Nigeria: Government Without Human Face?

 By Casmir Igbokwe

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose’s brother trended on the social media recently. The outrageous amount of money he pays as electricity tariff every week was the crux of the matter. Some Nigerians apparently thought he was joking in the video where he claimed his weekly electricity bill was N100,000. And this is for three rooms. He said he used to spend this N100,000 in one month.

*Tinubu

Fayose is not alone. All electricity consumers on Band A category are feeling the same pinch. Simply put, what they used to spend on electricity in one month is now spent in one week. What happened was that the Federal Government increased electricity tariff for these Band A customers on April 3, 2024. From N68 per kilowatt-hour, the tariff went up to N225 per kWh, an increase of over 200 per cent. These B and A customers reportedly have electricity at least 20 hours in a day. Customers on Band B, C, D and E do not have to worry about the increase in tariff for now as they are not affected in this pilot phase. The plan is to co-opt them into the tariff-hike prison within a period of three years. 

David Umahi: When Envy Rules Our Politics

By Ike Abonyi 

“It’s in the character of a very few men to honour without envy a friend who prospered.” – Aeschylus

*Umahi and Obi

Envy and jealousy drive political rhetoric in Nigeria, particularly among handicapped Igbo politicians. David Umahi, the former Ebonyi State Governor and current Minister of Works, has been mistaking envy towards Peter Obi, the Labour Party's presidential candidate for normal political behaviour. The minister's recent outburst against Ndigbo is a desperate and disingenuous effort to impress his political allies and gain favour from the Aso Rock Villa.

Minister Umahi: Nigerians Desire Strong Societal Institutions

 By Tonnie Iredia

Last week Thursday, David Umahi, Nigeria’s Minister of Works locked out several workers of his ministry for reportedly resuming late to work. For over 5 hours there was confusion in and around the ministry as the workers in turn locked all entrances into the ministry thereby stopping the minister from getting out of his office. Since his appointment a few months back, Umahi has been one of the few ministers seen in different parts of the country carrying supervision to the point of assignment.

*Umahi and Ministry of Works staff

Like his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, he has been actively engaged in the inspection of federal projects in parts of the country. Unfortunately, workers at the ministry of Works do not appear to have bought into the aggressive posture of minister Umahi to promptly deliver on the promises of the new administration. While some of the workers reportedly   have the habit of coming late to work, many others have been found to close early from work making it difficult for the minister to get relevant information for pursuing certain assignments.

Buhari: Nigerians Owe Bishop Kukah A Debt Of Gratitude

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

As you read this, it will be exactly three days to the end of the year and 152 days to the end of Muhammadu Buhari’s second and final term in office as president. And Nigerians are hurting badly. In the last seven and half years of his baleful presidency, all the indices of human development – I mean all – have gone south, literally and metaphorically.

*Kukah and Buhari 

Today, Nigerians are neither guaranteed a healthy life, access to knowledge nor a decent standard of living. Paradoxically, the so-called leaders are overreaching themselves in their toadying jaunts that Buhari is the best thing to happen to Nigeria since October 1, 1960. Those who climbed on the rooftops just yesterday to shout themselves hoarse over perceived poor governance have suddenly gone mute.

All Votes Belong To Political Parties In Nigeria

By Femi Falana

On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, The Federal High Court (coram Inyang Ekwo J.) sacked the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, along with 15 lawmakers in the state over their defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In sacking the governor and his deputy, the learned trial judge ruled that the votes polled by a political party could not be transferred to or utilised for the benefit of another political party or member of another political party. In acknowledging that the Constitution was silent on the implication of the defection of a governor or his deputy, the learned trial judge said that “such a lacuna was not to be celebrated or even mischievously flaunted as failure of a remedy for situations of such nature.”

Before the decision was handed down last week, the High Court of Ebonyi State had dismissed the suit filed by the APC and its flag bearers, Senator Soni Ogbuji, Justin Ogbodo in the 2919 governorship election who had prayed the Court to declare them the winners of the election since the PDP candidate had abandoned the mandate of the people by joining the APC. It was the view of the presiding Judge, Henry Njoku J.  that his jurisdiction to entertain the matter had been ousted by section 308 of the Constitution, which has conferred immunity on Governor Umahi and his deputy. 

Buhari Commissions A Gutter In Owerri

 By Obi Nwakanwa  

When presidents make state visits, there’s always a fanfare of drums, iron clatters; a flourish of trumpets; a tumultuous crowd of flag-waving, and patriotic people eager to welcome them and show them some love. 

I’m not sure what Muhammadu Buhari, president of Nigeria was looking for, when he visited Owerri recently, but that was not what he got. 

He did not get some love. He got empty streets. There was not much of a crowd. The people all over the South East had stayed in their homes. President Buhari was free to come to the Igbo heartland, but the Igbo universe was indifferent. 

Now, you cannot beat that for organized civic action. First of all, the president arrived in very ill-fitting clothing. 

*President Buhari and Gov Uzodinma of Imo State 

That was the beginning of the public relations faux-pax. Buhari is normally a well-turned man. No one has ever accused him of a lack of sartorial sense. If anything, his clothes sit well on him. He likes them well-made. But not this one.

Buhari’s Insistence On Open Grazing Will Destroy Nigeria

 By Charles Okoh

From all indications, President Muhammadu Buhari is hell-bent on breaking the country. A president who is desirous of building an egalitarian society where the rule of law is supreme cannot consistently be insisting on having his way even when it is obvious to all discerning minds that the path the president is toeing is fraught with troubles that are capable of tearing the nation apart. It is not a mark of strength that a leader insists on always having his way and never caring a hoot how the people feel and yet Buhari claims he is exercising the mandate given him by the people. 

*Buhari 

Since coming to office, the president has pursued only the agenda of the Fulani cattle breeders. That he is their patron cannot explain why he insists that it is only what pleases the pastoralists that he will spend eight years of the nation’s time and resources pursuing. The country is grappling with various challenges too numerous to mention, yet the president seems to be wasting his time creating more conflicts and disputes among the people he claims to be leading.