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 […]

By Tonnie Iredia The next general elections in Nigeria have become close enough to make some citizens concentrate on a daily prediction of several possible outcomes. Will they as usual be a contest of entrenched interests by the two big divide, simply seen as two-horse race or will a third force emerge and succeed in […]

By Tonnie Iredia For every event in Nigeria, the priority of most planners is to ensure that the big names in the country are pulled to the event. Politically exposed personalities such as president and governors are the most sought after in this regard. For me, there is some risk in relying on the big […]

By Tonnie Iredia The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu could not have made a more cogent call last week when he spoke in favour of the establishment of an electoral offences commission. He was on point in his argument that without it, Nigeria’s election process would be incomplete. This […]