Can APC Learn From ANC’s Loss In South Africa?

 By Dan Onwukwe

Often missing from debates on why a governing party after years or decades in power suddenly failed to win majority seats in parliament or lost outrightly. History of politics offers an array of arguments why this happens in many democracies. It’s about not learning the lessons in power, the hard way.

*Tinubu and Ramaphosa 

Learning the lessons the hard way begins when that gripping listlessness sets in, when political power begins to slip away from a governing party. The endgame begins the very moment the party leadership feels over-confident, and those who surround the President feel their man has got enough power, and don’t need anybody anymore.

Asari Dokubo’s Army

 By Obi Nwakanma

The five governors of the South East of Nigeria met in Enugu last week to deliberate on the security situation of the region. The impact of the now infamous “Sit-at-Home” forced on the South East has taken its toll, and the chickens have come home to roost. The economic and social life of the South East has taken such a hit and has been damaged almost irretrievably. 

*Dokubo

Against the background of the South East governors meeting are videos emerging of Asari Dokubo’s claims and counter claims, in interviews granted to television stations, the recent being with Channel TV’s Seun Okinbaloye, in which he plainly accepted that he owned and ran a private Army which had been contracted by the Federal Government to engage in Black Ops for the government. 

Buhari’s Legacy And Tinubu’s Albatross

 By Shaka Momodu                                      

Fellow Nigerians, it is the season of politics and another election cycle is upon us. Candidates are presenting themselves to the electorate to be considered for various positions. But this cycle is looking more and more like 2015 when men and women, young and old, reasoned in reverse order. All efforts to make them see the danger and demagoguery that then-candidate Muhammadu Buhari represented proved futile. They were deaf to reason and blind to the red flags.  

*Buhari, Tinubu, Oluremi Tinubu

Today, we are all experiencing the consequences of electing incompetence dressed in borrowed robes as president. See the mess that Nigeria has become – a tragedy of monumental proportions. In just eight years, Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) have turned Nigeria upside down, a land flowing with milk and honey, has been turned into a famished land. They say once bitten, twice shy, but strangely, many are at it again, eager to repeat their foolery.   

As I have consistently stated, Nigerians are incredibly smart people, with a history of foolish choices.  Is it not baffling that despite the   damage done to this country by the APC in nearly eight years of staggering misrule that is palpable even to the blind,  that some people still support it to remain in power, from top to the bottom of the social class?

Leah Sharibu, Chibok Girls, And The International Women's Day

 By Charles Dickson 

All idiots are morons, but not all morons are idiots. 

It was the International Women's Day 2021 recently and the theme was 'Choose to Challenge'. So today I choose to challenge us, the people of Nigeria, hoping that someone is reading and listening, a quick caveat, I will be sometimes uncomplimentary in my choice of words, phrases and conclusions but that’s the essence; a challenge and yes a choice. 

*Leah Sharibu

Over the last decade, I have done a sizable amount of work on not just Boko Haram but also the Chibok girls, killings, abductions and Nigeria’s conflict torn Northwest region. 

So listening to Leah Sharibu’s father, Mr. Nathan speak touched all the wrong cords, hear him, “He has promised several times to the family, he promised the nation, he promised the whole world that his administration will do his possible best to see that my daughter returned home safely. So, I’m pleading to him to be a father, a grandfather, to do his possible best to see my daughter return home safely. Please, I'm begging him”. 

Why Nigeria Needs A Reboot

By Jeff Okoroafor
Is the country better off today as it was eight, nine months ago when a well respected, self-disciplined and fearless man in the name of Muhammadu Buhari, walked into the Aso Villa and vowed to work tirelessly for his people? There’s definitely no justifiable or modest way to respond to this question without looking at facts and figures – unemployment rate and economic growth rate.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate in the first quarter of last year, 2015, jumped to 7.5 percent, compared to 6.4 percent reached in the fourth quarter of 2014. Third quarter of same year, 2015, pegged it at 9.90 percent from 8.20 percent in the second quarter of same year. Today, according to Trading Economics, unemployment rate has risen to approximately 26.0 percent. On the economic growth rate, the NBS report of 2015 indicated that the real growth rate of the monetary value of all goods and services produced in the country during the period of 2015 slowed to 2.4 percent Y-o-Y, down from 4.0 percent in Q1, 2015 and 6.5 percent in Q2, 2014. Presently, the percentage growth rate of our economy is 2.8 percent or approximately 3.0 percent. Based on these criteria, it is safe to state confidently, that the country is not better off today as it was eight, nine months ago when Buhari took over.