Presidental Election 2023: Demonstration Of Craze

 By Ighodalo Clement Eromosele

The expectation by Nigerians of a free, fair, transparent and credible presidential election; the hope that results from the polling units will be transmitted directly to INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV); the enthusiasm kindled in Nigerians, many, first-time voters to perform a civic duty of voting have all been eroded by processes characterized by multiple irregularities, foremost of which was the failure by INEC officials to transmit results for the presidential elections directly from the polling units in accordance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act and with the much publicized INEC election guidelines.

INEC has arrogated the failure to do so as arising from glitches in the electronic systems. Yet, the results for the National Assembly Elections were transmitted by the same systems. This contradiction is befuddling and it is a trust deficit for INEC.

Igbos Earned Their Lunch In Lagos!

 By Femi Olufunmilade 

Lagos has been a cosmopolitan, global destination with a modern seaport at Apapa since the mid-1800. It became a Crown Colony in 1861. I did a research for the Nigerian Customs, went into the Federal Archives at the University of Ibadan and discovered records of the Customs Administration of Lagos since 1877. Could have been earlier. 

Lagos was developed by people from diverse parts of the world. The British contributed their bit, ditto indigenous people, as well as other West African groups like Dahomians, Ghanaians, Togolese, etc. From within Nigeria, you have early settlers like the Bini, and the Tapa, and returned slaves from Brazil and Sierra Leone, and, by the early 1900s, the Igbo began to flock in. Later, the Lebanese came, followed by the Indians. All of these groups have made Lagos what it is before BAT came out of his father’s crotch, whoever he is. 

Should Indicted INEC Sit Over Her Judgement?

 By MC Asuzu

Without any iota of doubt, all Nigerians must know by now that the vast majority of the people in this country are no longer ready to go on with all the lies and deceptions that had gone on in this country for all these past years. 

*INEC Chair, Prof Yakubu 

And even that statement is to put it very mildly indeed. The only surprising thing about this emerging situation is that unlike in the past, the young people that dominate this revolutionary movement have apparently agreed not to be violent about it; no matter the provocation they get from the erstwhile political brigands in this regard.

Nigeria: The Rise In Police Brutality

 By Tochukwu Ezukanma

This is an Igbo saying: “Eze mua amu, ndi odibo ya e tiwa si ba isi.” It loosely translates to, “If the king laughs, his servants will become delirious with laughter.” In other words, servants are out to impress their master and prove their loyalty to him, and consequently, will carry to the extreme the master’s desires and actions. 

The Nigeria Police Force, in this context, is the servants, and President Buhari is the king. If the government respects, develops, protects and secures Nigerians, the Nigerian police, invariably, will revere and protect Nigerians. But, as the administration obviously despises Nigerian lives, what is expected of its police force – its servants – is commitment to furthering the master’s desires and preferences. It will inevitably despise Nigerian lives, and consequently, be brutal and trigger-happy. 

Awake, O Judiciary!

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

On Friday March 3, 2023, the nation waited with bated breath for the Supreme Court, the crowning glory and head of Nigeria’s judicial system.

The apex court is populated with leaders of the judiciary, starting from the Honourable the Chief Justice of the Federation, who also heads the National Judicial Council. It had been a long wait indeed, essentially because on February 8, 2023, the Supreme Court gave a lifeline to the suffering masses of our people when it issued an order for the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes to continue to circulate alongside the new notes. But the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria would have none of it, insisting that the old N500 and N1000 notes were gone forever as they had ceased to be legal tender.

They Sell The Needy For A Pair Of Shoes

 By Owei Lakemfa

I woke up at the weekend to a letter by Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai of the Bayero University, Kano. He had on March 25, 2023 performed a civic duty as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Returning Officer for the Tudun Wada/Doguwa House of Representative elections.

He had announced with his professorial authority that Ado Doguwa of the All Progressives Congress, APC, polled 39,732 votes to defeat his closest rival, Yushau Salisu Abdullahi, of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, who polled 34,798 votes. Now, in his letter, he makes a different declaration: that the previous verdict he declared was false, but that he had to do so because his life and those of other electoral staff were endangered. He said the collation area was under siege and he was “completely traumatised, hopeless and confused”.

An Attempt To Defend Professor Mahmood Yakubu

 By Emmanuel Aziken

Against the background of dashed hopes and the intrigues that shadowed the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, it is difficult for anyone with a clear conscience to rush to the defence of Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

*Prof Yakubu 

Given that Yakubu is a professor of history, it is telling that historians will in the immediate and distant future easily pick him out as a facilitator in the conspiracy to suppress what many had projected would be the beginning of the Nigerian renaissance in the third decade of the 21st century. What with the promised hopes that spurred many Nigerians who had in the past not voted, to on February 25, 2023, take that first step in their civic responsibility to enthrone good governance.

2023 Election: The Betrayal, The Tragedy, The Shame

 By Tony Eluemunor

First the betrayal: President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) without being prompted by anyone, repeatedly promised Nigerians a free and fair election in February 2023. Buhari promised that a transparent 2023 election would be his legacy project.

Yet, what happened? International observers have derided both Nigeria and the elections. Both Buhari and the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu knew that giving Nigeria a flawless general election was doable, that the money projected to meet the logistics that would make the poll transparent was duly budgeted for and the monies made available to the electoral agency.

Explaining Peter Obi’s Victory

 By Promise Adiele

This is not a critical dissection of the recently concluded presidential election in Nigeria, an exercise globally acclaimed as a collective assault on the humanity of Nigerians and their civic beings. That political obscenity, through coordinated acts of criminality, raped the intelligence of Nigerians, summarily calling to question those who populate our public service and security apparatuses. 

*Peter Obi

The reactions following the elections have been seething and hysterical, especially for those who believed INEC chairman Prof Yakubu Mahmoud that the results would be transmitted directly from the polling units to the commission’s portal. 

Alas, the BVAS was deliberately incapacitated. It was a beguiling gimmick unleashed on Nigerians through well-lubricated machinery of composite deception. Regrettably, the announced results have momentarily conferred a spurious legitimacy on the ruling APC as they glory in their capture and seizure of vengeful power. The humiliation continues to assail the length and breadth of the country as Nigerians are rudely encouraged to accept the vulgar manifestation of power desperadoes in the country. The temptation to discuss issues arising from the election is compelling but I must remain focused and faithful to the title of this essay. 

My Mother Was A Woman

 By Owei Lakemfa

I am blessed because I am blessed by women. This Wednesday, March 8, I received messages from some women wishing me a happy International Women’s Day. They know I am not part of their gender. But they are aware that I support, speak and fight for gender equity, equal rights and justice for all irrespective of class, race and gender. One of the earliest such messages I received came from the Cuban Ambassador Clara Pullido.

She dotes on some of us like a mother hen protecting her beloved ones.

Peter Obi: As Soludo Accepts The Judgement Of History

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

In his November 14, 2022 political takedown of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Anambra State governor, wrote: “As history beckons, my conscience and sense of duty to my people dictate that I should never be silent. I will happily accept the judgment of history for standing by the truth!” That judgement of history came fast and furious on February 25, 2023. And guess what? It was harsh – portrayed Soludo not only as a conscienceless liar without any sense of duty to his people or even fidelity to altruism, but also consigned him to the dustbin of history.

*Obi and Soludo 

All protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, what Soludo did with that statement on Peter Obi titled, “History Beckons And I Will Not Be Silent (Part 1)” was an attempted political assassination. It dripped of betrayal and blackmail. It was backroom politicking in its most unscrupulous and ruthless form. No doubt, the former Central Bank Governor did a yeoman’s work, as quislings always do. But in doing so, he staked his reputation on something not under his control. It has blown up in his face most spectacularly. 

Nigeria: INEC And The Presidential Election Flaws

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

The February 25, 2023 presidential election is a counterfeit of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Whereas June 12 is the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, the February 25, election is the most rigged and most robbed presidential election in Nigeria. February 25, was a brazen and barbaric display of impunity by INEC, which ought to be an unbiased umpire in an electoral contest.

*Buhari

The commission and its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, flagrantly flouted INEC rules, which they made to guide the February 25, election? The BVAS and IReV were successfully deployed by INEC to upload the National Assembly election results, but not for the presidential election result, which was manually collated, thus enabling the INEC staffers to rig the election. Three days before last Saturday’s presidential election, Prof. Yakubu was reassuring all that INEC would deploy BVAS in electronically uploading the results of the election. Why, then, did Yakubu change his mind to transmit the results manually?

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.