As we mark another ‘Democracy Day’, it is important for those in authority at all levels to address the existential challenges faced by most Nigerians, the clear and present dangers to the communal faith in our country and the security threats posed by sundry cartels of criminals. But on a day such as this, it is also important to recognise the gains that have been made on our democratic journey. One stands out. We seem to have put behind us the kind of high-profile political assassinations that dominated the first decade of the current dispensation. Perhaps so we may remember, and it is important in a nation noted for collective amnesia, I have decided to excerpt from a chapter in my unpublished book, ’25 Defining Issues in 25 Years of Democracy in Nigeria’. It is a reminder of where we are coming from and the road that we should never travel again…

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…On 23 December 2001, then Attorney General and Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, was shot dead at his home in Ibadan. In the days preceding the murder, Ige had a well-publicised altercation at the palace of then Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Sijuwade Okunade during the conferment of chieftaincy title on some individuals. The Second Republic Governor of the old Oyo State (now Oyo and Osun)was attacked by an angry crowd who stripped him of his cap and necklace and destroyed his pair of glasses. The group was led by one ‘Fryo’, a supporter of Chief Iyiola Omisore, who had by then just been impeached as Osun State Deputy Governor in controversial circumstances.

At that period, the acrimonious relationship between Omisore and Governor Bisi Akande (who later became foundation chairman of the APC) had caused a fracas at the state assembly, leading to the death of a prominent member representing Ife Central Local Government area, Odunayo Olagbaju. That Ige sided with Akande in the crisis perhaps explained the reaction of the mob. A day after the assault, Omisore granted an abusive interview to TEMPO magazine. “…Bola Ige came on radio to insult me and my family. That is his last one. He was beaten yesterday; the people of Ife beat him up and he was crying like a baby as they removed his cap and his glasses,” Omisore said.

With Ige’s death coming before that interview was published, Omisore became a prime suspect in the murder that elicited sharp divisions within Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group to which he (Ige) was deputy leader at the time. Ige’s killing also occurred at a period there were fractures within the group, and it all had to do with his (Ige’s) presidential aspiration that had been scuttled two years earlier. Following the restoration of democracy in 1999, Ige had sought the presidential ticket of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). While many imagined it would be a mere formality, Ige lost to a former Secretary to the Federal Government, Chief Olu Falae in a contest decided by 23 Yoruba elders who swore to an oath of secrecy before voting in Ibadan. Ige got nine votes to Falae’s 14. Despite the secrecy of the exercise, there were reports of who voted for whom and this created a lot of bitterness and divisions among the top echelon of Afenifere.

Following Ige’s death, Omisore was arrested and eventually arraigned before an Oyo State High Court along with other people. They were later released for lack of evidence. Till today, nobody has been held accountable for the death of Ige. The irony of it, as many people say, is that if the Justice Minister of a country could be killed and there is no justice for his family, that is very telling of the rule of law in Nigeria.

But if Ige’s murder was shocking, the gruesome assassination of Mr Barnabas Igwe, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Onitsha branch chairman and wife, Abigael, a few months later was even more confounding. The couple, both lawyers, were returning home from the NBA conference in Ibadan on 1st September 2002 when a group of assailants attacked and shot them several times. Nothing was taken from their vehicle. Since Igwe had been an outspoken critic of the government in Anambra State, accusing fingers were immediately pointed at then Governor ChinwokeMbadinuju (now late).

In the days preceding the killings, the Onitsha NBA had given Mbadinuju a 21-day ultimatum to pay the salary arrears of workers in the state or resign. Igwe also claimed at the time that he had received direct threats from some unnamed government officials through telephone calls on his personal mobile phones. The governor of course denied any involvement in the death of the couple. Instead, he first blamed the death on armed robbers and later that Igwe and wife may have been targeted by people from their local community. Mbadinuju instituted a panel of inquiry into the murder for which nobody was ever arrested. And till today, there is no clue as to who killed the Igwes.

The assassination of Alfred Aminasaori Kala (known by the initials A.K.) Dikibo on 6 February 2004 also jolted the country. Dikibo was on his way to Asaba, Delta state capital, to attend a meeting of the South-South governors and political leaders when he ran into a hail of bullets at about 7.30pm. Eight months earlier, Harry Marshal, whom Dikibo succeeded as PDP Deputy National Chairman (South South), had also been assassinated. A prominent member of the PDP in Rivers State, Harry Marshal was suspended for ‘anti-party’ activities in 2001 and the following year, he resigned from the party to join the ANPP where he assumed the same office he held in PDP. Six weeks to the 2003 general election, four gunmen invaded his house, tied up the security guard, broke into his daughter’s room and forced her to lead them to Harry Marshal’s bedroom where they shot him dead. Following the murder, some armed robbers were paraded at the Force Headquarters in Abuja as the killers. But Harry Marshal’s daughter insisted it was a political assassination claiming that before her father was shot one of the assailants mocked him by saying, ‘You said Buhari for President. A Joke.’ Nobody was ever brought to justice on account of the murder.

According to a publication by the United States Military Academy (USMA), West Point, political assassinations have been part of social reality from time immemorial. But in the first decade of the current democratic dispensation in Nigeria, there were far too many killings. Titled, ‘The Causes and Impact of Political Assassinations’, the West Point journal publication referenced the Combating Terrorism Centre (CTC) with the definition as “an action that directly or indirectly leads to the death of an intentionally targeted individual who is active in the political sphere, in order to promote or prevent specific policies, values, practices or norms pertaining to the collective.”

On 27 July 2006, Mr Funsho Williams, an engineer and prominent politician, was murdered in Lagos in a most gruesome way. Williams had contested the AD gubernatorial primaries with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (who is now our President) in 1999 and had been defeated by the latter. Williams eventually left the AD to join then ruling PDP where he secured the gubernatorial ticket for the 2003 general election. Again, he was defeated by then incumbent Governor Tinubu. Willliams was preparing to run again at the 2007 general election when he was murdered. A fellow gubernatorial aspirant in the PDP, Senator AdeseyeOgunlewe, whose supporters had clashed with that of the late Williams at a campaign rally the previous weekend, was arrested. Another aspirant, Musiliu Obanikoro was also arrested. Both were later released for want of evidence. In July 2020, the remaining six suspects arrested over the murder were released on grounds that the prosecution had not established a prima facie case against them.

Meanwhile, a month after the death of Williams, in the early hours of 14 August 2006, Dr Ayo Daramola was assassinated at his Ijan-Ekiti country home in Ekiti State. Prior to his death, Daramola reportedly told his family that there were threats to his life from people who wanted him to drop his gubernatorial ambition on the platform of the PDP. Although an aide to Governor Ayo Fayose during his first tenure, Goke Olatunji, and a former House of Representatives member, Thaddeus Aina were arraigned at an Ado Ekiti High Court over the murder of Daramola and then Holland-based Tunde Omojola (who was killed around the same period) the case has died with the victims.

However, in 2014, when Fayose was again contesting for the governorship of Ekiti State (which he won), the Onijan of Ijan Ekiti, Oba Samuel Fadahunsi, spoke on Daramola’s death. “We know the killers of Daramola because their identities were revealed through the ritual we performed. Fayose is innocent,” the monarch declared. “The ritual we performed was thorough, it exonerated Fayose. Therefore. those linking Fayose to Daramola’s death are doing so for mischief and political reason. As far as I am concerned as the monarch, Fayose has no hand in the death of our son.”

Till today, the identities of the killers of Daramola are known only to Oba Fadahunsi and his palace ritualists and he has refused to reveal them to the relevant authorities so that they can be brought to justice…

ENDNOTE:

What the foregoing excerpts from an unpublished manuscript suggest is that the first decade of the current dispensation witnessed many political assassinations. That may be no surprise. As they mature, democracies tend to outgrow the use of summary violence in obtaining political outcomes. That is a positive sign that democracy is becoming more of a cultural force. However, the deployment of violence to effectuate democratic outcomes does not end with assassinations. The ballot process can also be marred by intimidation and threats of violence. Security agencies can assume partisan roles using violence. All these remain present in our political culture. But the fact that our politicians are learning not to settle scores with violence is making our democracy less dangerous. I hope and pray it continues this way as I wish Nigerians happy democracy day!

Muhammed Lawal Uwais (1936-2025)

It is undeniable that the late former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Muhammed Lawal Uwais excelled in his assignment as Chairman of the electoral reform panel established by thelate President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. That most of the fundamental recommendations by the panel have not been implemented is an indictment on the authorities in our country. But to reduce his entire life and careerto this one role, as being done by some commentators—even if well-meaning—is unfair to the 27 years Uwais dedicated to the Supreme Court and his several contributions to Nigeria’s legal system.

It is indeed most fitting that THISDAY LAWYERpublication devoted its latest edition on Tuesday to Uwais, who was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, London in 1963 and held the position of CJN for 11 years from 1995 until retirement in 2006 at age 70. In his tribute, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, not only reminded readers that Uwais as CJN returned N5 billion to the treasury at the end of the 2005 budget year but also that Uwaiswas a member of the old generation of Supreme Court Justices who remain Gold Standard in the estimation of most Nigerians: Chukwudifu Oputa, Kayode Esho, Andrews Obaseki, Anthony Aniagolu and others.

It is indeed on record that as a relatively new Supreme Court Justice in 1979,the exceptional qualities of Uwais were quickly recognized by then CJNAtanda Fatayi-Williams, who included him (Uwais) on the panel overseeing the high-profile political case filed bythe late Chief Obafemi Awolowo against Alhaji Shehu Shagari, following the 1979 presidential election. I believe the experience Uwais gained from that panel ofjudicial giants must have significantly influenced his development into the distinguished judge he later became.

Throughout his career on the bench, Uwais’ jurisprudence was marked by firm reinforcement of constitutional supremacy and federal balance, expansion of fundamental rights, liberal approach to constitutional interpretation, clarification of judicial and court jurisdictions, and advocacy for robust electoral and institutional reforms. Those were the fundamental kernels on which his judgements rested, and I can cite a few. While affirming the nullification of the gubernatorial in Kebbi State in 2003, Uwais came up with the doctrine of ‘Substantial Compliance’ with the electoral act by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which has become the standard for judges on elections. The ruling emphasized that minor irregularities may not void an election, but “Where an election is conducted in substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the results cannot stand, and a fresh election must be ordered.”

In the case between Abia State and the federal government, following the signing into law of the Revenue Monitoring Act (2005) by President Olusegun Obasanjo, Uwais’ judgment affirmed fiscal federalism. The issue centred on the constitutionality of the legislation which required states to remit internally generated revenues (IGR) to the Federation Account for redistribution. The argument of the 36 states led by Abia, Lagos and Ogun was that the Act encroached on the autonomy of the states regarding the management of their IGR (e.g., taxes, fees). They argued further that only federally collected revenues (e.g., oil taxes, customs) should be shared under Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution.

In dismissing the argument of the federal government that the Act was aimed at ensuring equity by redistributing all revenues, including state IGR, Uwais held that “The Constitution clearly demarcates federal and state revenues. The National Assembly lacks power to confiscate states’ IGR under the guise of ‘monitoring.” On Residual Powers, Uwais said “States are not appendages of the federation. Their autonomy over IGR is sacrosanct under S. 4(7) of the Constitution.” And on constitutional interpretation: “Where the Constitution is clear, as in S. 162, the court must give effect to its plain meaning without legislative overreach.”

From the case between the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi against the Inspector General of Police over his detention to that of the late Chief Emeka Ojukwu against the Lagos State government, Uwais upheld the fundamental rights of citizens against official arbitrariness. In the case of the latter over the seized property under the Abandoned Properties Act after the civil war, it was the intervention by Uwais at the Court of Appeal(where he was at the period) that saved the day.“A citizen cannot be deprived of his property without due process, even under wartime regulations. The government must follow the rule of law, not arbitrary force,” according to Uwais who ruled in favour of Ojukwu.

Perhaps the most notable of Uwais jurisprudence was his ruling in the case between the late Senator Abraham Adesanya and the federal governmentwhich has become a pivotal reference for ‘Locus Standi’ in Nigeria today. This isacknowledged by Professor Taiwo Oshipitan in his article titled,‘Constitutional Law’ in a journal on Uwais’ work edited by the late Justice Niki Tobi. This case involved a member of the Second RepublicNational Assembly (Adesanya) attempting to block President Shagari from appointing Justice Ovie Whiskey as Chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), the electoral body now known as INEC.

While underscoring the need for access to justice, the late Uwais highlighted the importance of deterring intrusive interlopers, meddlesome individuals, and professional litigants from filing cases on matters that do not directly relate to them. His creativity in deriving ideas from administrative law to establish the essential criteria for locus standi has since become an established principle. Despite several deferred opinions, the principle enunciated by Uwais endures as access to court still essentiallydepends on whether one’s civil rights are infracted upon or not.

Of course, most people remember that the Uwais Panel recommended an electoral offences commission, independent constituency-resizing and party-regulation bodies, shifting the appointment of INEC chairman to the judiciary, adopting proportional representation for legislatures among others. These were based on his understanding that credible elections are important to the survival of any democracy.

In THISDAY LAWYER on Tuesday, several serving and retired Judges as well as prominent legal practitioners paid glowing tributes to Uwais. But it is the current CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who wrote something that I found most touching because I could attest to it. “…But, perhaps, what we will miss most is his quiet dignity—his ability to inspire without demanding attention, to lead without pretence, and to mentor without fanfare,” Kekere-Ekun wrote.

That indeed summed up the essence of the Uwais I knew and with whom I enjoyed a good relationship for almost two decades.Until two years ago when his health started to deteriorate, I used to be a constant in his house for Iftar during every Ramadan.But what I can never forget was his visit to my house in October 2019, following the death of my younger brother, Agboola.Although he was quiet for most of the period he spent with us, his mere presence in our house was comforting at a most difficult period for me. May God comfort the family he left behind.