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.”

Suchet Baba, a Kaduna-born writer, painter, and cultural entrepreneur has picked the important challenge of narrating the Northern Nigeria’s experience. Telling its own stories through art, literature, and creative expression, to her, is authentic and vital to preserving the region’s cultural identity and challenging long-held stereotypes.

Founder and festival director of “Arts and Vibes”, her work is geared toward forward as well as magnifying the unheard of voices. She’s equally determined to set up the stage which props young creators across Northern Nigeria to tell their reality both from their perspectives and on their own terms.

According to her, the region’s stories are often overlooked, misrepresented, or filtered through external perspectives, making it essential for Northern artists and storytellers to take ownership of their narratives.

Driven by a commitment to reframe perceptions of Northern Nigeria, she uses contemporary art and storytelling to document, preserve, and reshape cultural identities while encouraging young people to explore creative expression beyond traditional and ethnographic boundaries.

“Arts and Vibes”, created in Kaduna in 2021 has asserted itself a creative platform for artists, writers, and young people to collaborate, share ideas, and showcase their talents. With sheer hardwork over the years, it is proving itself as a cultural movement for dialogue and artistic innovation within the region.

Her literary work has also gained recognition, with features in publications such as Brittle Paper, Kalahari Review, Afritondo, and Punocracy, where she explores themes of identity, memory, culture, and belonging. She has been longlisted for the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the 2023 Alinea Prize in Nonfiction and the 2018 Okada Books Campus Writing Challenge.

Baba is also a visual artist, apart from writing, with exhibitions including Young, Fresh n New by Wunika Mukan Gallery in 2026 and The Artists Commune in 2025.

Her speaking engagements and appearances or presence on media platforms such as Microsoft Afriweek, Channels Television, TVC News, Premium Times, Leadership Newspaper, Pulse Nigeria, and Voices of Nigeria, define her advocacy role for serious investment in Northern Nigeria’s creative ecosystem.