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Tinubu, next INEC boss, and Liman controversy, By Farooq Kperogi

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6 months ago

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Kperogi is a renowned columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism 
Farooq Kperogi

Tinubu, next INEC boss, and Liman controversy, By Farooq Kperogi

An older friend of mine, a denizen of the circles of power, told me a few days ago that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was considering a retired judge from Nasarawa State to succeed Professor Mahmood Yakubu as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He named him as Justice Abdullahi Mohammed Liman, whom, I am embarrassed to admit, I had never heard of.

Apparently, Liman has been a loadstone for controversies and has had robust mentions in the news media, as I’ll show shortly. I probably never paid attention to his name because my background as a former reporter and editor predisposed me to pay more attention to judgments than to judges unless the judges stand out for any number of reasons.

Judicial reporting is one of the few exceptions in journalism where active constructions are discouraged in headlines and leads. For instance, we write, “a man has been sentenced to prison,” not “a judge has sentenced a man to prison” in news leads. The judgment is considered more important than the judge.

After admitting my ignorance of Liman, my friend shared possible motivations for his rumored choice. I can’t reveal them publicly, but I wasn’t persuaded.

Given the unabashed Yorubacentricity in several of Tinubu’s consequential appointments, I questioned why he believed the buzz that Tinubu would consider a northerner, however pliable or susceptible to manipulation he may be, for so momentous a position as INEC chairman.

After all, this is the man who will midwife the 2027 election in which most of the opposition to Tinubu’s second-term ambition will come from the North.

In April this year, a fabricated story claimed that Tinubu had appointed one Professor Bashiru Olamilekan as Yakubu’s successor. The presidency disclaimed it, and a Reuters fact-check on April 15 confirmed that “Professor Bashiru Olamilekan,” described as an “Ogun-born professor and media guru,” simply doesn’t exist.

The photos used to identify him were actually those of Senator Ajibola Basiru, who told Reuters he is a “full born Osogbo Oroki man” who is “neither a media guru nor born in Ogun!”

Still, a few days after my conversation about Liman, I saw a list circulating on social media showing the geographic distribution of past electoral commission chairmen since 1964. Amplified by Tinubu supporters, the list highlighted that the South-South has dominated in the last 61 years and that no one from the Southwest has ever been appointed.

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Observers have suggested that the list was intentionally compiled and pushed online to prepare public consciousness for a possible Southwest appointment. This ensures that Tinubu can’t credibly be accused of ethnic favoritism if he picks from his geo-cultural backyard.

I shared the list with my friend, implying that Tinubu was unlikely to appoint someone outside his ethnic comfort zone, especially given his desperation for a second term and his disregard for criticism about the national spread and fairness of his appointments, what I once called his Lagos-centric Yorubization.

Yet I also noticed that the North-Central, where Liman hails from, has never produced an INEC chairman. And no president, prime minister, or military ruler has ever appointed someone from his own region to lead the electoral body. That leaves open the possibility that Liman could indeed be in contention, assuming there’s any credibility to the rumor.

I had filed this discussion away until I watched Buba Galadima’s September 16 interview with Arise TV, where he made oblique references to Liman’s impending announcement as the next INEC chair.

“Come November, there are rumors all over the place that this government is nominating a just retired court of appeals judge who is known for notoriety to be the chairman of INEC,” Galadima said. “I wish it is not true. Because if that man becomes the chairman of INEC, be rest assured that this government is inviting a civil war in this country.”

Civil war? That’s obviously political hyperbole. But could he be referring to Justice Liman? Every detail fits. Liman just retired from the Court of Appeal. He is a magnet for judicial controversies. And, days earlier, someone had told me Tinubu was considering Liman for the position of INEC chairman.

Curiously, Liman chose early retirement despite the judicial retirement age being raised to 70. Was this in preparation for the rumored INEC post?

Why, then, did Galadima warn that if Liman is appointed, Nigerians should “forget about elections… [b]ecause there would be no elections in this country, and it will create chaos”? There was also a sense of alarm in the voice of my friend who told me Liman might be the next INEC chairman.

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I looked up Liman and found a May 26, 2024, Daily Trust analysis titled “Kano emirate: 7 controversies trailing Justice Liman.” In it, John Chuks Azu, Daily Trust’s legal editor, chronicled how Liman (allegedly) halted Governor Abba Yusuf’s move to reinstate Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Kano emir, which sparked a palace standoff that hasn’t abated and ignited jurisdictional debates.

The report also noted that the National Judicial Council had dismissed a misconduct petition against him, which paved the way for his promotion to the Court of Appeal.

In Edo, the Daily Trust report pointed out, NCP governorship candidate Peters Omoragbon accused Liman of “misconduct and dereliction of duty” for delays in ruling on an INEC case.

Liman’s Port Harcourt home (he is said to be close to Nyesom Wike) was among those raided by the DSS in 2016, when agents claimed they recovered $2 million, an allegation he denied. He quipped that he would have resigned his job as a judge if he had that much money stashed at home.

And in 2015, his sentencing in the N25bn corruption trial of Michael Igbinedion stirred outrage when the principal defendant walked away with fines while his co-defendant got 20 years.

Clearly, Galadima’s beef with Liman is more about partisan politics than about patriotic fervor.

Galadima, meanwhile, is aligned with Kwankwaso. Liman’s appointment may indeed spark a “civil war” of sorts in Kano politics, but nationally? I doubt it. If past brazen electoral manipulations didn’t lead to civil war, this wouldn’t, either.

That said, if Tinubu is seriously considering Liman, he risks imperiling the credibility of the 2027 election two years before it takes place. An electoral umpire must not carry the baggage of unconcealed partisanship.

None of the past INEC chiefs, including those that later turned out to be total partisan disasters, came to the job with overtly partisan affiliations. Tinubu shouldn’t start now. If he cares at all about his post-tenure reputation, that is.

Farooq Kperogi is a renowned columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism.

Note: Views expressed in this opinion piece are strictly personal and do not in any way reflect the the thoughts and beliefs of newstrends or its owners.

Tinubu, next INEC boss, and Liman controversy, By Farooq Kperogi

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The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

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6 days ago

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March 3, 2026

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Former Northern Elders Forum spokesperson, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed
Former Northern Elders Forum spokesperson, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

The world dislikes the weak, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

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Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

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1 week ago

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February 28, 2026

By

Vincent Akanmode
Vincent Akanmode

Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

Any Nigerian with an iota of conscience would be miffed at the content of a video that trended on the social media during the week. It was the motion picture of three children whose age ranged between 10 and 12 professing to be supporters of former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi. Oblivious in their pristine innocence that they were being initiated into the triple crimes of lying, cheating and forgery by those who contrived the issuance of voter cards to them, they heartily flaunted the cards meant only for adults above 18 years, threatening to vote Obi in the 2027 elections like they did three years ago.

Instructively, it was Obi’s supporters, led by the then Chief Spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, who embarked on a peaceful protest in Abuja against alleged registration of underage voters in the build-up to the 2023 elections.

During the campaign rallies that preceded the 2023 elections, the world had watched with bated breath as a 15-year-old boy identified as Alabi Quadri jumped into the road arms outstretched as Obi’s convoy approached during a campaign rally in Lagos. I was personally alarmed at the stupidity of young man’s action, seeing the possibility of him being hit by the advancing convoy of vehicles. But while I thought it was the dumbest act anyone could muster, Obi, rather than rebuke Quadri’s foolery, alighted from his vehicle, walked towards the scallywag and embraced him in the full glare of cameras. Obviously, the Labour Party presidential candidate was in full agreement that the rascal did very well staking his life for his (Obi’s) presidential ambition.

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Obi, who had earlier prided himself with not giving shishi (a dime), reportedly rewarded Quadri’s foolhardiness with an unspecified sum of money, which later put him into trouble with his colleagues and earned him a stay in Kirikiri prison for about three months after an alleged frame-up for armed robbery by some thugs in his Amukoko (Lagos) neighbourhood, who were said to be angry that Quadri did not deem them fit for a slice of Obi’s cake. They handed him over to the police, who kept him in custody until some human rights activists intervened and secured his release.

Not surprisingly, many other admirers of Obi celebrated Quadri’s display of obtuseness as a heroic act worthy of emulation by anyone worth the helm of the presidential aspirant’s black gown. Little wonder the teenager’s example has since caught on among his followers with other dumb actions and utterances. Last week, another youthful follower of the mob took the malady to the precincts of blasphemy, saying that Jesus Christ would lose if he contests an election with Obi in Nigeria. And rather than condemnation, this reckless delivery has enjoyed the approval of many Obidient members in a country where religion is as sensitive as the mimosa plant.

And before the dust generated by the sacrilegious utterance could settle, another teenager identified as Mc Aha from Imo State said he would gladly sacrifice his father and mother if that was all Obi needed to become the President of Nigeria. Commendably, the teenager’s obviously embarrassed father did not allow his son’s misguided utterance to go without a consequence. Convinced that the teenager’s outburst bordered more on crime than insanity, he ignored psychiatrists and psychologists and promptly handed his errant son over to the police.

I felt a sense of vindication on learning about the young man’s utterance, because a day or two earlier, I had been viciously attacked on Facebook for sarcastically posting that I once thought of becoming an Obidient but was discouraged by the long and tortuous process of having to undergo a surgery that would remove my brain and replace it with sawdust!

The question then arises: what exactly is the Obidient movement teaching our youths? What impact do Obi and his followers hope to make on the impressionable minds of innocent young boys and girls with the negative messages being passed to them by their mostly reckless, aggressive and abrasive older colleagues? A group that has turned discourtesy into an art. A group that has no place for the African culture of respect for the elder. A group to which age means nothing but sheer number. They address the elderly the same manner they do their apprentices and attack statesmen and eminent public office holders with the venom of a snake. A group whose leader is making a career of de-marketing his country and presenting his land of birth as the heaviest burden the rest of the world bears. What impact?

Our children must be kept away from Obi’s mob

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History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

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1 week ago

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February 28, 2026

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Kperogi is a renowned columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism 
Farooq Kperogi

History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

Given the depth and intensity of the friendship they cultivated over decades, many people are befuddled by why the personal conflict between former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has burst into the open with such virulence. As I’ll show, it’s inspired by deep-seated envy, ego trip and bruised self-construal.

Both were born in 1960 (with El-Rufai being about nine months older), graduated from ABU in the 1980s (with El-Rufai graduating three years earlier), have a reputation for boldness and outspokenness, and were stars of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

From the outside looking in, it appears to me that although both men had mutual admiration for each other, the scale tilted a little in favor of El-Rufai. I say this for at least two reasons.

One, according to a recent social media post by presidential aide Gimba Kakanda, who appears to be close to both men, Ribadu named his son in honor of El-Rufai. I am not aware that El-Rufai requited Ribadu’s gesture even though he has had boys. If my assumption is wrong, I apologize. If it’s right, that bespeaks a deep, unspoken, but nonetheless significant inequality in admiration.

Second, on page 358 of El-Rufai’s 2013 autobiography titled The Accidental Public Servant, which has made the social media rounds, El-Rufai revealed that when the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua sought Ribadu’s support to be president and said Obasanjo had already endorsed him, Ribadu rebuffed Yar’Adua, saying, “Well, Obasanjo has not told me, and as far as the presidency is concerned, I have my candidate for president, and that is Nasir El-Rufai. I am going to have to speak to Obasanjo about this.”

So, El-Rufai internalized the asymmetry in their admiration for each other. He took for granted that Ribadu thought higher of him than he did of Ribadu. There can be no greater endorsement of this fact than Ribadu’s perception that El-Rufai was the best Nigerian qualified to succeed Obasanjo.

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However, in 2011, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu was shopping for a young northern candidate to fly the flag of the ACN, he commissioned a public opinion poll to determine which northern candidate enjoyed the most national acceptance, according to Akin Osuntokun’s February 20, 2026, Arise News interview.

Osuntokun not only worked with both men during the Obasanjo presidency, he is also friends with them. Plus, I’ve heard this story from several people close to El-Rufai and Ribadu, but this is the first time it’s out in the open.

Osuntokun’s revelation that the national poll showed Nuhu Ribadu with a significantly higher rating (about 45 percent) compared to Nasir El-Rufai (around seven percent) is consistent with what I’ve heard.

Based on that result, Tinubu backed Ribadu’s candidacy within the ACN. It also marked the beginning of Ribadu’s relationship with Tinubu.

El-Rufai’s exaggerated self-construal of his superiority over Ribadu was badly shattered, and he couldn’t take it. But I am not surprised by the outcome of the poll. It occurred at the height of Ribadu’s popularity in the country.

As I pointed out in a past column, my own paternal uncle, a UK-educated health professional, named his son Ribadu, not Nuhu, in honor of Nuhu Ribadu’s exploits at the EFCC. When I told him Ribadu is the name of a town in Adamawa State where Nuhu hails from, he was surprised. We still laugh over it.

El-Rufai’s ego was badly bruised because he had a hard time accepting that Ribadu, who didn’t think of himself as presidential material in 2007 and who instead thought El-Rufai should succeed Obasanjo, should be considered worthier of being president in 2011 by more Nigerians. As a result, the previously impregnable walls of friendship between them began to collapse irretrievably.

By 2015, El-Rufai rode on the coattails of Muhammadu Buhari to become governor of Kaduna State. According to people familiar with the dynamics of their relationship, El-Rufai studiously used his influence in the Buhari government to exclude Ribadu.

But by 2023, when Tinubu became president, Ribadu got his groove back. El-Rufai believes that the rejection of his ministerial nomination by the Senate on “security” grounds was inspired by Ribadu, who was retaliating for El-Rufai’s own underhanded exclusion of Ribadu during the Buhari presidency.

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Most regular people with no hangups would take it in their stride and wait for their “time.” But El-Rufai isn’t a “regular” person. He must be in on the action or everything must be scattered. So, he set out to do at least three things to get at Ribadu: 1. Show that Ribadu is dangerous and vindictive. 2. Show that he is incompetent. 3. Show that he is a craven fellow who can’t return, much less match, El-Rufai’s lethal rhetorical salvos.

These points overlap. If you are vindictive but are afraid of being seen as such, then you’re a coward. If you’re a coward and you control the security of the country, then you’re also incompetent. If you don’t respond to my personal attacks, it’s because you fear that I’ll reveal more damaging information and also lack the rhetorical and intellectual firepower to fight back, which harkens back to your fitness for the job of protecting the country.

Of course, El-Rufai knows that Ribadu is anything but a coward. In The Accidental Public Servant, El-Rufai recounts an incident from their undergraduate days at Ahmadu Bello University to illustrate what he presents as Ribadu’s boldness.

According to El-Rufai, Ribadu was confronted by an armed robber who pointed a gun at him. Instead of complying or retreating, Ribadu slapped the robber and challenged him.

El-Rufai told the anecdote as an example of Ribadu’s fearlessness and impulsive self-confidence during their student years and to sketch Ribadu’s temperament early on, suggesting that Ribadu’s later public persona as an anti-corruption crusader was consistent with traits visible even as an undergraduate.

In his only public reaction to El-Rufai’s constant personal attacks, Ribadu was conciliatory and even-tempered. “Despite the incessant baiting and attacks, I have never spoken ill of Nasir on record anywhere,” he wrote on February 24, 2025. “This is out of respect for our past association and our respective families. I will not start today.”

El-Rufai’s supporters read the statement, whose grace should have disarmed anyone, as evidence of cowardice. But had he attacked El-Rufai back in the fashion that El-Rufai savaged him, the public, which tends to side with the underdog (in this case anyone outside the orbit of the reigning government), would see El-Rufai as the victim and Ribadu as the villain.

This gave El-Rufai the illusion that he was winning the war and led him to dig in even deeper with that self-sabotaging Arise News interview, which overstepped the bounds of reasonableness and landed him in the hot water he is in now.

In spite of people’s natural predilection to sympathize with the underdog, outside of partisan political circles, El-Rufai’s troubles aren’t eliciting the profusion of support, outrage and empathy anyone else would have received. And it’s because he is being given a taste of his own medicine.

For those who want to sympathize with him, which is perfectly legitimate, I leave you with these words he uttered on January 22, 2012, at the Yar’Adua Center, Abuja, at a presentation at the T2T (Transformed To Transform) Nigeria Conference for Youth Corps Members:

“We have no politics of public interest or public good. And you know the politicians proudly tell you that politics is about interest. If they don’t get what they want, they’re ready to collapse the system.

“Every military coup in Nigeria’s history was engineered by civilians. They have lost elections, right or wrongly. If a politician contests for a position and he doesn’t get it, he’ll not support a party member that got the nomination.

“He would rather move to the opposition and ensure that the person that defeated him fair and square loses the election. So, we have a political culture where the primacy of personal interest trumps everything else.

“Now, what is the difference between human beings and animals? So it is with most Nigerian politicians: everyone for himself, no one for the country, no one even for the party. It’s an interesting political culture. And it’s ingrained. Politicians believe that is the way, that is politics, and to change it will take quite an effort. This is a problem.”

History and psychoanalysis of El-Rufai’s troubles with Ribadu – Farooq Kperogi

Kperogi is a renowned Nigerian columnist and United States-based Professor of Journalism.

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