A Nation Under Siege: Following Death Threats, "a Lawyer Withdraws Suit Seeking Nigeria’s Buhar

Photo credit: www.nigeriapolicewatch.com (depicting a case or Police brutality)

On June 30, 2016, THISDAY reported that, “A legal practitioner, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, has filed a notice at the Federal High Court in Abuja to discontinue the suit he instituted seeking the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari for lack of certificate. Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that Buhari was not qualified to aspire for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 as he claimed. The notice of discontinuance dated June 27 and obtained by THISDAY, read: “Take note that the plaintiff in this originating summons, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, hereby discontinues this action.” This Day also reported that in May 2016 “Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that there were some subtle threats on him to withdraw the case from court.” Read more.

It appears that in Nigeria death threats and intimidation in a so-called democracy are far easier than simply producing a certificate.

Interestingly, on his way back to SitiTalkBlog, our SitiTalkNews Parrot picked up a funny note to Nigeria’s Buhari from an undeclared author. Here’s what it said: