INEC Chairman Must Go!

 By Casmir Igbokwe

As The he saying goes, when a man on top of a palm tree pollutes the air, the flies get confused. No doubt, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) polluted the air of our 2023 general election. Now that many confused Nigerians are wondering what happened, the chairman of the electoral umpire, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has remained taciturn. 

*Yakubu 

Ordinarily, Yakubu expresses his views frequently. But since he surreptitiously announced the result of the infamous February 25 presidential election in the ungodly hours of March 1, 2023, he has left the arena for some other stakeholders and observers.

I watched INEC’s spokesman, Mr. Festus Okoye, trying labouriously to explain the so-called “technical glitches” in the last presidential election in a recent interview on Channels Television. He acknowledged that the results of the National Assembly elections were uploaded seamlessly to the INEC portal.

Urban Legend And Durable Insecurity In South-East Nigeria

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

On July 17, 2012, Peter Obi, then Governor of Anambra State, swore in five new commissioners. One of them was Chike Okoli, whom he assigned to the Ministry of Science and Technology where he would serve as commissioner until the expiration of Mr. Obi’s governorship tenure in March 2014. Two months later, around May 21, 2014, Chike set out from the state capital in Awka to Nanka, his village in Orumba South Local Government Area (LGA) of the state. He never got there.

Somewhere in Agulu, not far from Nanka, Chike’s car was reportedly intercepted by men in a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), who abducted him. Despite having much of their ransom demand of N16 million met, Chike has not been seen or heard from since then. It was widely reported at the time that Chike was “abducted by unknown gunmen.”

President Tinubu Discovers Ice In Macondo

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Let the whole wide world join me in universal celebration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has just repeated the immortal feat of discovering ice.

*Tinubu

The first time ice was ever discovered in human history was in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

According to the opening sentence of One Hundred Years of Solitude, “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

Buhari’s Fuel Subsidy Confession And Limits Of Hypocrisy

 By Emeka Alex Duru

Even out of office, former President Muhammadu Buhari does not seem to be done with Nigerians. He still carries on as one with grudges against Nigerian citizens for asking him to lead them. His haughty carriage and sense of entitlement indicate so. Critics may even be correct that he derives joy in seeing Nigerians suffer. That perhaps, explains why his eight years as President remain the darkest moment in Nigeria’s history in terms of development and other indices of nation building. Yet, he does not appear bothered.

*Buhari 

He was in his element the other day, in telling Nigerians that he deliberately delayed removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, to enable his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, win the 2023 elections. Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, said he was being politically honest in taking the decision. APC would have been thrown out of power if the measure was implemented by his administration, Buhari claimed.

Alaba Market Demolition: Matters Arising

 By Emeka Alex Duru 

I confess that I initially bought into the explanation by officials of Lagos state on the reasons for the demolition of some structures in the popular Alaba International Market. The government had on Sunday, June 18, commenced pulling down 17 buildings it tagged distressed at the market. 

The General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Oki, who spoke on the exercise two days earlier, claimed that the affected buildings had been marked for demolition since 2016. “The marked inscriptions from LASBCA seen on different parts of the buildings that were looking physically distressed had vacation notices as far back as 2016, 2020, 2022, and several others issued to this year, 2023,” the state added in a post on its website. 

PDP’s Gang Of Five: A Danger To Nigeria’s ‘Representative’ Democracy

 By Olu Fasan

In theory, Nigeria is a representative democracy; in practice, it is not. Unlike in a direct democracy, where people determine how they are governed by voting on policies and laws themselves, in a representative democracy, they elect those who govern them, who make policies and laws for them. However, to be truly “representative”, a democracy must have certain key characteristics. Sadly, most of these characteristics are lacking in Nigeria’s “representative democracy”. I’m particularly interested here in political competition!

*The G-5 PDP Governors 

But what are the characteristics of a representative democracy? According to political scientists, a representative democracy has the following key characteristics: universal participation, political equality, political competition, political accountability, government transparency, majority rule, civil liberties and rule of law. Anyone who understands what each of these characteristics entails would readily admit that Nigeria’s representative democracy is hollow. Before political competition, let’s consider a few other characteristics.

Nigeria: The Fiction Of Three Founding Fathers

 By Obi Nwkanma

 Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe was the leader of the African nationalist resis­tance to colonialism from 1937 to 1957. He spearheaded it. He theorized it. He catalyzed it.

*Dr. Azikiwe 

In spite of the puny attempts by char­acters whom Azikiwe himself would have dubbed “Lilliputians” to revise the history of African nationalism in the 20th century, and diminish Azikiwe’s work, the great Zik continues to glow be­cause he is preserved in the documents of the 20th century.

Is INEC Chairman Still In Office?

 By Ugo Onuoha

Election is a serious matter for countries that are serious. In this regard, we are still struggling to place our country in one of the two categories: serious or unserious.

*Yakubu

In some jurisdictions, election is a charade, a make-believe and a joke. Will Nigeria join this dubious league? Before its civil war in 2011, periodic elections were held in Syria where the outcomes were predictable. The Assad family was sure to win any and all presidential elections with wide margins. State power usually moved from father to son. Malawi under Dr. Hasting Kamuzu Banda also conducted periodic elections and the then President won all presidential contests by landslides. Banda was no ‘bushman’.

Starving The Poor To Subsidize The Rich

 By Dan Onwukwe

The pay and perks of political office holders in the country are back on the spotlight. This time, more damning and sickening. It’s raising dark clouds as ever. Right now, the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, is behind the astonishing, wicked and mindless proposal. Behind the veil, lies a tangle web of conspiracy.

*Akpabio and Tinubu
It amounts to high level of insensitivity to the current economic crunch and the harrowing plight of poor Nigerians who are already pushed against the wall due to previous government’s flip-flop policies. If the pay raise proposed by RMAFC is not a conspiracy of sort between it and the rampaging political elite, nothing comes closer to the harsh truth.   

Nasir El-Rufai And The Propagation Of Islam

 By Kenneth Okonkwo 

Chief Ozioko Francis Okonkwo was born into the lineage of great men. Unfortunately for him, his own father died at a tender age and he was sentenced to a life of servitude at a very tender age. He served from one household to the other until he attained the age of maturity,  at which, he came back to his native land Nsukka to learn vulcanizing. Wherever he went to serve, the household never allowed him to leave because of his sincerity and integrity. 

*El-Rufai 

After his mentorship as a Vulcanizer, his mentor was recalled by his own people to relocate back to his own home town. Okonkwo wished to follow his mentor back to his mentor’s hometown but was restricted by his mentor who insisted he must remain in Nsukka as their ambassador seeing his lifestyle of sincerity. Okonkwo remained in Nsukka as the only professional Vulcanizer.

As British Tightens Immigration Law

 By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Followers of news, events, information and development from the United Kingdom would have noticed that the hottest topic on the lips of most British politicians and bureaucrats is immigration. Immigration is a big issue in Great Britain given their peculiar and unique circumstances regarding the sudden upsurge in the number of irregular migrants that pour into Great Britain through the dangerous canals connecting Britain through France. Besides, border security and affiliated issues are key to defining the sovereign authority of a nation state.

In view of the aforementioned background information, I perfectly understand and appreciate the fact that the British government has an obligation to control the levels of migration into their Country given the increasing rates of costs of living and the economic crises that were thrown up by COVID-19 pandemic that slowed down the economic fortunes of many nations. Controlling migration also addresses the critical questions associated with national security and wellbeing of a nation.

Student Loan: Is Nigeria Ready?

 By Mabel Oboh

About two years ago, at the convocation of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, who was then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, delivered a lecture. Among many other talks, he posited that a student loan scheme was one of the ways to solve the problem of funding education in Nigeria. 

He sponsored the bill on the matter in the National Assembly. It was not surprising therefore that Gbaja sold the student loans initiative as a priority agenda for the administration. On Monday, June 12, 2023, Nigeria’s democracy day, just two weeks into the life of the government, President Bola Tinubu announced the scholarship scheme.

June 16, 1976 Soweto Uprising: The Pains, Gains And Failure Of African Leadership

 By Omawumi Evelyn Urhobo

As South Africa commemorates this year’s June 16th, the 47th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, and as a Nigerian who was directly involved in the struggle, I can’t help but put down my few thoughts about this momentous event.

On June 16, 1976, the student protest in the township of Soweto against the apartheid regime started. This agitation would soon become known globally as the Soweto Uprising. This uprising by the students protesting the injustice of the Apartheid Regime was, of course, more than ever before, met with the usual bestial and brutal resistance by the Apartheid Regime.

African Peacemakers: Rescuing Europeans From Mutual

 By Owei Lakemfa

Seven African leaders stunned the world on June 16 and 17, 2023 when they went on a peace mission to warring Ukraine and Russia. The reaction from many in the West was that of contempt; how is it the place of lowly Africa to intervene in a war of Europeans? In fact, Poland tried to scuttle the mission by detaining for 30 hours the aircraft carrying the protection unit of President Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of the delegation.

*Ramaphosa and Putin 

Its claim was that the security men carried “dangerous goods”(weapons). Did they expect them to carry candies? The protocol all over the world is for the paper work for the weapons to be submitted; but Poland declined. Eventually, the aircraft which also had a dozen journalists on board, could not join Ramaphosa as Hungary barred it from using its airspace. These are clear indications that some Europeans countries do not want peace.

Nigeria: A Government In Search Of Legitimacy

 By Sunny Ikhioya

Nigeria’s problem is not its people or what some will call the ‘curse of the Black man’. The problem is simply a leader that will put aside religious, ethnic and other primordial sentiments to build a unified nation of one purpose, goal and prosperity. In other words, to build a nation of patriotic Nigerians. You cannot say you love Nigeria and be destroying properties that belong to the commonwealth.

You cannot say you love Nigeria and be killing and kidnapping your fellow Nigerians. You cannot say you love Nigeria and be stealing what belongs to everyone. That is the dilemma the nation is facing; having a leader who can bring together all of these contending forces and project their combined strength to the whole world. That is basically our challenge.

The Rise And Fall Of Lagos

 By Luke Onyekakeyah

The raging acrimony over a vicious plot by the authorities in Lagos to edge out the so called non-indigenes, particularly, the Igbo out of Lagos through appropriate discriminatory laws by the State House of Assembly should not bother anyone for it is only the ignorant who don’t know that cities rise and fall depending on the circumstances at a given time.

When the circumstances are ripe with positive conditions, a city may spring up and flourish so long as those conditions exist. But when the circumstances change and the conditions that made the city wane, the city begins to shrink towards eventual fall. The foregoing occurs when humans are the change agents in a city’s dynamics.

El-Rufai’s Wish For An ‘Islamic Republic Of Nigeria’

 By Olu Fasan

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai is an unrepentant religious bigot; a militant Islamic supremacist, who believes Islam is superior to Christianity and should be privileged in national leadership. He doesn’t just hold these views, he actively pursues them. As governor of Kaduna State for eight years, until May this year, El-Rufai ran an Islamic government, with a Muslim-controlled administration, despite the state’s large Christian population.

*El-Rufai 

Now, out of office, he prides himself on installing a successor on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, and entrenching Muslim dominance of Kaduna State governance. More significantly, El-Rufai boasts of foisting his Kaduna State Muslim-Muslim leadership model on Nigeria, and warns Nigerians to brace themselves for a prolonged Muslim leadership of this country

In Owerri, Nigerian Editors Repudiated The Idiocy Of Identity Politics

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

It is no longer news that the just concluded national bi-annual convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, which held in Owerri, Imo State capital, produced Eze Anaba, editor of the Vanguard newspaper as the new president. In the next two years, he and 15 other officers will run the affairs of the elite club of Nigerian editors. It is not going to be an easy task but editors are confident that the Anaba-led team will deliver.

*Anaba

It turned out to be a Guild election like no other, with difficulties more fundamental than the normal schism that characterises every struggle for power. Since the NGE was founded on May 20, 1961, at the old National Press Club in Lagos by Alhaji Lateef Jakande, who also emerged as its first president, the 2023 election was perhaps the most toxic.

Floating Naira: Death Knell For Nigerian Economy

 By Marcel Okeke 

A shocking headline in an online publication: “Naira slumps to N700/dollar as CBN floats currency, stops fixing exchange rates,” stirred my worry and alarm to pen this piece. According to the news story “the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reportedly directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to remove the rate cap on the naira at the Investor and Exporters’ (I & E) window of the foreign exchange market, to allow for a free float of the national currency against the dollar and other global currencies.” This floating of the national currency is coming barely two weeks after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ‘promise’ in his inaugural address that he was going to unify the nation’s multiple exchange rates.

According to Investopedia, a floating exchange rate is a regime where the currency price of a nation is set by the forex market based on supply and demand relative to other currencies. This is in contrast to a fixed exchange rate, in which the government (that is CBN, in Nigeria) entirely or predominantly determines the rate.

Issues With Tinubu’s Education Loan Scheme

 By Jideofor Adibe

Tinubu’s first three weeks in office have been packed with actions – fuel subsidy was removed on his inauguration, some aides have been appointed, the Naira has been floated and a Bill establishing an education loan scheme has been signed – among others. Though the actions so far have been mostly policy pronouncements that are yet to be implemented and tested, some people, carried away by the giddiness of the actions, have wrongly declared that Tinubu’s first 15 days in office have been better than a whole four-year term spent by past administrations. 

This piece interrogates the Access to Higher Education Act 2023 (otherwise known as the education loan scheme), flagging the promises and issues it raised: