By Tonnie Iredia The apex Nigerian media association- the Nigerian Guild of Editors scored a point last week when it provided a formidable platform to Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections to answer perhaps the most pertinent Nigerian governance issues of the moment. Nigerians who were able […]

By Tonnie Iredia The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)on September 28, 2022, formally gave an approval signal to all political parties and their candidates to embark on electioneering campaigns for the 2023 general elections. We are now in the seventh week of campaigns, but most political parties are yet to make any impact in explaining […]

By Tonnie Iredia This year’s convocation lecture of the fast growing Edo State University, Uzairue, the 4th since its inception has been held at the university campus in Uzairue, Etsako local government area of Edo State. The topic was ‘Rethinking the role of mainstream and social media in national development’- a topic which aptly suited […]

By Tonnie Iredia Less than a month ago, some opposition politicians alleged that there was a plan to subvert arrangements made by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, for the conduct of next year’s general elections. Since then, several groups and analysts including INEC itself have tried to explain what they see as the impracticability […]

By Tonnie Iredia The beauty of democracy is the order it brings to bear on governance. Unlike other forms of government, democracy institutionalizes freedom and charts a clear path for the establishment and conduct of government business. Although politicians perceive elections as the preeminent segment of democracy, the reality is that there are other aspects […]

By Tonnie Iredia Serving in government in an African country such as Nigeria has its own challenges. For the purpose of today’s article, let’s focus on only the difficulty of living a false life in which one is compelled to endorse or be quiet over a wrong which government prefers to justify. The implication of this […]

By Tonnie Iredia Both the conventional and social media have in the last few days been replete with reports on large crowds of Nigerians gathering at different locations to celebrate their preferred presidential candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections. There is nothing new about the tendency because in the country’s previous republics, the idea of […]

By Tonnie Iredia Nigerian politicians have in the last few months been preoccupied with arrangements to select flagbearers to represent their political parties in the 2023 general elections which are some 3 months away. As usual, rancorous party primaries tore the parties apart with governance placed on recess in both the executive and legislative arms of […]

By Tonnie Iredia With only 72 hours to the official commencement of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the National Peace Committee headed by Abdulsalam Abubakar retired Army general and former Head of State must be warming-up for the signing of the next set of peace accords. At the end of a meeting of the […]

By Tonnie Iredia The official take-off date for electioneering campaigns for next year’s general elections in Nigeria is exactly10 days away. The take-off date must be seen for what is – merely official and not real because campaigns for the elections are not only already on, they have been actively on-going since the end of […]