When will Nigerian elections be believable? By Tonnie Iredia
From history, it is easy to find reports on early Nigerian elections which reflected some high degree of crudity which were enough to convince everyone that even those declared as winners were themselves not persuaded that they went through what looked like an election. In those days, politicians won elections by pouring acid into the ballot […]
Who actually is holding-on to Nigeria’s money?
Last week, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar announced the promotion of 24,118 police personnel in the country. According to Police spokesman, Frank Mba, the exercise ranks as the highest number of Police Officers promoted in one fell swoop in the history of the Force. The announcement was a happy one for many families including that of this writer-our own cousin Joe, being one of the beneficiaries.
So, can’t we count even our dead?
The indisputable breaking news of the immediate past week was the killing by suspected insurgents of several students of the Federal Government College, Bun Yadi, Yobe State. Whereas, different accounts of what transpired centred on about the same content, everyone had a different version of the number of students affected. During a sympathy visit to the school by the state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, a Senior Master in the institution, Ibrahim Abdul, confirmed that Twenty-nine students were killed. He added that 11 other students sustained gunshot wounds in the attack. Abdul’s report was corroborated by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Sanusi Rufai who also confirmed 29 dead.
One-man one-vote: Edo’s futile slogan
On October 22,2013, the Edo State Electoral Commission organized an election into the Esan North-East Local Government Council. Somewhere along the line, it declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the chairmanship election. The opposition party- the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cried foul alleging that it was a travesty of justice as the rightful winner was reportedly short-changed.
APC’s Lai Mohammed has upset me
For quite a while during the life of this present government, many Nigerianslooked forward with eagerness to the emergence of a strong political opposition to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Thus, the birth of the All Progressive Congress (APC) brightened the hopes of many citizens that better governance was on its way. The APC seems to have done fairlywell so far especially in bringing down the high degree of impunity of the ruling party. Their rather unpopular directive to their legislators to block the passage of the 2014 may have started, even if inadvertently, to refine our crude democracy – a good example being the end of the police control of Rivers State.
Does Jonathan also have a pact with Lord Lugard?
Indeed, the ‘democratic’ government of President Olusegun Obasanjo decreed same for the nation as if our leaders had a secret pact unknown to the rest of us with Lord Lugard to preserve his creation. Is this suspected pact also binding on President Goodluck Jonathan whose government recently declared the same no-go-area which bars Nigerians from debating whether or not they wish to continue to belong to the Lugardian nation?
