Opinion
The trials of Dasuki and Malami — A study in nemesis.
By YUSHAU A. SHUAIB
Some call it the law of karma. I prefer the older formulation: what you do unto others shall, in time, be done unto you. Nigeria’s recent political history offers few more instructive illustrations of this truth than the parallel fates of Sambo Dasuki and Abubakar Malami.
Those expressing sympathy for former Attorney‑General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, over his current ordeal with the EFCC and the DSS may have conveniently forgotten what befell former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki—arrested barely a day after handing over office. His story remains one of the most troubling indictments of executive overreach in Nigeria’s democratic era: a case study in how personal vendetta, political score‑settling, and institutional disregard for judicial authority can be disguised as the pursuit of justice.
The roots of the Dasuki saga run deep into Nigeria’s military past. Dasuki played a significant role in financing and facilitating the 1983 coup that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power, according to retired Colonel Mustapha Jokolo, Buhari’s former ADC. He was also involved in the 1985 countercoup that removed Buhari and installed General Ibrahim Babangida, though he was not among those who physically arrested Buhari. Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu, who led that operation, confirmed that he and three others actually carried out the arrest without Dasuki. These historical details matter because the bitterness they produced never fully disappeared.
Dasuki was arrested in late 2015 and charged with money laundering over the alleged diversion of arms‑procurement funds during the Jonathan administration. What his accusers refused to acknowledge, however, was that during his tenure as NSA dozens of towns were successfully reclaimed from terrorists. It was also a period when banditry had not yet taken root in the Northwest or North‑Central—an insecurity trend that escalated only later under the Buhari administration.
While the allegations against Dasuki appeared serious on paper, what followed was far worse: a systematic assault on the rule of law.
Multiple courts granted him bail. He met every condition. Yet each time, he was immediately re‑arrested without any new charges. This cycle continued until he became the only public official in Nigerian history to remain in detention despite bail orders from four different courts, including the ECOWAS Court.
In a particularly troubling twist, Malami falsely claimed in a VOA interview that Dasuki had killed 100,000 people and justified his continued detention—despite multiple bail orders—on national‑security grounds. This misinformation and media‑trial posture led to his summons before the LPDC in 2019, where he eventually recanted.
President Buhari later made the administration’s stance explicit during a televised media chat, declaring that Dasuki would not be released regardless of court orders and describing him as a security risk. It was a rare moment when executive contempt for judicial authority was openly acknowledged.
Beyond the physical detention, the Buhari era normalised media trials—where citizens were convicted in the court of public opinion long before any judge had ruled. The EFCC and the DSS were the most notorious instruments of this strategy.
The case of Colonel Nicholas Ashinze illustrates this vividly. Ashinze, a military intelligence officer who played a key role with technical partners in operations that reclaimed territories from Boko Haram, found himself facing charges even as the EFCC issued a statement so inaccurate that it provoked a rare judicial rebuke.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole condemned the EFCC’s conduct, describing its statement against Ashinze as “scandalous and prejudicial to fair trial.” He ordered the agency to apologise publicly to the officer and suspended the trial. The EFCC complied, attributing the falsehoods to an internal “mix‑up.”
Similarly, the arms probe panel under ONSA, chaired by one Air Vice Marshal Jon Odeh, was disbanded after members were themselves indicted for receiving bribes from individuals they were investigating. These episodes underscored the institutional impunity that characterised the period.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking dimension of Dasuki’s ordeal was the treatment of his father, the late Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki—former Sultan of Sokoto and one of Nigeria’s most revered traditional and Islamic leaders. Despite repeated appeals, he was denied permission to visit his son in detention. He died without seeing him.
This act was widely condemned as unnecessary cruelty—an example of how political rivalry had crossed into something far more callous.
By contrast, when the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu detained former Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai over corruption charges, he was immediately released following his mother’s death. I welcomed the gesture, while wishing that the mercy had come earlier and that no public official should spend more than a month in custody merely awaiting trial. The standard of decency we apply must be consistent, regardless of who occupies the dock.
Dasuki was eventually released on Christmas Eve 2019, after Buhari’s re‑election. His freedom—coming after more than four years in detention—felt less like justice and more like a political calculation that had finally run its course.
Contrast this with the treatment of Abubakar Malami, who served as Attorney‑General and Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2023. In 2025, Malami was arrested by the EFCC on allegations ranging from corruption and acquisition of exotic properties to terrorism‑related offences and illegal possession of firearms.
The irony is unmistakable. Malami was the chief law officer who authorised and supervised the prosecution of Dasuki. He wielded the machinery of state prosecution against perceived opponents for eight years. Now he sits where they once sat—on the receiving end of the same system he helped to shape.
Yet there is a crucial difference. Within two months, Malami was granted bail by both the EFCC and the DSS. There were no sensational media trials. No re‑arrests after meeting bail conditions. No presidential declarations that he would remain detained regardless of court orders. Whatever one thinks of the current administration’s handling of the matter, the contrast with the Dasuki precedent is stark.
The Buhari administration’s disregard for due process extended beyond political opponents. On June 9, 2016, the Nigerian Army summarily retired 38 senior officers—nine major generals, eleven brigadier generals, seven colonels, and eleven lieutenant colonels. They learned of their retirement through the media. Despite vague allegations of “professional corruption,” none was formally accused, charged, or tried under military law.
These were decorated officers. Colonel Mohammed Suleiman had foiled a Boko Haram attack on Aso Rock. Colonel Danladi Hassan had led troops in reclaiming territories, while Lt. Colonel Mohammed Abdulfatai commanded a special counterinsurgency operation in Konduga that resulted in the elimination of more than 200 terrorists in December 2014. Yet they were dismissed without the dignity of a fair hearing.
The National Industrial Court ruled six times that the retirements were unlawful and ordered reinstatement with full benefits. The Senate and House of Representatives reached the same conclusion. The Army ignored them all. One officer, Ojebo Ochankpa, died in 2017 still awaiting justice.
Nearly a decade later, most remain unreinstated—vindicated by every court, yet denied the justice those courts prescribed.
This is the legacy of the administration that Malami served and defended. By any honest measure, it was one of the most lawless periods in Nigeria’s democratic history.
While we must insist that Malami receive the fair trial that Dasuki was denied, we must also demand accountability for those who orchestrated the abuses of the past—not through fresh lawlessness, but through the very institutions they once undermined.
What you do unto others shall be done unto you. The real question is whether, this time, we will do it better.
Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of An Encounter with the Spymaster Email: yashuaib@yashuaib.com
By Rufai Oseni
The Minister of Works is a key player in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government who is not performing well to help Mr President win the hearts of many Nigerians ahead of the crucial January 2027 Election.
I have been a staunch supporter of President Tinubu even before the 2023 Presidential Election.
I strongly disapprove of the performance of Works Minister, Sen. David Umahi. His failure is causing huge embarrassment and hatred to PBAT because of the hardship brought upon Nigerians on federal roads despite the trillions of naira released for road rehabilitation projects by PBAT.
I doubt if since May 29, 1999 there has been any Nigerian President who has shown so much commitment and determination to fix federal highways than President Tinubu
Believe me, if I were the Minister of Works under a very patriotic, committed and determined leader like President Tinubu, I would have restored these critical federal highways within the last three years with such trillions of naira released for this purpose. I say this from my knowledge and experience as an Engineer who headed Delta State Government Direct Labour Agency (DLA), an Agency statutorily charged with the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of roads and who in August 2011 was saddled with the tough task of urgently restoring hundreds of kilometers of roads in my State that had collapsed and became death traps leading to fatal accidents and deaths of our people and commuters.
In less than two years and with only about three billion naira released by the State Government, I reconstructed and rehabilitated these collapsed roads, constructed some new ones and also opened up many new roads in our rural communities to enable our farmers to commute easily to their farms and transport their produce to urban cities.
The records are there, he said, for anyone to go verify. He added that: Some of the asphalt paved roads I did over thirteen years ago are still standing firm today as if they were constructed just one week ago. I guarantee that these roads will last another ten years or more.
A patriotic and committed PBAT should not end up being daily abused by Nigerians who are rightly angry because of the hell they go through traveling on these roads; instead, Mr President should be receiving their praises and prayers if only his Minister of Works rightly utilized the funds released to him by the President to fix these roads.
I can tell Nigerians that President Tinubu is more pained and heartbroken than anyone else seeing reports of the hell Nigerians still go through traveling across our country on these federal roads.
Frankly if this disturbing situation continues on our federal highways I worry that Nigerians may express their anger against PBAT at the January 2027 Presidential Election except Mr President swiftly takes decisive action right now
The Minister’s Concrete Pavement Policy has been a disaster and a source for huge waste of public funds. It is ridiculous and makes no engineering and economic sense at all! What has Concrete Pavements got to do on Lokoja to Abuja, Abuja to Kaduna highways? I am surprised that some State Govs even adopted his Concrete Pavement Policy and wasting their States’ Funds.
It is wrong for the Minister to promise that within the next two weeks he will restore the collapsed sections of Benin-Agbor-Asaba and Benin-Sapele-Effurun Fedeal Highways. He knows that this is not possible in this peak of rainy season. Only palliative works can be done just to allow vehicles to maneuver.
It is also wrong for the NDDC to be directed to take over responsibility meant for the Ministry of Works and for which trillions of naira have been released to the Ministry. Statutory Funds approved and released to NDDC are not meant for such Federal Road Projects; they are meant to take care of very special and pressing needs of our people of the Oil and Gas Producing States of Niger Delta Region
By Philip Nyam
Last month, I was part of a delegation that participated in the Seminar on Young Leaders under the Global Development Initiative (GDI), organised by the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), in Beijing, China. We came from diverse countries including Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Gambia, Grenada, the Kurdish Iran, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Macedonia, and South Africa. Available records show that the UIBE has, since 2000, with the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, conducted more than 140 bilateral and multilateral training programmes, hosting over 350,000 participants.
The UIBE is by every standard a welcoming academic environment, a great citadel of learning renowned for building leaders for tomorrow. It is axiomatic that one of the problems plaguing developing or underdeveloped countries is poor leadership. This effort is to lay a solid foundation and bridge the gap.
The GDI, of course, is China’s ambitious proposal for worldwide development, launched by President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly on September 21, 2021. The idea is simple and urgent: Push the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, but anchor them in what developing countries need most. Poverty reduction, food security, vaccines and health, financing for development, climate change and green development, industrialisation and the digital economy. In other words, the GDI is China’s call for a shared future, and it is a project that puts developing countries first.
So, for two weeks at UIBE, we lived inside that idea. Despite the fact that some of us were visiting China for the first time, we quickly integrated. We were taught China’s basic national conditions and achievements since reform and opening up. We studied how China is implementing the UN 2030 Agenda through poverty alleviation. We took lectures on China’s political system, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, Chinese history, Chinese culture, and the cultivation of young leaders under GDI. The participants were also exposed to the philosophy behind Chinese steady development: “If you want to be rich, build the roads”. The lecturers were professional and down-to-earth; the supervisors and volunteers were amazing, and the people were generally friendly and welcoming. And so, we read, digested, and assimilated what we were taught.
Between classes, China opened itself to us. We tasted our way through Beijing and Sichuan’s rich cuisine. In Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, we watched Sichuan Opera face-changing until we couldn’t tell where the mask ended and the wonder began. We sat for tea and learned the quiet discipline in every pour. At the Panda Base, we met giant pandas and red pandas, black-and-white ambassadors that everyone falls for. We climbed the Great Wall and felt history under our feet. We had the rare opportunity of participating in the Fourth China International Supply Chain Expo, and we visited the Museum of Foreign Economic and Trade Relations.
It was indeed a masterclass in policy and culture. But some encounters don’t fit into a seminar schedule. They slip between lectures, between the Great Wall and a bowl of hotpot, and end up rewriting the whole trip for you. And the lesson I keep returning to came from a narrow lane lit by lanterns. It didn’t happen in a lecture hall; it happened in Kuanzhai Alley of Chengdu.
My encounter with a six-year-old boy named Eno. It was a rare encounter that has left an indelible impression on me. Kuanzhai’s Alley is Chengdu’s living room. Red lanterns, teahouse chatter, the smell of spice in the air. We were taking a walk into the Alley when a small voice stopped me. Eno was six. Bright eyes. Questions ready before his hello finished. “Where from? Your name? Do you love football?” At six, he spoke good English. He knew Cristiano Ronaldo. He asked about pandas and why only Chengdu keeps them so close. He asked about the ongoing World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. He talked like a child with maps and goals in his head, but he listened like someone older. No shyness, no demand. Just courage wrapped in courtesy.
Then came the gesture I did not expect. Eno pressed a small picture of a panda into my hand. “Wish you well,” he said, and gave it free. No blood, no prior knowing. A stranger’s hand, offering love without a sound. I felt it immediately. I had to look away for a second. Because tears rose unbidden. In that moment, Eno was not just a boy in an alley. He was the idea behind GDI made human: spreading love, uniting humanity, one small act at a time. To me, Eno is not just a little boy in an alley; he is China’s welcome, wide and deep.
That small panda picture now lives in my sitting room in Nigeria. I guard it. Some days it’s just paper and ink. Other days it’s a window back to Chengdu, to lantern light, to a boy who decided a stranger should feel welcome.
Eno taught me something the lectures circled but could not say as plainly: kindness needs no reason. It just begins. Love needs no reason to be sweet. If GDI is about building a more connected, equitable world, I saw it in miniature that afternoon. Policy, trade, and technology matter. So do pandas, football, and a child’s unguarded generosity.
I hope to reconnect with Eno someday. Until then, I’ll keep looking for that golden light in Kuanzhai’s alleys, and I’ll keep telling the story of the six-year-old who reminded a visitor from Nigeria that the soul of a city, a nation, can fit in one small hand.
…Philip Nyam participated in the just-concluded Seminar on Young Leaders under the GDI in Beijing.
By Son Tertsea, Abuja
A disturbing development in the Nigerian political space came with the judgment of a Lokoja federal court with its call on INEC to deregister the National Democratic party, NDC.
The devastating effects of this judicial pronouncement on all candidates for the 2027 general elections nominated on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the entire polls cannot be overemphasised.
The Lokoja Federal High Court Lokoja earlier granted the party recognition as a political party in Nigeria.
Justice Isah Dashen delivered Friday judgement in Suit No. FHC/LKJ/CS/49/2025, to set aside its December 10, 2025 judgment, which had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise and register the NDC.
The court upheld an application by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it was a necessary party in the suit.
The judge further held that failure to include the PMP amounted to a denial of fair hearing and rendered the previous judgment invalid.
Justice Dashen ordered that the parties return to the position they were in before the December 10, 2025 judgment, pending the fresh determination of the substantive case.
The judge also held that some material facts were not brought before it during the earlier proceedings, a development that contributed to its decision to set aside the judgment.
The NDC and the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) described the court’s decision as a temporary legal hurdle.
NDC National Chairman, Sen. Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, said the party had directed its team of lawyers to challenge the order at the Court of Appeal.
In a statement on Friday, Zuwoghe assured the public and candidates of the party in the forthcoming 2027 elections that “our party is on course,” stressing that “the NDC has not been deregistered.”
He stated that: “The public knows that by December 2025, the Nigeria Democratic Congress as an association complained of INEC’s refusal to register us as a political party, whereupon we proceeded to the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court upheld our constitutional right to freedom of association under the Constitution and compelled INEC to register us, which INEC did.
“Since then, we have started political activities, embarked on the registration of members, held congresses from ward to national levels, held conventions and concluded primaries to all offices following INEC’s timetable. We have been fully participating in all INEC activities without let or hindrance.
“NDC also fielded candidates and fully participated in the just-concluded bye-elections in Nasarawa and Enugu states.
“Candidates for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, Governorship, Presidential, and Vice-Presidential positions have been duly nominated, and we are in the process of formally submitting them to INEC in accordance with INEC’s timetable.
“The association that filed the complaint is unknown to us. The Peace Movement Party (PMP) is not a registered political party in Nigeria. They claimed, in a motion (not even a substantive suit or appeal), that the court should set aside its earlier judgment on the purported ground that, in 2015, they had sought registration as a political party with the victory sign as their symbol and were denied.
“It is important to note that they are not an association applying for registration now under the exercise that started last year. They are also not a registered political party in Nigeria participating in the political process now, as we are.
“Furthermore, the court, having delivered a final judgment in our suit against INEC, had become functus officio. The court had also dealt with all related issues concerning associations claiming they wanted to use the same symbol and colours. The court, in its judgment, overruled INEC when those issues were raised, and there is no appeal against that judgment.
“Therefore, we are surprised that, on an application by an association claiming that it wanted to register as a political party with the victory sign in 2015, an association that is not a registered political party and is not seeking registration now to participate in the current political process, His Lordship came to the conclusion that they have locus standi, and furthermore, that he has jurisdiction to do what he did.
“Accordingly, we have been informed that His Lordship made an order setting aside the court’s earlier decision of December 2025.
“There was no order directing our deregistration. However, we are dissatisfied with the decision that has been made, and we have instructed our team of lawyers to immediately proceed to the Court of Appeal to challenge the jurisdiction and propriety of His Lordship’s order.
“We assure the general public and particularly our candidates at all levels that our party is on course. The NDC has not been deregistered, and we are challenging today’s order at the Court of Appeal as soon as possible. We have no doubt that justice will be done.”
The party condemned what it described as efforts by those who seek to shrink the democratic space and stifle opposition voices and alternatives.
“Nigerians have a right to a full range of opinions, ideas and alternatives; and political platforms and candidates should be allowed to participate in the 2027 general election process, which has already gone midway.
“It is too late for anyone to attempt to use the judiciary to derail or narrow Nigeria’s multi-party democratic space. If the said association (Peace Movement Party) were a party affected by the judgment on our initial suit, the only option open to it was to appeal the verdict, an option which it did not take. Even at that, the window open for such appeal has since closed and any such appeal by now has become statute-barred.
“To now try to upturn that verdict through the back door, via a motion, is not only unheard-of, but also illegal and an outright abuse of court process.”
The judgment is coming exactly 10 days after the Court of Appeal in Abuja ordered a stay of execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering INEC to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Abubakar Mohammed, accused Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja of flouting an order it made on May 22, which directed him to suspend proceedings before him.
The appellate court had held that Justice Lifu’s action amounted to an affront and judicial rascality on the hierarchy of courts.
It described the lower court’s action as “the highest form of judicial impertinence,” stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such manner “is unfit for the bench as it amounts to judicial rascality.”
Legal luminary, Femi Falana in statement entitled ‘Nigerian Judges and Lawyers Should Be Prevented From Sabotaging the 2027 Election,’ expressed concern over recent judgments delivered by judges of the Federal High Court on the powers of INEC regarding election timelines.
The senior advocate recalled that Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court invalidated INEC’s timeline for the conduct of party primaries and nomination of candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
The court also nullified INEC’s May 10 deadline, directing political parties to submit their membership registers and databases as part of the requirements for participation in the polls.
According to him, the court held that the timeframe announced by INEC for political parties to conduct primaries and submit, withdraw, or replace candidates “is inconsistent with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026.”
The suit was filed by the Youth Party against INEC
He further noted that INEC had appealed the ruling and filed a motion for a stay of execution pending the Court of Appeal’s determination of the appeal.
Falana said the situation became more complicated after another judge of the Federal High Court, Justice James Omotosho, ruled in a separate suit filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) that INEC possesses the constitutional authority to fix timelines for political party primaries and other electoral activities ahead of the 2027 elections.
He argued that the two judgments created uncertainty within the political system.
Therefore, he urged NJC and NBA to urgently investigate the circumstances surrounding the judgments in Youth Party vs. INEC and SDP vs. INEC, warning that failure to address the issue could threaten the credibility of the 2027 elections.
He added that judges and lawyers must avoid actions capable of undermining the credibility of future elections, warning that legal disputes should not become tools for disrupting democratic processes.
He drew parallels with Nigeria’s political history, warning that failure to address the situation immediately could reopen painful memories of 1993. He warned:
“Unless the judges and lawyers involved are called to order, the 2027 election may be sabotaged by judges and lawyers.”
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