Nigeria Security Challenges Remain Fundamentally Domestic – Ojo – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

ghanamma.com · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

Barrister Olalekan F. Ojo, a Lagos-based human rights lawyer and strong advocate of social justice, is the Managing Partner, Platinum & Taylor Hill LP, a leading law firm in Nigeria. In this chat with EJIKEME OMENAZU, he speaks on alleged corruption involving a humongous amount by ghost workers in Osun State as well as other crucial current issues. Excerpt: Osun State has been in the news over alleged corruption involving a humongous amount by ghost workers. What is your take on this, and the raging crisis between the government and the consulting firm that audited the state’s accounts? Allegations of ghost workers are typically symptomatic of deeper institutional weaknesses, rather than isolated misconduct. In public sector administration, such schemes often flourish where payroll systems lack real-time verification, where biometric databases are either outdated or poorly integrated, and where internal audit mechanisms are reactive rather than preventive. A properly conducted forensic or payroll audit is designed to detect discrepancies; duplicate identities, inactive staff profiles, irregular salary flows, and systemic control failures. The dispute between the Osun State government and its consultant should therefore be viewed through a governance lens. Audits frequently produce findings that disrupt entrenched interests. The credibility of the process must be assessed objectively, but the ultimate priority should remain transparency, institutional correction, and fiscal discipline. Why do you think the Osun State government will turn against its consultant instead of recovering the looted funds and prosecuting the culprits? Disagreements following audits are not unusual, particularly when findings carry political, administrative, or reputational consequences. Governments may legitimately question methodology, scope, or contractual compliance. However, accountability frameworks demand that procedural concerns do not eclipse substantive governance obligations. Where credible evidence of financial irregularities exists, the logical progression should include independent verification, recovery mechanisms, and, where legally sustainable, prosecution. Focusing excessively on the consultant risks creating the impression of deflection, even when legitimate concerns exist. Public confidence depends on visible commitment to corrective action, rather than prolonged institutional disputes. Still on Osun State, why do you think the issue of local government funds is yet to be resolved? How do you see the role of the Federal Government in this crisis? Local government funding disputes often reflect broader tensions within Nigeria’s fiscal federalism architecture. They may involve constitutional interpretation, administrative control debates, and political competition between tiers of government. Legal complexities aside, delays frequently arise from institutional inertia, political bargaining, and litigation pathways. The Federal Government’s role, ideally, should be stabilising and law-centred. It must act as a constitutional custodian, ensuring clarity, neutrality, and adherence to legal frameworks. Sustainable resolution requires institutional cooperation, rather than adversarial posturing, particularly because fiscal uncertainty directly impacts service delivery at the grassroots level. What is your view on the just-concluded Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council election? Do you think All Progressives Congress (APC) deserves its electoral victory bearing in mind that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) used to hold sway in the FCT elections in the past? Electoral outcomes are dynamic reflections of voter priorities, campaign effectiveness, and socio-political context. Political dominance is never permanently guaranteed. The APC’s performance suggests shifts in voter alignment, organisational capacity, and local political strategy. Electoral legitimacy should be measured by compliance with legal processes, voter participation, and administrative credibility, rather than historical expectations. Where elections are transparently conducted, outcomes must be respected as expressions of democratic choice. Would you say that the opposition parties could have got better results in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council polls? Yes, electoral competitiveness depends heavily on preparation, message discipline, candidate appeal, and voter mobilisation infrastructure. Opposition parties often face structural disadvantages, but effective strategy, coherent narratives, grassroots engagement, and data-driven campaigning can mitigate such constraints. Electoral outcomes frequently reward organisation and credibility, rather than rhetoric alone. With the poor performance of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) council elections, do you think the coalition of opposition leaders is really working? Coalitions succeed when they move beyond symbolic unity into operational cohesion. Electoral viability requires aligned ideology, coordinated strategy, unified messaging, and strong ground structures. Weak performance may indicate that alliance-building has not yet translated into functional political machinery. Voters typically respond to clarity and credibility; fragmented or ambiguous coalitions struggle to inspire confidence. More PDP governors, party executives, and lawmakers have defected to the APC. What does this say about Nigeria’s democracy and party system? The wave of defections highlights the ideological poverty of Nigerian politics. Most political parties lack consistent policy platforms, and politicians often defect not out of conviction but for proximity to federal power, personal ambition, or survival. This raises serious concerns: It undermines accountability, as elected officials abandon the platform on which they secured the people’s mandate. It weakens opposition politics, which is critical for democratic checks and balances. It fuels political opportunism, making elections less about service and more about access to government patronage. Nigeria must consider stronger constitutional or statutory provisions to regulate defections, particularly for elected officials. Political stability requires political ideology, not political expediency. With the massive defections to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and going by the crises being witnessed so far in its State and Local Government Congresses, do you foresee a major crisis and possible implosion in the party as the nation marches towards the 2027 general elections? Defections consolidate political strength, but often intensify internal competition, particularly where ideological alignment is secondary to political expediency. Party stability depends on internal democracy, dispute resolution frameworks, leadership discipline, and equitable power-sharing arrangements. Without effective management, factional pressures may escalate. However, political parties are adaptive institutions; whether tensions mature into crisis depends on governance within the party. How do you see the recent use of Executive Orders by the Tinubu administration to overturn provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), especially concerning remittance of funds? From a constitutional standpoint, Executive Orders cannot override statutory legislation. Where conflicts are alleged, the issue becomes one of legal interpretation. Policy instruments must operate within legislative boundaries to preserve legal certainty, regulatory stability, and investor confidence. Frequent tensions between executive flexibility and statutory rigidity underscore the need for institutional dialogue rather than unilateral policy recalibration. Would you say that the latest peace deal between Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara as brokered by President Bola Tinubu will finally restore peace in Rivers State? Political settlements endure when supported by sustained institutional cooperation and mutual restraint. Peace agreements often succeed at the symbolic level but falter during implementation. Durable stability requires governance alignment, administrative collaboration, and political maturity from all stakeholders. Personal or factional reconciliations must translate into functional governmental harmony. With continued killings and terrorist attacks still going on in parts of Nigeria, would you say that American military intervention is really working? External security cooperation may enhance tactical capabilities; training, intelligence sharing, logistical support, but Nigeria’s security challenges remain fundamentally domestic. Sustainable solutions require intelligence reform, institutional efficiency, socio-economic stabilisation, and community-based security integration. Foreign assistance can complement national strategy, but structural security resilience must be internally driven. There were allegations of vote buying in the last Anambra governorship election as well as the recently held Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council election. Would you say that vote buying has come to stay? How can it be curbed? Vote buying has unfortunately become a structural feature of our elections, driven by poverty, disillusionment, and weak enforcement. However, it does not have to remain so. To curb it: Establish dedicated Electoral Offences Tribunals for quick prosecution; redesign polling units to enhance secrecy and reduce third-party monitoring of voters; strengthen financial transparency around campaign funding; launch aggressive civic education campaigns, emphasising that selling votes is selling one’s future; reduce economic vulnerability, which drives voters to accept inducements. The fight against vote buying is both legal and socio-economic. Without reducing poverty and improving governance, enforcement alone will not succeed.