I HAVE found it and still find it difficult to think of Stanley in past tense. There are many angles to the man and his is like that story of several blind men asked to describe an object called elephant.

THE elections were not primarily for selection of persons for office in the colonial government but for the transfer of ownership of the British colonial estate from the British Government to Nigerian colonial parties organised to contest the elections.

FOLLOWING the coup d’ etat of July 23, 1952 which replaced King Farouk with General Neguib, Amer was appointed director of the New Head of State’s office. He became a Major-General the following year and from then on until 1958 was Commander-in-Chief of Egypt’s armed forces. Promoted Field Marshal in 1957, he served from 1958 to 1962 as Commander-in-Chief of the United Arab Republic Forces.

THESE election series deal with eight issues two of which have already been addressed. Issue No.3 is how to constitutionalise and democratise election party competition over control of government.

THE Elections were not primarily for selection of persons for office in the Colonial Government but for the transfer of ownership of the British Colonial Estate from the British Government to Nigerian Colonial Parties organised to contest the elections.

IN my “Addressing The 2011 Elections” serialized in the Tuesday Platform, issues of electoral reforms in Africa in general, and in Nigeria in particular were as listed ending with the quoted conclusion. These issues are:

MO IBRAHIM is one of Africa’s global leaders who has not merely stayed at the sidelines wringing his hands in despair about Africa’s travails. Through his foundation he has set out to provide a platform for encouraging good leaders in and out office.

TRANSITIONAL elections are thus only one of several ways of effecting reform of the political order. Separatist movements are another way of achieving the same result. Revolutions are another way of effecting change of political order.

IT is this impatience with strategies and statecraft that informed the political thinking of our first generation politicians roundly outclassed by the shrewd British independence: Granting politicians with whom they sat to negotiate independence contracts.

A NATIONAL newspaper of February 25, 2010 had the following blurb on its last page.
Carson to INEC : “Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has performed poorly over the past decade and has not served the interest of Nigeria well… I stressed that Nigeria’s next presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for April 2011 must be credible. They must be free, fair and transparent and they must be a significant improvement over the country’s 2007 presidential election, which were deeply embarrassing and deeply flawed”.