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Vote-Buying taken  to the limits

Vote-Buying taken to the limits

WE are almost impelled to start today’s piece on the hypothesis that money is the sole determinant of electoral outcomes in Nigeria. In every election, the two major political parties spend big and win big while the small parties spend virtually nothing and win virtually nothing.
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Point of Order, Doyin Okupe!

Point of Order, Doyin Okupe!

OUR point of order is on Dr. Doyin Okupe who, in the character or a rabble-rouser, has become too loud and he is overheating the polity.

Under a palliative Legislature

Under a palliative Legislature

WE are going to impeach the President”. This is one of the most abused phrases in the Nigerian legislative arena. It has been taken to mean that the President is being removed.

As immunity begets immunity

As immunity begets immunity

EVEN where the President of a country dies intestate these days, it may not come as a surprise. After all, most deaths now come suddenly.

Redefining disability

Redefining disability

This stammerer in our little village, Oghada, woke up one morning and burst into tears, unwittingly coming up with what later became a song in the village: “Oghada come, come and see, come and see that a lame man has run faster than me”.

Emerging signs of 2015

Emerging signs of 2015

THE press in Nigeria has been attacked for poking its big nose in the affairs of others. It lambasts public officials with impunity and it attacks any governmental action with the supreme benefit of hindsight; it formulates bold policies without having to take responsibility for their implementation.

Most praised, most criticised

Most praised, most criticised

Nigerians are a peculiar breed. This shows up everywhere. In a football match with another country on our home ground, Nigerians would start off encouraging their team; but as soon as the Nigerian team falls into goal deficit, Nigerians would switch their support to the visiting team and, depending on their level of disappointment, they might begin to haul stones at the Nigerian players.

In search of a police force

In search of a police force

THERE is the seemingly pessimistic view that even without a government, this country cannot be worse than it already is. As a corollary, people may also add that even without a police force, the crime situation in Nigeria cannot get any worse than it already is.

WANTED URGENTLY: 160 million states

WANTED URGENTLY: 160 million states

THERE was something for which we kept applauding the military juntas of those days, without the least inkling that they were destroying us softly: We could go to bed one night in State ‘A’ and wake up the following morning to find that we were in State ‘B’ – during the night, a state had been created for us!

An open letter to NASS and INEC

An open letter to NASS and INEC

WE have just emerged from a gubernatorial contest in Edo State. The election is being adjudged as free, fair and credible(?). For fear of being labelled a sadist, one is forced to join the bandwagon and admit that even if the election was not an outright success, it was perhaps a lesser failure than its forebears.

Vanguard Detty December