No Shaking! The Igbo Spirit Lives On!

 By Dan Onwukwe 

Nigeria is very much looking like a horror movie that many people troop in to watch in a cinema. Every passing day, news about the country, and the conduct of government, its officials and some of its key institutions, could break the human spirit. This is because, things that are considered abominable and utterly wicked have become the ‘new normal’ in the country. 

A friend of mine called me last weekend from Canada. His voice was shaking. I thought he has lost someone. But it was a different kind of news. I asked him what has gone wrong. He said everything: “Even from afar there’s darkness at the edge of Nigeria”, he said, as his voice began to tremble. He added ,”if the Nigeria Police could arraign scores of hungry-protesting kids for alleged treason, the government must have lost its soul, and the leadership gone astray”.  He ended the call with this cryptic comment, “this is how autocrats begin”.  

Yes, We Protest!

 By Obi Nwakanma

Chinua Achebe, the leading African writer of the 20th century, did write in his The Trouble with Nigeria, that Nigeria was a fractious nation. However, a shared fear and antipathy of the Igbo was the single thing that unites Nigeria. This situation persists. And this certainly, is the impulse that drives Bayo Onanuga, senior Special Assistant to Mr. Tinubu on Information and Strategy, to keep invoking the name of the Igbo in his enterprise as a hack, and a regime propagandist.  The Igbo, it is now clear,  are Onanuga’s nightmares. 

At every turn of event, he invokes the Igbo. When his world is about to fall apart, he invokes them. His masters love him for sticking it to the Igbo. But he does not seem to know or understand the Igbo. So, let me tell him a little bit about these people. They are democrats. It takes them a long time to arrive at a decision, because they talk, and debate and disagree, to the point sometimes, of distraction. They are slow to anger. They watch. They sniff the ground carefully. They are patient. They make sure that they are on the right they act. 

Bayo Onanuga's Recklessness

 By Valentine Obienyem

Besides the trending old lyrics from Mike Ejeagha, “gwo gwo gwo gwom”, another issue that gained traction on social media platforms was the trademark diatribes from Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu. In his statements, he portrayed Mr. Peter Obi as an incurable anarchist without any basis in fact. 

*Peter Obi 

The beginning of Onanuga’s release immediately sets the tone for the entire message: “Obi should be held responsible if the planned protest turns into anarchy.” By this statement, he is implying that Obi is behind the planned protest of 1st August. Even his response to the threat of court action shows that he is enjoying the furore caused by his media outburst, as sadists often do. 

Nigeria: Rule Of Terror On Steroid Loading

 By Ugo Onuoha

Nigeria’s federal government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its enforcer, the [In]dependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must be ruing their failure to stop by any means, fair or foul, Mr. Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP or Elup) from being on the ballot in the February 25th presidential and national assembly elections. If the numerous youths of this country had not been on the ballot through their chosen team— Obi and Datti-Ahmad – the President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari regime and the APC would have casually walked away with the numbing electoral heists of February 25th and March 18th.

*Buhari 

If the presidential contest had been the about the usual Peoples Democratic Party represented by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar versus Alhaji Bola Tinubu’s APC, Tinubu and APC and their collaborators would have been celebrating since March 1st when INEC awarded them the presidential trophy in the dead of the night when majority of Nigerians were sleeping. Nigerians were expected to wake up to a ‘faith accompli’ and to the phrase of ‘go to court’ by INEC and APC to the candidates and political parties who believed that they were raped and robbed.

Peter Obi And Treason

 By Obi Nwakanma

Political developments of last week have left many a Nigerian askance, wondering about what might be the endgame for this regime. The current party in government, the APC, is pushing its current agenda of “state capture” with the kind of brazenness and open defiance of public will, never recorded before in Nigeria; not even during military dictatorship. 

*Peter Obi

It would seem to most history-minded people that this generation of Nigerian politicians and political actors learnt nothing, therefore, from the past; specifically from the crisis that led to the 1966 coups and the devastating civil war from which Nigeria is actually yet to recover, 53 years after the shooting phase of the war ended.

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...

Nigeria: Tainted Presidency For A Broken Country

 By Ugo Onuoha

Elections are combining with other factors to destroy Nigeria’s democracy. And the country itself. The signs are writ large though we play the ostrich. Elsewhere, especially in saner climes, elections help to strengthen the foundations and building blocks of democracy. Not so here. Since the return of civil rule in 1999, which by the way had been dominated by retired army generals, elections have turned out to be poorly planned and even more poorly conducted.

The consequences are that election results have serially failed to reflect the will of the majority of Nigerians, and so more and more of our people are turning their backs on the ballot box as an acceptable mode of choosing their preferred political leaders. The fear is that the outcome of the 2023 presidential election will compound the loss of faith in democracy.

Toward A New Better Nigeria (4):

 OBI’s TRACK RECORD

By Pieray Awele Odor

Mr. Perter Obi has been described earlier by the author of this piece and many other authors as a phenomenon in Nigerian politics. This description is rooted in rational examination or critical analysis of his track record and the very audacious and unique choice of words that he employs for challenging his co-contestants for the presidency and for inviting people to vote for him. The words are “No shishi”, “Character”, “Track record”, “Trust”, “Compassion”, “competence”, and “commitment”. These unique campaign words establish Mr. Peter Obi as a nationalist and put him on the acme of political morality in Nigeria. I shall explain how by presenting his track record.

*Obi

In my previous contributions to public assessment of the three acknowledged real or most significant contenders for the position of president in the election that will be conducted on 25 February 2023 throughout the country, I discussed moral character, what basis should found your voting for one of them, “No Shishi” as a political contractual offer to Nigerians, and character; in this order. In this fourth and final contribution, I have discussed Mr. Obi’s track record. This covers SOME of his actions as the governor of Anambra State for eight years and just three testimonies. I believe the information will be sufficient for you to convince yourself to trust that when you vote for him he will be the best president Nigeria has ever had, by his deeds, not words.

Nigeria: When Polls Are Rigged Before Election Day

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated for the umpteenth time that he desires to bequeath the country a legacy of credible elections. That seems to be the only low hanging fruit waiting for him to pluck as his disastrous presidency comes to an insalubrious end on May 29. He has made the promise not only to Nigerians but also the international community.

While commissioning a wide range of operational assets acquired by his administration to strategically improve the capabilities of the police, particularly in crowd control and anti-riot operations, on February 13, the president harped on the need for them to be professional while policing the elections.

Are Women Better Leaders?

 By Ebele Orakpo

Women more productive, less corrupt – Mr. Peter Obi, LP presidential candidate 

Women have empathy, very brilliant and can multitask – Barrister Efe Anaughe

There have been calls from various quarters for women to be given more space in leadership and decision-making positions if Nigeria must move forward. According to the proponents, women are better managers of resources and homes hence, they are called Odozi aku (wealth managers). They are mothers, wives, housekeepers and home makers so if given the opportunity, they can build up Nigeria and make it an envy of other nations, as well as manage judiciously, her abundant human and material resources .There had also been talks of 35% affirmation for women which the different political parties have not been able to meet.

Towards A New And Better Nigeria (2): Obi’s ‘No Shishi’ As Political Contract

 By Pieray Awele Odor

I am an OBIdient! I cannot hide my choice or pretend about it. I have told my friends this as we discussed the man who merits to be the next president among the contestants for this highest position in Nigeria and, as Mr. Boris Johnson said, “The best job in the country”; not the best job for me though! I have also told them that what is important is why anyone supports any candidate.

*Obi

This should be the basis for discuss about who should be the next president. I chose to support Mr. Peter Obi because of his four bases for asking Nigerians to vote for him. These are “No shishi”, “Character”, “Track record” and Trust”. This is unique in Nigerian politics! Indeed it is phenomenal! In this piece, as contribution Toward a New and Better Nigeria, I shall discuss “No shishi”.

Obi And The Circumnavigation Of The USA

 By Valentine Obienyem

It is no longer news that Mr. Peter Obi is the number one news in Nigeria. His popularity is indeed beyond compare. It is evident everywhere, especially when he travelled to the states of America such that any person who seeks to deny that fact is being untruthful to himself. I was with him in his last trip to the USA and observed his phenomenon at close range. He is the only candidate that enjoys spontaneous support from Nigerians, both old and young, men and women, across the known world.

 *Obi 

By what concourse of factors did he achieve such follower-ship that no other person in recent Nigerian history could possible boast of? Is it through his inclination to political sanctity? Is it because of his manifest vast knowledge of the economy? Is it because of his comparative knowledge of the countries of the world? Is he imbued with political magnetism? Why?

Stealing Nigeria!

 By Obi Nwakanma

All things bright and beautiful; all creations great and small; all things bright and wonderful, Nigeria ruins them all. This is a twist on the song many of us sang in the Nursery and Primary Schools of yore. But the last twist was first made to it by the late eminent historian, and one-time Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Tekena Tamuno, during his convocation address at the University of Ibadan in the late 1970s.

What he saw sitting down, many of us had not then seen standing up. But the auguries were there. Nigerians could recognize the handwritings on the wall. In the decades that I grew up and have experienced Nigeria, and I’m just rounding the first half of my fifth decade on this beautiful earth, Nigeria has always presented a challenge. 

Can Atiku Become Our Political Messiah?

By Chiedu Uche Okoye

It’s sad that political ideologues of the first republic, who evinced and manifested the traits of philosopher-kings, couldn’t entrench national unity in Nigeria as they placed primordial and ethnic interests and their personal aspirations above our collective good. So, they caused the failure of the first republic soon after Nigeria had become a politically independent country.

*Atiku Abubakar 

As a consequence, Nigeria slipped into a fratricidal civil war, which nearly caused her dismemberment. The Nigeria-Biafra civil war, which raged for three years, heralded the entrance of the Jackboots and brass hats into our politics.