Prince 💎⭐ 🐦

Nigeria’s judiciary has spent years talking about independence. Independence without accountability is just insulation. If a judge can detain someone for nearly two months without following basic procedure and only face a one-year unpaid suspension, we still have a long way to go. The rule of law starts with the people who are supposed to enforce it.

At the same meeting the NJC recommended 28 candidates for appointment across several states. That’s fine, but appointments without stronger internal discipline just recycle the same culture. Suspending people for a year without pay is a start. The real test is whether this becomes the standard or remains an occasional press release.

These are not isolated “mistakes.” The NJC also cautioned and warned several other judges over garnishee orders, granting bail despite existing remand orders, delivering judgments outside the 90-day constitutional limit, and continuing cases while appeals were pending. When so many senior judicial officers need to be pulled up in one meeting, the problem is systemic.

Justice Sobere Biambo (Rivers High Court) ordered the arrest of litigants and slammed ₦300,000 fines on each of them in a civil matter — again without proper contempt proceedings or the required forms. Same pattern: using the power of the bench to punish people outside the rules. One year without pay + three-year bar on elevation.

Grand Kadi Mohammed Sani Salihu (Jigawa Sharia Court of Appeal) went further. He set up a committee to review a judgment already delivered by the FCT Upper Area Court, then reassigned the case so another judge could take fresh evidence and give a new judgment. That’s not review. That’s trying to rewrite a final decision through the back door. Suspended for one year without pay.

Justice Hannatu Mohammed Kabir (Nasarawa High Court) ordered a litigant’s detention for 58 days over alleged disobedience of a court order. She never served the mandatory Forms 48 and 49 and didn’t follow proper contempt procedure. The NJC said this violated the person’s right to fair hearing. One year suspension without pay + barred from elevation for three years. That’s the minimum.

The NJC just suspended three judges for a full year without pay. This is the kind of move that should have happened more often. When judges lock people up for 58 days without proper process or reopen settled judgments, the system is no longer protecting justice — it’s protecting itself. Accountability has to start from the top.

I’m not interested in who “started it” today. I’m interested in whether we’re still pretending this is normal. A candidate being advised to take another route because machetes are out, then choosing to confront it anyway, is a small moment. The larger one is whether the rest of us keep looking away until it’s our own convoy — or our own street.

Two questions I’m sitting with: 1. How many more of these “isolated” incidents happen before we treat political violence as the actual campaign strategy it often is? 2. If security can quickly arrest one person and restore order when a high-profile convoy is involved, what does that say about their capacity (or willingness) when ordinary citizens are the targets? The answers will shape whether 2027 is a contest or a contest of who can intimidate better.

Here’s the uncomfortable part most reports skip: this isn’t new. Obi’s convoy faced a similar blockade in Benue months ago. Political thuggery has been a feature, not a bug, in Nigerian elections for decades. What feels different now is how casually it’s being normalized in the open, in broad daylight, with cameras rolling. When candidates themselves start narrating the violence instead of being silenced by it, the dynamic shifts.

What stood out wasn’t the attack itself. It was Obi’s reaction at the town hall: “They were throwing stones… my security said they have machetes. I asked, ‘In Nigeria? I’m coming down to meet them.’ They left. These things happen because we allow them. We will not allow it in 2027.” That’s either courage or calculated theater. Either way, it landed.

Around 2:20pm at Watt Market Roundabout, hoodlums emerged from Calabar Road/Clerks Alley. Stones, sticks, machetes. Campaign vehicles damaged. Panic. One supporter reportedly took a stray bullet to the leg. Police arrested 27-year-old Victor Edet Yellow Duke on the spot. Others melted into the streets. Earlier, they had already separated NDC and APC crowds near the hotel to prevent a bigger clash.

Today in Calabar wasn’t just another “thugs attack convoy” headline. A presidential candidate’s motorcade was stoned, windshields smashed with machetes, and supporters injured — right after a courtesy visit to the Obong of Calabar. Peter Obi and Kwankwaso walked away unhurt. The rest of us shouldn’t. This is the real temperature of 2027 politics.

I’ll keep updating if clearer information comes out. Anyone on the ground in Sokoto or following closely — what’s the real picture right now? Is the event proceeding smoothly or is the tension still high?

The ticket itself is Atiku + Rotimi Amaechi. The party has been calling it a “unity and rescue” ticket since June. Sokoto is being positioned as the starting point for a national push focused on cost of living and security. I’m more interested in the ground reality today than the slogans. How big is the actual turnout once the dust settles? Any incidents? What does Atiku actually say when he speaks?

Personal take: Starting a presidential campaign in Sokoto with this much pre-existing tension is deliberate. It tests both the party’s mobilisation capacity and how much space opposition parties actually have ahead of 2027. Whether you support Atiku/Amaechi or not, the pattern of sealed offices, venue secrecy, and security allegations is worth watching closely. These kinds of friction points tend to shape how the rest of the campaign plays out.

From what I’m seeing, local leaders like Tambuwal, Malami, and Yusuf Suleiman were already moving toward the airport to receive him. Supporters are posting crowds at the secretariat and talking “no retreat, no surrender.” There are also counter-claims of people being stopped from moving toward the venue. At this hour (late morning), the picture is still incomplete — no clear confirmation of his exact arrival or the main speech yet.

They postponed the original date (31 Oct), kept the venue secret for a while, and only confirmed No. 1 Ilorin Road relatively late. There’s the sealed campaign office on Ahmadu Bello Way, the earlier shooting at the governorship candidate’s convoy near the airport, and Atiku’s claim that DSS was mobilising protesters to create chaos so a curfew could be imposed. DSS denied it and said they’re investigating. The state government defended sealing the office on security grounds. This is a lot of moving parts for a campaign kick-off.