Tinubu’s Silent Domination: A Threat to Nigeria’s Democracy

Presiding officer addresses the Nigerian Senate chamber during a plenary session

By Editor President Tinubu does not need to threaten a “do-or-die” election. By capturing institutions, absorbing opposition structures, and weakening electoral safeguards, he is shaping the outcome long before voting begins. When referees are loyal and rules are rewritten, elections become ritual, not choice. The events of last Wednesday at the Nigerian Senate left a bitter and lingering taste in the mouths of many Nigerians. For a public already exhausted by broken promises and eroded trust, the handling of the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment Bill felt less like a disappointment and more like a confirmation of long-held fears. For weeks, citizens waited with restrained hope, believing, perhaps naively, that the Senate might finally take a step toward restoring confidence in governance and the electoral process. Instead, what unfolded appeared to be the final straw, a moment that exposed, in stark terms, where power truly lies and whose interests are being served. When Olusegun Obasanjo infamously described the 2003 election as a “do-or-die affair,” he revealed his mindset with startling clarity. It was the language of conquest, not consent; of domination, not democracy. The backlash was immediate, but the damage was irreversible. That election has since become a grim reference point, a reminder of what happens when incumbents abandon restraint and treat democratic competition as a personal survival exercise. Yet for all his brazenness, Obasanjo made one critical error: he spoke too plainly. He announced his intentions. He warned the public. And in politics, forewarning invites resistance. President Bola Tinubu has learned that lesson well. He has not threatened Nigerians with “do or die.” He has adopted a far more effective strategy: silent domination. There is no bluster, no dramatic declarations, no rhetorical excess. Instead, there is method, cold, patient, and systematic. Tinubu is not engaging in speculation or theatrics; he is locking down the very mechanisms that decide electoral outcomes. This is not opposition paranoia or conspiracy theory. It is observable, sequential, and intentional. Tinubu is not preparing to contest the 2027 election; he is preparing to control it. The foundation of this control is institutional obedience. Elections in Nigeria are no longer stolen primarily by ballot-box snatching; they are shaped long before voting begins, inside institutions that determine how votes are counted, challenged, secured, and enforced. Tinubu has therefore ensured that the most critical offices—the judiciary, electoral management bodies, the police, intelligence services, and military command, are headed by individuals whose loyalty is dependable and whose independence is, at best, compromised. This has nothing to do with merit or federal character. It has everything to do with predictability. When disputes arise, when injunctions are sought, when security decisions must tilt one way or another, the president does not want doubt. He wants alignment. In such a system, instructions need not be given. The expectations are already understood. Yet institutions alone do not guarantee victory; geography still matters. That is why the ruling party has pursued a ruthless campaign of political absorption across the country. Governors are defecting not out of conviction, but out of calculation. Nigerian politics is unforgiving to dissent and generous to surrender. Federal power is wielded as a weapon, through control of funds, security pressure, and administrative chokeholds. Faced with these realities, many governors have chosen capitulation over confrontation. The result is a weakened opposition and a ruling party that now controls the very state machinery responsible for administering elections. In Nigeria, whoever controls the states controls logistics, security coordination, and the practical implementation of electoral rules. This is not competitive democracy; it is political enclosure. Then came the most decisive move: rewriting the rules themselves. Nigerians had placed what little faith remained in technology as a shield against fraud. Electronic transmission of results was imperfect, but it disrupted decades of rigging culture by limiting human discretion at collation centres, the traditional graveyard of the popular will. That disruption made it dangerous. And so it had to be neutralized. The Senate’s decision to weaken electronic transmission and preserve manual handling of results was not the product of confusion or incompetence. It was deliberate. Lawmakers understood precisely what they were doing. They chose the system that allows figures to “change,” results to “adjust,” and outcomes to “emerge.” They acted openly, confidently, and without fear, because they know the system shields them from accountability. Calling the Senate a rubber stamp is no longer rhetorical excess; it is an accurate description. In that moment, the chamber made clear that it represents power, not voters. It did not fail Nigerians by accident, it betrayed them by choice. By dismantling electronic safeguards, it restored the most dangerous phase of Nigeria’s electoral process: the opaque journey between polling units and final collation, where votes lose meaning and manipulation thrives. Government defenders will insist, as always, that everything done was legal. They are correct, and that is precisely the danger. Authoritarianism in the modern age does not announce itself with tanks and decrees. It advances quietly, through laws, appointments, and procedural camouflage. It smiles, quotes the constitution, and pretends neutrality while suffocating competition. Tinubu’s approach may be legal, but it is fundamentally illegitimate. It drains democracy of substance while preserving its outward form. The real danger is not that Tinubu may win re-election. Incumbents often do. The danger is that Nigeria is sliding toward a system where elections exist without real choice, opposition exists without real power, and voters exist without real consequence. When outcomes are engineered in advance, participation becomes ritual. Citizens vote, but nothing changes. Tinubu does not need to rig ballots if he controls the referees. He does not need to intimidate voters if he controls collation. He does not need to threaten rivals if he absorbs or neutralizes them. This is domination without spectacle, power without noise, and manipulation without fingerprints, cleaner than Obasanjo’s blunt-force tactics, and far more corrosive. History is unforgiving to such arrangements. Before they collapse, they extract a heavy toll: public cynicism, voter apathy, institutional decay, and the slow suffocation of accountability. Nigeria has

Olofu Engages Benue South Stakeholders in Lagos Over Senate Agenda

Dr. David Olofu addressing Benue South stakeholders and diaspora leaders during a consultative meeting in Lagos on his Senate aspiration.

Breaking from conventional campaign outreach, Dr. David Olofu took consultations for his Senate race to Lagos, bringing together Benue South diaspora stakeholders and leaders from the home front to deliberate on inclusive representation and a people-centred legislative agenda.

Persisting insecurity: Senate to stage Security Summit

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday set up an ad hoc committee to organise a three-day National Security Summit. The upper chamber’s resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim (APC-Ondo) and co sponsored by four other senators during plenary. The motion was titled “Urgent Need for a National Security Summit”. Moving the motion, Ibrahim raised concerns over the high level of global insecurity which was rising due to the events in Russia and Ukraine. He said that recent events in the country had led to feelings of discomfort and insecurity which has placed the past accomplishments of our security forces at risk. Ibrahim added that insecurity across Nigeria has become pervasive, impacting on both urban and rural areas. “Where banditry, ransom kidnappings and terrorism were pressing issues across the country as well as other violent crimes”. He said that President Bola Tinubu was serious about the peace of Nigeria, as such, there is the need for some fact-finding intelligence support for the President’s efforts. “No country will allow its citizens to understand security by living with insecurity. “Therefore, the ideology of peace for all, as outlined in the executive policies of the Renewed Hope Agenda should be upheld and promoted,” he said. Contributing, the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Abba Moro said “What is before us now is whether we should convoke a national security summit. “These security challenges are happening in every area and in different dimensions. In proffering solutions to the security challenges, there is ‘no one side fits all’ approach. “We’ve provided solutions in the past and they have not worked does not stop us from proffering solutions. “Now that we are confronted with hydra-headed insecurity, there is nothing that stops us from exploring all means of bringing insecurity to a halt,” he said. In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio noted that the summit will compose delegates from states, communities affected, traditional rulers and students unions. This, he said was so we have a holistic debate because security is everybody’s business. The summit will include delegates from all levels of government, as well as traditional institutions. The Red Chamber also urged the federal government to review and rejig the country’s security policies based on outcomes from the summit.

Sen Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan orchestrated recall: a new low in misogyny and abuse of power.

By Wale Alonge The prevalence of misogyny, acquiescence to egregious abuse of power, and the flagrant disregard for procedures on display in the defense of a man accused of sexually harassing a senator is alarming and disheartening. The orchestrated effort to maliciously discredit the alleged victim, supported by numerous individuals on social media, including the COYN platform, is equally disturbing. It is widely acknowledged that sexual harassment and exploitation of women are pervasive issues in our society. Yet, many men have chosen to support and justify one of the most egregious abuses of power in the Nigerian senate, citing senate rules as a justification. I pose the following questions to some of the male folk who are attempting to persuade us to disregard common sense and the evidence before us by advocating for the “sequence of events theory”: That their posers about the breach of senate rule by Senator Natasha preceded chronologically her allegation of sexual harassment against Senate President Akoabio. Hence her accusation had nothing to do with her allegation. If you genuinely believe that the accusation of breaching senate rules against Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan was unrelated to her allegation of sexual harassment against senate president Akpabio, then please answer the following questions: If you cannot answer affirmatively to any of these questions, how can anyone objectively defend the blatant abuse of power exhibited by the Nigerian senate in its treatment of Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan? This defense defies logic, fairness, objectivity, respect for justice, and adherence to rule-based politics. In conclusion, the Nigerian senate has established a new low in misogyny and abuse of power in its handling of the Natasha-Akpabio scandal. It is essential to note that no one is disputing the guilt or innocence of the two individuals involved in the scandal. The truth of the events is known only to the two parties. What is being contested is the unmistakable effort by the Nigerian senate to tip the scales of justice in favor of the alleged perpetrator and to excoriate and punish the alleged victim in the most severe and appalling manner. In a reasonable system, the victim would have been given the benefit of the doubt, especially considering our society’s alarming statistics on sexual harassment and exploitation of women. This is an undeniable fact supported by extensive research data and our collective lived experience. The impact about the blight of the Natasha-Akpabio scandal will reverberate for decades to come. Its victims might by our daunted or granddaughters who are now witnessing the re-victimization, brutal excoriation and the crude and severe punishment being meted out to powerful Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan would get the chilling message that in Nigeria, victims of sexual harassment had better kept their mouth shut and take their abuse and dehumanization in silence. That society will punish them severely if they spoke out. This is indeed a sad watershed episode in our nation’s history and the treatment of victims of sexual harassment and exploitation. Adewale Alonge, PhD, is Founder & President, Africa Diaspora Partnership for Empowerment and Development. www.adped.org

Amid Natasha controversy, Senate reaffirms confidence in Akpabio

Senate on Thursday passed a vote of confidence in Senate President Godswill Akpabio, reaffirming its support for his leadership. This vote is coming on the heels of the controversy surrounding the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over allegations of misconduct. During Thursday’s plenary, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, moved the motion, which was seconded by the Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olalere Oyewumi. The lawmakers overwhelmingly backed Akpabio, emphasizing their commitment to upholding parliamentary rules and procedures. Bamidele clarified that the Senate had not received any formal allegations of sexual harassment against Akpabio between August 2023 and the present. He stated that the issue referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics was unrelated to such claims. According to him, the Senate’s actions are guided strictly by constitutional provisions and not personal grievances. “The Nigerian Constitution, under Section 60, grants Parliament the authority to regulate its own procedures. The Senate operates within these legal frameworks, ensuring due process and order,” Bamidele stated. He further acknowledged the public’s right to scrutinize government actions but emphasized that governance must adhere to established protocols for effective service delivery. Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, put the confidence motion to a vote, with the majority of senators endorsing it. The vote comes amid ongoing public debate over Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension following her allegations against Akpabio. However, the Senate leadership insists its decisions are based on parliamentary ethics and constitutional guidelines. Similarly, the complaint filed by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan at the United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Conference in New York, has continued to raise dust as the Nigerian Senate has defended its decision to suspend the lawmaker representing Kogi Central. The Senate insisted that it was due to “gross misconduct” and not her sexual harassment allegation against Senate President Godswill Akpabio that led to her suspension. Recall that while addressing the United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Conference, Natasha alleged injustice and harassment from the powers that be in the Senate. Moreover, following her presentation, the IPU assured her that it would take necessary steps to address her grievances but stressed the need to also hear the other side before making any official pronouncement. However, the Nigerian Senate has responded to Senator Natasha’s complaint to the IPU through a letter written by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. The letter was read by the Chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Honorable Kafilat Ogbara, who is attending the event in an official capacity representing Nigeria. The Senate letter reads, “Senator Natasha-Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended for gross misconduct and unruly behaviour and not as a result of allegation of sexual harassment or assault. “The authority of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria firmly refutes the deliberate misinformation and false narrative being circulated by certain media organisations regarding the sixth months suspension of Senator Natsaha-Akpoti-Uduaghan. “Let it be unequivocally stated that Uduaghan was suspended solely for her persistent act of misconduct and disregard for the Senate Standing Orders.” Honourable Ogbara called for a holistic investigation into the allegation by Senator Natasha against the Senator President, Godswill Akpabio. She maintained that procedures and necessary actions under the Senate rules were observed before Senator Natasha’s suspension. Last week, the Senate suspended the lawmaker in a move that has continued to generate debates across the country. She had initially submitted a petition to the Senate accusing Akpabio of sexual harassment. But the lawmakers threw it out before suspending her even after submitting another petition. Senator Natasha vowed to continue the fight against “injustice”. But in the wake of the suspension, Akpabio denied the accusations and maintained he has never assaulted women. Recall that the Natasha face-off with the Senate president started on February 20, 2025, after her seat was changed during plenary

Natasha, senate and enforcers of the cult’s code of silence

THE Nigerian Senate is far more than the upper legislative chamber in our bi-camera parliament. In more respects than one, the senate is also a cult which thrives in occultic practices especially on matters pertaining to the conducts and utterances of senators. Other run-of-the-mill cults operate in secret and subscribe to strange codes known only to their members. The members of the senate also operate through codes that are not entirely secret. Their own codes are printed in what senators call Standing Orders. Practicing senators are expected to inscribe the contents of their Standing Orders in their hearts. For some senators the Standing Orders trumps the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended. The Standing Orders is their own holy grail or writ the contents of which must never be breached no matter how anachronistic they may be. Some senators especially their presiding and principal officers are wont to believe that their Standing Orders ranks above every other document in the land. Every senator is mandated to come to work especially plenary clutching the Standing Orders pamphlet. It’s not the same requirement for the Constitution of the Republic. So, as a senator, when you take the oath of office and allegiance to the Constitution, you would also invariably be subscribing to senate’s peculiar code. The difference is that you may breach the Constitution and go scot-free or get away with a slap in the wrist. But if you break their code, the hammer of the cult leaders would fall on you heavily, swiftly, and fast. The hammer can be devastating and ruinous. Except perhaps for former senator Shehu Sani, no senator aligns with the offending senator. Last weekend, senator Sani said he was saved from what appeared to be an inevitable suspension from the senate for nothing less than six months but for the intervention of presiding officers, senators Olusola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, respectively senate president and deputy senate president at the time. What was senator Sani’s offence: he publicly disclosed the salaries and allowances of senators during his time. In Nigeria salaries and allowances of senators, members of the House of Representatives, and some other public officers could be likened to the Constitution of Malawi under their former president, the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Legend has it that when Banda had his vice grips on Malawi, it was a criminal offence for any other person except the president to quote or reference any provisions in the Constitution. It was also forbidden that any Malawian should speculate on the age of the president. So senator Sani was set to be sacked from the senate by those who did not elect him. Nigerian senate was part of making a law to encourage whistle-blowing and protect whistle blowers, but it loathes whistle blowers from amongst its fold, and especially if the whistle blowing has to do with its activities, actions and operations. The most important operating code for our senators is that “nga – aha eri anaghi eri onwe ha” or dogs don’t eat dogs. Except for the aspect of accusation of sexual harassment against the current president of the senate, Obong Godswill Akpabio, by  senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, nothing that has happened in the past two weeks was strange. At the minimum no less than six senators had been suspended from the senate since the advent of civil rule about 26 years ago. To be candid less than 10 suspensions could not by any imagination be said to be too much. So on this score kudos to the senate. However, a closer examination of some of the reasons for the suspensions of senators should be concerning. Some of them speaks to the lawlessness of the presiding officers of the senate, and the inclination to enforce a culture of silence in the senate. The same applies to the House. One senator Abdul Ningi was suspended from the senate last year for three months for blowing the whistle on the padding of the national budget by some lawmakers in the national assembly to the tune of N3trillion. He further alleged that two distinct budgets were being operated – one approved by the national assembly and the other procured by the Executive arm of government for itself. He was humiliated and hounded out in the guise of suspension. As it later turned out senator Ningi spoke the truth. The budget in question was mindlessly padded and two budget documents were being executed. But there were no consequences. Not from the Executive, not from the Legislature. The culprits went scot-free. The majority of senators and representatives respected the cult’s code of silence. The only code in the presidency is the president who obviously cannot go to equity. So the evil doers walked away with their financial heists. And the country muddled along in the journey to nowhere. READ ALSO: How the courts stopped illegal suspension of legislators in Nigeria Ovie Omo-Agege was once a senator. In 2018 he was accused of opposing a bill for election reordering. His name was also mentioned when some thugs stormed the senate chamber and stole the mace, the legislative house’s symbol of authority. That burglary was captured on live television. The action of badging into the senate to disrupt proceedings and seize the mace was said to have been ignited by sundry leadership disputes. Omo-Agege was suspended from the senate, and denied the privileges and appurtenances of office. He went to court and the court struck down his suspension. The presiding judge ruled that the action of the senate was illegal. A similar fate befell senator Ali Ndume. He was the majority leader of the current senate (the 10th senate). Last year he spoke out about the grinding poverty in the land occasioned by the economic policies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) political party of which he is a ranking member. He spoke to other issues as well. He was swiftly suspended and stripped of his principal officer’s role. The office of the majority leader was quickly