Still In Bewilderment, Gazing At Yakubu

 By Amanze Obi  

There is no beating about the bush here. The cold, hard fact is that Nigerians have just received the deepest cut. They have been stabbed in the neck by someone who promised them life. They have been hit below the belt by a man they thought was harmless. Now, the people are writhing in pains. The country is convulsing in its death throes. 

*Yakubu 

We trace all this to the grand betrayal by Mahmood Yakubu, the infamous chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Yakubu, in life and death, will go down in history as the master dissembler who took his country through the mine field of treachery and deceit. The people believed him till the last hour. They only woke up overnight to discover to their chagrin that he has given them the worst election in the annals of history. The most ironical is that Yakubu’s trenchant assault on the country’s democracy took place at a time the people were expecting to have the freest, fairest and most transparent election in their country’s history. 

Pyrrhic Victory: Tinubu Lacks Legitimacy To Govern Nigeria

 By Olu Fasan

Last year, in his speech at Chatham House, the London-based international affairs think tank, Bola Tinubu made a profound statement that has come back to haunt him, casting a cloud over his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the winner of February’s presidential election.

*Bola Tinubu

In the speech, Tinubu said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, required under the Electoral Act 2022, would deliver “the fairest and freest election” in Nigeria’s history. His words: “This is particularly important because the next president of Nigeria have some tough choices to make and will not be able to do so with questionable electoral mandate.”

Think, Before You Rwanda Lagos!

 By Jide Johnson

Long before the ethno-political madness for power started in 1998, which has taken an untoward dimension in recent years, Chief Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi sang a song, ‘Lagos State is the place for all…’ I am sure a lot of revisionists and ethno-bigots will disagree with me now because of the high stake politics of a selfish few, with disregard for the good of the majority. 

Frank Mba In Ogun: A Take From Jose Mourinho

 By Banji Ojewale

Jose Mourinho is the unpredictable, irritable yet unforgettable Portuguese soccer coach renowned for a host of feats confounding forecasters. He took clubs to great heights in his in-form days. Few tenderers of his era have matched his history: he has won a domestic title record in four different countries; he is one of only three managers to have lifted the UEFA Champions League twice with two different clubs; he is the first manager to clinch a European hat-trick, after winning the inaugural 2022 Europa Conference League with Roma, having previously secured the Champions League and the Europa version.

What’s the magic, if there’s any, that earns you prized international accolades in such a gritty sport? Once, in the newsroom of a popular TV station in Lagos, I listened as an analyst previewing a Mourinho match, attempted an answer; he sought a ‘’demystification’’ of the ways of the 60-year-old who calls himself the “Special One’’. He said all you needed to second-guess the Portuguese in a game was to look closely at his starting selection; it would lead you straight into his secret.

Nigeria: Steal The Election And Let Them Go To Court

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Any ruling party can make even a goat win an election. The only exception to this great truism is Goodluck Jonathan who lost his baton. Nigeria had a much-ballyhooed presidential election on February 25, and there is not much to report except that the election was bought and sold. 

Any talk of the elections being free, fair and credible belongs to fiction. The election result was declared at the ungodly hour of 4am, and losers in the contest were asked to go to court. It’s a well-worn mantra – steal the election for me and tell the opposition to go to court very fast. 

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.

Peter Obi: Proving Possibility Of A New Nigeria

 By Ike Chioke

When the storm of this general election is over, we shall be left with a few lessons. One is, never underestimate the will of a determined people. The other is, when the shepherd is ready, the flock will appear. 

*Peter Obi 

Indeed, people, who study politics and societies in transition, will find a fascinating new model in Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate. In a continent wracked sore by leadership challenges, Obi’s emergence represents a rupture in the dynamics of power and the socio-cultural alignments of the Nigerian society. Never has an outsider from the power calculus staged such a storm-trooping stunt in Nigeria’s political history. This is a watershed in our political memory.

In Honour Of Global Statesman Extraordinaire, Chief Emeka Anyaoku @ 90 Years

By Godknows Igali 

Rt. Hon. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, one of Nigeria’s best and most celebrated ever, entered the hallowed chamber of the eldest living patriarchs as he marked his 90th birthday anniversary on 18th January, 2023.  Homebred from Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan, which by all standards, stands out as a leading centre of learning and incubation of knowledge, Anyaoku is today, one of greatest human minds from the African continent,  acclaimed global diplomat, administrator and traditional authority.

*Anyaoku

As expected, for such a personality who has attained the apogee of human accomplishment, the world’s greatest and strongest greeted his  ripe age with the kindest of words.  Worthy of note was the congratulations from Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, who for one has a good record of regularly appreciating Nigerians who have made imprints on such occasions.  In this case, he poured encomiums on Chief Anyaoku, whom the country has honoured in various ways.

The Battles Between Young General Buhari And Retired Teacher, Ajasin

 By Owei Lakemfa

The battles I describe, took place four decades ago. They speak to character and governance; some of the problems we have today and why the country is in turmoil. They were between a then 42-year-old General Muhammadu Buhari and  76-year-old Michael Adekunle Ajasin who had retired after 54 years of teaching from July 1921 to August 1975.

*Adekunle Ajasin

Both men represented different values: one relying on coercion and the other on persuasion and reliance on the intellect. Ajasin had been admitted into the Fourah Bay College for a Bachelor Programme in English, Modern History and Economics in 1943, that is one year after Buhari was born.

Elections: Presidency Has Fooled Nigerians

 By Casmir Igbokwe

The senior military officer looked with pity on some citizens marching enthusiastically to go and cast their votes. “You are wasting your time,” he said. It was in Lagos on the day of the presidential and National Assembly elections. When prodded, this officer alleged that a security report came shortly before the election, indicating who the powers that be wanted as President. This supposedly meant that the security men would have to cooperate to deliver the anointed one. I dismissed this information. But when President Muhammadu Buhari illegally raised his ballot paper to show that he voted for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), I became suspicious.

It was then that what Reverend Father Emmanuel (surname withheld) told me five days to the election dawned on me. This priest said he was highly afraid the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, might not make it to Aso Rock. “The cabals are highly against him. I have been praying about this, but God can’t do for human beings what they can do for themselves,” he added. This was actually his reaction to my article titled, “Electing Nigeria’s miraculous President,” published on Monday, February 20, 2023.

Yakubu Mahmood’s INEC Fooled Nigerians

 By Charles Okoh

For a lot of Nigerians who had looked forward to using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology in the presidential and National Assembly elections of Saturday, February 25, it was a huge disappointment to see that that was not to be. Well, maybe, except for those who conspired to see that the device, which the INEC chairman Yakubu Mahmood and his team had touted as the game changer, did not work.

*Yakubu

The BVAS, it was expected, will help deepen our democracy by removing as much as possible human intervention in the process. Opportunities were provided by INEC for manipulation, thereby exposing to the world their insincerity. In the end it was a total waste of the time of the voter and the resources of a nation whose revenues have continued to dwindle.

The Triumph Of The Wicked Shall Be Short!

 

Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

— Job 20:4-9

Nigeria: INEC’s Shit-Show

 By Obi Nwakanma

The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) had no sterling records on which to run and return to power in the federation of Nigeria in this election. The facts were stark. Compared to February 2015 when the party, an alliance of the discontented, fielded the ex-military dictator, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, a former Major-General and at that time serial contestant for the office of the president of Nigeria, the mood had swung so heavily against the APC nation-wide in 2023. 

*Prof Yakubu, INEC Chair

Nigerians were measuring the time of the PDP, from 1999 to the time of the APC, from 2015 to the current year. As a Nigerian engineer told me, “you could say anything about the PDP, but what you could never say was that they put Nigerians through hunger. Under the PDP Nigerians took for granted that you could put food on the table without much hassle. But since the APC, all those things you took for granted – just food – including ordinary cereal and milk for kids have become unbearably exorbitant and impossible to buy.” 

Buhari’s Currency Change Fiasco, Failure Like No Other

 By Tony Eluemunor

Right now, Nigeria is sup-posed to have about the most experienced presi-dent on planet Earth. Or, how many serving Presidents have come onto their own when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State on January 1st, 1984. That was 39 years ago! Yet, I’m reminded of Chinua Achebe’s saying in his first book of essays, Morning Yet On Creation Day; that experience does not automatically come from what happened “because much can happen to a stone without making that stone any wiser”.

So, he wrote that experience comes from the lessons we learn from whatever has happened. This means that we could learn the right or wrong lessons or no lessons at all. Yes, people repeat past mistakes simply because they fail to learn the right lessons from past events. 

Lagos Guber Polls: Attacks On Ndigbo And What Sanwo-Olu Must Do!

 By Steve Osuji

The Saturday guber election in Lagos is a diadem. For Lagosians, it’s probably as big as last Saturday’s presidential tournament, if not more significant. Campaigns have been raging in Lagos , especially in the social media. So have calumny and ethnic brickbats been flying between traditional rivals: Igbo and Yoruba. 

Let it be presented upfront that one of the most underrated and unspoken problems of Nigeria is the ruinous rivalry between Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria.  

As I have noted in the past, Igbo and Yoruba in Nigeria may be compared to the German and English of Western Europe. Imagine Germany and Britain existing as a country. These are two great peoples (nations) not to be lumped under one umbrella or forcibly forge into a nation. 

2023 Polls: The Morning After!

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

"Free, fair and credible elections form the strong foundation on which to build the house of democracy" – Ayo Oyoze Baje (On ‘Editors Forum’, Galaxy TV, May 2011) 

When on Saturday, July 11, 2009 the then United States President Barack Obama stated that: “Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions” it was made in total condemnation of tyrants on the continent; especially those who enrich themselves at the expense of the poor people. That is according to ‘International Articles’ online platform.  Back then Obama was on a landmark trip to Accra, Ghana. 

Letter to Peter Obi On The Presidential Election

 By Edidiong Esara 

Dear Peter,

When you threw your hat into the election ring, even I did not give you a chance. But quickly and steadily you seeped into the consciousness of Nigerians in their millions. You communicated in the language of the people, felt their pain, and came across as different from the fakeness in politicians that we are accustomed to.

*Peter Obi mobbed by admirers in Delta State 

Which other candidate dared to claim that they never stole a kobo of state funds, never used state resources for personal benefit and left a huge sum in savings rather than debt at the end of their tenure? As an opposition candidate and a potent threat to the current ruling class, the anti-corruption agencies could easily have proven you wrong if you had lied on that – as they did with your erstwhile campaign DG.

Buhari Promised Credible Presidential Poll, But Delivers A Sham

 By Olu Fasan

President Muhammadu Buhari said, ad infinitum, that he would leave a legacy of credible elections. Last year, at the 77th session of United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, Buhari told world leaders: “I would leave an enduring legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.” Yet, last week, he delivered the worst and most corrupt presidential poll since Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999. 

*Buhari 

Buhari gave Nigerians false hopes and pulled the wool over the people’s eyes. Last year, he signed into law an electoral bill that introduced two key technologies expected to make elections credible. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, used for digital voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results, was seen as an antidote to election rigging. The INEC Results Viewing, IReV, portal would enable the public to view uploaded results from polling units, ensuring transparency.

Now That INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, Has Done His Worst

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

IN the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, declared the result of the presidential election which held on Saturday, February 25. Rather than jubilation, a pall of silence descended on the nation because many believe that their electoral will, freely expressed, had been subverted by suborned officials.

*Yakubu 

As the reality of what had happened dawned on them, many were speechless, others simply wore long faces, not believing that fellow citizens could execute such an unconscionable electoral heist. Thirty years ago, precisely on June 12, 1993, I voted for the first time in my life in a presidential election. Of course, that wasn’t when I attained the voting age. I was already a graduate and staff of Guardian Newspapers Limited. But I was a minor, electorally speaking, when the 1983 elections took place and, therefore, had no franchise to vote.

Nigeria: Is This Democracy?

 By Mike Ikhariale

After the celebratory hype about how the almighty BVAS and PVCs which were coming to revolutionize electioneering and democracy as a whole in Nigeria in the build-up to the current election that is fast turning into an unimaginable nightmare for many, I think we should go back and reflect on the poser we made about democracy in 2019 during the general elections of that year and see how much things have changed for Nigeria politically since then. 

Nigerians were made to believe that the hardship occasioned by the unmitigated collapse of the currency exchange policy was a deliberate design to ensure that there would be no cash available for politicians to “buy votes” and Nigerians were also fooled to believe that they were been called out for a sacrifice that would usher in a better democratic society for them tomorrow, more less like the brave and heroic Kohima epitaph which declares that “ for your tomorrow we gave our today”, but as we are all beginning to see, these politicians have callously taken both our today and tomorrow with them in one fell swoop by terribly discrediting democracy before the same people.