By Dan Onwukwe
Do you know why Bola Tinubu is always pushing the envelope on presidential powers and ignoring calls to end pervasive hardship in the country?
By Kenneth Okonkwo
President Barack Obama said, democracy will win if we fight for it. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of American democracy, arose from a meeting with his colleagues, where they deliberated on the preferable system of government for America, and was questioned by a woman outside the meeting to reveal to America their choice. He quipped, we have a republic, if you can keep it. Eternal vigilance is the price to pay for democracy, certainly not a fall.
Democracy is worth fighting for, it’s not worth falling for. The reason democracy is failing in Africa is that the people who ought to be the fighters for democracy, are busy falling head over heels for the crumbs that fall off from the table of these half baked, incompetent and corrupt leaders. So nauseating is the level of sycophancy that even the leaders now make a joke when they fall that they were doing obeisance to democracy.
By Banji Ojewale
A new race of men is springing up to govern the nation; they are the hunters after popularity, men ambitious…the demagogues, whose principles hang laxly upon them, who follow not so much what is right as what leads to a temporary vulgar applause— Joseph Story (1779-1845), American Judge
Let’s be guided by the former president’s own measuring rod to assess him and other public officers. We don’t need to go into any arcane research or some tongue-twisting grammatical constructions to determine whether our outgone leaders served themselves or served us. All we should do is to consider the body optics: has the office holder lost weight or gained extra flesh?
By Tonnie Iredia
Each time I come across a statement by the different support groups and campaign managers of some political parties, I am immediately reminded of certain issues that are yet to change in politics and elections in Nigeria.
One of them is the ease with which the closest sect of loyalists to Nigerian leaders complicate their tenures. It has become the practice for candidates who had during electioneering campaigns rolled out numerous programmes and policies to renege on or deemphasize them once they assume office.
By Isidore Emeka Uzoatu
Amidst prevailing weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, news of the ‘completion’ of the 2nd Niger Bridge was received with elation nationwide; nay the Southeast. As announced by the works and housing minister Babatunde Fashola, the edifice lately equipped with lighting will soon be released to the public for use.
According to him, the only factor delaying its commissioning remains the construction of the 4-kilometre link road on the Asaba end of the bridge. Part of this delay has been blamed on the latest incidents of flooding in the general area housing the bridge. Already, a 7-kilometre road links the Onitsha end of the bridge and the awe-inspiring Onitsha-Owerri interchange.
By Bolaji O. Akinyemi
Just about two weeks ago I wrote an article titled, " Nigeria: A Nation At The Mercy Of Political Party Delegates". Where I established that the two leading political parties in Nigeria; APC and PDP as institutions cannot deliver the hope and yearnings of Nigerian electorates for a new Nigeria. That the system are constricted against the evolution of productive leadership.
PDP, we were informed by APC in the build up to 2015 elections, that they spread corruption. Unfortunately, we have witnessed first hand the ground gaining of corruption and the consolidation of non state actors' hold on the jugular of our nation like never before!
I made definite assertions and offered some pieces of advice, some of which are; "If I were a delegate of APC, I won't shift support away from Osinbajo for a 100 million delegates' package from any Aspirant. His only challenge, will be how to triumph through the lies and propaganda that his party has become in public perspective, going forward to general elections...
By Julius Oweh
Of the three
prominent early Nigerian nationalists, it was perhaps Nnamdi Azikiwe, the great
Zik of Africa and a mentor to Kwame Nkrumah who believed in the unity and
corporate existence of the nation. The other two, Ahmadu Bello and Obafemi
Awolowo at one time or the other expressed their reservations about the unity
and oneness of the country. It is on record that Ahmadu Bello described the
1914 amalgamation as a mistake, while Awolowo described Nigeria as a mere
geographical expression.
At the height of constitutional conferences that paved way
for the nation‘s independence, Bello was quoted as saying about the north
‘we are not going to be part of Nigeria again‘. The most powerful politician of
the north at that time only had a change of mind when Awolowo explained the
concept of federalism to the Premier of northern region. I am embarking
on this political voyage so that you can truly understand the situation and why
after sixty years of independence, despite the abundant human and material
resources, Nigeria is still the butt of dirty diplomatic jokes around the globe.
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| *Dr. Wilson Ikubese |
