Nigerian Elections And Limits Of Opacity And Transparency

 By Victor C. Ariole

Opacity and transparency are two axes that the African governance processes are greatly undermining. Hence African governments are rarely trusted by their people as either opposition groups are clamped upon by force or litigations that call upon the judiciary to adjudicate upon are embarked on, and somehow ridicule the images of the “learned”, the bench and the bar as some adjudications show in Nigeria.

World over there are governance processes that warrant opacity and those that must be absolutely transparent and elections are one of those that must be absolutely transparent; however, in Nigeria, it is not so.

The First Fruits Of A Crooked INEC

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Evidence of the scope of the mess created by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Mahmood Yakubu began to emerge this past week. It all suggests network egregiousness on a monumental scale that easily rivals the elections of 2007, until now seen as the nadir in Nigeria’s journey of elective governance.

*Yakubu

As the National Judicial Council (NJC) released the names of the 257 judges who will sit to consider and decide on elections petitions around the country beginning in May 2023, it emerged this past week that so far 1,044 petitions have been filed against results declared by the INEC in the 2023 elections. That is already more than 70% of the 1,490 seats contested and it appears that these are not the final numbers.

Buhari’s Apology Not Accepted

  By Charles Okoh

It is human to err. No mortal man, born of a woman can claim to be without blemish. Anybody who lays claim to being righteous is the biggest jester you can find anywhere on this planet earth. Therefore, when people err and beg for forgiveness; it’s to be expected that they be given a second chance. But when a man makes the same mistakes over and over again and begs to be forgiven then the joke is no longer on the man but he that forgives and forgets, especially when the atrocities of that fellow are outrageous.

*Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, ranks as one of the two most fortunate Nigerians from whom this nation has invested so much on and from whom much more is expected. The nation has taken care of virtually all his needs in all his working lives. He was a minister of this nation, at a time when many of those who are reading this had not been born. Served as military governor and headed various military formations. And as he lives after the end of his second term on May 29, 2023, he remains a minister after over 40 years.

Import Food, Not Poison Into Nigeria, Please!!

 By Anda Damisa

Nigerians are dying every day with every meal we consume. Are you shocked? I was as shocked as you are right now when I found this out recently. We have a major problem right before us and it seems like no one is talking about it so, here I am, writing about the increasing dangers we face due to the proliferation of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) in Nigeria.

Do you know that over 60 per cent of food produced in Nigeria are made by peasant farmers and over 90% of them use chemical pesticides? most of these chemical pesticides are HHPs that have severe health and environmental impacts when proper application and safety is not within reach.

Nigeria: From ‘Go To Court’ To ‘Withdraw From Court’

 By Promise Adiele

A new strand of neurosis seems to pervade Nigeria’s political sphere compelling victims to embrace bipolar conditions with relish. Indeed, political exchanges before and after the recently concluded general elections convey a degree of rational deficiency among some observers, especially those sympathetic to power desperado’s inclination to State Capture. 

*Peter Obi 

These developments force one to ask the all-important question reminiscent of Sunny Okosun’s timeless song - Which Way Nigeria? The current election season has exposed many people, hitherto perceived as sensible, in their stark, irreconcilable idiocy which calls to question public perception of individuals. For some Nigerians, the meaning of politics is distilled in shamelessness, dishonour, debauchery, and the subtle inauguration of treacherous culture across the country. 

May Day And The Workers’ Woes!

 By Ayo Baje

 “A labourer is deserving of his wages.” – Deuteronomy 25 vs 4 (The Holy Bible). 

Back in June 2015, the piece of news that got millions of Nigerians enraged was that of the unpaid workers’ salaries in 23 out of 36 states! It came against the dark backdrop of the jumbo pay packages of elected and selected politicians and their appointees. 

The paradox of payment inequality was worsened subsequently, when the lawmakers, each on allegedly monthly salary scale of over N30 million found it extremely difficult to approve the paltry minimum wage of N30,000 for the beleaguered workers. 

You Cannot Swear-In A President Twice

 By Obi Nwakanma

“If you do not know where to put your hand, rest it on the knee” – Igbo proverb.

The inauguration of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria into office is a pretty serious constitutional event. It transfers power definitively to an individual who is then expected to embody the moral, philosophical, visionary, and constitutional ideals of the nation, and direct the executive function of state. The Constitution establishes the power of Nigeria in three institutions of state: the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, and the President. The National Assembly makes the laws.

The Supreme Court interprets those laws, including the permanent laws established by the Constitution. The President, as the Head of the executive branch of the three arms, executes the laws. These three powers together make up the Federal Government. They operate separately, and each is granted the power to oversee the other in order to create a balance of power, and prevent the misuse of authority. For instance, the National Assembly, which is actually the most powerful institution of state in a democratic republic, controls the Treasury of Nigeria, by law. Not the President.

Did Buhari Really Apologize To Nigerians?

 By Adeze Ojukwu 

Did Buhari really apologize to Nigerians? This is the poser before many citizens.  To put the record straight, a few days ago, Muhammadu Buhari, who has barely 32 days to exit as president, asked for pardon from those he might have hurt during his tenure.

*Buhari

The question is: “Did those scant remarks convey genuine regret or sincere contrition?” 

For many nationals, his mien and diction were not only condescending and evasive but also disingenuous. He did not come across as someone who was compunctious. Obviously, he is yet to come to terms with the monumental impact of his divisive and parochial governance on the nation. 

Borrowing In The People’s Name To Steal!

 By Sunny Awhefeada

Those who run and ruin Nigeria read like rogue characters in a picaresque. Nigeria has turned out to be a sordid adventure and those who dominate our landscape are the picaros. Roguish, arrogant and bra­vura-like, our rulers prance about and do things that normal people will not do.

Yes, those who presently rule Nigeria are not normal. Their mental constitution is made of something in the realm of the abnormal. Daily, we are confronted with a multiplicity of inanities orchestrated by government officials who are never fazed by their acts of recklessness and perfidy. They have turned Nigeria into a nation of anything goes since infractions now happen without sanctions.

As Buhari Comes To Judgement…

By Sonnie Ekwowusi

President Muhammadu Buhari has come to judgment. After exercising presidential power, judgment follows. Pricked by pangs of conscience on the last Sallah Day, Buhari realised that he committed many injustices against numerous Nigerians during his eight-year reign. 

*Buhari 

Consequently, he apologised to Nigerians and begged for their pardon. “God gave me an incredible opportunity to serve the country. We are all human, and if I have hurt some people along the line of my service to the country, I ask that they pardon me… All those whom I have hurt, I ask that they pardon me,” said a seemingly remorseful Buhari.

DisCos And Their Oppressed Customers

 By I.D. Nga

What exactly were Nigerians supposed to gain from the pri­vatization of the power sector? What, for instance, made the new power distribution companies (DIS­COs) preferable to the much despised and now defunct NEPA or PHCN? Or was the privatization programme just another scheme to put power supply in different (preferred) hands, and nothing more?

A key issue with the new arrangement is that the citizens are still denied the op­tion of choice. In the telecommunications sector, once you lose interest in one service provider, you can simply throw away its SIM card and obtain that of another. But in the case of the power sector, you are perpetu­ally stuck with the particular DISCO un­der whose fiefdom you fall into by virtue of where your accommodation is located. And so, even if you are not happy with their dismal and excruciating style of operations, you cannot leave them, and you have no one to run to for help.

Fashola’s Perverse Doctrine: Performance Trumps Integrity In Politics!

 By Olu Fasan

Babatunde Fashola, SAN,  former governor of Lagos State and outgoing Minister of Works and Housing, has a reputation for erudition and a knack for memorable turns of phrase. Recently, Professor Wole Soyinka credited him with what he called “the Fashola Dictum”, based on his saying that elections should be “carnivals and festivals”, not wars. Yet, sometimes, Fashola’s logic is flawed and, sometimes, his views are warped. Take his recent apologia for Bola Tinubu, his former boss and predecessor as Lagos State governor. 

*Fashola

In an interview on Channels TV, Fashola was asked about Tinubu’s integrity. He ducked and dived. He was so slippery that pinning him down was like nailing jelly to the wall. Eventually, he delivered an appalling apologia. Allow me to quote the words verbatim. 

Nigeria: The Righetousness Of Dissent

 By Obi Nwakanma

“No one tells the deaf that there is a stampede in the market” – Igbo proverb
On May 29, a handover ceremony should take place, with a parade at the Eagles Square, to inaugurate a new, elected President of Nigeria. That date would end the eight disastrous years of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I do emphasize the word “disastrous.” Buhari is a very tragic figure of Nigerian history.

History beckoned twice to him to govern. First as a military Head of State. Second as a Civilian President of Nigeria. In both instances, he was a failure. In the unfolding annals of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari will be recorded as the worst leader ever to rise to leadership, at least so far. Whatever else happens, he would be recorded among the worst plagues to befall Nigeria. Should Nigeria manage to survive and hang together as a nation, the story would be told of a Muhammadu Buhari who was offered the opportunity for greatness but squandered it over pettiness, ignorance, provincialism, and the corruption of the institution of state.

Buhari’s Valediction

 By Amanze Obi

President Muhammadu Buhari has begun his valediction. He is making all manner of statements that point to his imminent retirement. He is imagining that his attention will be needed by Nigerians when he leaves office.

*Buhari

He was quoted the other day as saying that he would move far away from Abuja in order to avoid the temptation of interfering in the affairs of the new government that is to come. He even added, for effect, that he would leave Daura for Niger Republic, if there is pressure on him in his Katsina home. Before then, the President had made a broad appeal to Nigerians. He asked those whom he may have offended in the course of his presidency to forgive him.

Nigeria: The Politicisation Of Justice

 By Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

If the title of my essay sounds scandalous it is because we live in frightening and scandalous times, with barriers blurred, lifted or abolished. Sadly, this disrespect for sound values permeates all segments of society. Taboos are, have become old hat, old school. Codes of social engagement regulating societal behaviour have been jettisoned. The judiciary has been both a beneficiary and victim of this disappearance of settled norms and conventions. That’s the reason we find some judges doing ‘show body’ on social media!

My thesis statement is that any society which politicises its judicial system is on a free-fall into the chasm of perdition and total annihilation. It may take decades. But the consequences of politicizing the judicial system are dire. The full consequence may not be totally felt in our life time, though we are witnessing bits of it. The judiciary should not be a haven for small-minded persons and petty thieves who do not have a global view of their assignments and to whom the notion of the common good does not exist.

With Urgent Innovative Investment, Malaria Spread Can Be Halted!

 By Aliko Dangote

World Malaria Day is observed each year on April 25, to underline the need for malaria control and total elimination. Adjunct to this is the galvanization of global efforts towards advocacy and sustained political will and investment all aimed at ending the scourge of the disease in identified communities.  Since 2000, global partnerships and investments in the fight against malaria have yielded positive results – preventing some 2 billion malaria cases, saving 11.7 million lives, and putting eradication within reach.

At a historic Global Fund Replenishment meeting in Geneva, Switzerland in 2022, billions of dollars were pledged by donors to boost the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. However, an unprecedented shortfall of more than 50% in global malaria funding is now holding countries back from maintaining life-saving malaria programmes at current levels, from and reaching everyone currently living with the risk of contracting malaria.

Afenifere: Truth Is Constant

 By Sola Ebiseni

From the wisdom-pool of ancient Yoruba philosophy is the eternal word of admonition that “a ò rí irú eléyi ri, a fi nderu ba olórò ni”, which may simply translate that no occurrence no matter how bizarre it may seem or exaggerated to frighten a victim can be deemed as never seen or happened before. In the similar words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”.

*Adebanjo 

In all occurrences in our land, after a deep introspection rooted in humanity in general and more particularly delineated by the history of our country and its unforgettable heroes, I have, like Balam, chosen to live by and for the truth that I may die the death of the righteous and my end might like his be.

For Africa, Why Sudan Matters

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

There are two countries whose well-being and stability reach nearly every part of Africa. One is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is nominally in the Central African region but which shares borders with nine countries extending to all of the continent’s four other regions – Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Unsurprisingly, the DRC is in the regional organisations of every region of Africa except those of North and of West Africa.

The second is Sudan. With a current landmass of 1,886,068 km2 Sudan is nearly double the size of Nigeria and the third largest country in Africa behind only Algeria and the DRC.

Obidient Movement As A Fascist Group

 By Promise Adiele

For the sake of peace in Nigeria, let us unanimously agree that the Obidient Movement is a fascist group. (Make peace for reign, abi?) But if we must subscribe to that spiteful narrative, let us innovatively, redefine and explicate fascism. Although generally understood as an authoritarian rule that abhors opposition, fascism must acquire a new identity for a better understanding in Nigeria since it is associated with the famous, radical Obidient Movement. 

*Peter Obi mobbed by a crowd of admirers...

In Nigeria, the brand of fascism associated with the Obidient Movement means rejecting all forms of official criminality and conspiracy in governance. It means the revolutionary denunciation of all manipulative tendencies which invidiously compromise the architecture of equitable, democratic representation. It means all efforts to uproot the edifice of deception, outrageous villainy, and the entrenchment of illegitimate power outposts in Nigeria. It means the attack against all forms of venal forces that have kept the country in the doldrums. 

Why Obi Should Stay The Course

 By Chiedu Uche Okoye

Mr. Peter Obi’s quest to become the president of Nigeria is the emblematization of the dreams and yearnings of young Nigerians, who want a better and new Nigeria. It cannot be disputed that millions of young Nigerians have lost hope in the Nigerian project.

*Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret, after casting their votes during the February presidential election 

Decades of oppressive military regimes and years of decadent political administrations have eroded their hope and trust in the Nigerian political leaders. The End SARS protest, which turned violent, offered them the rare opportunity to express their disgust, frustration, and dissatisfaction with Nigeria’s bad economic and political situation.