For many Nigerians, the word ‘diarchy’ recalls the peculiar arrangement of the Third Republic, when a military Head of State presided over a duly elected bicameral legislature – a civilian National Assembly – while the Armed Forces Ruling Council and a mixed cabinet of soldiers and politicians held sway.
At the sub-national level, elected governors operated under the shadow of military authority, creating a layered system where power was never fully civilian nor entirely military. It was a governance experiment that blurred boundaries and left citizens navigating a maze of overlapping mandates.
What we are awaiting today, however, is a far more complex version of that puzzle. It is not the clash of khaki and agbada, but the ambition of one man to wear two crowns at once. To explain this unfolding paradox, let me begin with an anecdote: In the heart of the village, there once lived a man
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