Second Term: Can Buhari Reinvent Himself?

By Banji Ojewale

…we will continue to engage all parties
that have the best interest of Nigerians at heart.
Our government will remain inclusive
and our doors will remain open.
That is the way to build the country of our dream – Muhammadu Buhari, after being announced winner of 2019 presidential poll.

*President Buhari 

In our traditional winner-takes-all approach to elections, and with Nigeria more sundered now than at any other time in our history, the only sane path to follow in order to heal poll-inflicted wounds and distrust and draw all back into the common ground, is a resort to an inclusive government President Buhari is talking about. He has also pleaded with his party members and supporters to be reticent in excitement.

Nigeria: Youthful President? Whitewashing 2019 For 2023 Mirage

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With the obvious dominance of the two major political parties and the imminent abortion of a third force, the dream of a youthful president this year is gradually receding.

*Durotoye, Moghalu and Sowore

But those who have surrounded this year with the halo of an epochal period for an inevitable break with the nation’s trajectory of geriatric presidents have obviously given up too early. After all, the next president would only be declared after the election of February 16. So, it is still a possibility that some future political circumstances could throw up a youthful president this year.

President Buhari And The Arrogance Of Power

By Anthony Igiehon

Ahead of the 58th quadrennial United States presidential election on November 8, 2016, the world watched with bated breath as the two major candidates in the election, Republican Candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton went head to head at three separate debates held at New York’s Hofstra University (September 26, 2016), Washington University in St. Louis (October 9, 2016), and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (October 19, 2016).

*President Buhari 

For the two candidates who met the Commission on Presidential Debates’ criteria for participation, the debates provided a much-needed platform to present to the American voting public their plans or reform proposals on a number of foreign and domestic issues.

Nigeria: Unacceptable Presidential Debate!

By Banji Ojewale

Let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend —Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976) founder of modern China.

Organizing a presidential election debate to prepare us for informed choice in Nigeria’s poll in 2019 without the face of tomorrow is a failed enterprise from the takeoff point. Two of those capturing that future, Tope Fasua of Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP) and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC) are among those being shut out of the debate. That amounts to denying the future a say in our affairs. That’s disastrous, because a loss of those who stand for the next generation and a vote for the jaded geriatric age is a dirge for democracy and society.

The Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG) and its electronic media partners, Broadcasting Organisations  of Nigeria (BON), are shortchanging the people by aligning with the establishment forces to disallow these renaissance politicians a voice.

Yoruba, Tribalism And The Tragedy Of A New Nigeria

By Wilson Ikubese

Yoruba race is one for which I have the greatest respect, because of their liberalism. I was born in Yoruba land, had my primary and secondary education in Yoruba land, married a priceless Yoruba woman and live in Yoruba land. 

*Dr. Wilson Ikubese

My children are thus partly Yorubas. My business investments are majorly domiciled in Yoruba land and I speak the Yoruba language more fluently than my mother tongue… I love the Yorubas and consider myself even one.

2019: Because Buhari Is Too Old To Run

By Martins Oloja

I would like rely on some ancient words of a wise king who once said, “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven”. Yes, there is a time to be quiet. There is a time to be loud; a time to be politically correct in the interest of peace. And there is a time to refrain from political correctness and speak truth to power in public interest. And this should include a time to tell our best friends the truth and nothing but the truth, especially the one to set them free from unnecessary fear. I am therefore fully persuaded that it is time to tell our friends, especially in the far North, some plain truth about Nigeria. Yes, Nigeria whose destiny all of us are gambling with at the moment. 

*

For the record, I have more friends in the North. I have had some personal relationship with the North that spanned about three decades. My professional profile was remarkably shaped in December 1990 when the premier newspaper in Abuja owned by investors from the North appointed me Editor of their newspaper, The Abuja Newsday. I once narrated part of the remarkable story of the first newspaper in the nation’s capital here. I had then noted that Alhaji Bukar Zarma, former editor of New Nigerian who hails from Borno state, set up the newspaper and appointed all the editors without consideration for religion and ethnicity. The Chairman of the Board of Directors was Alhaji Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa.