We Are All Igbo!

By Olumide Akpata

On Saturday 18 March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections to mark the second and concluding round of the 2023 elections. On that day, INEC, the law enforcement agencies and the Nigerian populace were presented with a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the world that, the below par showing on 25 February 2023 notwithstanding, Nigeria’s democracy had come of age. At the end of the day, not only did we fail spectacularly in this regard, but more dangerously, the fragile unity of the Nigerian State suffered a massive set back. 

Before Babies Begin To Emigrate

 By Adekunle Adekoya

There must be a problem in the land, a very big one. I am not talking about the usual that we have lived with for decades — lack of potable water, epileptic power supply, parlous healthcare system and all that. I am talking about a feeling of disenchantment, perhaps hopelessness, especially among the youths which has fuelled what we now call “Ja pa.”

On the internet, it has trended for a few days now that 266 Nigerian doctors have been licensed to practise in the United Kingdom. In my hood, I noticed that I have not seen some of the younger men with whom I relate for some time. To be candid, I don’t remember having seen any of them since before the election. I asked around. Someone volunteered that the guys after whom I’m asking have joined the Ja pa train. “They left for Canada three weeks ago,” my informant said. I shuddered in disbelief. 

An Oil Producing Country Without Fuel

 By Sunny Awhefeada

The ongoing energy crisis manifesting as scarci­ty of petroleum products has for the umpteenth time portrayed Nigeria for what it truly is, a failed nation. Our failure is monumental and tragically so. A friend drew the analogy between Nigeria and a household that grows cassava, but lacks garri and the children from that home go plate in hand starving and begging whereas their parents’ farms hold thousands of cassava stems with robust tubers ensconced in the womb of the earth.

Nigeria prides herself as a leading oil pro­ducing nation, but like the man that lives by the riverside and washes his hands with spittle, Nigeria suffers peren­nial crisis in the petroleum sector. More than anything else, petroleum has been the most intransigent source of our problem as a nation. What has been described as the Dutch disease seems to find a lasting domain in Nige­ria.

Nigeria: Policing The Police For The People

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Nigerian policemen and women can be more dangerous than armed robbers and bandits any day of the week for sure. The latest charge is that some of the police blokes are deeply engaged in the sordid business of organ harvesting. 

People get arrested by the police and the arrested ones are never seen anymore because their body parts have been harvested and sold for hard cash. The joy for me is that there are some courageous Nigerians who are determined to hold the police to account no matter the danger.

Debt Trap And Incoming Administrations

 By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi

It is no longer news that some of the first-term governors-elect will face many months of unpaid workers’ salaries and mounting pension liabilities, as well as agitation for the implementation of the nationally agreed minimum wage, rising inflation, escalating prices of goods and services, and dwindling purchasing power. These incoming governors, about seventeen of them, according to reports will have a difficult time boosting the economies of their individual states because they will take over at least N2.1 trillion in domestic debt and $1.9 billion in foreign debt from their predecessors.

It is equally a common knowledge that in January 2023, Patience Oniha, Director general, Debt Management Office (DMO), while fielding questions from journalists at the public presentation and breakdown of the highlights of the 2023 appropriation act in Abuja, noted that the incoming Federal Government would inherit about N77 trillion as debt by the time President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure ends in May.

I Weep For My Country Nigeria

 By Christian Ikechukwu Eze

I cry for my country, Nigeria; a country endowed with both human and natural resources to an enviable magnitude, yet bedevilled by corruption whose stench oozes to the highest heavens. A country where the hopes of her citizens are repeatedly and brazenly dashed by a few individuals who are entrusted with basic responsibilities of safeguarding these hopes. The happenings of the last few weeks make one ponder and ask if there is still hope.

Hope for a Nigeria that works for all irrespective of whether or not you know anybody and not for a few political class and their cronies; hope for a Nigeria devoid of corruption, where diligence, honesty, competence and good character will be rewarded instead of thuggery, bigotry, mediocrity e.t.c.; hope for a Nigeria that we shall all be proud to call a home.

Peter Obi: When The Apparel Of The Tortoise Is Damaged

 By Luke Onyekakeyah   

Once upon a time, the tortoise went to visit his in-laws. While he was there, a stubborn nanny goat picked his apparel, chewed and damaged it. That was a big problem. His in-laws were bothered with what happened. They didn’t know what to do.

*Peter Obi

The tortoise said to his in-laws, you see that your goat has chewed and torn my apparel; I will not ask you to pay for it but I will not go home naked. His in-laws were confused. They were in a serious dilemma. The tortoise left them and went ahead with other activities. At the end, his in-laws had no choice than to get another apparel, which they gave to the tortoise. The tortoise was happy.

2023 General Elections: The Tragic Misjudgements Of Soludo, el-Rufai

 By Olu Fasan

Someday, chroniclers of history will tell the stories of the 2023 general elections, the worst in Nigeria’s recent history. They will narrate the noble and ignoble roles played, respectively, by heroes and villains of the elections. Among the political class, villains abound. But two interest me here: Professor Charles Soludo, current governor of Anambra State, and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, outgoing governor of Kaduna State. Neither covered himself in glory!

*el-Rufai and Soludo 

You might ask: why single out Soludo and el-Rufai? Well, few political office holders in Nigeria today entered politics with the technocratic pedigree of Soludo and el-Rufai: the former was a smart presidential economic adviser who became a reformist governor of the Central Bank; the latter, a brilliant director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises who became a transformative Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Both are first-class technocrats and administrators.

Hypocrisy Of The Self-Styed Nigerian Progressives

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

A friend of mine sent me a text message the other day: “Ikechukwu, please stop this fight. This election has been won and lost and it is high time we moved forward. Lamenting over spilt milk is an exercise in futility and if you are close to Peter Obi, please tell him to give peace a chance and allow the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to get on with the job. His insistence on challenging the outcome of the election in court is a disservice to the nation. He should withdraw it and seek accommodation in the incoming administration.”

*Obi shakes hands Tinubu 

Really? I shook my head in disbelief because this is someone I thought I knew well enough, including his political views. He was an advocate of social justice and a rule of law enthusiast, who had always encouraged those short-changed at the polls by electoral bandits to seek redress in court.

Reversing Learning Crises In the North-East

 By Carl Umegboro

The synergy of the federal and state governments, humanitarian societies, international agencies and non-government organisations through the Global Partnership for Education Accelerated Funding projects in the North-East is worthwhile. The thoughtful interventions followed critical situations vis-à-vis education of children in public schools resulting firstly from destroyed schools by bandits in the region coupled with other uncommon challenges militating against good education outcomes in the North-East namely; Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. Data shows that about 1.9 million boys, girls and youths affected by conflict are without access to basic quality education in the region. This is inclusive of 56 per cent of all displaced children who are out of school.

In an overview of education in Nigeria, Chief Education, UNICEF Nigeria, Dr. Saadhna Panday-Soobrayan underlined that Nigeria and especially the North-East are experiencing a severe learning crisis though access to education is improving, but remains inequitable, especially in the North-East. UNICEF submitted that poverty rate has dramatically increased in low-and lower middle-income countries from post-COVID accelerated results to 48 per cent while post-COVID simulation stands at 65 per cent, and agitatedly summed that three out of every four children in Nigeria cannot read with meaning or solve simple mathematics problems. This seriously calls for concern.

Nigeria: The Challenge Of ‘Judiocracy’

 By Sunny Ikhioya

As the 2023 elections continue to unravel, many of the  participants are already rushing to the courts. So, we will be witnessing what I will like to describe as judiocracy, which means government of the judiciary or the courts. It is different from judiocracy, which is linked to President Putin’s Russia because of his love and practice of the judo sport. Unfortunately, in this kind of democracy, it is not the people’s will that ultimately prevails; some will be elected on simple matters such as judicial technicalities. 

That is the challenge we face as a nation, stepping into another realm of civil rule. If democracy is useful to a people, to the extent that it has been made to accommodate ordinary citizens, and this is lacking in an election process, such a process must be properly looked into and, if necessary, a thorough review and overhaul carried out. Situations where our elections are unable to give us a generally accepted leadership, should be something for all to ponder upon. Unfortunately, the alternative to flawed elections is recourse to the law court.

Towards A Democracy-Sensitive, People-Oriented Judiciary

 By Tunde Olusunle

On Thursday, March 16 and Friday, March 17, 2023, an editorial titled “The judiciary and public criticism” featured on prominent pages of a Nigerian national newspaper. The editorial alluded to public denunciation of certain judgments delivered and actions taken by the nation’s apex court and its leadership. 

Principally cited in the commentary are pronouncements gifting Ahmed Lawan, president of the Senate, and Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, tickets to contest the recent senatorial elections. Such appropriation was done by the Supreme Court, even when both political leaders did not participate in the primaries which would have presaged their emergence. 

Battle For Gender Equity

 By Ray Ekpu

There are two groups that seem to be badly treated in Nigeria’s political space: women and youths. In virtually all the political parties, there are phenomena called “women’s wing” and “youth wing.” There are also “women leaders” and youth leaders.” You may wish to ask why there are no men’s wings and men’s leaders in these parties. 

The answer is that these parties are dominated by men, big men, rich men, ambitious men, men who are ready to fight and possibly kill for what they want in these parties; men who are ready to break a bank and bring money for the running of these parties. And because money talks, and talks loudly, money gives the men all the important offices in the parties.

Nigeria’s Election In The Ides Of March

 By Sola Ebiseni

ON this page last week, asking rhetorically for the whereabouts of Mr. President as the nation boiled during the elections between February 18 and March 18, we bemoaned this curious premonition of the coincidences in times between these occurrences in our land and the tragic happenings in Rome in the Shakespearian Julius Caesar. It is both about the politics and leadership of a nation.

*Ebiseni

We have expressed that those who gave Peter Obi and his structure-less Obidients no chance but swept off their feet in the unprecedented political hurricane that the youths wrought throughout the land in electoral victory for Obi, would rather die than surrender power and its lucre. They would spare nothing, including our cherished legendary culture of civility, to regain and keep power. Losing Lagos was particularly too scary to them.

The Big Tent Odyssey And Saving Democracy In Nigeria

 By Pat Utomi

There are many still in shock about February 25th and March 18 elections. This is understandable. In the week before the 20th of February it appeared the Obidient movement had pulled off a miracle and already made good of the first part of the first promise of the Obi/Datti manifesto: To unite and secure Nigeria.

From Sokoto to Sagbama, Lagos to the lungus of Borno the youth of Nigeria were gyrating to the same beat of the president we need. Were we finally close to the words of our first national anthem, “though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”.

Ndigbo’s Role In Lagos And Contemporary Nigeria

 By Sunday Onyemaechi Eze

An attempt to delve into what is the place of Ndigbo in Lagos and contemporary Nigeria is vital on account of its currency, especially as the nation has just gone through another electioneering process. The need to know is anchored in the false narrative bandied about in public spaces about the Igbo man planning to take over Lagos. This is utterly amusing. The allegation is specifically borne out of selfish interests and political mischief.

Why is it only during elections that the issue of Igbo domination of cities and takeover comes up? The nation needs to come to terms with and examine the utterances and positions of political, traditional, and opinion leaders in Lagos and Nigeria regarding the Igbo man before and after the elections. 

The Value Of A Good Education

 By Daniel Ighakpe

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul — Joseph Addison, 1711.

Did you ever go to school? Most people can answer yes, but not everyone can. Untold millions of children receive no regular schooling, and this has continued to be the case for a long time, so that today a large number of adults are illiterate. Yet, a good education is a basic need. The Holy Scriptures strongly encourage the acquisition of wisdom.

Rigged Elections And The Moral Burden Of Illegitimacy

 By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

Adamu: A man who rigs his way to power carries a moral burden!
Orezime: A moral what?
Adamu: You heard me, didn’t you?
Orezime: I’m not sure I heard you right. Moral what you said?
Adamu: A moral burden, I said!
Orezime: Hahahahahahaha! You make me laugh! Are you from the moon?
Gani: Or Mars?

Gani: Yes! That’s why those two could only preach; they couldn’t really act decisively. A moral burden? They spoke from both sides of their mouths on the issue of corruption. Late President Yar Adua confessed that the election which produced him was compromised. An honest man, he didn’t live long enough to right the wrong of the period!

Democracy In Africa Needs Help

 By Collins Obibi

It was in a policy development class many years ago that a teacher asked us to listen and understand what he was teaching and how to apply it to our work instead of thinking and focusing on how to develop a Political Theory since even our teachers are not developing any. Being a post graduate class, the statement was not very palatable.

I struggled with it for a long time. Over 25 years, though I have made some contributions to the world of knowledge by my writing and verbal expose on different subjects, I still have not been able to develop any Theory and it appears I have given up.

Igboland And Its Hidden Tributaries To The Atlantic

 By Aloy Ejimakor

It’s often said that a lie told so many times, if unchallenged, may – in the course of time and generations – begin to pass for the truth. One of such is the terrible lie and brazen propaganda, institutionally purveyed (against the Igbo) since the end of the Civil War, to the effect that Igboland is landlocked or has no access to the Atlantic Ocean.

The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to rebut this fat lie with some simple historical, geographical and topographical evidence that are in plain view, if you care to dig into the archives or conduct some basic physical explorations of your own. In the same vein, those that mock the Igbo on this account might as well imbibe the truth and pedal back to reason and reality.

250,000 To Benefit From Free Short-Course TB Preventive Treatment Across Seven Countries

Support from global consortium will expand access to shorter TB prevention options, help advance efforts towards TB elimination

 Johannesburg, 24 March 2023 – The Unitaid-funded IMPAACT4TB Consortium, led by the Aurum Institute, announced today that it will provide 250,000 patient courses of short course rifapentine-based preventive treatment regimens to seven countries to help prevent tuberculosis (TB). The patient courses will include the three-month 3HP regimen, and the even shorter 1HP, that is only taken for 28 days. This contribution is part of the Consortium's ongoing efforts to end TB and improve global health outcomes.

Mobilising Youth For Effective Civic Participation

 By Mayowa Olajide Akinleye

Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 12 of that document establishes that young people must be heard. They must be listened to and taken seriously. It is their right. This idea presupposes that there is a speaking; an expression that is present but ignorable. Articles 2 and 13 recognize this seeming powerlessness and, in seeking to protect the right to be heard, establish that young people have a right to not be discriminated against and can freely express themselves without fear.

Yet, 95% of its youth population does not feel heard; at least three out of four young people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and that they are powerless to stop it. Nobody, they believe, is listening. This is a breach of a basic human right. Reacting to the Lekki shooting, one protester  said “we spoke up thinking our voices will matter, only to cruelly find out that even our lives didn’t”

TB Response Rebounding From The COVID-19 Pandemic Downturn!

...World TB Day 2023 Marks the Start of a New Era: Yes! We Can End TB!

New Coalition of Leaders to End TB to be announced as preliminary data expected to show reduction in gap between estimated TB cases and diagnosed patients, to less than 3 million people in 2022 

GENEVA/VARANASI (24 March 2023)—The Stop TB Partnership today issued a positive World TB Day reset, ‘Yes! We Can End TB,’ to rally the international community to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. The Stop TB Partnership Board and partners convened for the first time during World TB Day in Varanasi, India—the country with the highest TB burden but also with high political commitment, ambition, hard work and a robust plan to end TB. On the sidelines of the One World TB Summit, the board and partners embraced a post-pandemic call to action that will see new efforts, research, tools and innovations put into practice.

Time For African Leaders To Look Beyond American Democracy

 By Amos Adegbite

Time has come for African leaders to look inward and come up with a representative government not fashioned after American democracy. This becomes imperative because of another “Summit for Democracy” being organised by America where many African leaders have been invited to be “lectured” by President Joe Biden on democracy.

A grassroots politician in Nigeria, Raphael Adeyanju, is convinced that many African countries will continue to be in crisis if they did not develop a government that will take into consideration, the culture and values cherished by their people. To him, America is not in a position to teach Africans how to govern their countries.

2023 General Elections: Is Nigeria Beyond Redemption?

 By Clement Uzoanya

Whatever has a beginning is said to have an end. But it seems that the deplorable Nigerian situation keeps reinventing itself, thus robbing citizens of the dividends of democracy. Is this God’s will for Nigeria and Nigerians or have Nigerians failed repeatedly to actualise God’s plan for a country that is rich in virtually every ramification?

Many Nigerians looked forward to the 2023 general elections for many reasons, among which were: the large number of youth population involved and interested; the fact that the elections were not the traditional two-horse race; the repeated assurances from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; the signing of the 2022 Electoral Act which contained the deployment of technology; the increasingly depressing state of the economy, among others. So, the build-up to the elections was one filled with a nostalgia of anxiety, apprehension, hope that the time has come for us to get things right. But did we? 

Nigeria: Democracy Is Dead!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On March 18, 2023, some Nigerians, incurable optimists I must say, still went out to cast their votes in the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections after the presidential and National Assembly elections fiasco of February 25, believing that Nigeria is still redeemable. 

Well, I am not one of them. I used to be sanguine as well before the presidential election, having been taken in by President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of bequeathing the country a legacy of credible elections. The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, was a real charmer who totally took me in in the days leading up to the elections.

The International Criminal Court And Alleged Selective Justice

 By ‘Femi D. Ojumu

Ordinarily, there would be no justification for the International Criminal Court (ICC) because domestic tribunals would effectively and robustly adjudicate criminal proceedings, meting out the correct sanctions. Interpol and related institutions would gather intelligence, apprehend criminals/suspects and, subject to relevant interposing extradition treaties between states, render them to those jurisdictions in which they are being sought for prosecution. Ditto, leaders and nations would routinely abide by the dictates of international law. 

Unfortunately, that’s all phantasmagoria. Realistically, there are bad actors, rogue states, criminal proxies; they seek to evade justice too! They commit terrible crimes, which by the way, are not victimless. On the contrary, the emanating crimes oftentimes result in financial loss. Even worse, the unholy trinity of destruction, displacement and deaths impacting innocent people in varying degrees. Should the world bury its head in the sand and do nothing? No!

Peter Obi Launches Legal Challenge Against The Outcome Of The February Presidential Election

 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has launched a legal challenge against the outcome of the February 25, 2023 Nigerian Presidential Election.

It promises to be a very interesting case which has captured the interest of the international media, diplomats, several agencies and people abroad. The attention of many Nigerians and non-Nigerians is glued to the case to see the outcome...

*Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret, after casting their votes during the presidential elections of February 25, 2023, in Anambra State...

Lagos: Just As I said!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

When strong presidential candidates of Igbo and Yoruba extractions, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, respectively, emerged from the primaries in the just concluded general elections 2023, I knew we were in for some trying times. I wrote on this several times. I warned that Lagos would be the worst hotbed of tensions.

*Peter Obi shakes hands with Bola Tinubu

While the tensions in other parts of the country would be political in nature, I reasoned that that of Lagos would be both political and ethnic. Some of the Yoruba elements would be programmed by desperate politicians who had lost the love of their people to beef the Igbo. The objective would be to unsettle the nationalistic Obidient Movement by stirring anti-Igbo sentiments in Lagos, and hopefully save Tinubu and his APC from losing power in the nation’s economic capital.

About God And Man’s Will In Democratic Governance

 By IkeChukwu U. Unegbe

It was the usual jocularly greeting and exchange of banters with this my friend (name withheld) recently; followed with “O, boy, hope you are seeing the political campaigns and issues in our country?” It was meant both as a question and an open ended comment. My friend then responded: “Well, I am not involved, I don’t believe in democracy; it does not swing with the Will of The Almighty.” 

We didn’t go into any further discussions on this occasion, as we just dispersed to our various other engagements for the day. But the response occupied my head, my mind and my thoughts; refusing to disappear. That discussion was before the 25th February, 2023 Presidential elections which were held all over Nigeria.

Buhari, Yakubu, Atiku And The Death Of Trust

 By Tunde Olusunle  

If anyone had prophesied the retention of Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in that office to which he was appointed in 2015 by Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, beyond 2019, he would have been pilloried as a false prophet. Yakubu, a Professor of Political History and International Relations, was on the staff of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna before his appointment to that office.

*Buhari and Yakubu 

We run a country which naively confers seriousness, integrity and respectability on people simply on the basis of their often padded and advertised curriculum vitae. Just being a professor and coming from the geo-religiously “correct” extreme of the country privilege certain people for consideration and appointment into specific offices and the accrual of benefits therein. 

Whither The Nigerian President?

 By Sola Ebiseni

Nigerians are so shell-shocked at the degree of lawlessness that characterised the 2023 elections, wondering if this country is still under any government which is symbolised in the President. As the head of state, President Muhammad Buhari has nowhere to pass the buck, especially of the orgy of violence during the elections in all parts of the nation. He is inexorably accountable. The Presidential and National Assembly elections of February 25 set the tone for the horrendous occurrences during the gubernatorial election which was initially slated for March 11, but postponed by one week.

*Buhari 

Some of us had thought it was mischievous, as some suggests that the real reason for the shift was to buy time  for those caught unawares during the first elections to redeem their losses by all means. We were proved wrong. Even at that, Nigerians were still hopeful that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and particularly its Chairman, would strive to prove pessimists wrong that its sole agenda was to deliver the country to the ruling part unashamedly.

Avoidable Cash Crisis: Any Lessons Learnt?

 By Ayo Baje

Most important, the Central Bank must keep public opinion on its side, because the public is the ultimate source of its power and independence.” – International Monetary Fund (IMF) report titled: “Rethinking Monetary Policy in a Changing World”. 

On February 3, 2023, the media was awash with the report of an unidentified man who slumped and died after spending hours at a new generation bank in Agbor, Delta state in what turned out a fruitless effort to withdraw some money. 

Cash Squeeze: As Buhari Plays Pontius Pilate

 By Charles Okoh

Last week, Nigerians got some sort of relief as the Central Bank and Federal Government finally complied with the Supreme Court ruling on the lingering cash squeeze which practically squeezed life out of many Nigerians.

*Emefiele and Buhari 

I am not particularly interested in the debate as it concerns the independence of the CBN or otherwise or the right of the Supreme court to intervene in monetary policy administration. 

The arguments for or against, are neither here nor there, my pain is the unwarranted hardship which the federal government under president Muhammadu Buhari unconscionably subjected the people to. This level of hardship is unprecedented. 

Genetically Modified Foods, Business, And Health Effects

 By Timi Olubiyi

The common social concerns are the country’s high mortality rate, poverty, and malnutrition. But for health concerns, the advice is usually to reduce fats, cholesterols, and sugar intake, improve nutrition and a good diet, do not smoke and so on to avoid health issues. However, the fact is food is about health and healthy living, but less is heard about the need to promote organic food eating in a world where innovation is now widespread in Agric-Business and farming, with the genetically engineering of crops and foods.

Genetically Modified (GM) foods are foods that are produced from genetically modified organisms (GMO) that have had their DNA altered through genetic engineering. Genetic modification, also known as genetic engineering, it simply means having the DNA of crops and foodstuffs altered using genes from other plants or animals to achieve specific aims.

A Nation Where Everyone Is Oppressed

 By Owei Lakemfa

Nigerians have the next 70 days to survive a regime that has chastised them with whips and is promising to further chastise them with scorpions. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, last week not only renewed the Buhari regime’s threat to increase Nigerians heavy burden by piling far higher fuel prices, but also told the incoming administration to immediately raise the Value Added Tax from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent.

While depleting all available resources and adding heavy local and foreign debts to the bargain, the regime seems determined to drain whatever finances are available. So, rather than wind down and start producing handover notes, it wants to conduct a census that promises to be controversial. But more importantly, the census will be used to legally take out N869 billion or $1.88 billion from our national coffers. It is like a retirement package.

INEC And Controversial Elections

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

Year in and year out, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducts elections into various offices in Nigeria, either through the main general elections, the bye-elections or other elections. INEC has been involved in the conduct of elections for an unbroken period of twenty-four years on, from 1999 to 2023. It would seem however that there is still a lot to do to get the electoral umpire moving. For sure, INEC is the only statutory body authorised to organise or conduct elections in Nigeria, in respect of certain offices created by the Constitution.

*Yakubu 

INEC is one of the federal executive agencies of the State established under section 153 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, with its functions stated in paragraph 15 of the Third Schedule of the said Constitution. Under and by virtue of paragraph 14 of the said Third Schedule, the Chairman of INEC should be at least forty years old, he must be non-partisan, he must not be a member of a political party and he must be a person of unquestionable integrity.

President, Governors Disown The Poor!

 By Dele Sobowale

“Fish rots from the head.”

If you want to know how good or bad a country is, just take a look at the top politicians. It is now becoming an axiom of political science, that it is almost impossible to have a great country with absolutely atrocious leaders in charge. It all starts from the President or Prime Minister. 

*Buhari

Was there an African or black person anywhere who was not proud when Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa? Who else among the mob that was elected and ruled in Africa who has given us that sense of pride in being African and black? Mandela achieved everlasting fame, universal acclaim and respect in just five years. See what we have got in Nigeria after seven and a half years of Buhari. Surely nobody would be dishonest enough as to call him a great leader – given the legacies he and the First Lady, FL, are likely to leave behind.