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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged United Nations Special Procedures to urgently investigate the reported deaths of 37 young people in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

The rights organisation also called for an independent probe into the reported use of lethal force against protesters in Minna, the state capital, following the deaths in custody.

According to SERAP, at least two protesters were reportedly killed during demonstrations, while others were allegedly shot and left with serious injuries.

The organisation said the protests followed the deaths of the 37 detainees, including young people reportedly arrested by the NSCDC in connection with alleged illegal mining activities. SERAP said reports of security personnel using live ammunition against protesters raised concerns about whether excessive or disproportionate force was used.

It called for a prompt, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into both the deaths in custody and the reported shooting of protesters.

The organisation said the incidents raised concerns under Nigeria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, particularly provisions relating to the rights to life, liberty, security of the person and freedom of assembly.

Probe circumstances of 37 deaths

SERAP said the circumstances surrounding each of the 37 deaths must be established, including the causes and manner of death, conditions of detention, treatment of detainees and the conduct of officers involved.

It cited a recommendation made by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions following her 2019 visit to Nigeria that deaths or serious injuries in police custody and alleged extrajudicial executions should be investigated impartially by an independent body.

The organisation urged authorities to preserve evidence and establish the identities of the deceased, as well as the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

SERAP also called for an investigation into whether any detainees were subjected to torture, ill-treatment, neglect or other abuse, and for the identification of officers and commanders who may have been involved.

Calls for investigation into protest shootings

On the Minna protests, SERAP said the right to peaceful assembly is protected under international and regional human rights standards.

It argued that even where a protest becomes disorderly or some participants engage in unlawful conduct, that does not automatically justify the use of lethal force against protesters.

The organisation said investigators should determine the circumstances in which firearms and live ammunition were used, identify protesters who were killed or injured and establish whether the force used was necessary and proportionate.

It also wants authorities to establish whether orders were issued authorising the use of live ammunition and whether less-lethal alternatives were available and considered.

SERAP called for the immediate preservation of CCTV footage, body-camera recordings, mobile-phone videos, photographs, medical records, detention records, firearms and ammunition records, radio communications and operational orders that could assist the investigation.

The group further urged the government to protect protesters, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, witnesses and relatives of victims from intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest or reprisals.

It asked the UN Special Procedures to communicate with the Nigerian government, demand detailed information on the deaths and injuries, and push for accountability and effective remedies where violations are established.

SERAP said the reported deaths in custody and subsequent events in Minna require urgent international scrutiny, adding that authorities have a responsibility to establish the truth, protect peaceful protest and ensure accountability for unlawful conduct

THE ongoing friction between the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors’ Forum-anchored by its Chairman and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma-and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over the so-called ‘Rainbow Coalition’ elevates political parties as institutions to the front burner of Nigeria political discourse.

Yet, contemporary Nigerian politics frequently witnesses the straining of these institutional bounds. In a representative democracy, a political party is neither a loose collection of convenience nor a mere franchise vehicle for rent-seeking operators. It is an institutional ecosystem-a vehicle of shared ideology, structural discipline, and collective compact.

When a political party extends its platform, resources, and governance mandate to secure power, it enters into a solemn social contract with the electorate: that policies will be enacted, campaigns will be unified, and party discipline will serve as a safeguard against unprincipled opportunism.

Far from being a mere pre-election spat ahead of 2027, this confrontation strikes at the heart of political party integrity. It forces a critical national conversation: Can a multi-party democracy survive when party structures are subverted by powerful individuals who demand absolute accommodation while simultaneously working to undermine the party’s down-ballot candidates?

Historical Echoes: The Perils of Cross-Party Accommodation in Nigeria

To fully appreciate the gravity of the current tension between the APC machinery and Minister Nyesom Wike, one must examine the historical trajectory of cross-party appointments and political realignments in Nigeria’s fourth republic.

Nigerian political history is replete with experiments where ruling parties sought to co-opt opposition heavywaters under the guise of national unity or strategic pragmatism, only to find their internal cohesion hollowed out from within.

From the ruling party arrangements of 1999 through successive administrations, the temptation to utilize ‘decamped’ or hybrid opposition figures has always presented a double-edged sword. While short-term tactical electoral gains are often realized at the presidential level, the long-term institutional cost is borne by the party structures at the sub-national level.

When political actors are permitted to maintain dual political identities-retaining membership in an opposition party while exercising executive authority and building parallel coalitions under the ruling dispensation-they introduce a Trojan horse into the ruling party’s camp.

Historically, parties that fail to guard their institutional boundaries risk descending into factionalized fiefdoms. The APC, having painstakingly built a national platform through years of ideological alignment, merger negotiations, and grassroots mobilization, cannot afford to repeat the historical errors of transactional politics where personal convenience supersedes organizational survival.

The Mechanics of the ‘Rainbow Coalition’: A Trojan Horse for the Ruling Party

At the core of the current dispute is the operational reality of Nyesom Wike’s proposed ‘Rainbow Coalition.’ Stripped of its rhetorical gloss, what does this coalition actually demand of the All Progressives Congress?

Wike’s proposition is deceptively simple yet structurally destructive: he claims absolute loyalty to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid while simultaneously reserving the right for his political machinery-and his mother party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-to contest, challenge, and seek to defeat APC candidates in legislative, gubernatorial, and state-level elections.

This arrangement is an assault on political logic for several reasons. First, is the fallacy of disaggregated power. In a presidential system of government, a president does not rule in a political vacuum. The executive branch relies heavily on a synchronized party majority in the National Assembly and aligned state structures to pass critical legislation, execute the ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda, and maintain administrative stability.

To ask the APC to surrender its down-ballot ambitions in various states just to satisfy an external actor’s local political hegemony is to demand the absolute subjugation of the party’s collective interest to an individual ego.

Second, is electoral cannibalism. A political coalition that asks a ruling party to cede its local structures while reserving the presidency is not a partnership; it is political cannibalism. It asks the party faithful, who sweat and bleed at the grassroots to build local party offices and mobilize voters, to stand down so that opportunistic power brokers can secure personal leverage.

Third, is the erosion of voter clarity. Parties exist to give citizens clear ideological and programmatic choices. When political actors blur the lines between ruling and opposition parties to the point where opposition card-carriers dictate terms within the corridors of power, the electorate is disenfranchised of meaningful choices. Politics devolves into an elite cartel where party labels are treated as disposable packaging.

The Legal and Constitutional Paradox of Card-Carrying Opposition Ministers

The current impasse also exposes a profound constitutional and legal paradox within Nigeria’s democratic framework: the phenomenon of the opposition card-carrying minister.

Under Section 148 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President has the prerogative to appoint ministers to assist in the execution of executive powers. However, the framers of the constitution envisioned a system where executive collaboration aligns with governmental accountability.

When a serving minister maintains active membership, card-carrying status, and leadership influence in an opposition party-while openly working against the electoral fortunes of the ruling party that provides the platform for governance-a constitutional and ethical anomaly occurs.

Wike’s defense that he is not answerable to APC governors, coupled with his dismissal of opposing party leaders as ‘politically lazy’ or ‘419 smart,’ highlights the core of the problem. It reveals a worldview where executive appointments are viewed as personal fiefdoms rather than instruments of collective party governance.

The APC Progressive Governors’ Forum, led by Governor Hope Uzodimma, has rightly identified this legal and political aberration. A ruling party cannot be expected to provide state power to individuals who weaponize that very access to undermine the party’s foundational structures.

The law may grant the President executive discretion in appointments, but political morality and party survival demand that institutional loyalty cannot be completely divorced from governmental office.

The Leadership Paradigm: Governor Hope Uzodimma and Institutional Defense

In standing firm against this encroachment, Governor Hope Uzodimma and the APC governors have acted as custodians of institutional integrity. Leadership requires foresight, and true party leadership demands the courage to draw a red line when external actors attempt to hollow out the party from within.

Uzodimma’s stance is rooted in a pragmatic understanding of political survival: a party that fails to protect its local candidates soon ceases to have a national base. The Progressive Governors’ Forum understands that the strength of President Bola Tinubu’s administration is inextricably linked to the strength of the APC legislative and executive machinery across the federation.

To deify a political actor who treats party structures as chess pieces is to invite institutional decay. President Tinubu’s electoral mandate was secured through a national party platform built by the sweat, resources, and ideological commitment of millions of party faithful across Nigeria. That platform cannot be mortgaged to satisfy the localized vendettas or overinflated political ambitions of any single minister.

When Uzodimma and the governors reject any political alliance that undermines party candidates or splits votes, they are defending the fundamental compact of party politics. They are asserting that the APC is a mass-based political institution, not a corporate board room where external fixers can negotiate carve-outs at the expense of loyal members.

Reclaiming Party Supremacy for Nigeria’s Democratic Future

The clash over the Rainbow Coalition should serve as a wake-up call for Nigeria’s political class. For democracy to deepen, political parties must reclaim their supremacy over individuals and that be achieved by enforcing internal discipline.

Parties must institutionalize clear codes of conduct that penalize open sabotage and dual-loyalty gamesmanship. While broad coalitions are welcome in governance, they must happen transparently at the party leadership level-not through backdoor, self-serving arrangements that undermine party candidates.

APC as a political party must prioritize grassroots integrity. As APC leadership and governors have repeatedly emphasized, sustainable political victory relies on genuine grassroots mobilization and institutional loyalty, not on the self-anointed omnipotence of political godfathers. Party tickets must remain sacred to those who labor for the party in season and out of season.

Lastly, is to resist the cult of personality. Nigeria’s democratic experiment has suffered historically from the personalization of power. Moving forward, the survival of institutional platforms like the APC depends on its ability to say no to unbridled grandstanding and primitive transactional politics.

On a final note, Nyesom Wike’s political posturing represents an archaic brand of politicking that seeks to subordinate institutional integrity to personal convenience. Labeling opposing governors as ‘politically lazy’ does nothing to disguise the fundamental flaw in his logic: a desire to consume the ruling party’s electoral harvest while refusing to plant or protect its seeds at the sub-national level.

The APC, under the steady guidance of its governors, led by Hope Uzodinma, and its national leadership, must firmly reject this attempt to truncate its collective identity. There can be no compromise where the party platform is dished out for individual consumption.

Party loyalty is not a negotiable commodity, and structural integrity is not optional. By drawing the line against the Rainbow Coalition, the APC has defended more than just an election strategy-they have defended the very soul, purpose, and institutional future of party politics in Nigeria.

From all indications, including his directives on the ‘no vacancy’ policy for the promotion of eligible teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, as the Minister of the FCT, seems to have resolved to keep creating scenarios that would make the teachers look like scapegoats. This is the second time in two months that this column has made Wike and FCT teachers the subject of discourse. The first was on July 11, 2026 edition of this newspaper, when it published the piece, ‘Oga Wike, listen to FCT teachers.’

In addition to issues of non-payment of teachers’ legitimate entitlements, the previous piece also highlighted the negative impact of strikes on basic education. The effect of Wike’s underdevelopment of education in the FCT is evidenced by the 2026 UTME and WAEC/SSCE abysmal results of candidates from FCT public schools. That piece was provoked by the FCT teachers’ disruption of promotion examination to protest the no-vacancy policy of Wike. Indeed, this lawful demonstration by the teachers marked the beginning of an unending persecution by their own employer.

Consequently, the leadership of the FCT Secondary Education Board (SEB) and the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) were removed from office, allegedly on Wike’s orders. The heads of the two FCT agencies (SEB and UBEB) had previously suffered the same fate when the then Director of the FCT SEB (Dr Sani Ladan), and the Director of the FCT UBEB were both removed from office for being proactive to shut down schools for vacation earlier than scheduled. When the news of the abduction of school children in Oyo state broke, the then FCT Director of Schools (who also suffered removal from office) had written to schools to quickly finish up their end of term examinations in order to forestall any incidences of kidnapping.

This columnist is disturbed by Wike’s persistent harassment of FCT teachers; yet for very inconsequential reasons. He would forever remain proud to publicly declare his solidarity for teachers, anytime, anywhere, as far as it concerns their demand for legitimate entitlements. Beginning as a Grade II teacher in 1979, I’ve lived the greater part of my life as a classroom teacher across various levels (primary, secondary and tertiary); spending, so far, over two decades in each of the last two.

In 2020 the then education minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, under late President Muhammadu Buhari announced a ground-breaking investment package for teachers, including the extension of service year for teachers from 35 to 40 years and an increase in their retirement age from 60 to 65 years. President Buhari signed the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act 2022 into law on April 8, 2022. Section 1 of the Act provides teachers could retire from pensionable service by whichever of the two that comes earlier.

This special offer is, indeed, the bone of contention over which Minister Wike, for several months now, has refused to allow FCT teachers to have deep, sound sleep. It’s also unfortunate that this well-deserving privilege granted to teachers by the Buhari administration has rather earned them the envy of other categories of civil servants in the country. It’s worse, however, that Oga Wike, even as a minister, would be spiteful of this exclusive offer for teachers.

Of course, the ‘Hasken Abuja’ may have relatively done well in some areas, but as for teachers and basic education in the FCT, the Nigerian public is unlikely to give him a pass. For instance, students have been taking lessons under tree shade in many schools outside of the city where classroom blocks, which had their roofs removed for renovation works, have continued to remain in an open-air learning environment because the over-one-year-old renovation projects are yet to be completed. The Honourable Minister of the FCT can do better than this for teachers and basic education. ‘Hasken Abuja ‘, which is a Hausa traditional title conferred on the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on April 30, 2026 by the FCT Council of Traditional Rulers, could be translated into English as ‘The Light of Abuja.’

Like the offer for teachers, some categories of judges and university professors equally enjoy the privilege of retiring at 70 years of age. Similarly, some professionals, including medical doctors and nurses, have special salary structures different from what exists in the mainstream public service. Yet, no one detests them in the way teachers are begrudged by the FCT administration under Wike. Readers should help this writer to remind Wike that he was taught by teachers at all levels of his educational pursuit, including when he was at the Law School.

Last week, the FCT administration approved the posting of education officers currently in the elongated period of their service (35-40 years) to various schools as classroom teachers. This posting, believed by teachers to be ulterior-motivated, derives from a circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the ‘Guidelines on the Implementation of the New Retirement Age and Length of Service for the Teaching Profession.’ Section II(e) of the document states that, ‘All successful applicants will be deployed to serve as teachers in schools or quality assurance officers in the headquarters, zonal or state offices of the FEQUAS.’

Believing that the circular meant well, the posting of directors to schools as classroom teachers to serve under principals who are lower in rank than them is strange and unknown to the established norm in the teaching profession. The offence of the teachers? They are beneficiaries of the harmonized retirement age that allows them to remain in service longer than other categories of workers. A plausible insinuation from this development scenario is that this was intended to provoke the anger of the teachers to a level that they would, out of frustration, choose to forego a troubled extension of service and simply retire to have peace of mind.

Wike should honorably stop or be advised to stop harassing FCT teachers. It’s exceedingly surprising that the Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) have each remained tongue-tied over the FCT’s dishonest implementation of the extended service year for teachers; a national policy authorized by an Act of the National Assembly. Where are the country’s human rights lawyers? We are compelled by this scenario to remember late Gani Fawehinmi. May Allah guide Wike to treat teachers and the teaching profession with decorum and respect. Amin.