Former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly and APC House of Representatives candidate for Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, has said the recent Osun State governorship election proved that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can conduct free and fair polls, while President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s transparency reforms are taking hold and redefining Nigerian democracy.

In an article titled “Transparency, Trust, and Transformation: Why INEC’s Credibility and Tinubu’s Reforms Are Redefining Nigerian Democracy,” Orji argued that transparency is the oxygen of true democracy, enabling free elections, economic growth, and citizens’ ability to hold leaders to account.

“Transparency is the oxygen of true democracy. Without it, elections become rituals, policies become decrees, and public trust erodes. With it, citizens can see the process, judge the outcomes, and believe that their votes and their taxes actually matter,” Orji wrote.

The former Speaker said President Tinubu’s commitment to openness is a governing philosophy anchored on the belief that legitimacy comes from process, not pronouncement.

He cited the Osun election as a defining moment for INEC’s credibility. According to Orji, despite widespread skepticism that the ruling APC had predetermined the winner, INEC conducted a free and fair election.

“To their dumbfounding surprise, INEC conducted a free and fair election. Voters were accredited, results were transmitted, and party agents were allowed to witness the process at every level. The atmosphere reflected competition, not coercion,” he wrote.

Orji noted that Accord Party candidate Ademola Adeleke emerged as winner, adding that the outcome “cut across expectations and party lines” and forced even skeptical observers to reassess.

He said President Tinubu’s posture before, during, and after the election reinforced INEC’s credibility, adding that there was no directive from the Villa to skew the process.

“That is adherence to the Rule of Law in practice. When the head of government allows institutions to function independently, he is telling Nigerians that no one, including his own party, is above the process,” Orji stated.

The APC chieftain also linked INEC’s credibility to the administration’s economic transparency agenda, describing both as “two sides of the same coin.”

“One protects political rights, the other protects economic rights. Both depend on institutions being allowed to work,” he wrote.

On the removal of petroleum subsidy, Orji described the policy as a “difficult but necessary path” that has delivered immediate and measurable results.

“Federation allocations to states have quadrupled in many cases. Money that previously disappeared into subsidy payments is now flowing into state coffers,” he wrote.

He said governors across party lines now have more fiscal space to pay salaries, rehabilitate schools, invest in healthcare, and fix roads, adding that it is “only fair and only right” that they acknowledge President Tinubu’s role in the reform.

Orji said transparency in the reform matters because Nigerians can now see monthly FAAC figures published, track what comes into the federation account, and demand accountability from their state governments.

“When citizens know how much their state received, they can also ask how it is being spent. That is democracy extending beyond election day into governance itself,” he wrote.

He said the judiciary has also benefited from the executive’s respect for court judgments and due process, adding that public trust is being slowly rebuilt because people can point to concrete examples.

“Osun is one. Improved allocations is another. There is a pattern forming,” Orji stated.

He concluded that President Tinubu has demonstrated a consistent willingness to uphold the principles of democratisation—free elections, open policies, and governance that answers to the people.

“In the final analysis, transparency is not a slogan. It is an enabler. It enables free elections, it enables economic growth, and it enables citizens to hold leaders to account,” he wrote.

“That is the standard Nigerians should now demand, and it is the standard this administration has set.”

The Chief Imam of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Lt.-Col. Husein Eleje, has charged Nigerians emulate and imbibe Prophet Muhammad’s peaceful, truthful and just lifestyle in order to build a progressive nation.

Eleje gave the charge in an interview on Tuesday from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State to commemorate Eid-el-Maulud celebration being the celebration of the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace be upon Him).

He said that Muhammad, who was born at Middle-East in Saudi Arabia in the year 570 AD, displayed worthy character among all people and was known as “a trustworthy, honest and simple person”.

According to him, so the celebration of the Maulud is done to emulate the good life-style, which Prophet Muhammad lived.

“The Holy Prophet lived peaceful and humble life and always mediate among disputing parties. He never cheated anyone nor shy away from speaking the truth.

“Prophet Muhammad associated freely, traded, worked together with the common people to establish a city (Medina) where people of different faiths lived together and practiced their faith and had freedom of worship.

“He stood against any oppression and injustice and he always say ‘your bloods are sacred, and your wealth and property are sacred’.

“To Him, it is prohibited for any one to harm his brother or take his property unjustly,” he said.

The cleric urged Nigerians to tolerate one another and protect the interest of one another as the Prophet had exemplified.

Eleje said that the Prophet humbled Himself to even those who followed and accept Islam as well as participated equally with them in any communal work to build the society.

“We must be a people who advocate for peaceful co-existence among others and our neighbours,” he added.

When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar recently said he would restore petroleum subsidy if elected president, he tapped into a familiar frustration. Fuel prices are high, transport costs bite, and households are feeling the squeeze. That pain is real. But the promise to bring back the old subsidy regime is not relief. It is a return to a policy that bled the treasury, starved the states, and kept Nigeria dependent on borrowing to buy fuel.

For decades the subsidy was sold as a welfare program for the poor. In practice it became the most expensive welfare program for smugglers, marketers, and a handful of importers. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company would claim billions monthly, and no one could audit where the product actually went. That was not social protection. That was fiscal leakage at scale.

The first and most immediate benefit of subsidy removal is fiscal breathing room. In 2022 alone, subsidy gulped over 4 trillion naira. That was more than we spent on education, health, and capital projects combined. When that money stopped going to fuel, it did not disappear. It stayed in government coffers, and a large share of it flows directly to the sub nationals through FAAC.

The sub nationals are where the difference is being felt most. States and local governments now receive significantly higher monthly allocations. Governors in Rivers, Lagos, Kano, and others have reported FAAC receipts nearly doubling compared to pre-removal levels. That is money that can pay teachers, fix primary health centers, and clear pension arrears without waiting for Abuja bailouts.

In Rivers State, for example, the additional resources have allowed the state government to accelerate road projects, expand the school feeding conversation, and invest in water and sanitation. Across the country, states are using the windfall to clear salary backlogs and to fund security. That is the direct link between subsidy removal and better services at your doorstep.

Beyond recurrent needs, the removal unlocked capital spending. With subsidy gone, the federal government and states are no longer borrowing just to keep petrol cheap. Instead, we are seeing commitments to CNG buses, mass transit, student loans, and conditional cash transfers. These are targeted interventions. They reach the vulnerable without subsidizing a businessman in Cotonou who drives across the border to buy cheap fuel.

One of the quietest but biggest wins is the end of the subsidy-driven smuggling economy. When Nigerian petrol was artificially cheap, an estimated 30 to 40 percent was leaving our borders daily. That drained our forex and rewarded criminal networks. With prices aligned to market, the incentive to smuggle collapsed almost overnight. That saves dollars and restores integrity to our supply chain.

Sub nationals also gained policy space. Before, states were trapped. They could not raise IGR fast enough to match their responsibilities because the center was spending all its revenue on fuel. Now, with more money coming from FAAC and with subsidy no longer a federal albatross, states can plan medium-term budgets. They can borrow for infrastructure knowing their revenue base is real, not propped up by a phantom fuel bill.

The macroeconomic case is just as strong. Subsidy removal freed up foreign exchange that was being used to import and “subsidize” fuel. That pressure contributed to naira volatility. With the drain gone, the CBN has more room to stabilize the market, and investors see a government willing to make hard choices. Confidence matters for FDI, and FDI builds factories, not just fuel stations.

Let us be honest about the counterargument. Atiku and others argue that Nigerians cannot afford the current prices and that government should cushion the pain by restoring subsidy. The compassion is understandable. But the method is wrong. A blanket subsidy is the bluntest tool possible. It subsidizes the rich who own three cars, it subsidizes generators in malls, and it subsidizes our neighbors.

Targeted support is both cheaper and fairer. The savings from subsidy removal are already funding student loans, nano-grants, and public transport reforms. Those programs can be scaled. If we put 1 trillion naira directly into transport, health insurance, and food support, the impact on the poor will be ten times what the same 1 trillion did when spread thinly across every liter of petrol.

International experience backs this. Indonesia, India, and Ghana all removed fuel subsidies and redirected the savings to health, education, and cash transfers. In each case there was short-term pain, followed by stronger public services. Countries that reversed course and brought subsidies back, like Egypt in 2014 before its second reform, ended up in deeper debt crises.

Restoring subsidy now would also reverse private sector investment. Since the removal, private companies have begun investing in refineries, CNG conversion centers, and logistics. Dangote Refinery, modular refineries, and gas infrastructure are viable only because prices reflect costs. If we announce that subsidy will return, those investors pause. That means fewer jobs in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Lagos.

For the sub nationals, a return to subsidy is a direct pay cut. FAAC would shrink again. States would go back to borrowing to pay salaries. Projects started with the new revenues would stall. Local governments, which depend almost entirely on federal transfers, would be the first to feel it. That is not theoretical. We lived it for 20 years.

Atiku’s argument rests on the idea that the timing was wrong and the palliatives were insufficient. Fair critique. But the solution to poor implementation is better implementation, not abandoning the reform. We should demand faster rollout of CNG buses, more transparency in how FAAC windfalls are spent, and stronger monitoring of state budgets. We should not demand a return to the policy that caused the weakness.

The subsidy was also a corruption magnet. It created a system where claims were king and verification was optional. Removing it broke that cycle. Bringing it back without fixing the governance structure is inviting the same fraud, only now with higher global oil prices and a weaker naira.

There is also a climate and energy angle. Cheap petrol discouraged gas adoption and kept us locked into generators. With market pricing, CNG, electric tricycles, and solar become economically sensible. States can lead this transition because they now have the funds to subsidize conversion kits, not fuel itself.

Politically, the promise to restore subsidy sounds popular in the short term. But governance is about trade-offs. The trade-off here is clear: cheap fuel for a few months versus hospitals, roads, and jobs for years. Sub nationals have already shown what they can do with the extra money. To take it away is to punish the very level of government closest to the people.

Finally, debt. Subsidy was financed largely by borrowing and by unpaid arrears to NNPC. That debt was crowding out everything else. Every naira we do not spend on subsidy is a naira we do not have to borrow. That lowers interest payments, which in turn frees more money for states and local governments.

Nigeria does not need a return to the past. We need to finish the work of this reform. That means plugging leakages, auditing state spending, and scaling targeted support so no family is left behind.

Alhaji Atiku is a respected Nigerian, but on this point he is wrong. Restoring subsidy would undo the single most important fiscal correction we have made in a generation. It would hurt the states, weaken the naira, and put us back on the borrowing treadmill.

The better path is forward. Keep the subsidy gone. Let the sub nationals keep the resources. And let government prove that the savings can translate into tangible relief. That is how we turn pain into progress, and that is how we build a Nigeria that works beyond election cycles.

CHINEDUM ENYINNAYA ORJI writes from Amaokwe Ugba, Umuahia Ibeku and the All Progressives Congress Candidate for Ikwuano Umuahia Federal Constituency.

Seven people have died and seven others sustained injuries in a fatal road crash on the Bida-Kutigi road in Niger State, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed.

The FRSC Niger Sector Commander, Corps Commander Aishatu Sa’adu, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.

Sa’adu said the crash occurred on Sunday afternoon at Shebe village, a few kilometres from Kutigi town.

According to her, the accident involved a Mazda vehicle and a Siena bus travelling along the Bida-Kutigi road.

“Seven people lost their lives, seven others were injured while four were rescued without injuries, bringing the total involved to 18,” she said.

The sector commander said the seven victims who died were confirmed dead at the scene, while the injured victims sustained injuries of varying degrees.

She said the injured were evacuated to Kutigi General Hospital for medical attention, while the remains of the deceased were deposited at the hospital’s mortuary.

The FRSC official did not immediately disclose the identities of the victims or provide further details on the circumstances surrounding the collision.

The crash involved a total of 18 people, comprising seven fatalities, seven injured persons and four uninjured survivors.

Authorities are expected to investigate the cause of the accident and determine the circumstances that led to the fatal collision.

The presidential candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described as a “lie” the claim that Nigeria is Africa’s wealthiest country, arguing that the country remains one of the poorest on the continent when measured by per capita income.

Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, stated this during an interview with journalists in Lagos.

He said Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) did not necessarily reflect the living standards of its citizens.

“It is embarrassing that a country that was considered one of the wealthiest in Africa still thinks today that it is the largest economy in Africa. That is not true.

“We are living a lie. It is a nice sound bite, though, to say that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. No. Nigeria is just one of the poorest when you take per capita income into consideration,” he said.

Duke said productivity remained critical to economic development, noting that several countries Nigerians considered smaller had higher per capita incomes.

On insecurity, the PRP presidential candidate said he preferred not to describe terrorists operating in Nigeria as “Islamic terrorists”, arguing that their activities were not driven by Islam.

He attributed part of the security challenges, particularly in Northern Nigeria, to the collapse of Libya, which he said contributed to the movement of arms into Nigeria through its land borders.

Duke said the government needed short-, medium- and long-term measures to tackle kidnapping, banditry and terrorism.

“Right now, you have got to deal with the security problems as they exist today — kidnapping, banditry, terrorism and all that.

“But even beyond that, those things are consequences of other things. They are consequences of a very poor economy and, of course, the failure to properly manage our borders,” he said.

He also called for measures to improve citizens’ productivity through increased local production and the use of modern technology to strengthen border security.

On the economic development of Northern Nigeria, Duke said that, if elected president, he would restructure mining activities in the region to ensure that local and state governments, as well as host communities, benefited from the sector.

He said the region’s mineral deposits, rather than oil in the Chad Basin, represented a major economic opportunity.

“There must be a structured way of mining. Today, it is artisanal, and the broader community, the border communities, society and the nation itself do not adequately benefit from those resources,” Duke said.

He cited gold deposits in Zamfara State as an example, saying insecurity had affected mining activities in the area.

Duke proposed that each state should be treated as an economic entity, with the Federal Government working with state governments to assess mineral deposits and establish proven reserves capable of attracting investors.

He said mining development should involve a partnership between the Federal and state governments, with revenues shared between both levels of government.

However, Duke stressed that security remained essential to attracting investment into the mining sector.

“Nobody is going to invest if there is no security,” he said, citing the experience of the Niger Delta, where insecurity had contributed to oil companies moving their operations to offshore locations.