Uche Ihediwa & Chibuzo Aguocha. He claimed inter-alia that the A.G. of Abia State failed to prosecute Paris Refund Criminals despite a suggestion/opinion to...
There has been a persistent narrative suggesting that during the NBA engagement in Maiduguri, a sum of USD 2,000 was shared among certain Senior Advocates of Nigeria as an “attendance fee,” and that this allegedly calls into question the integrity of the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association. According to a source at NBA HOUSE,...
By Sylvester Udemezue I recently came across a news report titled “‘Judicial Independence Must Be Effective, Not Just Formal’ — Gov. Mbah Commissions Enugu Digital Court Facility,” in which it was reported that the Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency Peter Mbah, commissioned a newly built digital court facility. The project was presented as a...