INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan
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We will be entering another important phase of our democratic governance from tomorrow, because, going by the 2027 Elections Timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), electioneering for the various elective positions will officially commence tomorrow 19th August, 2027.
According to the timetable, campaigns for the Presidential and National Assembly elections will run until January 15, 2027, while campaigns for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will run until February 5, 2027.
You will agree with me that this is a very important period in the life of our democracy because it provides the political parties, candidates and the electorate with the opportunity to engage one another directly before the people eventually make their choices at the polls.
As is customary in democracies across the world, electioneering constitutes an indispensable part of the democratic process. It provides the platform upon which those seeking political power are expected to present themselves, their ideas, their programmes, their records and, most importantly, their vision for the people they seek to govern.
It is through campaigns that candidates are expected to introduce themselves properly to the electorate, explain what they stand for and tell the people what they intend to achieve if given the opportunity to serve. Political parties are equally expected to present their manifestos and explain, in practical terms, how they intend to address the social, economic, infrastructural, security, and other challenges confronting the people.
Campaigns also provide voters with the opportunity to listen to different candidates, interrogate their claims, compare their records and programmes, assess their competence and character, and ultimately make informed choices.
Beyond this, electioneering brings politics closer to the people. It creates opportunities for citizens to participate in rallies, debates, interactive sessions, town hall meetings, and other forms of political engagement. In an ideal democratic environment, these engagements should not merely be about politicians speaking to the people; they should also provide opportunities for the people to speak back to politicians, ask questions and demand answers.
Campaigns also create an important basis for accountability. The promises made by candidates during electioneering are supposed to constitute a reference point against which their performance can subsequently be assessed if they win elections and assume office. A candidate who promises to improve security, strengthen healthcare and education, provide infrastructure, create employment, and improve the general welfare of the people should be prepared to account for those promises after assuming office.
Electioneering also promotes legitimate political competition because, democracy thrives on competition. Consequently, no political party or candidate should be allowed to take political power for granted. Parties and candidates are expected to compete for the confidence, support and mandate of the electorate by convincing the people that they have better ideas, better programmes and better capacity to govern.
Campaigns equally play an important role in political mobilisation. They encourage citizens to take an interest in the electoral process, participate in political activities, ensure that they are properly registered and collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs), and ultimately turn out to exercise their civic responsibilities on election day.
They also provide a platform for discussing issues that directly affect the people. Issues such as unemployment, poverty, healthcare, insecurity, education, infrastructure, corruption, the economy, agriculture, youth development and the general welfare of citizens should ordinarily dominate political campaigns.
Candidates should be challenged to tell the people not only what they intend to do, but how they intend to do it, where the reeve their objectives
Most importantly, campaigns provide a peaceful and legitimate means of seeking political power. In a democracy, political power is not supposed to be acquired through violence, intimidation, coercion or force. It is supposed to be sought through persuasion and ultimately obtained through the ballot box and the mandate of the people.
It is, therefore, not an overstatement to say that campaigns can significantly strengthen democratic governance when they are conducted peacefully, transparently, responsibly and, most importantly, on the basis of issues rather than hatred, propaganda, character assassination and violence.
Unfortunately, our experience in Nigeria over the years has shown that campaigns do not always conform to these ideals. Campaign periods have, at different times, been associated with political violence, intimidation, hate speech, destruction of campaign materials, thuggery, inflammatory rhetoric and other forms of criminality. It is against this background that these issues form the nucleus of this review, with a view to examining them critically and offering some suggestions on how the 2027 electioneering can be conducted in a more peaceful, responsible and democratic manner.
So, as we enter yet another electioneering season, we must not allow the mistakes of previous electoral cycles to become our permanent political culture. We cannot continue to approach elections as if political opponents are enemies who must be destroyed at all costs. Politics is about competition for public office, not warfare.
As we all are aware, there were pockets of violence and killings in some areas of Osun state during the campaign period for the recently concluded governorship elections. More disturbingly, just a few days to the election, a video went viral in which a leader of one of the political parties was alleged to have directed his supporters to kill supporters of a rival political party who ventured into certain parts of the State to campaign.
Though the person in question said that the video was doctored, I will not delve further into the details of that particular incident, especially as the matter is already under police investigation. However, the incident is sufficiently disturbing to remind us of the dangerous direction political campaigns can take when political differences are allowed to degenerate into threats, violence and incitement.
This is precisely the kind of political culture we must collectively reject as we commence another electioneering season. No election is worth the life of any Nigerian, and no political office is important enough to justify the shedding of innocent blood.
The fact that someone belongs to another political party does not make that person an enemy of Nigeria. Political disagreements are normal and, indeed, necessary in a democracy. What is unacceptable is allowing political differences to degenerate into hatred, violence, intimidation, harassment and other forms of criminality.
The social media warriors whose stock in trade is to abuse, curse, drag and attack anyone whose political views and beliefs are not in sync with theirs should take particular note of this. The fact that you are hiding behind a keyboard or operating from the comfort of your home on social media does not mean that the long arm of the law cannot catch up with you. The Cybercrimes Act is operational, and where conduct falls within an offence recognised under the law, the offender may be investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
Political differences should never be an excuse for criminality. You are entitled to disagree with another person’s political views, campaign against his or her preferred candidate, criticise a political party and even vigorously challenge the opinions of your opponents; but, you are not entitled to harass, threaten, intimidate, incite violence against, or criminally attack people simply because they do not share your political views.
As the 2027 electioneering season begins, we must all learn to disagree without becoming disagreeable and, more importantly, without crossing the boundaries of the law. No political party, candidate or supporter is above the law, and political loyalty should never be allowed to become a licence for criminal behaviour.
Our political parties and their candidates must therefore understand that the commencement of campaigns imposes responsibilities on all of them. They must campaign vigorously, but responsibly. They must defend their records, challenge the records of their opponents where necessary, present alternative programmes and persuade the electorate. But they must do so without crossing the boundaries established by law, decency and democratic values.
The electorate also has an important responsibility. We must begin to move away from the culture of accepting every campaign promise at face value simply because it comes from a candidate or political party we support. Nobody knows it all, and nobody is a “saint” when it comes to governance. More importantly, governance is not about one individual alone; it is about institutions, policies, systems, processes and the collective responsibility of those entrusted with public office.
Candidates must therefore be questioned. Their records must be examined. Their claims must be scrutinised. Their manifestos must be interrogated. Their past performances, where applicable, must be compared with their present promises. We must learn to look beyond slogans, political affiliations, and empty promises and ask the critical questions such as what has this candidate done before? What is he or she promising now? How realistic are those promises? What is the plan for achieving them? And, ultimately, what evidence do we have that this candidate is capable of delivering on those promises?
Our support should not be solely based on sentiments, ethnic or religious considerations, party loyalty, friendship or the magnitude of the noise about a candidate. They should, as much as possible, be informed by competence, character, credibility, policies and the candidate’s demonstrated capacity to provide responsible leadership.
Social media will, of course, play a particularly important role in the 2027 elections. While it provides an unprecedented opportunity for political engagement, information sharing and direct interaction between politicians and the electorate, it also comes with serious challenges. The spread of fake news, manipulated content, misinformation, disinformation and deliberately misleading narratives has the capacity to distort public perception, inflame passions and create unnecessary tension in the society.
We all must therefore desist from using social media as a weapon for deliberately misleading, abusing, inciting or setting people against one another simply because of our political differences. Not everything that is circulated on social media is true, and the fact that a piece of information is trending or has been shared thousands of times does not automatically make it factual.
We must learn to exercise greater responsibility. Before sharing, reposting or forwarding politically sensitive information, we should make reasonable efforts to establish its authenticity. We must not become willing participants in spreading information that is capable of creating unnecessary misgivings, misunderstanding, hatred or tension within our communities and the country at large.
The 2027 election should be about persuasion, not manipulation; information, not disinformation; issues, not hatred; and political competition, not the destruction of one another.
We must therefore exercise restraint and responsibility in the way we consume and disseminate political information. Not everything that is circulated on social media platforms is true simply because it is trending or because it supports our preferred political party or candidate. Political loyalty should never be allowed to destroy our sense of judgement.
We should be able to criticise our opponents when they are wrong and equally acknowledge when our own candidates or political parties are wrong. Democracy cannot survive where every supporter believes that his or her party is always right and the opposition is always wrong. That is nothing more than partisan blindness.
The media, civil society organisations, religious and traditional institutions, community leaders and other influential stakeholders also have important roles to play during this period. They should encourage peaceful participation, fact-based political discourse and issue-oriented campaigns rather than contribute to the escalation of political tension.
INEC and other relevant institutions equally have a major responsibility to ensure that the rules governing the campaigns are enforced fairly and consistently. The credibility of the electoral process does not depend only on what happens on election day. It begins long before voters arrive at the polling units.
The manner in which political parties conduct their campaigns, the manner in which candidates engage one another, the enforcement of campaign regulations, the treatment of electoral offences and the ability of citizens to participate freely and without intimidation all contribute to the credibility of the eventual election.
This is why the commencement of the 2027 electioneering should be seen as an opportunity to do things differently.
We have been through several electoral cycles as a nation. We have witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly. We have seen elections that brought hope, elections that generated controversy and elections that left deep divisions within communities and among political actors.
We should have learnt enough from these experiences to understand that elections should not be treated as do or die affairs.
At the end of every election, Nigeria will remain our country. Political parties will come and go. Candidates will win and lose. Governments will change. Political alliances will shift. But the country will remain.
It is therefore in the collective interest of all of us to ensure that the 2027 electioneering is conducted in a manner that strengthens rather than weakens our democracy.
Let the campaigns begin. Let candidates sell their ideas. Let political parties defend their records and present their alternatives. Let the electorate ask difficult questions. Let journalists interrogate the claims of politicians. Let legal practitioners help to interpret the laws where necessary. Let social media users verify information before sharing it. Let political opponents disagree without becoming enemies. Let the security agencies enforce the law without fear or favour. And, above all, let the people be allowed to make their choices freely, peacefully and without intimidation.
The 2027 elections should not merely be another election cycle. They should be another opportunity for us to demonstrate that, despite all the challenges confronting our democracy, we are capable of learning from our past, improving our electoral culture and moving closer to the kind of democratic system that genuinely reflects the will of the people.
The campaigns are here again.
Let us do it right.
raymondoise@yahoo.com.
Nigeria May Have Escaped Fiscal Clif, Now Build An Economy Worth The Sacrifice
Opinion
Three years after the removal of the fuel subsidy and the adjustment of the foreign-exchange regime, Nigeria’s revenue and external positions have improved significantly. After escaping the fiscal cliff as touted, but with the United States questioning the country’s fiscal transparency, the harder question is whether these gains can be translated into an economy worthy of the sacrifice Nigerians have endured.
There is an uncomfortable concern and interrogation Nigeria must confront as it evaluates the economic reforms that began in 2023, which has to do with understanding the consequences Nigeria would have faced without reform.
What if the petrol subsidy had remained? What if the foreign-exchange market had continued under its old distortions? What if government had not intensified revenue mobilisation through taxation, VAT, customs collections, statutory revenues and electronic money transfer levies? What if the loopholes that allowed significant economic activity to escape the tax net had remained largely untouched?
The question matters because the pain associated with the reforms has become so visible that it is easy to forget the economic crisis they were designed to prevent.
Three years later, Nigeria’s economic story is more complicated. On one hand, the numbers indicate a significant expansion in the government’s revenue-generating capacity and external buffers. On the other, the lived experiences of households continue to face severe pressure from food prices, transportation costs, inflation and declining purchasing power.
Significantly, the tax collection figures have risen from N12.3 trillion in 2023 to N27.1 trillion by July 2026, a 113 percent increase in less than three years, according to figures furnished by the Nigeria Revenue Service. The agency has linked the increase to tax reforms, digitalisation, new tax laws and efforts to close revenue leakages.
Nigeria’s gross external reserves have also risen to $52.52 billion as of July 17, 2026, from $50.47 billion at the end of May, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. The reserve level is reported to provide roughly 11 months of import cover, well above the conventional three-month benchmark.These are significant developments. But they do not, by themselves, prove that Nigeria has completed its fiscal recovery.
The United States Government’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report reportedly found that Nigeria had made insufficient progress in fiscal transparency. It said government budget documents did not provide a comprehensive picture of revenues and expenditures, raised concerns about discrepancies between approved budgets and actual implementation, and criticised weaknesses in the independence and reporting of Nigeria’s supreme audit institution.That criticism strikes at the heart of the reform narrative. More revenue is not necessarily the same thing as more fiscal credibility.
A government can collect more money without demonstrating clearly how all of it is spent. A country can accumulate foreign reserves while still leaving questions about the completeness and transparency of its public accounts. This does not erase Nigeria’s fiscal gains. It does, however, mean the gains must be subjected to greater scrutiny.
The removal of the petrol subsidy was arguably the most consequential reform, as this remains visible to the people. More confusing is that for many years, Nigeria devoted enormous public re it were, the policy created an illusion of cheap energy and at the same time, fraudulently consumed recare, education, social protection and productive investment
The World Bank at the outset, estimated that subsidy removal would save approximately N2 trillion in 2023, with cumulative savings projected to exceed N11 trillion between 2023 and 2025 and this was compared with a scenario in which the subsidy continued.
In reality, and as a response to one of the queries, if Nigeria had refused to remove the subsidy, the implication is that the government would have had to find more than N11 trillion to sustain it over that period or absorb the cost through additional borrowing, expenditure cuts or arrears. In such a situation, it would be said that the reform therefore did not eliminate the economic cost. It changed where the cost appeared. Before reform, much of the cost was hidden in government finances. After reform, it became visible in petrol prices, transportation costs, food prices and household expenditure.
The social cost was immediate. The World Bank reported that retail gasoline prices rose by an average of 163 percent following subsidy removal. Yet the alternative was not cost-free. It was a system in which government continued subsidising consumption while struggling to finance development.
Nigeria was therefore not choosing between pain and no pain. It was choosing between immediate adjustment and potentially greater fiscal pressure later.
Honestly, one of the strongest pieces of evidence that Nigeria’s fiscal architecture today has changed is found in the revenue numbers, especially where it is said that tax collections increased from N12.3 trillion in 2023 to N27.1 trillion by July 2026, an additional N14.8 trillion.
Nigeria had therefore collected by July 2026 more than twice the 2023 tax take, even though the 2026 figure covers only seven months. That signals a potentially important shift from chronic revenue weakness toward stronger tax mobilisation.
Nigeria’s revenue problem has never been solely about tax rates. It has also involved a narrow tax base, informality, weak enforcement, leakages and government’s limited ability to capture economic activity.
Digitalisation, improved enforcement and new tax laws can change that. But the N27.1 trillion figure must be interpreted carefully. It represents tax revenue, not total government revenue, and is a nominal figure. Inflation, exchange-rate movements and higher nominal transaction values can contribute to the increase.
For proper verification of the development, the real test is whether the growth represents a sustained improvement in the tax-to-GDP ratio, fiscal capacity and public accountability.
The broader revenue picture reinforces the transformation. Reviewing the figures, World Bank data showed VAT rising from N3.6 trillion in 2023 to N6.7 trillion in 2024, an increase of about N3.1 trillion or 86 percent. Also, Customs revenue rose from N2.0 trillion to N3.4 trillion, adding N1.4 trillion, or roughly 69 percent.
Further data from the Bank showed that oil and gas royalties increased from N2.4 trillion to N6.3 trillion, while oil and gas taxes rose from N2.9 trillion to N5.9 trillion. Federal independent revenues also increased from approximately N2.0 trillion to N4.4 trillion. These increases cannot all be interpreted as pure productivity gains. Inflation and exchange-rate movements matter. Nevertheless, they show that government has expanded its capacity to mobilise revenue.
The latest FAAC figures reinforce the point. In June 2026 alone, gross revenue available to the Federation was N4.501 trillion, comprising N3.701 trillion in statutory revenue and N799.746 billion in VAT. That monthly figure would amount to roughly N54 trillion annually if sustained, although such annualisation should not be interpreted as a forecast.
The more important question is now changing. It is no longer simply: “Where will government find money?” It is: “What is government doing with the money and can Nigerians independently verify it?” That question becomes even more important when viewed against the foreign-exchange reforms.
Nigeria’s old FX structure produced distortions, shortages and opportunities for arbitrage. The subsequent adjustment was painful, as the naira lost substantial value and imported goods, machinery, raw materials and other inputs became more expensive. But the same adjustment increased the naira value of foreign-currency-linked government revenues. That creates another reform inconsistency: The exchange-rate adjustment that strengthened government’s nominal revenue position also weakened household purchasing power.
Customs collections illustrate this. As the naira value of dollar-denominated imports rises, customs revenue can increase in naira terms. But importers pay more, manufacturers face higher input costs and consumers ultimately bear much of the cost.
A reform can therefore strengthen government finances while worsening the immediate economics of households and businesses.
The much-touted fiscal cliff is the reserve story; nevertheless, represents an important macroeconomic gain. Nigeria’s gross external reserves reached $52.52 billion by July 17, 2026, up from $50.47 billion at the end of May. Compared with roughly $40 billion at the end of 2024, reserves have increased by more than $12 billion. The CBN says the current reserve position provides approximately 11 months of import cover.
For a country that spent years battling FX shortages, reserve depletion and pressure on the naira, a stronger external buffer is important. It improves resilience against external shocks and strengthens the credibility of the country’s external position.
But stronger reserves do not automatically mean Nigeria has completely “escaped the fiscal cliff.” Foreign reserves are primarily an external-sector buffer. Fiscal sustainability concerns government revenue, expenditure, deficits, debt, debt servicing and the credibility of public financial management.
Conflating the two would weaken rather than strengthen Nigeria’s reform argument. The counterfactual, however, remains compelling. Suppose the subsidy had remained. Suppose the old FX regime had continued. Suppose tax administration had not been digitised. Suppose VAT and customs collections had not improved.
Also, suppose tax revenue had remained around N12.3 trillion, rather than reaching N27.1 trillion by July 2026. The fact is that government would have had fewer reange distortions would have remained. Reserve accumulation would have been harder. Borrowing requirements would likely have increased, while debt service would continue competing with development spending
The arithmetic would have been brutal when adding together: high subsidy expenditure, weak revenue, FX distortions and persistent deficit would amount to greater borrowing pressure.
Then adding together: greater borrowing and high interest rates are equal to heavier debt service. And finally: heavier debt service plus weak revenue results in less money for development.
Come to think of the trend in the past, Nigeria might have enjoyed cheaper petrol and avoided some of the immediate inflationary shock, but it would likely have been postponing rather than eliminating the adjustment.
That is why the reforms were necessary. But necessary reform is not the same as successful reform. This is where the U.S. fiscal-transparency assessment becomes significant.
For investors, lenders, development institutions and citizens, transparency is an economic asset. If approved budgets cannot easily be reconciled with actual implementation, if revenue and expenditure information is incomplete, or if independent auditing is considered inadequate, confidence suffers.
Obscurity has an economic cost. It can increase the perceived risk of investing in the country, raise the cost of capital, weaken public trust and make genuine economic improvements harder to believe. Nigeria therefore needs to move beyond revenue mobilisation toward revenue integrity. This aspect calls for clarity because if tax collections have risen from N12.3 trillion to N27.1 trillion, citizens deserve to know where the additional N14.8 trillion is going.
One critical truth is that if June 2026 generated N4.501 trillion in gross Federation revenue, citizens deserve to know how that was allocated and what public value it produced. The same applies: if reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, policymakers must clearly explain theal of subsidies generated billions of naira in savings, Nigerians deserve a transparent accounting of those savings
Transparency is therefore not an administrative luxury. It is part of the economic reform itself. More revenue does not automatically mean a healthier economy. A doubling of tax collections sounds spectacular. A $52.5 billion reserve position sounds impressive.
But nominal revenue can rise while real incomes fall. Customs revenue can increase because the naira value of imports has risen. VAT can increase because prices have risen even while households consume less in real terms. Foreign reserves can improve while citizens struggle with food prices.
The fiscal deficit also remains. This is as the IMF’s 2026 assessment projects government revenue and grants at around 10.8 percent of GDP against expenditure and net lending of about 14.2 percent. This left a deficit of approximately 4.4 percent of GDP.
It would be recalled that Nigeria’s 2026 federal budget provides for N34.33 trillion in expected revenue against N58.18 trillion in expenditure, as this includes N15.52 trillion for debt servicing, producing a projected deficit of N23.85 trillion, or 4.28 percent of GDP.
These figures demonstrate that Nigeria’s fiscal adjustment is unfinished. A country can collect more revenue and still run a large deficit. It can increase tax revenue and still borrow. It can accumulate reserves and still have millions of citizens struggling.
And it can improve macroeconomic indicators while facing legitimate questions about whether its fiscal accounts provide the complete picture. The next phase must therefore focus on expenditure quality, transparency, independent auditing and productivity.
Nigeria’s first stage was stabilisation: remove the unsustainable subsidy, correct distortions, improve revenue mobilisation, digitalise tax administration, close leakages, rebuild reserves and restore fiscal credibility. But stabilisation is not prosperity. The next stage must be transformation.
The additional N14.8 trillion represented by the increase in tax collections must translate into productive economic capacity. Stronger revenue must support electricity, transport infrastructure, healthcare, education, agriculture, industrial development, security and social protection.
And Nigerians must be able to see and verify what their money is producing. This is where the reform story becomes a test of governance. No doubt, the following, such as tax collections have risen from N12.3 trillion in 2023 to N27.1 trillion by July 2026. Foreign reserves have climbed beyond $52.5 billion. June 2026 generated N4.501 trillion in gross Federation revenue.
The subsidy burden has been substantially reduced. The FX market has undergone fundamental restructuring. These are significant achievements. But they are inputs, not the final outcome. The final outcome must be a stronger, more productive and more transparent economy. How many Nigerians have moved into productive employment? How much has real household income recovered? How much has electricity reliability improved? How much has agricultural productivity increased? How much has the cost of doing business fallen? How much private capital has been attracted? How much has poverty declined? How much of the approved budget was actually implemented? And can an independent auditor verify the answers? These questions will determine whether the reforms become transformative. There are two equally flawed positions in the reform debate. The first is to say the reforms were unnecessary because Nigerians are suffering.
The second is to say that because the reforms were necessary, every consequence should simply be accepted. Both are inadequate. Nigeria needed reform. But reform was never the destination.
The subsidy could not remain indefinitely. The distorted FX system could not remain indefinitely. The weak tax base could not remain indefinitely. Government’s ability to borrow indefinitely was also limited. But Nigerians did not endure the resulting hardship merely to produce better fiscal statistics. They endured it because the promise was that the adjustment would ultimately produce a more stable, productive and prosperous economy. That promise must now be fulfilled and transparently demonstrated.
Nigeria may have moved significantly away from the economic cliff that confronted it in 2023. But stronger revenue and reserves should not be confused with complete fiscal recovery.The numbers are encouraging. The U.S. transparency concerns are a warning. Both can be true. Nigeria has built greater fiscal space. It has rebuilt part of its external buffer. It has expanded its revenue capacity. Now it must build the bridge from those gains to the Nigerian household.
The country must move from higher revenue to higher productivity; stronger reserves to stronger investment; fiscal consolidation to better public services; GDP growth to better jobs; tax mobilisation to greater opportunity; budget announcements to measurable implementation; and macroeconomic stability to household prosperity.
The central question is no longer whether Nigeria should have reformed. It should have. The more important question is whether the government can now prove that the sacrifice was worth it.
Nigerians did not endure the removal of the fuel subsidy merely to make government finances healthier. They did not endure the naira adjustment merely to improve reserve statistics. They did not accept higher prices merely so that tax collections could rise from N12.3 trillion to N27.1 trillion. They endured the adjustment because the old economic model had become unsustainable and because reform was supposed to lead somewhere better.
Now comes the harder part. Nigeria must prove that the money is there, that the money is properly accounted for, that it is being spent as authorised and that it is producing results. That is the real meaning of fiscal reform.
Nigeria may have strengthened its fiscal position. It may have rebuilt its external buffer. It may have expanded its revenue capacity. But the journey is not complete until it rebuilds something equally important, which is the public trust in the numbers and prosperity in the lives of its people.
The fiscal cliff may be behind Nigeria. The real challenge now is to build an economy and a fiscal system worthy of the sacrifice.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached
Opinion
Betrayals And Backstabbing By Close Persons
Prof. Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha
THE immediate trigger for this essay is a chance encounter with an old schoolmate during our reunion two odd weeks ago in Abuja. The stories from that memorable event are for another day. Suffice it to say that we who were present had cause to give thanks to God for being alive nearly forty-five years after we all trudged our different paths in life, some bumpy, some smooth, some somewhat in between.
At the time, that is, immediately after graduation, we didn’t know how, what our future would be, how we would fare in the world, how the world would receive us, or how we would deal with the world. All we had was the tough hope to survive. And conquer! The luxury of campus life was over. No more parental shield. No more meal tickets. No more subsidies.
Some rose very fast and burnt out too early. Some suffered divorce. Some married three times while some never married. That is life. Some travelled abroad before japa became a singsong. Some went for different degrees to better their chances in the job market. A couple of us went into business.
Well, we didn’t know some would be too ill to travel for the reunion forty-five years after. We didn’t know that some would lose their sight. We didn’t know that some would die shortly after graduation. Shortly after they got a job. We didn’t know that some would die before they turned fifty. Or at sixty. The most popular guy in our sets (78-83) died shortly before the reunion. He was 70+. His death was a wake-up call!
We also didn’t know that some would become judges, professors, State Commissioners, Federal Permanent Secretaries, Senators, or Vice Chancellors. We also did not know that after our first reunion in Lagos some four odd years ago, we would lose two or three persons from the group. So, when we danced away to old school songs in Abuja it was both to glorify God and to revive old pleasant memories when our feet were still swift and our legs sturdy.
This is not a reunion narrative. It is about betrayal and backstabbing from close people. As a young man when I read Jesus Christ’s statement: ‘And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household’ (Matthew 10:26), it did not really make sense to me. How? Why? How can one’s foes be people from the same ancestral tree? The same family. Siblings sometimes. In the course of writing this essay, I found out that some siblings have not spoken to each other in ten years!
Later, I encountered African proverbs on betrayal. The Urhobo say: ‘the person you asked to blow the speck from one’s eyes ate pepper before doing so’. The Yoruba put it this way: ‘the one who will bite you is the one who eats with you’. The Akan say: ‘When the crocodile eats its own child, what will it do to a stranger? In Swahili, the proverb is a comment on the pain of betrayal: ‘a friend who betrays you is worse than an enemy’. The Zulu say: ‘do not show your wounds to someone who does not feel your pain’. The Hausa say: ‘the hand that strokes you can also slap you’. The Luo in Kenya put it this way: ‘if your brother sells you, the stranger will buy you cheap’ .
It began to make sense after I had moved on in life both career-wise and chronologically. The biblical story of Joseph and his brothers introduced me to sibling rivalry. Any time I watch the movie Joseph, I am always fascinated by the scene where Joseph revealed his identity to his treacherous and vile brothers. The brothers had thought he would take revenge. No. He didn’t. He showed them love. I am sure they must have felt very miserable about the whole incident.
The man who betrayed Christ was one of his disciples. He betrayed his master with a kiss. A kiss ought to be a symbol of love. But in the case of Judas, it was used to betray his master.
Different people have sad stories to tell about how a close family person betrayed them. Indeed, some have not been on speaking terms. In a very extreme case, a younger sibling refused to attend the funeral of his elder brother!
You remit money home and trust a family member to build a house. When you finally visit, there is no house anywhere. The pictures he had been sending were pictures of land belonging to someone else. Is it the one about a brother who cornered land meant for his siblings and threatened to finish the others if they as much as raised their voice against him? Because he lives in the village and is known to be fetish, everyone steers clear of him. Their father had warned them that never in life should they fight over land! My own father also warned me about fighting over land!
My old schoolmate talked about a domestic worker who had worked for his parents, and when the patriarch passed away, he inherited the young man. He trusted him. He trusted the man more than his blood relations. He offered to train him, the guy refused to go beyond secondary school. The domestic member of staff lived in his house and visited the father’s building twice a week. Last month he received a call from neighbours in Benin. He travelled home to meet his house vandalized. Stripped bare. The domestic worker was nowhere to be found. He had vanished into thin air. Just like that. The police could do nothing tangible to trace him. When my friend realized the police were milking him dry, he gave up and committed the traitor to God.
The next story came from another source. It is the story of a cousin whose father had helped this friend to buy a piece of land in a choice location. After a while, the father passed away and his son took over watching over the land, farming on it, and generally behaving like a good caretaker. Of course he received stipends from the land owner. He got the shock of his life when he found out later that this cousin had sold off the land and disappeared. There was nothing he could do. He was family. Very close.
The third story from my research came from a friend who kept receiving threat messages that his wife would be kidnapped if she came home. He used to travel home every December. He didn’t travel that year. Next December, the calls started again. He reported to the DSS. Finally, the culprit was caught. It turned out that it was his younger brother whom he had helped that was behind the kidnap threats. He was promptly arrested. A man’s foes shall be they of his own household!
I once had a driver who became family. I had engaged him as a wash man. But he soon showed that he had other skills. I entrusted the cars to him. He would travel alone to my country home in Delta State with bought items and deliver them. Everyone in the extended family knew him. In fact, there was a day he made the trip from Lagos to Oghara in Delta state twice when he had to ferry the household items of a sister-in-law whose husband had died suddenly. He returned around 1:00 a.m! Such hard work. I gave him a room in my boys’ quarters. Suddenly he disappeared. Fellow occupants in the boys’ quarters said he drove a newly-purchased car to Benin. When after three days we didn’t see him, I went to the police. ‘Oga that man dey run. E don do bad thing’, the desk officer told me. How do you know for sure that he was on the run? I asked. ‘It happens all the time. We get such reports. The fellow is still on the run.
We got permission to open the door. When the door was forced open, he had cleared everything, including items which belonged to the widow that he brought from Oghara! He was indeed on the run. He had even sublet the room to some students at an outrageous amount!
A man living in Lagos sent money home for a house to be built by his elder brother. And when he went home in December, nothing was on the ground. He collapsed when he found out that his brother had diverted the money to building his house. He never fully recovered because he died shortly after! ‘The insect which eats the vegetable is inside the vegetable!
So, what must one do to stay safe? Stop having friends? Not possible. Treat all friends as potential betrayers? May be. The Pentecostals talk about ‘unfriendly friends! No wonder the Bambara of Mali say: ‘a house built with the help of a friend collapses when that friend becomes an enemy! The clincher comes from the Urhobo proverbs which says: ‘I bared my itchy back for assistance in scratching it; but my helper had talons of thorns!
Prof. Eghagha writes through eghagha@yahoo.com
Opinion
TOFAC 2026: Professor Attahiru Jega Matters
Prof. Toyin Falola.
The decision by the University of Jos to invite Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega as the keynote speaker for the 2026 edition of the Toyin Falola Annual International Conference (TOFAC) in Jos was an intellectually informed one. The decision was timely and well aligned with the conference’s vision in addressing critical matters both through actions and meaningful discussions. Having Professor Jega to keynote the conference was more meaningful in practice than a mere selection of a distinguished public servant or celebrated academic. His invitation centred on a convergence between his scholarly and public career in relation to the enduring questions of identity in confronting Africa and the world at large.
As is the usual tradition, TOFAC 2026 had a most befitting theme. This year’s discussion was carefully chosen to discuss “Identities: Concepts, Theories–Change and Continuity.” The theme invited participants to a discourse central to human existence. For a very long time, identities have shaped how individuals and communities understand themselves. It offers perspectives into how a society and its people relate to others and how they are placed within history. Identities have been understood as a determining factor that influences citizenship, culture, politics, social status, amongst other aspects of the world.
As profound as they are, identities are neither fixed nor entirely flexible. They are adaptive and have evolved under extreme conditions across generations. Factors that often affect social identities include social pressures for change, politics, human migration, technology, and globalization. Identity in Africa has long been more than an abstract intellectual concern. It is one of the defining questions of Africa’s historical experience. African societies for centuries have persevered and evolved through encounters with external elements. The influx of empires, religion, colonialism, amongst others. As a result, the continent has become characterized by its shift to accommodate practices previously unknown to it, while holding onto key aspects of its own, like language, communal memory, and rituals, amongst others. Colonial rule, for instance, altered existing political and social structures within African communities.
Colonialists, through various means, succeeded in reshaping existing identities to create new ideals of belongingness and exclusion. Those who adapted and took to the new ways became part of the new order, while others who preferred the existing structures suffered exclusion. These distinctions continued into the postcolonial era, where these tensions continue to appear and influence the direction of social conversation on the essence of the African state. Many years after the exit of the colonialists, these questions remain as relevant as they were at independence. Indeed, a significant number of the contemporary challenges before Africa are largely attributed to the democratic system of governance, clamour for social cohesion, conflict management and nation-building. These concepts are crucial to any discussion on identity, which is exactly why Professor Attahiru Jega was an appropriate choice as the keynote speaker. He has lived around these intersections long enough to understand how fundamental they are to social development.
Jega’s academic distinction on the subject and his illustrious career distinguish him. As an expert in political science, Jega is a trailblazing cerebral on democratic development, socio-political and institutional reforms. He has significantly and notably contributed to thematic discussions on diversity, political structures, and historical experiences that shape governance outcomes and democratic practice.
Many years before his pivot into public administration, Jega was well established and known within intellectual circles as someone with a profound concern that democracy could be consolidated in Africa. He has made credible contributions in exploring the relationship between the masses and the institutions that serve them; he has contributed to studies on the challenges of political representation and the forces acting on collectivism and social transformation. In many respects, his previous works and inquiries are genuinely inseparable in grounded discussions of identity and belonging.
Undisputedly, Jega is not just a celebrated academic; he is a remarkable personality with an enviable record, typical of a scholar. Unlike others whose relevance begins and ends in the classroom and journals, Jega is well known for a theory–practice approach. As the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) president in the 1990s, he was at the forefront, leading campaigns and advocacy for academic freedom, accountability, and educational reform. His time in office is remarkable for persistent advocacy on the impacts of higher education in national development. He is a loud voice in addressing governance fallouts, education reforms, and better policies for national development. His excellent performance as the Academic Union president perhaps led the way for his subsequent appointment as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The new role ultimately placed him at the centre of Nigeria’s democratic experience. There, he experienced firsthand some of the most difficult questions in a diverse society.
Nigeria’s diversity makes elections a complex matter. Nigerian elections are rarely contests of policy alone. They are shaped more in truth by other factors beyond policymaking. For every election, factors like regional loyalties, ethnicities, and religious identities have played key roles in determining victory at the polls. Administering elections in such a fragile environment gives a profound understanding of the social realities at work in each region.
Jega’s leadership as electoral chairman portrayed how crucial institutions and well-positioned individuals could be instrumental in managing diversity to sustain democratic legitimacy. The electoral reforms he promoted during his tenure restored the eroding trust the public had in its institutions. The public was excited enough to participate in the democratic process en masse. The electoral body’s role in ensuring a better electoral process and similar events surrounding the eventual power transition demonstrated the electoral commission’s role in bridging the political tension in an already tense climax. The ideals and belief systems that guided the electoral chairman in administering an historic election encourage the transition of all borders into qualities that resonate strongly with the central theme of TOFAC 2026.
A keynote speaker is expected to share a wealth of experience. Without doubt, Prof Jega is well-positioned to take the attendees through a rare perspective on identity as both a concept and a reality. For Jega, identity is beyond theories. It is something deeper. It is that which shapes public life, influences political outcomes, and affects institutional stability. Without any exaggeration, it is fair to say that only a few individuals have observed more closely how identities further a sense of solidarity, public participation in politics, and cultural resilience, while at the same time acting as tools for exclusion, division, and conflict.
The selection of Jega was not a surprise for previous participants and attendees. This is because his selection as a speaker correlates with the broader intellectual tradition associated with me as the convener and the conference that bears his name. For decades, the convener has dutifully called for the reshaping of the contexts around African scholarship. He continually nudged the intellectual community on the need to challenge any simplistic understandings of Africa. This explains why Professor Jega’s keynote address this year is more than a ceremonial lecture. His presence and the theme for discussion fit into the larger conversation on how social identities could be understood.
Significantly, Jos further enriches this conversation. a city agreed to be the crossroads of multiple cultural, religious, and ethnic traditions. The city of Jos portrays various complexities associated with identity in contemporary Nigeria. Its history richly reflects the possibilities and challenges of pluralism. As a site where questions of belonging, cohesion, and communal memory have often been invoked, it was the most appropriate setting for TOFAC.
As participants gathered for TOFAC 2026, they confronted questions that extend far beyond academic debate. Questions that sought clarity on the roles of technology, migration, global connectivity, and international policies on identities. Participants would meet arguments that prove why communities still draw meaning from history, culture, faith, language, and shared memory, amongst other salient tasks at TOFAC.
These questions sit at the heart of the TOFAC theme and are what Professor Attahiru Jega was called upon to address. With a remarkable track record, Professor Jega is uniquely positioned to address these questions. He is no doubt a representation of ideas and action. His presence at TOFAC 2026, therefore, became a thoughtful addition to an intellectual engagement. In bringing Jega to Jos, TOFAC did more than welcome a keynote speaker. It invited participants into a deeper reflection on one of the most consequential issues of our time: how identities are formed, sustained, argued, and transformed in the continuing pursuit of democratic and human flourishing.
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