Decriminalising Nigeria’s Democratic Estate

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

A lot has been agitating my mind in recent times on the state of our union and why evil seems to continually thrive over good. Why is it that the things which disqualify people in other climes from holding public office are exactly what is needed by an average Nigerian politician to be considered astute?

In other climes, hardly will a certificate forger make a successful career in politics. In Nigeria the reverse is the case. Many of those in public office in Nigeria today forged their academic qualifications even when the bar is so ridiculously low that all you need to be president is the West African School Certification Examination, WASCE. You don’t even need to pass.

Police Should Kill Bandits, Not Democracy In Plateau, Nasarawa

 By Emmanuel Aziken

Arguably the best Inspector General of Police since the exit of Solomon Arase, Nigeria’s top police shot, IGP Usman Alkali Baba appears to have now run himself into an unnecessary controversy.

Given the foibles of the ruling political class, he had within reasonable expectations held his dignity in the face of the rascality of political actors here and there during the recent General Election.

Fascists? Look No Further Than The Ruling Party

 By Olu Fasan

As a creative writing scholar at Oxford University, I have been reviewing the legendary literature Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka’s latest book Chronicles from the land of the happiest people on earth. Reading the book, a political fiction, I’m enthralled by its linguistic and literary quality. Imagine my bafflement, therefore, when Professor Soyinka recently used the word “fascistic” to describe Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of Labour Party in February’s presidential election.

What drew Professor Soyinka’s ire was Dr Baba-Ahmed’s controversial interview on Channels TV. “Whoever swears in Mr Tinubu has ended democracy in Nigeria,” he said, adding: “Mr President, do not hold that inauguration. CJN (Chief Justice of Nigeria), your lordship, do not partake in unconstitutionality.” Baba-Ahmed argued that Bola Tinubu “has not met the requirements of the law”, having failed to secure 25 per cent of the votes cast in Abuja.

Census In Lagos, Count Me Out!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The recently concluded election in Nigeria was an eye-opener for people of Igbo stock living in Lagos, especially those who slumbered in blissful ignorance of the peculiar situation that this ethnic group finds itself in Nigeria. In June, July 2017, a group that called itself Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, led by one Yerima Shettima, issued a quit notice to Igbo people living in the North.

Their offence: the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was demanding for a referendum to enable Ndi Igbo and other interested ethnic groups in the South-South to quit Nigeria. This was IPOB’s response to Muhammadu Buhari’s extreme nepotism targeted against them, as well as the violent activities of land-grabbing Fulani militants masquerading as herdsmen. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and Governor Nasir el-Rufai threatened to arrest Yerima and his cohorts. Some of the AYCF hoodlums even dared them to come. IGP Idris and el-Rufai barked but did not bite.

The DSS: An Intelligence Agency Or An Arm Of A Campaign

By Charles Ogbu

On March 29, 2023, the Department of State Services, DSS, claimed to have identified some political actors involved in a plot to install an interim government. According to the statement signed by Peter Afunanya, the spokesperson of the Spy Agency, the plot is “not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the Constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis”. 

The Service identified “endless violent mass protests in major cities” and “frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of the new executive administrations…..” as the two means through which the unnamed politicians planned to achieve their aim. 

Attacks On The Igbo In Lagos

 By Obi Nwakanma

A massive wave of discontent has trailed the results of the 2023 general elections. A vast majority of Nigerians believe, and have clear evidence that the results were brazenly stolen by the ruling party, and that this heist is a dare to Nigerians to go do their worse. This is one election result in which not a single sense of jubilation has been witnessed in any part of Nigeria, North South, East or West.

There is no sense of an achievement, or of hope. There is instead, something of a bated breath, a deadly sense of something brewing in the firmament, like a stifled sneeze. The parties have gone to court. Nigerians do not trust the courts. But they seem also to just hold out hope, for one more chance, that judging with the evidence before them, the court of justice would do its duty to Nigeria and restore the mandate of the people based on the truth before them.

Nigeria: Comma In The Caution From DSS

 By Emmanuel Aziken

The Department of State Services, DSS, trended this week after the internal police issued a statement of caution over an alleged plot by some political actors to install an interim government.

The DSS in the statement said it had identified the political actors involved and  went further to insinuate the stages that they had gone and the options that the assumed plotters have been weighing in their aspiration.

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.