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Blocks Of Tyranny, Building Up In Nigeria -Shehu Sani
The immediate past Senator that represented Kaduna Central in 8th Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani has warned that “blocks of tyranny” are being built in the country by people in government who are becoming increasingly intolerant of criticism and are attempting to silence Nigerians.
Senator Sani who spoke in Kaduna at the Justice Summit and Banquet called on the 9th National Assembly to as a matter of urgency throw away the Social Media and the Hate Speech Bills.
”Nowadays, people in government are becoming intolerant to criticism and there is an attempt to silence people from questioning power. And that is dangerous.
“When people are in power, it is always good to remind themselves, that power is transient. If you deny people the right to express their opinion and hold the government to account, you should understand that, by the time you are out of power that will be your only protection and guarantee.
“So, my call to the National Assembly is to throw away the Social Media Bill and the Hate Speech Bill. The two bills are inimical and dangerous to democracy. They are subversive to democracy. The bills are threatening and will end up consuming our democracy if people have no right to express their opinion” he said.
According to Senator Sani, the two bills are not only inimical and dangerous but subversive to democracy.
He warned the present government to tread with caution and not deny Nigerians right to freedom of expression, noting that, the government would not have been able to clinch power in 2015 if people were denied rights to express their opinion. while commending organisers of the summit which had the theme ‘Governance, Impunity and Accountability in an Era of Populism’, the senator said such fora were needed to destroy the blocks of ‘tyranny building up in Nigeria’.
“This programme has provided us a platform to discuss issues of governance, democracy and rule of law and vigilance in defence of our freedom. We need platforms to continue to destroy the blocks of tyranny building up in Nigeria.
“I also call on the judiciary to be courageous and understand that, politicians will always coward them and manipulate them. Governments will come and go, but there will always be the law. And the danger of having a parliament and judiciary that cannot stand up for the constitution and the rule of law is that the nation will gradually slip into tyranny and that is a very dangerous thing to do.
“The democracy we are having today is a product of struggle and sacrifice of Nigerians. And there could not have been a change in 2015 if people were denied rights to express their opinion.
“So, I call on the ruling party and the people in power not to destroy the ladder that brought them to the throne of power. When they are out of power, it is going to be the only shield to protect them against persecution from whoever is going to come after them” e said.
Earlier in her address, Convener of the Summit and Chief Executive of House of Justice, Ballanson Gloria Mabeiam said the summit was aimed at breaking Nigeria and Africa from the gag of free press and speech, because the facts and the truth need to emerge, no matter whose ox is gored.
“More than five decades ago, freedom was conceived at a seminal period in the Nigerian-African journey to independence. Civil rights movement moved for the kind of freedom that allowed people the right to self-determination and the entrenchment of fundamental freedoms.
“Fifty-nine years after, we have a profile of a democracy that wrestles with its own identity. The weaponization of laws, the reality of insecurity, the attack on the free speech and the press and the increasingly constricted accountability forum demand that people across nations and continents galvanize to impeach impunity and entrench accountability and good governance” she said.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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