2023 Elections: Do We Still Need Political Parties?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The online version of Encyclopaedia Brittanica describes a political party as “a group of persons organised to acquire and exercise political power”. Political parties originated in their modern form in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, along with the electoral and parliamentary systems, whose development reflects the evolution of parties. The term party has since come to be applied to all organised groups seeking political power, whether by democratic elections or by revolution. 

*Obi, Tinubu, Atiku, Kwankwaso

Another online resource portal, Wikipedia defines a political party “as an organisation that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country’s elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country.”

Pastor Tunde Bakare And The Lies Of A Failed State

 By Chuks Iloegbunam 

Pastor Tunde Bakare of The Citadel Global Community Church recently spoke through his hat while preaching a sermon. He told his congregation that, during the January 15, 1966 military action that toppled the First Republic, the soldiers that took Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa removed his turban, poured wine on his head and force-fed him with the alcohol. For abominating him, Balewa, just before he was shot, pronounced a curse on Ndigbo, to the effect that no one from the ethnic group will ever bear rule over Nigeria. Mr. Bakare’s story, fanciful as it sounds, is a pack of lies. This article, therefore, is to educate Mr. Bakare and others of his misguided persuasion with the truth, of which Jesus, the Christ said in John 8: 32: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” 

*Awolowo, Azikiwe, Balewa

 

On the mundane level, no one removed any turban from Sir Abubakar’s head. The turban is a headdress. Soldiers invaded the Prime Minister’s official residence at around 3am, when the man was in bed. Did he sleep turbaned? Do people sleep in their headdresses? Apart from that picture in which presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari appeared in suit and tie, wearing a wan smile and looking almost comical with his receding hairline, there hardly is another photograph of the man in which a cap does not adorn his head. Would his traditional fondness for full dressing gear ever mean that he went to bed in a hat? Do women sleep with all those accessories they routinely assembled on their heads for public events? Tafawa Balewa’s turban was not removed because he wasn’t wearing one when his adversaries closed in on him.

Mamman Daura Seeks ‘Competence’

By Lasisi Olagunju

Leader of the 'unseen' persons ruling us, Alhaji Mamman Daura, spoke last week. He said enough of turn-by-turn presidency for Nigeria. He decreed that North-South rotation of the presidency of Nigeria should be dead; from 2023, the most competent among contenders would be put in the Presidential Villa.

*Daura 

The Afenifere reacted sharply; the North is silent; the Ohanaeze spoke hard. Leaders of the Niger Delta also kicked against Daura's executive order banning zoning of the presidency. But what can their puny noise do to a people who built their confidence on solid rock? When a man whose lips rarely move decides to speak out, you had better drop all you are doing and listen carefully. The man who spoke is not known to be a flippant person.

Yoruba And The Cog Of Gerontocracy

By Olukayode Ajulo

 As the world educates and initiates her young ones as modern species more aggressively attuned to the flexibilities of modernity as working antidote to rigid political antiquity which is largely Africa’s bane, Africa, yes, Nigeria, has ingloriously glued itself to gerontocracy. It wasn’t particularly bad for Nigeria at the get-go. Early nationalists who fought for, sought and got independence for the nation Nigeria did same in their youths.

*Awolowo

Remember Herbert Macaulay, Al-Haji Aminu Kano, Al-Haji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Professor Eyo Ita, Al-Haji Sir Ahmadu Bello, Alvan Ikoku, Dennis Osadebay, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Egbert Udo Udoma, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Joseph Tarka, General Murtala Mohammed and the up and doing General Yakubu Gowon all called the shots as leaders of the country in their youth,an era Nigerians call golden, years that fanned radical changes and revolutionary ideologies that saw the country out of the woods. When it comes to mind that three of these prominent Nigerians, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, personally participated in negotiations for the independence from Britain, then you can dearly bemoan the political Egypt to which Nigeria has gladly returned.

 Today, our state and federal parliaments have become virtual permanent homes for docile and unproductive septuagenarians and lame octogenarians who do but deepen the depth of our doom as a country. We must hammer the truism that youth mainstreaming can allow young people to change the world by creating new awareness, opportunities, policies, systems and cultures that foster youth engagement. In political parties, youth mainstreaming could allow for children and youth to affect democratic representation even in parties that would deny them the right to vote or otherwise become engaged. Whatever age they are, young people can run for office anywhere in the world as an act of protest; to make a stand or to draw attention.

In my sojourn across my country -Nigera vis-a-vis the age demography of political leaders among the major ethic, I dare say there’s no denying that the predomination of these gerontocrats in Nigerian political space seems more prevalent among the Yoruba people of the Southwest, Nigeria. It would alarm one who’s initiated and rich enough of Yoruba’s culture to the effect that the youth of this tribe has always been it’s strength and a central part of its rich history. Its but alien to us (the Yorubas) for old men and women to be avaricious especially with political power and office. It was not so with the people and culture of the Yoruba at the various chapters and sagas in history, for instance, it wasn’t so when the late Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebu land was enthroned at age 26 in 1960.

Will We Ever Get It Right In Nigeria?

By Bolaji Tunji

I have always agonized and been  concerned about this country Nigeria. My agony in most cases leads to headache and the problem is simply; why has Nigeria been the way it is? Why have we found it difficult to mesh as a nation? Why has development that would translate this country into a great country eluded us? Why is it that our leaders, over the years have always found it convenient to show concern for their own welfare rather than the collective welfare? Our leaders travel out of the country. They see some of the best of facilities and infrastructure in those countries- good road network, good medical facilities where they go in order to take care of themselves, unblinking electricity supply, welfarist programmes for the citizens.

*Buhari 

 All these our leaders see, why is it that they do not show concern or feel such would be good for their country and try to replicate here?

The answer I get is that our leaders really do not have any love for us. They do not care about the people they govern, they only pay lip service to all they claim concerning the masses, it does not touch their heart. We are just statistics to them. We are faceless. They do not see us or feel we are human. Decisions about citizens are always taken cold-bloodedly. The problem did not start with the person who holds the highest office in the land, definitely not  the president. He can not do everything and he can not be everywhere. That’s why we have ministers and other government officials to advise and make the job of governance easier. It also starts at our own level, the ordinary citizen. Do we, the ruled, show love to ourselves? That Hausaman that guides your gate, do you have any kinship with him or you only see a hired hand, who must open your gate or safeguard you while you sleep?

Do you ever wonder whether he has a wife or children? Have you ever wondered how he takes care of them and what he feels being so far away from his wife and children or we think he does not have the same feelings that we have? When you see two people fighting on the road and one breaks a bottle, what was the intention? And when you stab the other person, you now claim it was the devil. What was your intention when you broke the bottle in the first place? If you had considered the implications of that action or put yourself in the position of the other person, would you have considered stabbing or killing him? We are all responsible for our actions at every point in time.

At a macro level, one wonders at the action or inaction of people charged with minding us and why it never bothered them to take action when necessary.

The other day, there was an accident involving a vehicle belonging to Peace Mass Transport Company along the Umuahia end of the Enugu-Portharcourt  expressway. Of the 15 passengers said to be in the vehicle, only two people survived. The accident occurred on Sunday, May 22. Less than two weeks after, another incident occurred involving another vehicle belonging to the same transport company. The driver was said to have lost control and drove the vehicle into a ditch with all the passengers. Again lives could have been lost. 

Let The Igbo Be!

By Oguwike Nwachuku                                      This year’s activities leading to the 50th anniversary of the January 15, 1966 coup plot believed to have altered the political equation of Nigeria after just six years of independence have come and gone.

*Nzeogwu

But the lessons, like a razor will continue to pierce the heart of every discerning person.

Popularly and erroneously described as Nzeogwu Coup, nay Igbo coup, many commentators have interpreted that putsch the way it suits them, their political allies and interest, 50 years down the road.

The same scenario is playing out in the trial of the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, whose own case is being given another colouration.

Of all the persons accused of eating the yam from Sambo Dasuki’s office as former national security adviser (NSA), Metuh is the only one that has been brought to court in handcuffs and Black Maria and whose bail conditions are ridiculous.

Today’s intervention is not on Metuh, but I think the Igbo are also using their tongue to count their teeth.

This is what Nzeogwu told his compatriots while announcing reasons for the coup: “Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 per cent; those that keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian calendar back by their words and deeds.

“Like good soldiers we are not promising anything miraculous or spectacular.

“But what we do promise every law abiding citizen is freedom from fear and all forms of oppression, freedom from general inefficiency and freedom to live and strive in every field of human endeavour, both nationally and internationally.

“We promise that you will no more be ashamed to say that you are a Nigerian ….”

Buhari’s Change Mission (2) And Hidden Caliphate Agenda

*Buhari, Sultan of Sokoto, Osinbajo,Tambuwal 

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By Chinweizu

sundoor999@gmail.com

04July15

Copyright © Chinweizu, 2015

“North replies Asari: We subdued Yorubas & conquered the Ijaws; We will do it again”,-- Usman Faruk, (August 2012)  Faruk was the military governor of North-West State during the Yakubu Gowon regime.

[See Chinweizu, Caliphate Colonialism: The Taproot of the Trouble with Nigeria (2013), Lagos: Clear Coast Communications, 2015, p. 49] The publishers may be contacted through cityvoiceng@yahoo.com; and +2348026440272.

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Since Buhari was elected President, non-Caliphate pundits have been publicly offering suggestions on the changes he should make. These are changes the pundits think can fix Nigeria’s well-known problems: Corruption, the bloated and costly government structures, the lavish emoluments of legislators, and the like. Fooled by Buhari’s “Change” mantra, they imagine that what concerns them, fixing Nigeria in the interest of ordinary Nigerians, is also of interest to Buhari.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians have no clue about Buhari’s Caliphate mission to inflict permanent Caliphate Colonialism on Nigerians. They have no inkling about the sort of change Buhari has come to inflict. They delude themselves that he has come to address such well known afflictions as corruption, Boko Haram, electricity and petroleum products shortages that Nigerians have been clamoring for ages for a government to solve, and that Buhari highlighted in his deliberately deceptive Inaugural Address. But from a detailed understanding of Nigerian history and the major interests that drive it, it is clear that, though posing as coming to solve the problems most Nigerians have in mind, Buhari has actually come to inflict a deadly Caliphate hidden agenda on Nigerians. He has come to wage a political war on Nigerians—a blitzkrieg whose objective is to ensure that the Caliphate Colonialism, under which most Nigerians have languished and suffered since 1960, becomes permanent, and is insulated from any challenge by its Nigerian victims.

All warfare is based on deception. So, only political mumus—of which, alas, Nigeria is chockfull—will be surprised that Buhari’s campaign promises, Inaugural address, etc. are full of deception. [See: “Discourse on Our Mumu”, Part I of “2015—Between Liberation and Slavery” http://ugowrite.blogspot.com/2015/02/discourse-on-our-mumu-part-i.html , and “2015 Presidential Election Issues”, Part II of “2015—Between Liberation and Slavery” http://ugowrite.blogspot.com/2015/02/2015-presidential-election-issues-3.html ]

But the fog of deception and disinformation can be seen through and his real agenda exposed if one is aware of the Caliphate’s interests and stated objectives.

His agenda, as I diagnose it, includes the following main items: (1) Wage a Genocide-for-oil blitzkrieg on the S-S where Nigeria’s oil is located, and appropriate their oil for the Caliphate’s North; (2) Subdue the Yorubas, prevent any recurrence of the Yoruba political rebellion that followed the Caliphate’s annulment of Abiola’s June 12 election, and then make all of Yorubaland a footstool of the Caliphate, like they made Ilorin, two centuries ago, using Afonja; (3) Destroy any possibility of real democracy and True Federalism in Nigeria by making sacrosanct the fraudulent 1999 Constitution that gives the Caliphate hegemony over Nigeria under that fake-democracy constitution.  (4) Impose Shariya on every part of Nigeria. (5) Effect a Final solution, by genocide, to what they perceive as their Igbo problem.