Friday, July 7, 2023
Monday, July 3, 2023
PETER OBI: P. O. Box 2023, Freetown
By Emeka Obasi
There must be something about Labour Party anchorman, Peter Obi, that continues to confound those who stand in his way. What they pretend not see is just what makes him a celebrity within and without. Sierra Leone is trending.
While Obi was busy at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja, his name was all Sierra Leoneans heard as they prepared for their own elections. Chairman of that country’s Political Parties Regulation Committee (PPRC) Abdulahi Bangura implored presidential candidates to adopt the Obi Formula.
A Half Century Of Banditry In Nigeria
By Chidi Odinkalu
Since well before Nigeria’s return to elective governance in 1999, the country has been overtaken by a progressive escalation of what Hannah Arendt in her classic On Violence called “a massive intrusion of criminal violence into politics”. In contemporary Nigerianism, the word for this is “banditry”.
“Bandits” is a conveniently capacious bogeyman for insecurity in Nigeria that precludes necessary questions as to the provenance of the descent into lawlessness. It captures diverse elements that may include terrorists, cultists, herdsmen, kidnappers, criminal gangs, and militants.
Crisis Of Insecurity As Challenge Of Development
By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa
Security of lives and property has been accorded priority attention by governments of different countries of the world, be it democratic or military administration. This is so because an atmosphere devoid of fear, anxiety, threat, harm, etc to citizens’ lives and property will only bring about socio-economic development.
In other words, development cannot thrive in the atmosphere of conflicts, violence, anxiety, fear and wanton destruction of lives and property, as it is currently the case in many parts of Nigeria. Therefore, it follows that there is a strong link between security and development in any social setting.
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.
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.
Friday, June 30, 2023
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.
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.
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!
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.
Thursday, June 29, 2023
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
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.
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.
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.
Monday, June 26, 2023
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.
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.
Saturday, June 24, 2023
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.
Friday, June 23, 2023
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.
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.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
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.
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