By Chidera Orji

The former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has launched a scathing attack on the state of Nigeria’s judiciary, accusing judicial officers of abandoning their neutrality to praise the incumbent by singing his famous political slogan.

Speaking at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi accused judicial officers of abandoning their neutrality to praise the incumbent by singing his famous political slogan.

He lamented that the nation’s democratic safeguards have suffered severe erosion, culminating in a situation where judges openly chant political slogans rather than upholding the sacred duty of unbiased adjudication.

Obi drew a sharp contrast between today’s judicial environment and his own political history, recalling his three-year court battle to reclaim his gubernatorial mandate in Anambra State. He noted that multiple judicial panels across the high court and court of appeal ruled in his favor without him ever meeting or contacting a single judge. In his assessment, such independent and incorruptible dispensation of justice has become virtually impossible under the current political dispensation, where judicial officers are perceived as aligned with the ruling class regardless of electoral irregularities.

Expanding on the systemic decline across key democratic institutions, Obi highlighted how compromised actors across various sectors enable electoral fraud. He criticized university professors who serve as returning officers while facilitating the victory of underqualified politicians, senior advocates who defend documented forgery in court, and lawmakers who deliberately weaken electoral legislation. He also faulted religious leaders who bestow public blessings on corrupt politicians, warning that the failure of these gatekeepers has plunged the country into a deep moral and institutional crisis.

Warning that the normalization of electoral malpractice poses a grave threat to the future of the nation, Obi urged citizens to demand structural reforms and hold leaders accountable. He emphasized that allowing compromised practices to persist will ultimately destroy democratic governance and compromise the security of coming generations. As Nigeria navigates its political future, Obi argued that rebuilding public trust requires a complete reorientation where judges, academics, and public officials prioritize constitutional duty over political patronage.

By Tony Chuddy 

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC), Atiku Abubarkar, has challenged the Federal Government to give account  if how it utilised the ₦144.86bn allocated under the National Plan on Financing Safe Schools among ds renewed tension and abduction nof Nigeria’s school children across the country by terrorists

Atiku, who was reacting to a recent reports that insecurity has forced schools to shut down across 40 local government areas in the country, attributed the continued disruption of education by terrorists, bandits and other armed groups to what he described as a failure of the government’s approach to securing schools, particularly amid Nigeria’s already severe out-of-school crisis.

The former  vice president in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused the federal government of lacking in the implementation of the Safe School programme,despite the huge fund it allocated to it, adding that the effectiveness of the programme should be judged by whether children and teachers can actually attend school without fear of attack.

“At a time when Nigeria is already battling a severe out-of-school crisis, insecurity is driving even more children from the classroom..

“If schools across about 40 local government areas cannot operate because government cannot guarantee the safety of pupils and teachers, Nigerians are entitled to ask a simple question: where is the ₦144.86bn Safe Schools programme in all of this?” the statement partly read.

The African Democratic Congress presidential candidate demanded a comprehensive account of the programme, including the amount so far mobilised and released, the agencies and contractors that received the funds, the schools covered, security infrastructure delivered and the measurable results achieved.

“Budgeting money is not the same thing as securing schools. Announcing programmes is not the same thing as protecting children. The true measure of a Safe Schools programme is whether our children can actually go to school safely. By that elementary test, the present approach is failing

“What Nigeria requires is a completely different security philosophy. Under my administration, school security will not be treated as another Abuja contract-awarding programme. It will be integrated into a decentralised, intelligence-led security architecture built around the communities where these schools actually exist

“Safe Schools will be measured by children in classrooms, not billions in government documents

“Every school that closes creates another opening for poverty, child labour, early marriage, exploitation and radicalisation. Every child driven from the classroom becomes more vulnerable to the same criminal and extremist networks the government claims to be fighting. Protecting education is therefore itself a national security strategy,” the said.

The ADC presidential candidate further challenged President Bola Tinubu over reports that government forces know the locations of forests where kidnappers and terrorists operate.

“When terrorists can decide whether Nigerian children go to school, they are exercising authority that belongs to the Nigerian state. That is not merely an education crisis. It is a surrender of state authority. And since Mr President says his government knows the forests where these kidnappers and terrorists operate, Nigerians are entitled to ask: what exactly are they still doing there?” 

“A government cannot announce billions for Safe Schools and expect Nigerians to applaud their failure while terrorists are shutting the schools. Budgetary allocations are not achievements. Press conferences do not protect children. The only result that matters is that a Nigerian child can leave home for school and return safely,” he noted.

By Tony Chuddy 

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has identified the country’s judiciary and university professors as major threats to entrenching real democracy in Nigeria 

Obi, who re echoed his three years legal hurdle to reclaim his governorship mandate in Anambra state, regretted that the current set of Nigerian judges have completely deviated from the norms and integrity that are associated with the profession even as he decried what he described as their contributions to the erosion of democratic principles in Nigeria

The  2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, who recalled that he spent three years in court challenging his election as Anambra State governor, noted that he got a favourable judgement from judges he had never met in his life, and queried if such unbiased judgement could still be possible in Nigeria’s judiciary 

He said such an experience would be difficult to replicate in Nigeria today.

The former Anambra State governor, who made the remarks at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital on Tuesday,  stated, “I was in court for three years challenging my election, five judges that I never met for one day gave judgement in my favour, it cannot happen in Nigeria of today. I went to Court of Appeal, five judges I never met gave judgement in my favour.

“So, if you look at that and look at what is happening today in Nigeria where professors are now aiding illiterates to rig elections, where our lawmakers have removed forgery as an offence in electoral matters, and Senior Advocates of Nigeria are defending forgery. Our religious leaders are now praying for criminal politicians for blessings. We have a crisis. And above all, our judges are now singing on your mandate,” Obi said.

Obi, who called on Nigerians to reject the practices that undermine democracy, warned that their consequences could be inherited by future generations.

According to him, “We need to reverse this because the abuse we are allowing today will take its revenge on our children.”

The event, which was chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was hosted by the Bauchi state governor, Bala Mohammed, with former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and former Vice President Namadi Sambo, as well as constitutional experts and civil society voices from across the continent in attendance