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Nigeria is a federation. Federal agencies do not get to shut down state governments because they suspect something may have gone wrong with the books. Trail the money into private hands. Do not turn off the treasury. The courts, the governors’ forum and the plain language of the Constitution have already said as much. The only question left is how many more times the lesson must be repeated.
There is a clean, structural reason Nigerian election season feels less like a celebration of democracy and more like a high-stakes tactical thriller. We built an election system where the referee is hired by one of the teams, trained by one of the teams, and paid out of a purse controlled by one of the teams.
The genius of constitutional democracy is not merely that elections are held. It is that power is divided. Every institution is expected to possess enough independence to say “no” when necessary.
Three years into the First Lady’s unofficial reign of philanthropy, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has turned the Renewed Hope Initiative into Nigeria’s most prolific ATM for good causes dispensing cash, food, scholarships and tricycles with the regularity of a government payroll, yet without the inconvenience of a budget line or constitutional recognition. Publicly announced cash interventions alone tell a tale of accelerating largesse.
The response by the President's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Cardinal John Onaiyekan's television interview reveals a troubling misunderstanding of constitutional democracy. It also exposes a growing tendency within this administration to confuse criticism with disloyalty and accountability with discourtesy.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 