By CASMIR IGBOKWE

In Nigeria, politics of deception has become the norm rather than the exception. Last week, the wife of the President, Mrs. Remi Tinubu, encouraged Nigerians to consider small-scale business like selling akara (bean cake), roasted corn, and kuli-kuli (crunchy peanut snack) to survive. According to her, they require little capital to start. The First Lady spoke after the Renewed Hope Initiative’s second-quarter meeting with wives of state governors, held at the State House, Abuja.

She said: “We are trying to give hope, and to start akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn, or somebody even said kuli-kuli, doesn’t take much.” With an air of triumph, she said she had donated N2 billion to combat tuberculosis, N1 billion to tackle breast cancer and N500, 000 to mitigate food malnutrition.

It is not certain where she got these billions of naira she donated. What is clear is that akara, roasted corn, or kuli-kuli, has become a metaphor for Nigeria’s politics of deception.

As incumbent governor of Edo State in 2016, Adams Oshiomhole publicly patronized and ate roadside roasted corn on the streets of Benin City alongside his then chosen successor, Godwin Obaseki. It was during the 2016 governorship campaign in the state. The idea was to market Obaseki to market women and the grassroots and to show, rather cunningly, that he was connected with the masses. He did the same thing in 2020 while campaigning for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Edo State governorship election.

Other politicians who used similar stunts in the recent past include a former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose; former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha; and a prominent Osun state politician, Iyiola Omisore.

Regrettably, this deception appears to have crept into the judiciary, which has played ignoble roles in the attempts to truncate this democracy. Nigerians no longer have the prerogative to choose who governs them. They waste their time at polling stations to cast their votes only for the courts to change the will of the people in questionable rulings.

Currently, there are surreptitious attempts to cripple major opposition parties that may present a challenge to the ruling party in the 2027 polls. The question remains, why will some characters who believe that the current reforms of the ruling party have catapulted Nigeria to heaven not have confidence in a multiparty democracy? Why will they be afraid to face the electorate and win landslide with all their governors and structures? It is pathetic!

Few months to the 2027 general election, nothing is certain yet. Parties have done their primary elections. They have selected their candidates for the various elective positions. Ekiti State just had a governorship election penultimate Saturday. Osun State is billed to have its own on August 15, 2026, with incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke, contesting on the platform of the Accord Party (AP).

Curiously, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister five political parties. They are the AP, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), the Action Peoples Party (APP), and the Action Alliance (AA).

Justice Lifu had agreed with the plaintiffs, the Incorporated Trustees of the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL), that the parties did not meet the electoral performance thresholds for continued existence as registered parties. They were said to have breached Section 225(a) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended).

According to the section, INEC has the power to deregister political parties that failed to win 25 per cent of votes in any one of the states of the federation in a previous presidential election. Also, any political party that did not obtain one local government of a state in a governorship election, or one ward in a chairmanship election, or one seat in a national, state House of Assembly or councillorship election, could be deregistered.

The annoying part of Lifu’s ruling is that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had ordered him to stay action on the matter until hearing and determination of the appeal before it. The affected political parties had asked the court to suspend proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal on the matter. For reasons best known to the judge, he ignored the higher court’s order. The Court of Appeal justices did not find it palatable at all. They berated Justice Lifu for violating the court’s hierarchy and the provisions of the constitution and issued a stay of execution of his order.

Interestingly, the plaintiffs, the NFFL, had reportedly endorsed Tinubu for the 2027 election during a meeting convened by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, in January. Also, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has expressed support for the NFFL’s action.

Some opposition political figures did not find this situation funny at all. Former Nigeria’s Vice-President and presidential candidate of the ADC, Atiku Abubakar, called it the height of judicial rascality. The ADC National Chairman, David Mark, described it as an arrow fired at the hearts of Nigeria’s democracy.

To add fuel to the raging fire, the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, came with another bombshell against the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) last Friday. It reversed itself by ordering INEC to deregister the NDC, saying its earlier judgment recognizing the party was constitutionally defective because it was delivered without hearing from all the interested parties.

The judge, Isah Dashen, ruled that the Peace Movement Party (PMP) was a necessary party to the suit and that all parties must be heard. He ordered that the substantive suit should begin afresh. The PMP had filed application indicating that it was a party to the suit. It claimed that the NDC’s registration was based on a logo it had previously submitted to INEC before the suit commenced.

The NDC has rejected this new order of the court. Its National Chairman, Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, said the party had instructed its lawyers to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal. He described the PMP as an unregistered association unknown to the NDC. The party condemned “efforts by those who seek to shrink the democratic space and stifle opposition voices and alternatives.” It said any party dissatisfied with the original judgment ought to have appealed to a higher court rather than seek to overturn it through a motion in the same court.

Of course, the NDC has Mr. Peter Obi, a popular politician and one of the leading presidential candidates, flying its flag in the 2027 election. This has not gone down well with the powers that be. They appear to be doing everything possible to ensure that he does not appear on the ballot.

Obi had defected from the Labour Party to the ADC last year. Every attempt was made to cripple the party and frustrate him out of the contest. At some point, anywhere the ADC members gathered for an event, political thugs would emerge to attack them. They did it in Ekiti, Lagos, Kebbi, Rivers, among others. Obi saw the handwriting on the wall and quickly defected to the NDC to the surprise of his traducers.

As soon as he moved to the NDC, the party witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in membership registration. It has been preparing for this election with enthusiasm and has fielded candidates for various positions. Now, a court in Lokoja looks like it wants to put spoke in the party’s wheel.

Nevertheless, the NDC appears resolute to challenge every obstacle on its way. It says it will appeal the ruling of the high court. The Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) said the ruling was a hurdle, not a stop sign. “We always knew that the journey to dismantle a deeply entrenched and grossly underperforming political status quo would be met with fierce institutional resistance and unexpected legal detours,” the POMR stated in a statement signed by its spokesman, Idris Zekeri jnr. It urged supporters not to be discouraged as “the vehicle may face a temporary breakdown, but our destination remains non-negotiable.”

The House of Representatives Caucus of the NDC described Justice Dashen’s order as judicial banditry and attempted coup against democracy. Perhaps, the intention is to copy the tactics of some African leaders, including President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Biya of Cameroon, and Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast, who muzzled the opposition, arm-twisted the judiciary and staged constitutional coups to perpetuate themselves in power.

Those who wish to sell akara, or eat roasted corn and kuli-kuli may do so as advised by the First Lady. But for the majority of Nigerians, they want security of lives and property, lucrative jobs, a better standard of living, and a robust multiparty democracy that gives them an opportunity to choose competent and accountable leaders in a free and credible election.

•Igbokwe is a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors

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