A truck conveying food items was looted by some residents of Ondo state amid the current hardship ravaging the country.

The driver of the truck was overpowered after his vehicle developed a mechanical fault at the popular cultural centre junction on Ondo express road.

Remnants of the food items were observed on the roadside when our reporter visited the scene.

The fully loaded truck was said to be conveying food items, particularly grains in some cartoons branded in President Bola Tinubu’s name.

Several witnesses who confirmed the development to our reporter revealed that those who attacked the truck and also looted its contents included petty traders, artisans, drivers and commercial motorcyclists.

“How they got to know the content still surprised me. The truck developed a mechanical fault and before we knew it the residents forced it open.

“They began to bring out the items in the packs which are rice and garri branded in Tinubu’s blue colour, name and logo,” one the witness said.

A social commentator, Ibidapo Adelusi, has condemned the action of the residents, saying the police should go after the perpetrators.

“We know there’s hunger and hardship in the land but this is a crime against fellow human. The police should not hesitate to fish out these thieves,” he said.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, said no official complaints was lodged at the station over the incident.

Looting of the truck happened hours after a similar incident in Kebbi State.

 

Daily Trust

ISREALI REPORTS

All female hostages in Gaza being sexually abused, freed hostage says

Many of the people at the session broke into tears and sobs while they and others were speaking.

Every Israeli woman who is being held captive by Hamas in Gaza is being sexually abused, freed hostage Mia Regev said during an emergency debate in the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality on the situation of the women hostages.

Regev, who was freed during the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in November, said that it was "unbelievable" that the Knesset was planning on going on recess on April 8 for over five weeks.

"Every day, there is an emergency and every minute counts. What will the women do there? What will the rest of the captives do there?" Regev said.

Yaffa Ohad, the aunt of the captive Noa Argamani, said that recent reports of both Amit Soussana, who described to the New York Times how her captor sexually attacked her at gunpoint, and of a Hamas captive who described in an interrogation how he raped an Israeli woman in a Kibbutz on October 7, have broken the families' spirit. Ohad warned that time was running out, not just for the captives.

** IDF to create joint HQ for Gaza aid after killing of World Food Kitchen workers

Around half a day after the IDF’s disastrous mistaken killing of seven World Food Kitchen workers in central Gaza, the military has said that its COGAT and Southern Command branches are establishing a joint command center for handling humanitarian aid distribution.

The IDF said that such a command center was in the planning stages before the accidental air strikes on three WFK trucks, possibly by multiple IDF drones, but is being accelerated following the episode.

It is expected to start operating tonight, and the IDF expects that this will improve coordination between the battle and humanitarian coordination arms. However, the military said this coordination was significant even before the incident.

In addition, the IDF said that – given the sensitive nature of the incident globally - it is rushing to publicly produce details about what went wrong, which officials made mistakes, and how the mistakes developed as early as Tuesday night, but in any case within a mere matter of days.

** IDF: A short while ago, an IAF aircraft struck the terrorist cell in the area of Wadi Hamoul that fired launches toward the Western Galilee area.

Throughout the day, IDF artillery struck to remove threats in a number of areas, including Rmeish and Maisat.

** IDF: The Chief of the General Staff was presented with the preliminary debrief into the WCK incident

“I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”

 

HAMAS’ REPORTS

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful

The Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades mourns to the Islamic and Arab nation the great martyr commander/

Muhammad Reza Zahedi (Abu Mahdi)

And his brothers who died as martyrs on the road to Jerusalem yesterday, Monday, Ramadan 22, 1445 AH, corresponding to 04/01/2024 AD; In a treacherous Zionist bombing of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

We, the Al-Qassam Brigades, denounce the cowardly assassination; We praise the great role of the martyr Abu Mahdi in building the resistance front against the Zionist occupation over many years. And his prominent role in the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood.

It is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - Palestine

Tuesday 23 Ramadan 1445 AH

Corresponding to 04/02/2024 AD

** The division's Mujahideen were able to target a Zionist force holed up in a building with a fortification-resistant "TBG" shell, causing it to fall between the Palestinians and a wounded person east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

** Resistance fighters continue to target occupation soldiers and vehicles storming the Al-Fara’a camp in Tubas with several homemade devices.

 

Jerusalem Post/IDF/Hamas Brigade al-Qassam

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine lowers army draft age to 25 to generate more fighting power

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a bill on Tuesday to lower the mobilisation age for combat duty from 27 to 25, a move that should help Ukraine generate more fighting power in its war with Russia.

The bill had been on Zelenskiy's table since it was approved by lawmakers in May 2023, and it was not immediately clear what prompted him to sign it. Parliament has been discussing a separate bill to broadly tighten draft rules for months.

The move expands the number of civilians the army can mobilise into its ranks to fight under martial law, which has been in place since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian troops are on the back foot on the battlefield, facing a shortage of ammunition supplies with vital funding from the U.S. blocked by Republicans in Congress for months and the European Union failing to deliver promised ammunition on time.

The signing of the legislation was not immediately announced by the president's office. Parliament merely updated the entry for the bill on its website to read: "returned with the signature of the president of Ukraine".

Zelenskiy said last winter that he would only sign the bill if he was given a strong enough argument of the need to do so.

The Ukrainian leader said in December that the military had proposed mobilising up to 500,000 more Ukrainians into the armed forces, something he said then-commander of the armed forces had asked for.

Since then, Ukraine has changed the head of the armed forces and the new chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last week that the figure was no longer up-to-date and that it had been "significantly reduced" after a review of resources.

Zelenskiy separately signed a second bill requiring men given waivers from some military service on disability grounds to undergo another medical assessment.

A third bill he also signed aimed to create an online database of those eligible for military service. Both those bills could potentially help the military draft more fighters.

A string of strict measures set out in an earlier draft of that bill were gutted following a public outcry.

Zelenskiy has warned that Russia may plan another offensive later this spring or in summer, and Kyiv's troops have been scaling up their efforts to build up strong defensive fortifications along a sprawling front line.

With the initial shock of the invasion long gone, Ukraine has faced a significant reduction in the flow of volunteer fighters and numerous cases of draft evasion have been reported.

** Ukrainian drone hits Russia's third-biggest refinery, damage not critical

A Ukrainian drone struck Russia's third-largest oil refinery on Tuesday about 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines, hitting a unit that processes about 155,000 barrels of crude per day, though an industry source said strike caused no critical damage.

A Ukrainian intelligence source said Ukraine hit the primary refining unit at the oil refinery in Russia's highly industrialised Tatarstan region and caused a fire. Such attacks are intended to reduce Russia's oil revenue, the source said.

Russian officials said jamming devices locked onto a Ukrainian drone near Tatneft's Taneco refinery, which has an annual production capacity of more than 17 million tons (340,000 barrels per day).

Pictures from the scene showed the drone hit the primary refining unit, CDU-7, though it did not appear to have caused serious damage.

The industry source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said personnel was returning to the plant.

A fire was extinguished within 20 minutes, the state news agency RIA said, adding that output had not been disrupted.

The affected unit accounts for around a half of the plant's total annual production capacity. The refinery represents about 6.2% of Russia's refining capacity.

Brent briefly rose above $89 a barrel for the first time since October amid concern over the Ukrainian drone attacks and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made no direct reference to the Tatarstan attack, but said Kyiv's long-distance military action against Russia was important.

"Equally important is that the Russian terrorists are receiving responses to their strikes," he said in his nightly video address. "Each time, longer-range responses."

TARGETING OIL REVENUE

Another Ukrainian intelligence source said Ukrainian-made drones had also hit a Russian plant producing long-range Shahed attack drones, causing "significant damage".

The Washington Post reported last year that Russia was mass-producing drones at a plant in Tatarstan.

Ukraine has in recent months begun attacking the oil refineries of Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, impacting Moscow's highly lucrative trade in refined products, amid extensive Russian missile strikes on Ukraine's energy grid.

According to Reuters calculations, around 14% of Russia's refining capacity has been shut down by drone attacks. There is more demand for refined oil products than for Russian crude.

The attacks on Russian refineries have raised concern in Washington about the potential for escalation with Russia.

Ukraine says its drone attacks on Russia are justified because it is fighting for survival and has suffered damage to its infrastructure from Russian air strikes.

Ukraine, which says it has been attacked by more than 4,630 Russian long-range Shahed drones during the 25-month-old war, regards its own drone production push as a way to hit back at a much better armed and larger enemy.

Since President Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces into Ukraine in 2022, drones have played a big part in the war - either as "kamikaze" attackers or as eyes in the sky that guide other weaponry to kill soldiers or destroy equipment.

Ukraine has carried out a series of high-profile attacks deep inside Russia meant to either undermine Russia's war machine or, as with a 2023 drone strike on the Kremlin, bring the reality of war to the very heart of Russia.

A powerful ally of Putin said on Tuesday that NATO was essentially fighting Russia in Ukraine and that the U.S.-led alliance had helped organise strikes on Russian territory.

When asked if Russia thought the United States was involved in the attacks on Russian refineries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday the question was better addressed to the defence ministry and security services.

"The Kyiv regime continues its terrorist activity," Peskov said. "We and our military are primarily working to minimise this threat, and subsequently to eliminate it."

Ukrainian sources say Kyiv alone is responsible for the planning and execution of drone attacks in Russia. The United States says it does not support Ukrainian strikes inside Russia.

Tuesday's attacks also hit enterprises in Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk and some people were injured, Tatarstan's regional governor Rustam Minnikhanov said.

Two drones struck a dormitory on the territory of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone and at least seven people were injured, Russian media reported.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

West helping Ukraine attack deep inside Russia – CNN

Western countries are helping Ukraine to fly kamikaze drones deep inside Russian territory, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing a Ukrainian source close to Kiev’s drone program. 

An unnamed official who spoke to CNN described how Kiev uses UAVs with longer ranges and “more advanced capabilities” to strike targets located more than 1,000 km (621 miles) from the border. 

“The flights are determined in advance with our allies, and the aircraft follow the flight plan to enable us to strike targets with meters of precision,” the source said.

The admission of receiving guidance from abroad follows multiple reports that Western personnel are providing Ukrainian troops with intelligence and information about specific targets. 

The Washington Post cited a senior Ukrainian official last year as saying that Ukrainian soldiers “almost never” use advanced weapons, including the US-made HIMARS rocket launchers, without receiving coordinates from the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones targeted Russia’s Tatarstan, a region 650 km east of Moscow (400 miles), which had not previously been attacked by UAVs. One drone was aiming to hit an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, a city located roughly 1,100 km (680 miles) from the border. Mayor Ramil Mullin said that the aircraft was disabled by air defenses and caused no damage. 

Another drone struck a student dormitory inside the industrial zone in Elabuga, injuring 13 people. The hub hosts several companies that make high-tech equipment, including drones, according to Russian media. 

Moscow has repeatedly warned that the delivery of weapons and other military aid to Kiev makes Western countries de facto direct participants in the conflict. The Russian Defense Ministry and local authorities have said that Kiev uses Western-supplied arms to indiscriminately fire at civilians.

 

Reuters/RT

There’s no shortage of stories about how technical skills in IT, software and data are in high demand and can command a handsome six-figure salary.

But according to one LinkedIn expert, one particular soft skill may be as coveted as an Ivy League education.

Given the fast-changing world of business, hiring managers “want to look for growth mindset,” says Aneesh Raman, a vice president and workforce expert at LinkedIn. “This is the new degree, the way that you’ve been looking for a Harvard degree.”

A growth mindset, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, is the idea that you can continue to improve your abilities, talents and knowledge over time by learning through new experiences. The opposite is having a fixed mindset that you can’t improve on your skills.

The advice to prioritize continual learning and development is especially crucial to young professionals today who may one day end up in roles that don’t yet exist, Raman says. For example, LinkedIn recently identified fast-growing jobs on the rise in 2024 — including chief growth officer and sustainability analyst — many of which didn’t exist 20 years ago.

Developing a growth mindset involves setting challenging goals for yourself, taking risks and seeking feedback and coaching from others, Shekhinah Bass, Goldman Sachs’ head of talent strategy, previously told CNBC Make It.

How you respond to feedback is especially important, she says: “Feedback can help you identify your blind spots, so you can shift or change how you’re showing up in certain work situations. With a growth mindset, you will see those blind spots as things that are within your control to improve.” 

Having a growth mindset is essential to achieving goals, gaining skills, viewing failures as learning opportunities and developing positive changes in your life, according to research.

And it could give you an advantage in the hiring market. To demonstrate a growth mindset in an interview, express your enthusiasm for learning on the job and working with the manager to grow as a valuable team member.

“You’ve got to get excited about learning as an individual,” Raman says. “The biggest competitive differentiator a young grad can have is internalizing the idea that they’re going to be learning for the rest of their life and getting excited about it.”

 

CNBC

Oil prices gained in early Asian trading on Tuesday, underpinned by signs of improved demand and escalating Middle East tensions that had sparked a rally in U.S. futures to a five-month high in the previous session.

Brent futures for June delivery rose 37 cents to $87.79 a barrel by 0046 GMT. The May contract for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 32 cents to $84.03 a barrel.

Stronger than expected U.S. and Chinese manufacturing data is lifting prices, Tony Sycamore, a market analyst with IG, wrote in a note.

Manufacturing activity in China and the U.S.expanded in March for the first time in six months and 1-1/2 years, respectively, which markets viewed as an indicator of rising oil demand. China is the world's largest crude importer while the U.S. is the biggest consumer.

U.S. futures could rise as high as the mid-$90s if they break a technical resistance level of $84.00 a barrel, Sycamore said. The last time the prompt-month WTI contract reached the $95 per barrel level was in August 2022.

The front-month contract settled at $83.71 per barrel on Monday, the highest close since October 2023.

In the Middle East, an Israeli strike on Iran's embassy in Syria killed seven military advisors, among them three senior commanders, marking an escalation in the conflict that has stretched for nearly half a year and sparking concerns about more tangible impacts on oil supply.

"To date, the market hasn’t been worried about supply disruptions, with the war remaining contained. Iran’s involvement could see its oil supply under threat," ANZ analysts wrote in a note.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold an online meeting of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee on Wednesday to review the market and members' implementation of output cuts. Members are expected to uphold their current supply policy calling for voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to the end of the second quarter.

 

Reuters

Some residents of Kebbi State attacked a government warehouse at Bayan Kara area of Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, on Saturday night and carted away food items.

The residents, who defied security operatives stationed at the warehouse, also broke into some private warehouses and shops in the area and stole food items.

They also looted a broken-down truck loaded with assorted grains meant for distribution in Birnin Kebbi.

Attacks on warehouses had occurred at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Suleja in Niger State.

This is amidst the cost of living crisis largely believed to have been caused by the petrol subsidy removal and the floating of the naira.

Speaking to our correspondent yesterday, the Chairman of the food vendors association at Bayan Kara Market in Birnin Kebbi, Muhammadu Gwadangwaji, said some shops and warehouses of traders were also set on fire by some youths.

“They (security agents) fired gunshots and teargas into the air, but they (the youths) were not deterred. They forced their way in and looted the government warehouse and some of our shops,” he said.

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Nasir Idris, Ahmed Idris, described the incident as “unfortunate”.

He stated: “The hoodlums had earlier attacked the consignment of food items brought to the state for distribution to the people by Dangote before going to the government warehouse to loot it.

“Such incident has never happened in Kebbi before. The food items they looted are part of the foodstuffs purchased by the state government for distribution to people of the state.

“Government has procured and distributed assorted grains worth over N5 billion in over 200 trucks. It is unfortunate those who broke into the warehouse had gone there to steal what belongs to people of the state”, he further decried.

He said the government had secured its warehouses to prevent reoccurrence.

 

Daily Trust

Gunmen have reportedly abducted a yet-to-be-confirmed number of students along the east-west road in the Ughelli area of Delta state.

The students were coming from Calabar, Cross River capital, when their Sienna vehicle was attacked Friday evening.

Bright Edafe, Delta police spokesperson in Delta, confirmed the incident on Monday.

Edafe said the police are currently on the trail of the abductors to rescue the students.

The incident adds to the growing list of abductions of students in the country.

On March 7, gunmen kidnapped 137 students of Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School in Kuriga community in Kaduna.

Two days later, gunmen kidnapped 15 students from a Tsangaya school in Gidan Baya, Gada LGA of Sokoto.

In January, students of Apostolic Faith School in Ekiti state were kidnapped after gunmen attacked their school bus.

 

The Cable

US pushes alternatives to Rafah invasion in Hamas war talks with Israel

Top American and Israeli officials held virtual talks Monday as the U.S. pushed alternatives to the ground assault against Hamasunder consideration by Israelis in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a move the U.S. opposes on humanitarian grounds and that has frayed relations between the two allies.

President Joe Biden and his administration have publicly and privately urged Israel for months to refrain from a large-scale incursion into Rafah without a credible plan to relocate and safeguard noncombatants. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces, which are trying to eradicate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, must be able to enter the city to root out the group’s remaining battalions.

The more than two-and-a-half-hour meeting by secure video conference was described by both sides as constructive and productive, as Washington encourages the Israelis to avoid an all-out assault on the city, where an estimated four battalions of Hamas fighters are dispersed among more than 1.3 million civilians. The White House has instead pushed Israel to take more targeted actions to kill or capture Hamas leaders while limiting civilian impacts.

The potential operation in the city has exposed one of the deepest rifts between Israel and its closest ally, funder and arms supplier. The U.S. has already openly said Israel must do more to allow food and other goods through its blockade of Gaza to avert famine.

“They agreed that they share the objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah,” the U.S. and Israeli teams known as the Strategic Consultative Group said in a joint statement released by the White House. “The U.S. side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah. The Israeli side agreed to take these concerns into account and to have follow up discussions between experts overseen by the SCG. The follow-up discussions would include in person SCG meeting as early as next week.”

The virtual meeting came a week after planned in-person talks were nixed by Netanyahu when the U.S. didn’t veto a U.N. resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired the meeting for the U.S. side. The Israeli side was led by Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister for Strategic Affairs and Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is weighing selling Israel up to 50 new F-15 fighter jets, according to two congressional aides. The sale was informally notified to the relevant foreign affairs committees in the House and Senate on Jan. 30, according to the aides, who were granted anonymity to discuss details of a potential sale that have not yet been made public.

The initial notification indicates the administration is likely moving forward with the sale, although it is unclear if it has gotten the final nod of approval from Congress’ national security leadership.

Separately Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to encourage reforms in the group that oversees part of the West Bank and which the U.S. is hopeful can play a role in governing post-war Gaza.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russia has fired five Zircon missiles at Kyiv this year

Russia has used five of its new hypersonic Zircon missiles to attack Kyiv since the start of the year, the city's military administration said on Monday.

The attacks are among more than 180 Russian missile and drone attacks launched against the Ukrainian capital in the first three months of the year, the administration said in a post on Telegram.

The sea-based Zircon missiles have a range of 1,000 km (625 miles) and travel at nine times the speed of sound, Russia says. Military analysts have said the missiles' hypersonic speed could mean greatly reduced reaction time for air defences and a capability to attack large, deep and hardened targets.

President Vladimir Putin confirmed in his annual state-of-the-nation address on Feb. 29 that Russia had used Zircon missiles in battle, without saying what sites had been targeted. He has described the Zircon as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems.

The Kyiv administration said the city had also been struck since the start of 2024 by six other types of missiles, including the Kh-101, an air-launched cruise missile of which 113 had so far been fired.

Russia also fired 11 Kinzhal missiles, another hypersonic weapon which travels at several times the speed of sound, at the Ukrainian capital this year, it said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Russia regularly announces missile strikes on Ukraine against what it says are military and energy targets, though some missiles have also hit civilian buildings.

Over the past two weeks, Russia has escalated its long-range bombardment of power and gas infrastructure across Ukraine, causing significant damage and blackouts in several large cities.

It has also sought to hit political, military and manufacturing targets in Kyiv throughout the two years of its full-scale war against Ukraine.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian troops destroy another American Abrams tank in Avdeyevka area over past day

Russian troops destroyed another US-made Abrams tank of the Ukrainian army in the Avdeyevka area, taking better positions and repulsing two enemy counterattacks over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"The enemy lost as many as 295 personnel, a US-made Abrams tank, 5 armored combat vehicles and 5 motor vehicles. In counter-battery fire, the following targets were destroyed: a Grad multiple rocket launcher, an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, a Gvozdika motorized artillery system, 2 D-30 howitzers and a US-manufactured M119 artillery gun," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center units took more advantageous positions and inflicted casualties on the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanized, 59th motorized infantry, 68th jaeger and 25th air assault brigades near the settlements of Pervomaiskoye, Berdychi, Tonenkoye and Vodyanoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces repulsed two counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 24th mechanized brigade near the settlements of Leninskoye and Shumy in the Donetsk People’s Republic, it said.

Russian forces destroy 30 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Kupyansk area, destroying roughly 30 enemy troops and 7 pieces of military hardware over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, Western Battlegroup units operating in interaction with operational-tactical aircraft inflicted damage on amassed manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 60th mechanized brigade and 4th tank brigade near the settlements of Yampolovka and Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The enemy’s losses amounted to 30 personnel, 2 infantry fighting vehicles, 4 motor vehicles and a Polish-manufactured Krab-self-propelled artillery gun," the ministry said.

 

Reuters/Tass

“Some judges have achieved a considerable degree of expertise….in displaying an immunity from contemporary knowledge and concerns.” – David Pannick, KC, Judges, p. 32 (1987)

Emmanuel Araka was 60 years old when Allison Madueke, then over 20 years his junior, a navy captain and military governor of Anambra State, terminated his judicial career in March 1985. At the time, Araka had been the chief judge of Anambra State for six years and a judge for double that. At the time also, the retirement age of judges in Nigeria was 65.

Araka’s crime was that he took the job of the judge too seriously and believed that he should be manifestly independent of political and executive influence.

Araka was born in 1925 to a father from Onitsha, who worked as head-teacher in a primary school in Agbor in present day Delta State, where he was born. His secondary education took him through Hope Waddel Institute in Calabar, now in Cross River State, where one of his teachers was Eni Njoku (the famous “Teacher Nwanjoku”), who was to become the first vice-chancellor of University of Lagos.

Following successful studies at the Trinity College, Dublin, Araka was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1951. Over the next two decades, he built a formidable career in private practice and in politics. 12 years after becoming a lawyer, in 1963, he became Queens Counsel, the equivalent of today’s Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Two years before that, in 1961, Chike Obi, who represented Onitsha Federal Constituency in the then House of Representatives, had to quit parliament after being convicted of the political crime of sedition. In his place, Onitsha people elected Araka to represent them in the Federal House.

The onset of military rule in 1966 interfered with Araka’s career in politics but did not entirely derail his availability for public service. At the end of the civil war, he returned to legal practice but not for long.

In 1972, the Administrator of the East Central State, Ukpabi Asika, appointed Araka a judge of the High Court. When in 1976 the East Central State was split into Imo and Anambra states, Araka naturally became a judge in his home state, Anambra. Two years later, in 1978, Anthony Aniagolu, the first chief judge of Anambra State was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court and Araka succeeded him in office, becoming the second Chief Judge of the state.

Around the time of Araka’s appointment as a judge in East Central State, something happened in Lagos State, which made an impression on many judges and judicial wannabes. The then military governor of Lagos State, Mobolaji Johnson, had extended an invitation to the Chief Justice of the state (as they were then known), John Idowu Conrad (JIC) Taylor, to attend a state dinner. It was reported that Chief Justice Taylor, “after reading it, endorsed a brief note to the governor at the back of the invitation card, informing him that he would be unable to attend, because the Lagos State government had several cases pending before him and it would therefore, in the circumstances, be most inappropriate for him to honour the invitation.”

In doing so, JIC Taylor didn’t just underscore the institutional value of judicial independence, he also underlined its reliance in large measure on the moral fibre of the individual judge.

This was the state of affairs when Araka arrived the Bench. 14 years later, Allison Madueke, a member of the First Regular Course at the Nigerian Defence Academy, arrived as military governor in 1984, with no hint of having received the memo. On settling in, the military governor summoned the Chief Judge to a meeting in the government house in Enugu. Araka demurred. Madueke later complained in his memoirs that he “had not reckoned that I was dealing with a law administrator that had a mind of his own.”

That was Araka’s crime. The invitation was renewed unsuccessfully twice, whereupon Captain Madueke “applied for his retirement.” Madueke narrates that he later met the then second-in-command to General Muhammadu Buhari, General Tunde Idiagbon, while the latter was on an official visit to Owerri and secured Idiagbon’s authorisation to terminate Araka’s judicial career for being independent. In March 1985, Madueke fired Araka.

Madueke, who has just turned 80, whoops that this was “something of an earthquake in Anambra State.” It was more than that in the judiciary, where it established a norm that independence was costly. Judges re-calibrated.

Today, cavorting with the executive has become a judicial pastime. In his controversial memoirs, The Accidental Public Servant, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir El-Rufai recalls that one of his first moves in that role was to visit the then Chief Judge of the Territory to secure the support of the judiciary. He exulted that thereafter, “the FCT judiciary supported us strongly throughout my tenure.”

In November 2023, the current Chief Judge of the FCT, Husseini Baba Yusuf, went one step further, corralling the FCT judiciary to visit the current Minister of the Territory, Nyesom Wike, to pledge judicial allegiance to his rule. There, the Chief Judge promenaded somewhat naked before the Minister, pleading that “[a]s a judiciary, we are part of the government and we should be able to do things that will make government work.”

Three months later, the list of new nominees to the bench of the FCT High Court included an in-law of the Minister, Lesley Nkesi Wike, who only became a senior magistrate in Rivers State in 2023, appointed by the Minister when he was Governor of Rivers State.

One year earlier, in November 2022, Olukayode Ariwoola, the chief justice of Nigeria, had kicked up a firestorm when he traveled to Port Harcourt and at a reception hosted by the same Nyesom Wike, who was then the governor of River State, stepped into the political minefield to offer judicial support to Wike and four other governors, who were at odds with their political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Chief Justice, a devout Muslim, was not under the influence of anything that he should not have consumed but, despite the febrile political season, many were willing to give him benefit of the doubt.

This past week, Chief Justice Ariwoola bettered himself. Under the guise of the traditions of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, he led the Nigerian judiciary supposedly to break the fast with the president. The team accompanying the Chief Justice included two of his immediate predecessors, each of whom left office under a cloud. Walter Onnoghen, one of the two, is a Christian.

No one had ostensibly warned the Chief Justice about the perils of turning into a prayer warrior for politicians. At the visit, the Chief Justice took the microphone and under the guise of prayers offered to the president intoned: “May the Lord continue to bless you and your administration. Let your ship land and berth beautifully. We shall continue to pray for your administration because there are many good things in the pipeline for Nigerians.”

It is possible that Olukayode Ariwoola has always had a secret career as a clairvoyant which would equip him to know what will happen in future? What is clear is that after these lines, few people can approach the court that he presides over with any expectation of even-handedness in any case in which the administration is party.

Lawyers and judges speak glibly about judicial independence, often treating it as something material, guaranteed by constitutional provisions and by large swathes of money. It is, of course, important that judges are provided for so that they have no excuses to fall prey to bribery or material importuning. Official emoluments are usually not enough competition, however, for the kinds of blandishments that can be deployed in pursuit of the favours of a senior judge.

For that reason, the job requires a lot of skill, patience, and balance. But more than any other thing, it requires persons willing to defend independence. Of all the many virtues that he surely must possess, being an Araka is not a charge that can be levied against the current occupant of the office of Chief Justice of Nigeria.

** Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..