Reporting News and Opinions
When a leader becomes more interested in the symbol of his authority than the substance of his government, politics begins to resemble a cult. The insignia becomes the message, the slogan becomes the policy, and the citizen is expected to admire the packaging while living with the consequences.
In the grand theatre of Nigerian public life, where every scandal eventually finds its way into a press release, a tweet, and then a court that politely declines to be bothered, the saga of Emeka Ike’s voter details has reached its predictable third act. The curtain has fallen. The audience is still waiting for justice. The actors have already left for the after-party
There’s a special kind of Nigerian magic that turns a man who once dodged military bullets for democracy into the man who now decides which opposition party is allowed to breathe near a billboard.
In the grand theatre of Nigerian politics, where truth occasionally stumbles onto the stage like an uninvited guest who has had one too many, Alwan Hassan has just delivered a masterclass in accidental honesty.
There is a peculiar affliction in Nigerian politics: some politicians cannot distinguish between winning an election and acquiring ownership of the state. To them, victory at the polls is not a temporary mandate to govern the people. It is a licence to command institutions, domesticate independent organisations and demand political obedience from everyone within reach of government.
