Vote Buying As Clear And Present Danger

 By Nick Dazang

Shortly after Professor Attahiru Jega assumed office as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in June 2010, his first major outing was a visit to the INEC state headquarters office in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. By the same token, shortly after Professor Mahmood Yakubu was inaugurated as INEC Chairman on October 21, 2015,  he replicated Professor Jega’s pilgrimage with modifications.

He visited the South-West geopolitical zone, by beginning with a tour of the INEC state headquarters office in Ibadan, Oyo State.

*Voting day in Nigeria 

After receiving a rousing welcome by the Oyo State INEC officials, the media savvy Professor Yakubu flagged off a visit of media houses in the zone with a robust engagement with the editorial board of Tribune Newspapers at Imalefalafia, Ibadan. One of the issues raised by a member of the Tribune editorial board was how Professor Yakubu intended to address the scourge of of vote-buying and selling also known popularly in the South-West as “see and buy”.

At the time of this engagement, the menace of vote-buying and selling was as inchoate as Professor Yakubu was new to the Commission. Therefore, Professor Yakubu requested that the said editorial board member elaborate on what he meant. An election cycle down the line and the conduct of many off-season governorship elections and a legion of bye-elections under his belt and watch, the phenomenon of vote-buying and selling has since assumed the proportion of a clear and present danger to our electoral process.

From what stakeholders have witnessed recently during the conduct of the FCT Area Council Elections to the presidential primaries and the conduct of the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, vote-buying and selling have become rampant and commonplace. Whereas vote-buying and selling were carried out in the full glare of observers and the media during the FCT Area Council Elections and recipients were liberally rewarded with Naira notes,  the currency of vote-buying in the presidential primaries morphed from the Naira to the Dollar, with deleterious consequences to the economy and the electoral process.

Following the token arrests of perpetrators of the act by anti-corruption agencies during the conduct of the Ekiti governorship election, the perpetrators, who are our own version of geniuses of travesty, have contrived other means. Votes were reportedly bought in lieu of the Osun governorship election days ahead either by direct cash or by way of offerings or gifts. Rather than display thumb printed ballots, following the prohibition of android phones at voting cubicles, commitments were extracted during the Osun governorship election through vouchers by agents who then proceeded to take care of complicit persons who voted for their preferred candidates.

Instead of playing by the rules as enunciated by the Constitution and Electoral Act, thereby upholding the sanctity of the electoral process and putting our democracy on an enviable keel, our unscrupulous politicians seem to excel in gaming the system. Each time INEC plugs a loophole created by them, they proceed, with frenetic zeal,  to create new ones. The upshot of their prolific negative genius is clear: they imperil and make nonsense of the onerous efforts of the Commission to sanitise the electoral process and to deliver wholesome elections which reflect the true and genuine wishes of the Nigerian people.

My fear- and indeed that of most stakeholders in the electoral process- is that if vote-buying and selling  are left unchecked and untrammeled, they will not only torpedo and undermine the integrity of the electoral process, they will rubbish all the gains and reforms which INEC and its partners have fought for and instituted over more than one decade.

Vote-buying promotes the outright sale of political office to the highest bidder. It brings diminishment and devaluation to political power which ought to be sacred and hallowed. And when or where a deep pocket buys political office he will either covet or abuse it. He will seldom deploy it to uplifting ends. At best he will obsess himself with recovering his “investment”. At worst he will enrich himself with a view to further perpetuating himself in office. In this sordid scenario or circumstance, good governance and delivery of democracy dividends are the first casualties.

 The office holder is not obligated to deliver them. The voter who has exchanged his birthright for a miserable dish of pottage loses the moral high ground from which to hold such an office holder to account. We have arrived at a sorry pass on account of bad governance and the arrogance and betrayal of the political class. Should we compound our woes by selling our votes and condemning ourselves and our children to untold and continuous suffering and servitude?

To rise to the challenge of vote-buying and selling, INEC has had to expand its Interagency Consultative Committee on Elections Security, ICCES, by co-opting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Commission, ICPC. In response to the threat of vote-buying, the two anti-corruption agencies made a few arrests during the conduct of the Ekiti and Osun  governorship elections. 

But given the widespread manner in which vote-buying reportedly took place in the said elections, the arrests were at best niggardly. The arrests pale in significance when compared with the large number of alleged perpetrators. As if the arrests were not significant enough, we are yet to hear of the prosecution and sentencing of perpetrators by our courts in what appear to be open and shut cases.

As the Election Management Body, EMB, and, therefore, the chief driver of our elections, INEC has a responsibility to insist that those apprehended are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. INEC should upscale its voter education, underscoring to voters the danger which vote-buying and selling constitute to our democracy and good governance. 

INEC and the anti- corruption agencies should be proactive and anticipate in advance the shenanigans and tricks deployed by politicians to buy votes and to stop them in their tracks. In addition to being on top of their game,  subsequent arrests of perpetrators of vote-buying should not be limited to the minions.

Arrests should be extended to their high-profile sponsors. Beyond these, INEC must work with other stakeholders to ensure the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal ahead of the 2023 general elections. That way we shall have a separate body which remit shall be the apprehension and punishment of those who seek to undermine the electoral process. 

This should strengthen the integrity of the electoral process and divest INEC of the legion of responsibilities with which it is saddled and for which it has limited resources to discharge. The establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal will also help check impunity in the electoral process and further improve the quality of our elections.

*Dazang is a former director in INEC (nickdazang@gmail.com)

National Assembly’s Best Option Is To Impeach Buhari

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

This past week, education came to a halt in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT. It began with the order by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on July 25 closing down all six Federal Government Colleges (better known as Unity Schools) in the FCT while the students were in the middle of their end of year examinations.

*Odinkalu

The reason for this order, according to the Minister, was “a security breach on Sheda and Lambata villages, suburbs of Kwali Area Council which also threatened FGC Kwali”. He provided no details as to the nature or extent of the “security breach”.

In a separate announcement issued on the same day, the Education Secretariat of the FCT summarily informed “parents and guardians that the 2021/2022 academic calendar for FCT schools will come to an end on Wednesday, July 27, 2022”. They did not much care to provide any justification for this measure. The assumption that the reason for the closure of all schools in the FCT was the same as that cited by the Minister of Education when he closed down the Unity Schools, does not necessarily explain the two more days of grace given by the FCT administration to all the other schools in the FCT.

Insecurity: ISWAP’s Threat To Attack Lagos State

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje 

”Nothing is as dangerous as power with impunity”   – Isabel Allende (Chilean journalist and author) 

My dear concerned readers, lest we forget, when yours truly wrote and got published the opinion essays titled:  ‘The Gathering Storm!’, ‘Of Gumi, Bandits and Impunity’ both in March, 2021 and followed them up with ‘Tackling Insecurity: The Hard Way, The Only Way’, it was with the fervent hope that the current crop of politicians, constitutionally entrusted with the protection of our irreplaceable lives and precious property would live up to their matching mandate. But unfortunately, they have not!   

And not unexpectedly, things have gotten worse, more than ever before in our country’s chequered history. Consider the critical issues of high inflation rate, economic challenges with alarming youth unemployment, the incredible Naira-to- Dollar exchange rate at 710( as at this day), education lockdown courtesy of the lingering ASUU strike, the aviation meltdown with huge cost of fuel. They all stare us all right on the face and we cannot but ask ourselves if we are watching a horrifying midnight movie or these encapsulate both the ‘change’ and ‘higher level’ puerile political promises the All Progressives Congress(APC)-led government promised the long-suffering Nigerians in 2015 and 2019.

The Awomama Massacre And Matters Arising

 By Obi Nwakanma

Last week, dear reader, I felt too overwhelmed to write this column. It seemed pointless. Nigeria does this to you, yes. Events of such significance happen far too rapidly these days that it is no longer easy to respond to any without feeling a sense of despair.

*Gov Uzodinma of Imo State

Just like last week, there are too many things this week that dog our steps: the Tinubu choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket certainly requires urgent interrogation; the spittle had not dried from the mouth of Nigerians when again from the Tinubu camp, in utter disregard of the feelings of the Christian community, the Tinubu-Shettima campaign caused another outrage: they went all out to hire all kinds of characters – mechanics, carpenters, a few others whom they found on the streets, gathered them, offered them cash, put cassocks on them, and declared them “Christian Bishops” at the ceremony “unveiling” of  Mr. Bola Tinubu’s APC running mate, Kashim Shettima.

It was a most insensitive disrespect of Christians, already feeling utterly dissed by the APC candidate. But there was also the inauguration, this week, of the new NNPC Ltd by President Buhari. Nothing good will come out of this. It is startling that the National Assembly brazenly passed a law that steals the Nigerian commonwealth from the Nigerian people.

President Buhari Is Overdue For Impeachment!

By Yemi Adebowale

A large number of senators, across party lines, showed a bit of courage last Wednesday by pushing for President Muhammadu Buhari’s impeachment in the face of the appalling security situation of beloved Nigeria. But the coldblooded President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan tactically stalled the motion to give the inept Buhari six weeks to improve the country’s security or face impeachment.

*Buhari 

It is appalling that Lawan did not allow the senators to discuss the raging insecurity in the country as agreed during an earlier Executive Session. He knocked it off the day’s Order Paper, preemptively, making it impossible to accommodate the debate on this vital issue at plenary. I was not shocked by Lawan’s action. This man has never been on the side of traumatised Nigerians. The senators eventually walked out of the red Chamber in protest, chanting “Buhari must Go,” “Lawan Must Go”.

Nigeria: Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold

 By Donu Kogbara

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari took off to Monrovia to celebrate Liberia’s Special Independence anniversary (commemorating 175 years of self-rule) with other African leaders. According to Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), one of the important issues Mr. President was going to address in his speech at this event was West Africa’s security. 

*Buhari and Weah 

A couple of days before this announcement was made, a harrowing video clip went viral globally. It depicted terrorists flogging male passengers who were abducted from a Kaduna-bound train on March 28 and are still stranded with their tormentors in the middle of a forest, alongside female captives who were seen weeping and wailing. Since Buhari became our head of state, Nigerians in all six geopolitical zones have been subjected to endless security disasters.

World Hepatitis Day: Have You Been Tested Yet?

By Abowine Alfred

Hepatitis is simply the inflammation of the liver. It can be caused by alcohol consumption, use of some drugs and certain other health conditions. But the most common causes are viral infections.

There are five main classifications of viral hepatitis based on the type of virus that is causing it and they are; Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis D and Hepatitis E. However, hepatitis B and C are the most common types of viral hepatitis. The WHO estimates that 354 million people across the world are living with chronic Hepatitis B and C and causes more than one million deaths each year. These two are transmitted via contact with body fluids such as vagina secretions and semen. Sharing same razor and having multiple sexual partners increases your chance of being infected.

Nigeria: There Is Fire On The Mountain!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

There is fire on the mountain

And nobody seems to be on the run

Oh, there is fire on the mountaintop

And no one is a-runnin’

I wake up in the mornin’

Tell you what I see on my TV screen

I see the blood of an innocent child

And everybody’s watchin’

… One day the river will overflow

And there’ll be nowhere for us to go

And we will run, run

Wishing we had put out the fire, oh.

*Buhari

These are the immortal lyrics of Bukola Elemide’s song, Fire on the Mountain, the fifth track on her inimitable album Asa. Bukola, the 39-year-old musician, professionally known as Asa, sang this song at the launch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, on Tuesday, July 19, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Several high-ranking government officials, including President Muhammadu Buhari, were in attendance.

Integrity Matters In Politics: Britain Shows It, Why Not Nigeria?

 By Olu Fasan

Call it a tale of two countries. One, Britain, puts integrity at the heart of its politics and punishes any departure from it, as evidenced by the recent toppling of its prime minister, Boris Johnson. The other, Nigeria, lacks integrity in its politics and tolerates acts of impunity, as proven by the prevalence of vote-buying and other dishonest practices in its elections. The contrasting stories of both countries and the implications for Nigeria’s democracy are instructive and deserve our attention. Let’s start with Britain!

*Buhari and Johnson

In December 2019, Boris Johnson secured a landslide victory for his party, the Conservative Party. He won an 80-seat parliamentary majority, the party’s biggest for 40 years. Yet less than three years later, he was brutally defenestrated by Members of Parliament, MPs, from his own party.

Ironically, last week, the same Tory MPs gave Johnson a standing ovation during his final prime minister’s questions, PMQs, after a barnstorming speech, which he ended with the words: “Hasta la vista(goodbye; see you later), baby!”

So, within three years as prime minister, Boris Johnson was ousted from the job he coveted his entire political life. The question must be: Why? Well, here’s why. Conservative MPs admired Johnson’s charisma and electioneering skills, but they strongly detested his personal flaws, his perceived lack of integrity, and the latter feeling trumped the former. As one Conservative insider put it, “the principal reason for removing Johnson was to restore honesty to public life”.

Antimicrobial Resistance: Where Did We Go Wrong In Our Efforts To Help Humanity?

 

By Nana Afua Agyemang Mensah-Bonsu

Antibiotics were discovered in a stroke of luck almost a century ago like an answered prayer to the cries of mankind as lives were being lost to and heavily affected by (treatable) infections.

Unbeknownst to man, the discovery of antibiotics brought in its wake, poor antibiotic usage and practices which has led to Antimicrobial Resistance, a public health and healthcare menace taking us back to square one.

The first true antibiotic known to man is Penicillin. This was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist who returned from a vacation to find green mold (Penicillium notatum) growing in one of his petri dishes which contained Staphylococcus, bacteria known to cause boils and sore throats, inhibiting the growth of the bacteria.

Women Entrepreneurs In Africa Face More Climate Risks Than Their Male Peers

 

By Kate Gannon

The world's climate is changing. All of us will ultimately be affected by climatic shifts – but some will be hit harder than others.

On the African continent, for instance, small businesses are on the front lines of climate change. Over 50% of the African labour force works in agriculture, which is both very exposed to and dependent on climatic variability and change. But even businesses in urban centres are increasingly dealing with climate-induced challenges. These include unstable water and power supplies, extreme heat and flooding. These hazards interrupt processing and manufacturing activities. They also limit transportation of goods and make it harder to provide services to customers. And they increase the risk of unsafe working conditions.

HIV: A Looming Epidemic!

 Latest UNAIDS Data Paint A Grim Picture Of The Pandemic…

By Shobha Shukla

A new report, “In Danger”, launched by UNAIDS just ahead of the 24th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022) in Montreal, Canada, paints a grim picture of the global HIV epidemic. It reveals that during the last two years, progress in prevention and treatment of HIV has slowed down and resources have shrunk, putting millions of lives at risk.

As per the report, there were 650,000 AIDS related deaths in 2021, despite there being effective HIV treatment and tools to prevent, diagnose and treat opportunistic infections.

Also 1.5 million new infections occurred in 2021– over 1 million more than the 2025 global targets. This amounts to the smallest annual decline in new HIV infections since 2016 – a drop of only 3.6% between 2020 and 2021.

Cumulative Evidence Of Buhari’s Failure

 By Olayemi Olaniyi   

If you’re not in academia, there is a good chance you don’t know what the hell a Nomological Network of Cumulative Evidence means. I came across this rather prolix and strange phrase during one of the many podcast interviews granted by the Lebanese-Canadian Professor, Gad Saad, that I have been binge-watching for weeks now. Gad Saad is arguably the world’s leading expert in Evolutionary Psychology; a field that theoretically explains psychological structure through modern evolutionary context.

*Buhari 

According to Saad, to build a nomological network of cumulative evidence essentially means to provide a wide range of evidence across various disciplines to explain a theory. The results of this interdisciplinary voyage usually would lead to the same conclusion, hence, giving the researcher an airtight premise to support their case. He often cites how Charles Darwin used this framework in On the Origin of Species. Darwin presented a nomological network of evidence from geology, archaeology, biology, anthropology, and a mélange of other disciplines in support of his theory of evolution in his seminal book.

The Problem Buhari Created

 By Rotimi Fasan

One knew this was where we were headed; Nigerians too saw it coming, a situation where a group of bloodthirsty marauders could put a bounty on the head of the leader of the so-called giant of Africa, the most populous Black country on our planet, while threatening fire and brimstone.

But these are no group of braggarts. They often put their mouth where their money is and are far better at making good their threat than the Nigerian state under the present administration.

*Buhari 

Nothing could have been more brazen. That bands of undisciplined men that have chosen to make the forest and similar hideouts in the wilderness their home, could boldly advertise their plan to abduct President Muhammadu Buhari as well as Nasir el-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, tells us nothing if not an account of official negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of President Buhari, who continues to issue ineffectual statements of intent and orders to the military and other security agencies to destroy the outlaw elements that have grown stronger by the day.

Shettima, Where Did Buhari Stop?

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

It is no longer news that Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s running mate in the 2023 Presidential Election, Kashim Shettima, has recently said that Nigeria needs a new President who would continue from where President Muhammadu Buhari stopped.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) party has woefully failed Nigeria in the last seven years and therefore should be voted out of power in 2023. Out of the abundance of the heart, we have been told, the mouth speaks.

*Shettima

How can Shettima be saying that we need a President who would continue from where President Buhari stopped. Where did Buhari stop, if I may ask Mr. Shettima? In festering corruption? Or, in insecurity? Or, in wooden-headed? Or, in cluelessness? Or, in imposing a corrupt and incompetent ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria on the country?
 
The most significant achievement of the Buhari government in the last seven years is to drag Nigeria into the membership of failed States.

Imagine the most populous and most richly endowed African country joining insignificant countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Myanmar as a full-fledged failed State. 

Most ‘Sexy Looking Girls’ Do Not Have Someone To Tell Them The Truth!

 
The following conversation took place between a grandmother and her grand-daughter.  

                           -------------------------

Grandma: Mutoni, where are you going? 

Mutoni: Grandma, I am going to Church. 

Grandma: Really? Please come and sit down and let's talk for a minute before you go. I think we still have ample time before the Church Service begins? Don't we? 

Mutoni: Yes, about an hour.  

Grandma: The way you are dressed, in fact, you look very sexy. 

Mutoni: (Smiling) Thank you very much ma.  

Grandma: Hmmmm, Mutoni, I can see you love that compliment. Please tell me, do you need someone to have sex with you? 

You Can Go Now Mr President!

*Buhari

By Dele Sobowale

“I am eager to go. I can tell you, it has been tough. I am grateful to God that people appreciate the personal sacrifices we have been making. I wish the person after me the very best” – President Buhari, Monday, July 11, 2022.

If that was a joke, Buhari, Public Servant Number 1, should know that, we are not amused. On the contrary, most Nigerians, his employers, take the entire statement as an insult from a servant who served so badly, those of us who, at first, believed in him, will spend the rest of our lives regretting we ever committed such a colossal blunder.

Despite knowing him to be a northern Fulani Muslim and sympathizer of Islamic fundamentalists, I worked tirelessly for his election in 2011 and 2015. To be quite honest, I was persuaded that the man had changed by the late Prince Tony Momoh – who was the Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, which Buhari led to defeat in 2011. I repeatedly asked Momoh if he was certain about Buhari; and received an affirmative response.

2023: The Catastrophic Error Of Muslim- Muslim Ticket

 By Sen Chris Ekpenyong

It is with great pains that I air my opinion on this issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket in Nigeria. Away from party and political interests, let us take a retrospective look at the idea. 

*Shettima and Tinubu

What the proponents of such a disastrous act are aiming is to further divide this country along our fault lines. What they are doing is against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

When you look at Section 15 of our constitution sub section 1, it talks about what the political objective of a political party should be. It directly defines the agreement of our co-existent that is unity, peace and progress.

It stipulates that national integration should be the pivot of our existence as a nation and discrimination based on any sort such as religion, ethnicity, language, gender, etc., should be prohibition

Nigeria: Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Slight To Diversity

 By Alade Rotimi-John

Under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 particularly its section 14 (3), the Nigerian state is under an unwavering duty to ensure that:

“The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried on in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the Government or any of its agencies”.

*Tinubu and Shettima 

Even though we have witnessed a glaring, unabashed abuse of this article of faith by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari these seven odd years, it will amount to complacent insensitivity for any person or group of persons aspiring to succeed it to self-gratifyingly propose a continuation of a befuddling Buhari “legacy in government”.

A Peter Obi Truth

 Today, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, is the birthday of former Anambra State Governor and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi. 

We present here an excerpt from The Promise of a New Era, a book by Chuks Iloegbunam out in August 2022 

Until the run up to the 2003 general elections, I was unaware of Peter Obi’s existence. Our first meeting was in Asaba late in 2002, when Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu led an APGA delegation on a campaign trip to Delta State. I had travelled from Lagos to Asaba, to assist Prince Ned Nwoko, a friend from my London days, who was the APGA gubernatorial candidate for Delta State. 

Former Biafran Commando Colonel Joe “Air Raid” Achuzia led the Delta APGA reception team. With Ned exchanging pleasantries with some party supporters under a tree on the far side, I joined a handful of others who listened as Chief Achuzia stood by his car and delivered an impromptu lecture. This was happening on the grounds of the Grand Hotel, and while we waited for General Ojukwu’s team to arrive, Achuzia spoke on the need for everyone to always be on the alert for his or her safety. “If I got found today wielding an automatic rifle,” he said, “that would be trifling. I’ve gone past that age. But any of you young ones here with a job and salary for six consecutive months without acquiring an AK47 is foolish.” 

Looking back now, I wonder whether Achuzia spoke in that vein because he had foreseen the calamitous security situation that has now drowned Nigeria. Anyway, Ojukwu’s convoy soon swept into the Grand Hotel. With the visitors from Anambra State, we formed a sizable crowd that soon plunged into a brightly lit hall.