Author: user user

The 12th Lagos auction will showcase works by Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover, Uche Okeke, and other top artists, highlighting Africa’s modern and contemporary art.

SOGAL invites a new generation of collectors to explore the legacies of African art’s modern masters at its 12th auction, ‘Echoes of Legacy’, which brings together artists who have shaped the continent’s art scene.

The auction will be held online today, Sunday, November 1, 2026, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, after public previews at Signature Beyond Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos, from October 28 to 30.

Signature Beyond Gallery, Sogal’s parent company, organizes the auction to show how African art has evolved from early modernists to today’s leading artists. The selection spans generations and highlights the lasting impact of artists like Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover, and Uche Okeke.

The gallery sees this theme as a chance to celebrate artists, honour their legacies, and inspire collectors. ‘Echoes of Legacy’ aims to link the history of African art with the interests of today’s growing market for modern and contemporary works.

‘For the discerning collector, this is a chance to find remarkable works, connect with important artistic legacies, and add something meaningful to a collection,’ the gallery said. ‘Discover the works and own a piece of the legacy.’

The auction will take place only online at auction.sogalart.com. Anyone who wants to bid must register to join the live sale.

Those unable to attend the online auction may submit absentee bids by email to [email protected]. Such bids must include the bidder’s full name and contact details, the relevant lot numbers and the maximum amount they are willing to offer for each work. All submissions are subject to verification and acceptance by Sogal.

New bidders need to provide valid ID and finish the registration steps. The gallery notes that incomplete submissions may not be processed.

Absentee bids must arrive by 4 pm on Saturday, November 7. The gallery reminds bidders that submitting an absentee bid does not guarantee a purchase, as all offers follow Sogal’s terms and conditions.

It also asked prospective buyers to review the catalogue and ask for condition reports if needed before bidding because bidders are responsible for checking the condition, authenticity, and suitability of each lot.

ONE of the fundamental diagnoses of the Nigerian state is that its constitutional framework for governance is at variance with its plural reality. In other words, the Nigerian Constitution recognises Nigeria as a federation with three tiers of government-federal, state and local. Unfortunately, the structural and institutional mechanisms of governance are so centralised and seemingly unitary in ways that deny the realities for all practical purposes. This is one key anomaly that explains why the local government structure has remained comatose since the Ironsi administration. It also explains one of the crucial reasons why the democratic governance since 1999 has not really translated into a decisively significant positive and hence impactful package of democratic dividends especially in terms of local governance at the grassroots.

And this makes the challenge of restructuring the Nigerian constitution to achieve the essence of a genuine federation all the more cogent for any administration willing to make sense of the Nigerian predicament and find adequate resolution that unburdens developmental and governance targets on behalf of millions of Nigerians. This agenda is most significant for the Tinubu administration for two fundamental reasons. The first comes from Tinubu’s ideological attachment to the task of restructuring the Nigerian governance system even before becoming the president, and even as he was never in the habit of playing to the gallery about it. One of the rallying points of his connection with the progressive elements in the Nigerian state is the imperative of constitutional restructuring of the Nigerian federation. The second reason derives from some of his key governance policies since assuming the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A few examples of significant governance policies have been enacted that seem to signal that the administration has come to terms with the necessity of restructuring as a pathway to impactful governance reform. One significant policy is the creation of the Ministry of Regional Development that is meant to instigate socioeconomic and infrastructural progress across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The ministry makes it possible to measure policy convergences and divergences across these zones in ways that facilitate harmonisation. This policy is followed by a correlative one: the establishment of six regional development commissions (RDCs) that would serve as the arrowheads of the policy initiatives, formulation and design. Next in line, and beyond all expectations of its possibility, the Tinubu government has pushed the bill legislating the creation of state police closer to realisation. Signing the 2023 Electricity Act significantly decentralised electricity generation, transmission and distribution away from the exclusive to the concurrent list, a policy which enables states to take charge of power generation. There are three separate amendments ongoing to the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 which are meant to undermine its rigid centralisation of the ownership of solid minerals and other natural endowments in the hands of the federal government to the exclusion of the other tiers of government.

Fundamental to all these sweeping legislative overhauls and policy transformations, and coterminous with the Supreme Court ruling of July 2024 concerning the financial autonomy of local governments, is the urgency of incentivising the subnational elements and entities in the Nigerian federation to commence the project of actively investing in their own regions and achieve governance distinction. All these speak to the challenge of restructuring to unlock the governance potentials inherent in laying the foundation for a true federalism in Nigeria. How then can this trajectory towards restructuring the Nigerian federation become a significant plank in the Tinubu administration that yields solid governance reform and brings home the impact of the Renewed Hope Agenda, post-2027?

The endgame for that restructured federation is the objective of installing a framework of structurally permanent competitive federalism among the federating units and regions. This is the overall agenda that all the preceding policy initiatives must reach for; this is the blueprint that must structure the restructuring process in the next administration cycle. Once we understand the brilliant strategy of a piecemeal legislative approach that privileges decentralisation through gradual policy advancement, then we see the significance of, for instance, the Ministry of Regional Development and the six regional development commissions. This is a pivotal transition that connects federalism to developmental local governance. The policy development serves as a cogent prelude to a full-fledged creation of local and regional economic corridors and growth poles that unravel the binding constraints around wealth generation at the grassroots level.

This is a fundamental consideration and pivot because the grassroots is what enables democratic governance. Democratic governance becomes meaningful when local governance is empowered. It is significant development at the local level-the level of the local government-that speaks to the connection of governance to the people. We had a very palpable demonstration of this relevance of local governance in the immediate post-independence period when the local government areas were significant spaces both for sociopolitical mobilisation as well as efficient public works, and service provision and delivery. Local governance therefore facilitates the grassroots participation of the people who are the most fundamental factor in governance. Indeed, the local governments constitute the framework for testing the transparency and responsiveness of government institutions. This is where the concepts of subsidiarity and social capital become fundamental in understanding local governance. The subsidiarity principle is targeted at undermining the centralisation dynamics that are at work in the lopsidedness of the Nigerian federal constitution. The principle demands that whatever policy and development issues can be handled at the local and grassroots level must not be denied the third tier of government.

How then must the initial policy initiatives of the Tinubu administration be strengthened to push the restructuring blueprint towards its ultimate objective of a competitive federalism? There are five policy and structural pathways that could serve as the basis of institutionally grounding the task of decentralising the Nigerian governance systems. The first is legal and constitutional, and it is meant to ensure that the regional bodies already established do not become mere appendages pushing the centralising logic of the federal government. Thus, the regional bodies and frameworks already set in place must be constitutionalised into significant economic spaces that reinforce Nigeria’s governance architecture. The government must also legislate on the policy significance of streamlining the regional development plans, in the shape, for example, of the North Central 20-Year Economic Infrastructure and Social Development Plan. This allows for each of the six regions (or more) to develop along the lines of their comparative advantages in terms of agriculture, trade, mining, fishing, and more.

The second reform consideration piggybacks on the first: the structural responsibilities that will unlock the economic growth and progress of the regional governance corridors must be attended by fiscal and financial autonomy. One immediate means of consolidating the financial strength of the Ministry and the regional development commissions is to allocate some specific empowering percentage to them from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. They can also leverage alternative funding especially through public-private partnerships or even through the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHIDF). Without some concrete sources of revenues, the regional initiatives will regress into routine activities and eventually collapse. A critical dimension of this fiscal autonomy and responsibility must necessarily be the need to devolve management of resources to the regions. This is critical if the comparative advantages of the regions would become competitive, and if the regions would truly take ownership of their development. The federal government can then be the recipient of some percentages benchmarked against the First Republic modified model rather than be the one doling out peanuts to the regions.

The third reform pillar the Tinubu administration must explore is, as we have hinted, the pursuit and institutionalisation of developmental local governance. True federalism is only meaningful when it is founded on a bedrock of local and self-sustaining governance. The administration can jumpstart this by submitting comprehensive local government autonomy legislation that will leverage the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of local governments. This ensures that there are readily available funds that the local governments receive directly for developmental purposes. But then, follow-up legislation must make oversight and accountability possible by establishing structural procedures to track expenditures and tangible developments in terms of road networks, healthcare services, sewage maintenance, small businesses and enterprises, basic education, etc.

All these will necessarily lead to the fourth pillar that will draw the Nigerian federation closer to a very visible and competitive federalism-the need to establish the regions, and the regional development commissions, as ‘growth poles’ or economic corridors that are interconnected and mutually reinforcing in terms of their harmonised policy, developmental and economic objectives. One starting point would be the strategic need to decentralise public assets and infrastructures, like military bases, national think tanks and training institutions. This constitutes a solid gesture towards ensuring a secure base for economic growth and investment. The regional development commissions would also need to facilitate the interconnections of the regions through massive transit networks, like the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, and the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway that strategically connect the north-west and the south-west. The transit networks will also focus on critical feeder roads that the regional commissions will manage together with the local governments. The economic corridors in the geopolitical zones also require electricity as a necessity. This makes it imperative for the government to start thinking about the strategic significance of decentralising the energy and grid systems in ways that offload the pressures away from the national grid that keeps collapsing. This will make the regions the beneficiaries of interconnected regional grids that service their developmental aspirations and blueprints.

The last reform mandate is, as is to be expected, security. Law and order are the basis of economic growth and developmental progress. This implies that it would be one of the greatest governance paradoxes to have achieved a significant level of decentralisation through the initiatives Tinubu has already taken while upholding a centralised security architecture. In the next administration’s development policy cycle, therefore, we expect that the state police initiative would have been completed. In other words, the government at the federal and state levels would have gone beyond the conceptualisation to active deployment. However, it would then be left to the regional development commissions to coordinate and synergise intelligence gathering and sharing, joint operations, capacity building, and so on.

From the foregoing, it becomes obvious that achieving a decentralised federation possesses a key dimension of making democratic governance work for millions of Nigerians. The key objective of restructuring the federation is to unlock the binding constraints that disconnect democracy and governance from those who are its real motivation. The policy initiatives that have quietly commenced the decentralisation mandate required to make federalism functional must be pressed to their logical conclusions once the next administration cycle begins, post-2027. With the restructuring framework set in motion, the Tinubu administration would have firmly grasped by the horns the bull of a lopsided federal arrangement that keeps stifling developmental initiatives and prospects. This is a very tough prospect, but the administration, against all odds, has proven that it is not shy to make tough choices.

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi, has said he and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso are committed to national unity, improved security, increased investment in healthcare and education, and policies aimed at reducing poverty.

At an NDC town hall meeting, held in Owerri on Saturday, Obi raised concerns about poverty and insecurity and urged voters to protect their ballots.

He also addressed concerns about electoral transparency, while urging residents to participate in the 2027 general elections.

He advised the people to remain at their polling units to monitor the process until the final results were declared.

The former Anambra governor described protecting votes as an important responsibility of citizens exercising their democratic rights.

He thanked party members, candidates, organisers and supporters in Imo State for participating in the meeting, describing national development as a collective responsibility.

The Owerri engagement forms part of the NDC’s ongoing political outreach ahead of the 2027 general elections.

He criticised President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s economic record.

Obi said that President Tinubu had not spent a night in the state despite spending more than 260 days abroad.

He also accused the administration of accumulating substantial debts without delivering corresponding improvements in citizens’ living conditions.

Obi cited poverty, hunger, insecurity and the number of children outside the education system as major national concerns.

The NDC candidate revealed that more than 140 million Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty, adding that approximately 18 million children were out of school.

On arrival, Obi visited the Relief Market in Owerri, where he interacted with traders, buyers, and other residents about their experiences with the current economic situation.

The constitutional limits of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding the disqualification of candidates submitted by political parties were clarified on Sunday by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Dr Aiodun Layonu and Mr Francis Amobi Nzelu.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune on the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify candidates under scrutiny and the legal framework governing candidacy in Nigeria, Dr Layonu revealed that the process of becoming a candidate is strictly governed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC guidelines.

Dr Layonu insisted that INEC’s role is administrative and supervisory, adding that, ‘Once political parties conduct primaries and submit their list of candidates, the Commission is constitutionally bound to comply with valid orders from competent courts.

‘If affected aspirants challenge their nomination in court, INEC is bound to obey valid court judgments.’

Dr Layonu posited that where a court decision is appealed up to the Federal High Court or higher, INEC typically pauses final action on the contested candidacy until the judicial process is concluded.

The senior lawyer suggested that because Nigeria operates a party-based ballot system where party logos appear on ballot papers, INEC can implement court-ordered substitutions until the legal deadline before an election.

On his part, Nzelu contended that the electoral body does not have the constitutional power to delist or disqualify candidates nominated by political parties.

In his words: ‘Nigerians go to bed and wake up to a new set of laws. This issue is very straightforward.

‘If a political party has conducted primaries and nominated a candidate and forwards that name, the only conditions of removal are if the person dies or voluntarily withdraws in writing.’

The senior advocate described INEC as an umpire, not a player, questioning under which law the Commission claims powers to disqualify candidates.

For Nzelu, ‘INEC is an umpire. They cannot be game players. Under which law are they operating? I have not seen the law yet.’

The SAN, who made reference to a recent case in Abuja where INEC monitored the ANPP primaries in Anambra State, countersigned results that included candidates for Senate, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly, only for the party leadership to attempt substitution in Abuja, and maintained that INEC rightly resisted the change.

Nzelu expressed the sadness that political parties are committing blunders by attempting to arbitrarily substitute candidates who validly won primaries.

In his words: ‘Anybody who has gone through primaries as a major winner, his party returns his name, INEC countersigns, and they want to remove them, they should go to court and seek redress.

‘They should not take knives to fight the battle.’