NIGERIA’s democracy thrives on contestation of ideas, not on the demolition of persons. That is why the statement issued on 1 June 2026 by Mr. Babachir David Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, titled, “The Kachalla Series Part 1”, must be addressed not to stifle dissent, but to insist on standards.
Mr. Lawal’s decision to exit the ADC and critique its primaries is his democratic right. Political parties must be held accountable for internal processes. But once that critique veers into personal vilification, it ceases to be politics and becomes abuse.
1. The personal attacks on Atiku Abubakar cross the line
Describing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a “near-senile octogenarian”, “ineptocrat”, “tribal and religious bigot”, and then dragging his family size and business history into public ridicule, does not advance political debate. It degrades it.
Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. It does not guarantee a license to defame. Under Sections 373-375 of the Criminal Code and the Cybercrimes Act 2015, statements that injure reputation without factual foundation expose the author to civil and criminal consequences. Disagreement with a man’s politics is legitimate. Imputing senility, bigotry, and moral decay without evidence is not.
A man of Mr. Lawal’s experience should know that political opponents are not enemies of the state. They are fellow citizens. Once we normalize calling elders “octogenarian wannabes” and “coven members”, we teach the next generation that public office is a war of insults, not service.
2. Contempt for the Presidency is contempt for the Republic
Equally troubling are Mr. Lawal’s remarks about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the 2027 elections. To preemptively label any outcome as the product of a “ruthless and superior rigging machine” is to indict an institution without proof. The Office of the President represents the Nigerian state. To speak of it in contemptuous terms erodes the very authority any opposition will one day inherit and need.
Criticism of government policy is healthy. Accusations of criminality in the electoral process demand evidence. Without it, such claims become sedition-adjacent and inflame public distrust.
3. A reminder on equity and public conduct
The legal maxim is clear: _he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Mr. Lawal held one of the highest offices in the land. That office comes with a lifelong obligation to model restraint, accuracy, and national cohesion.
Public service is not a temporary role that ends when one leaves government. It is a standard. When former public officers lead in insult, they lower the bar for everyone, including the young politicians watching them.
Nigeria cannot afford politics of personal destruction as we approach 2027. Our challenges, insecurity, poverty, youth unemployment, demand policy debate, data, and alternatives, not name calling.
Mr. Lawal is urged to retract the defamatory and contemptuous portions of his statement and return to issue-based engagement. If he believes primaries were rigged, the law, party mechanisms, and the courts provide channels. If he believes leadership is failing, Nigerians are ready to hear solutions, not slurs.
A former SGF should be a stabilizer, not an accelerant. The nation deserves better from him and his pairs.
- Duhu, LLM, Ph.D., writes from Abuja.