Igbo youth rebuff of Nigerian Army (III), by Ochereome Nnanna
The purpose of this series is to explain why the young people of Igbo extraction now reject the offer to join the Nigerian Army. In the first part, we saw how the Army that Igbo senior officers once led with distinction became the instrument for their subjugation, both during and long after the Biafra War, […]
Devil in the card reader
AS we steam closer to 28th March, the day for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the hottest new bone of contention is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Card Reader (CR).
Battleground South West
A BATTLEGROUND is a place where an election will be keenly contested between two or more major political parties or their candidates. Of Nigeria’s three traditional “tripod zones” where the nation’s demographic ethnic majorities live – Arewa Muslim North, the food basket of Nigeria; Igbo heartland South East, the engine room of the Nigerian society; and Yoruba homeland South West, the landlords of the Nigerian economy – the hunt for votes between President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC), will be fiercest in the South West come 28th March, 2015.
Troops: To deploy or not?
THE issue of deployment of troops for elections in Nigeria has been an enduring dialectic in the annals of our democracy. Many chroniclers of the crises that led to the truncation of our democracy in the First and Second Republics have often blamed military intervention on the use soldiers to manipulate elections.
Please don’t catch Shekau alive!
One mid-morning early in December last year, I stood in the balcony of my house and watched as aircraft, as usual, lazily came in to land. I live along the very busy international plane route leading to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. But this morning, there was something unusual about the incoming flights. Within the space of 45 minutes, I was able to count thirteen Nigerian Air Force Hercules transporters. I immediately knew Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram was going to take a turn for the better.
How the rigging odds favour Buhari
ELECTION rigging is not just about falsification of the results of elections, snatching of ballot boxes, illegal thumb-printing of ballot papers or announcement of results different from the expressed wishes of the electorate. Any action that violates the Electoral Act will automatically result in election rigging. Any act that renders an electoral contest not FREE, FAIR and CREDIBLE means the election has been rigged.
