Tag: politics

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Ponzi Loans and Politicians by Lawson Akhigbe

AMCON has repeatedly noted that a small number of high-profile obligors (often 300–400 individuals/entities) account for 70–80% of its outstanding portfolio (peaking around ₦4.5–5 trillion in various reports). Many of these involve politicians or their allied companies, where debts originated from pre-AMCON bank loans (e.g., Union Bank, Skye Bank facilities) that turned non-performing due to factors like margin lending, poor governance, or economic shocks.

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Senator Debtor’s ‘Art of the Deal’: A 10-Step Guide to Evading AMCON Recoveries

Get the Loan. (This is the easy part). Preferably a large, multi-billion naira sum from a struggling bank. Use your political clout as collateral – it’s worth more than anything tangible!

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The Rules for Thee, but Nary for Me: How International “Justice” Lost the Plot by Lawson Akhigbe

For decades, we were instructed to nod politely at global summits while elites proclaimed that the rule of law is universal. Except, like a discount gym membership, universality apparently comes with fine print, blackout dates, and VIP exemptions reserved exclusively for nations backed by Western firepower.

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Government by Vibes: Governor Okpebholo’s London Roadshow and the Cost of Governing Without Institutions by Lawson Akhigbe

His administration, he argued, is practical rather than bureaucratic. It is interested in action, not process. The legacy programmes of his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, have largely been dismantled. EdoBEST has gone. The Security Control Centre has gone. EdoGIS is going. Consultants have gone. Due process, one gathered, has become something to be viewed with suspicion rather than embraced as the machinery through which modern government functions.

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Abacha-Era Corruption: A Deep Dive into Nigeria’s Most Notorious Kleptocracy (1993–1998) by Lawson Akhigbe

This was enabled by authoritarian control: no independent legislature or judiciary, weak oversight, and a patronage network treating public coffers as extensions of personal or regime power. International complicity—lax due diligence by banks—facilitated laundering through U.S. institutions and bond deals.

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