The Ghost Who Keeps Signing by Lawson Akhigbe

The Land Use Act of 1978 vested radical title to land in the state governor. Customary authorities were meant to operate within that framework, not around it. Yet when the formal system becomes a source of frustration rather than facilitation, human ingenuity finds other routes. Enter the late Oba. His name carries historical weight. The palace, however, maintains no functional modern archive capable of systematic verification. Oral history is the dominant method, and most of the original participants are no longer available for cross-examination. The result is a paper trail that is difficult to audit and easy to exploit.

Edo State’s Land Reform Odyssey: From Land Grabbers to Digital Promises (and Back Again) by Lawson Akhigbe

In Edo State, land is never just dirt. It is history, inheritance, politics, and occasionally a full-contact sport. For years the system ran on a toxic mix of customary claims, Community Development Associations that behaved like private armies, multiple sales of the same plot, and a Certificate of Occupancy process so slow it could age a bottle of wine. Successive administrations have declared reform. The results have been a mixture of genuine progress, inherited messes, political score-settling, and the familiar Nigerian talent for turning every administrative problem into a morality play about fraud.

Amupitan’s Yanga Wakes Trouble by Azu Ishiekwene

Six months after his appointment as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Amupitan appears determined to beat the record of Professor Maurice Iwu as the most mistrusted electoral administrator yet.

Reform UK’s Brexit immigration impact

Reform UK’s perspective on Brexit and immigration is central to its identity: Brexit was meant to deliver control over borders and lower overall migration, but post-2016 (especially post-2021) governments primarily Conservative, failed to use that control effectively, leading to a non-EU migration surge that the party labels the “Boriswave.” Reform argues this undermined the Brexit promise, strained public services, housing, wages, and cultural cohesion, and necessitates far tougher policies.