Democracy, Disillusionment, and the Discipline of Patience by Lawson Akhigbe

Jibrin Okutepa SAN Dear Jibrin Okutepa SAN There’s a particular kind of frustration that only proximity can produce. Not the distant outrage of the observer, but the weary, intimate disillusionment of someone who has sat at the table, argued the briefs, and watched the machinery of politics grind in real time. When you have stood …

Zoning vs the Constitution: Nigeria’s Favourite Unwritten Law Meets Its Written One

Abubakar Atiku Nigeria is a constitutional republic. That is the theory. In practice, it is also a federation held together by a delicate, unwritten gentleman’s agreement: “you chop, I chop next.” Lawyers call the first a constitution. Politicians call the second zoning. The confusion begins when both claim authority at the same time. After eight …

The Honourable House of Arraignment: Nigeria’s Senate and the Art of the Legal Rebrand by Lawson Akhigbe

There is a certain genius, criminal, yes, but genius nonetheless, in the Nigerian political playbook that deserves, if not our admiration, then at least our reluctant acknowledgment. When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission comes knocking at your door with a charge sheet the length of a Shoprite receipt, the average person might consider lawyers, …