Author: TheScrutinyNG

By Seye Oladejo There is a new and important reality unfolding in Nigeria’s governance landscape: local governments are gaining greater fiscal autonomy at precisely the time when the federation’s revenue picture has improved significantly. This convergence presents both an opportunity and a test. For decades, local governments have complained that their responsibilities at the grassroots were not matched by adequate financial resources or sufficient control over their allocations. The constitutional and judicial push towards local government financial autonomy has therefore been welcomed as a potentially transformative development. At the same time, the significant increase in allocations from the Federation Account…

A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former ruler Bashar al-Assad to death after a trial in absentia, convicting him of atrocities committed during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. It’s the first such ruling under Syria’s transitional leaders who ousted Assad in December 2024, vowing to provide justice and accountability for crimes committed under his rule. Assad fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus after a lightning offensive. At a court in Damascus on Tuesday, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan convicted Assad of crimes including “premeditated murder, the intentional killing of more than one person, the intentional killing…

The Federal Government has strongly denied allegations that it spent more than ₦8 trillion outside the 2026 budget, insisting that recent reports misinterpreted the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) findings and created a false impression of illegal government spending. The controversy followed comments by the IMF’s Resident Representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, who disclosed that government expenditure equivalent to about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had not been fully captured in official fiscal reports, making the country’s deficit appear smaller than its actual financing requirement. Speaking in Lagos, Ebeke said: “So far we think that there are…

The widow of late Nollywood comic actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu, has appealed to Nigerians for assistance, saying she and her children are battling to survive amid mounting financial difficulties. In an emotional interview with content creator King Mitchy, Mrs Okafor revealed that the family has been living without electricity for about two months after their power supply was disconnected over unpaid bills. “We fetch water from the well. Because I have not paid the house rent. And they have even cut my lights for two months now. No lights since. We have been like that. Every…

Prince Kassim Afegbua If I wasn’t around when Godwin Obaseki ruled and ruined the state, I would probably have thought there was a silver lining to his administration. A man who was never at peace with himself, and is now a rolling stone, hither thither and yon by the day, in between his pandiculation dares to open his filthy buccal cavity to throw shades on a humble citizen fixing Obaseki’s mess! When Obaseki was Governor of Edo State, his leadership style crippled productivity, and demolished the surviving infrastructure he inherited. Everything about his contributions to growth and development was superficial;…

By Kassim Afegbua Opposition politics in Edo State clearly carries the unfortunate burden of hate, bad blood and undue provocations. Since after the gubernatorial elections of 21 September 2024 which returned Senator Monday Okpebholo as the winner, members of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party–PDP, obviously stultified, have decided to invest heavily in scurrilous and false propaganda. They churn out press statements which subject matters and analyses define their intent and lay bare their idiocy; their reportage constantly weaves together their burdens of naked hate, agony and pain. They never mistakenly praise the governor for his good deeds before pointing out…

By Kassim Afegbua If a person who has not entered an office offers to hold sway for a fraction of the allowable time if allowed, I would suspect his motives. Who is to taste and see now? Is it us the citizenry that are to taste Peter Obi, or is it him who desperately just needs to taste the Office of the President of Nigeria? Obi’s desperation for power, has brought up his latest bromide. For him to offer to spend only four years in office if allowed is suggestive of political radiculopathy; he’s taken to a baby deceit, that…

By Kassim Afegbua Is former President Goodluck Jonathan really warming up to try his hands on the 2027 Presidential contest? After much cogitation, my conclusion is that scammers have successfully lured him into the fray; they want to feast on him again, as they did in 2015 when he was voted out. Nigerians still remember that GEJ as he is popularly called was never in charge during his presidency. He loaned his moit to the following people, who became co-presidents during his tenure: Mrs Patience Jonathan, Dezieani Allison, Stella Oduah, and Okonjo-Iweala. These powerful women were GEJ’s co-pilots when…

By Kassim Afegbua  These Obidients will stop at nothing to push his case. A few days ago, I had an encounter with one of Peter Obi’s supporters who tried to engage me on the validity of Obi to preside over Nigeria. This friend of mine, also a political associate, understands the dynamics of Nigeria’s ethno-political configuration; he asked me a pointed and probing question, in trying to unclad my political sentiments for 2027.  Prince, he asked, “don’t you think Peter Obi is the best material for 2027 presidential election?” Looking at him without batting my eyes, I answered, “I don’t…

By Kassim Afegbua Looking at the politicians forcing a match under the cantilever called ADC, is redolent of a rehash of weather-beaten records with cracked rhythms. From Rotimi Amaechi, to Nasir El-Rufai, Atiku Abubakar, Bolaji Abdullahi, Odigie Oyegun, Mr. Grasscutter, Babachir Lawal, Tom Ikimi, Peter Obi, Sule Lamido, David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola, and others, these political geriatrics, whose main motive is essentially a self-serving diadem, and  ought to know that their adventure in coalition politics is dead on arrival. If the coalition were populated by men of honour, bearing even a negligible modicum of scruples, they would have known that…