Dodgy elections, democracy and divorce, By Dakuku Peterside
Nigerian elections and Nigerian marriages have a lot in common. Both should be sacrosanct. They are conducted with pomp and fanfare, and promises are made […]
Dodgy elections, democracy and divorce, By Dakuku Peterside
Nigerian elections and Nigerian marriages have a lot in common. Both should be sacrosanct. They are conducted with pomp and fanfare, and promises are made but kept in breach. Professions of loyalty and honesty are like a singsong. Like a marriage cements the relationship between two consenting adults supposedly in love, elections cement and clarify the relationship between the candidates and the electorate in defining power structures, agencies, and processes in a democracy. Divorce becomes inevitable when the glue that holds a marriage together weakens and breaks down over time. Likewise, when elections become dodgy, crude, and violent, they become meaningless, ineffectual, and unfit for purpose. Credible elections are the glue that holds the candidate and the electorate together, and anything that erodes people's trust and confidence in the electoral system simultaneously creates a divorce between the candidates and the electorate. Nigeria's last state governorship and House of Assembly elections have ...
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An Open Letter To President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, By Kazeem Akintunde
Your Excellency, let me first of all, congratulate you on your hard-fought victory in the recently concluded presidential election. That you fought a real battle before the victory came as no surprise to many political watchers. Even before the main election, getting the ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, which you co-founded, did not come easy. You were forced to make the now famous Emilokan chant in Abeokuta to remind those who wanted to rock the boat that it was your turn to become the next President of Nigeria, and that it was sacrosanct for a gentleman's agreement for power rotation between the North and the South be upheld. Becoming the President of Nigeria has been one project that you have nurtured for more than 30 years. During that period, you built political bridges between the North and the South, and cultivated like minds across the country. It ...
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The evils of complacency in politics
By Abiodun KOMOLAFE Oftentimes, intrigues exist in political matrixes. Concepts such as political mass participation, collective demands, group identity and determination, and collateral damages could all mean different things to different people. It only depends on which side of the divide the definer pitches his or her tent.This unrestricted latitude and privilege to operationalize concepts and political ideas (especially in Nigeria) with ‘sidon look’ response from the masses breeds complacency on the part of the political gladiators. The salient issue, however, is that a little divergence from the standard definition or central course gnaws on both the integrity and legitimacy of the political institution. Complacency comes in a surreptitiously slow-but-seamless manner. It doesn’t make noise even as it rubs in on people with definitive exactitude. Political activists becomecomplacent when they are no longer thinking with the people, when they think they know it all, and when they are eventually disconnected ...
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Businessman arrested as NDLEA intercepts cocaine, meth going to Vietnam, Brazil, Italy
. Seizes Colorado consignment from Canada; 164,750 pills of opioids in Taraba Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a businessman, Molokwu Nwachukwu, who frequents China, Dubai, Pakistan, and Vietnam, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos for concealing thirty-six (36) parcels of cocaine in different parts of his check-in bags, hand luggage and two pairs of slippers, while heading to Southeast Asia. Molokwu was arrested at the screening point of the MMIA Terminal 2 while attempting to board his flight to Vietnam on Wednesday 22nd March. A total of thirty-six parcels of whitish powdery substance that tested positive to Cocaine with a gross weight of 1.00 kilogram were recovered from the handles of his bags and soles of two pairs of slippers in his luggage. The suspect claims he travels frequently to China, Dubai, Pakistan and Vietnam, from where he imports baby wears ...
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Nigeria’s naira redesign; avarice versus envy
By Prince Charles Dickson Ph.D. An illusion shared by everyone becomes a reality—Erich Fromm Two neighbours came before Jupiter and prayed to him to grant their hearts’ desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other ate up with envy. So, to punish them both, Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that his neighbour had twice as much. The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbour had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious man, who could not bear to think that his neighbour had any joy at all. So, he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means his companion would become ...
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I’ll never validate an illegitimate outcome of flawed process -Atiku
By Danlami Nmodu Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has disowned a press release which claimed that he has given legitimacy to the February 25 Presidential election. Atiku said in a statement he personally signed on Saturday said the press release did not emanate him or his office and should therefore be dismissed as untrue. In a statement made emailed to Newsdiaryonline, Atiku said, "I have been notified of a fake press release attributed to me and purportedly giving legitimacy to the widely rigged presidential election of February 25. "The so-called press release did not emanate from me or my office, and it should be treated with repudiation, untrue, and deliberately contrived by those who illegally appropriated the mandate of the Nigerian people." Atiku said further that, "For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to state categorically that my lawyers still have ...
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DSS warns anarchists: Stop the planned violence, it could consume you – Full statement
The Department of State Service (DSS), again, alerts the public of plans to violently disrupt peace in the country. The Service hereby warns those desperate to cause a breakdown of law and order to desist from that. It would be recalled that the Service had earlier advised political players to abide by the rules of engagement as well as approach the courts for redress, if and where there are suspicions of infractions on extant electoral laws. It is evident that some aggrieved politicians are already taking advantage of this legal process. This, without doubt, is the beauty of democracy. It is strongly believed that this approach enhances peace and security. All and sundry should cherish it. Be that as it may, the DSS will not tolerate a situation where persons and/or groups take laws into their hands and champion anarchy. Those peddling fake news, hate speech and all forms of ...
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Obidient movement may push Nigeria into crisis, by Fredrick Nwabufo
I had expected the Obidient movement to abandon its punitive expedition after the elections and evolve into an ideological pressure group – a worthy opposition. But the movement is still anything but ideological and civil. It has become more brutish, more desperate, nastier, and feral. The Obidient movement is shaping up to be a gaggle of insurrectionists. For all intents and purposes, the movement seems to be gearing up to make the country ungovernable. Diligent and disciplined opposition is essential for democracy. In fact, there is no democracy, if there is no educated opposition. No government is short of opposition. In a democracy, the residence of an animated opposition signals the buoyancy of the system. Where there is democracy, there is opposition. Opposition is the mitochondrion of a republican system – it keeps the government on the mill working according to purpose. But one thing that drives genuine oppositions and ...
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Japa syndrome: Talent flight as the real cost of corruption in Nigeria
In the face of existential challenges facing Nigeria, the ensuing conversation arose among three Nigerians in the Diaspora on the way forward for a nation in crisis. Osmund: While migration is a natural part of human experience all over the world, in recent years, the desperation to leave Nigeria for just about anywhere else in the globe has taken the form of an anxious, nerve-wracking pursuit on self-preservation colloquially captured in the word “Japa". Japa is Yoruba for “to run, flee, or escape” from danger. Japa was inspired by the 2018 hit song with the eponymous title by the popular Nigerian artist, Naira Marley. Japa is a metaphor for an escape from life lived in the Hobbesian state: nasty, brutish, and short. According to the United Nations, Nigeria had the highest number of international migrants from Africa between 2015 and 2020, with an estimated 2.4 million people leaving the country ...
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British Govt trains NDLEA marine officers in Nigeria, UK
No fewer than 35 officers of the Marine Command and Seaports Operations of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have undergone diverse trainings organised by the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, HOIO, in recent weeks. Of the number, five are currently undergoing a two-week Maritime Patrol and Tactical Coxswain training by the UK’s Central Maritime Training Unit based in Southampton. The trainings, according to the HOIO, are to enhance the border control capabilities of the NDLEA by providing specialised training, mentoring and advanced drug detection equipment. Key areas covered so far include: boat handling, weapons handling, riverine operations, boarding and vessel search, among many others. Some of the trainings have been facilitated by the British Military, Nigerian Navy and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) under the Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP). The ongoing two-week training of five NDLEA marine officers including their first female ...
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Obidient movement may push Nigeria into crisis, by Fredrick Nwabufo
I had expected the Obidient movement to abandon its punitive expedition after the elections and evolve into an ideological pressure group – a worthy opposition. But the movement is still anything but ideological and civil. It has become more brutish, more desperate, nastier, and feral. The Obidient movement is shaping up to be a gaggle of insurrectionists. For all intents and purposes, the movement seems to be gearing up to make the country ungovernable. Diligent and disciplined opposition is essential for democracy. In fact, there is no democracy, if there is no educated opposition. No government is short of opposition. In a democracy, the residence of an animated opposition signals the buoyancy of the system. Where there is democracy, there is opposition. Opposition is the mitochondrion of a republican system – it keeps the government on the mill working according to purpose. But one thing that drives genuine oppositions and ...
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ICPC Drags Ojerinde, Children, Six Companies To Court Over N5bn Fraud*
*PRESS RELEASE* The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has dragged a former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde to court over N5 billion fraud. The former JAMB boss, six private companies linked to him and four of his children were charged before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja for their involvement in official corruption and conspiracy to conceal fraud. In a 17-count charge, the anti-corruption agency accused Prof Ojerinde of diverting money meant for JAMB, while serving as head of the agency between 2008 to 2015. Ojerinde was further accused of creating six shell companies and running accounts under fictitious names to divert government money into private use. The children also charged before the Federal High Court, Maitama are Mary Funmilayo, a one-time House of Representatives member; Olumide Abiodun, and Adedayo and Oluwaseun Adeniyi. The indicted ...
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Alleged N754.8m Fraud: Court Rules on Ex-NIMASA D-G, Akpobolokemi’s No-case Submissions May 5
EFCC Press Release Justice R.I.B Adebiyi of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday, March 24, 2023, adjourned till May 5, 2023 for ruling on the No-case submission filed by the duo of Patrick Akpobolokemi, a former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and Ezekiel Bala Agaba, a former Executive Director, NIMASA, who are standing trial for an alleged N754.8 million fraud. Akpobolokemi and Agaba were initially charged alongside Governor Juan, Vincent Udoye, Ekene Nwakuche, Adegboyega Olopoenia and a company, Gama Marine Nigeria Ltd., before the charge was amended to involve only both of them. At today’s proceedings, the defence counsel, Collins Ogbonna and E.D. Onyeke, separately, adopted the final written addresses of their clients and also urged the court to uphold the no-case submissions of their clients. They further urged the court to hold that the prosecution had not made a prima facie case against the defendants that ...
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EFCC Re-arraigns Ex- PDP Chairman’s Son, One Other for Alleged N2.2bn Oil Subsidy Fraud
EFCC Press Release The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, March 24, 2023, arraigned one Mamman Nasir Ali, son of Ahmadu Ali, a former Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and one Christian Taylor before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos for an alleged N2.2 billion oil subsidy fraud. They were arraigned alongside Nasaman Oil Services Limited on an amended 49-count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence ,contrary to Section 8 and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006; obtaining money by false pretences, contrary to Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006; forgery, contrary to Section 363 (3)(j) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011; and use of false documents contrary to Section 364 of the Criminal Law of ...
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EFCC Arraigns Two, Firm for Alleged N999.9m Fraud
EFCC Press Release The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, arraigned the duo of Taiwo Oluwadahunsola and Adebola Adetayo before Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos for an alleged N999,950,000.00 fraud. Oluwadahunsola and Adetayo were arraigned alongside a company, Green Eagles Limited, on a 19-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal, stealing, money laundering, and offences in relation to issuance of dishonoured cheques to the tune of N999,950,000.00 (Nine Hundred and Ninety-nine Million Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira Only). One of the counts reads: "Taiwo Oluwadahunsola, Adebola Adetayo and Green Eagles Agribusiness Solution Limited, on or about 9th September, 2020 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired to commit felony, to wit: stealing of the sum of N946, 000,311.00 (Nine Hundred and Forty-six Thousand Three Hundred and Eleven Naira Only) property ...
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Convicted Nigerian Fugitive Extradited To U.S. Over Offer, Payment of Illegal Remuneration
EFCC Press Release A convicted Nigerian fugitive, Florence Enwerim Onyegbu, was on Thursday, March 23, 2023, extradited to the United States of America, USA, where she is wanted to answer to criminal charges bordering on violation of the U.S. Law involving the offer and payment of illegal remuneration in a health care matter. Her extradition was coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following a request by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, seeking assistance for her apprehension. Investigations by the EFCC revealed that she had changed her name from Florence E. Onyegbu to Janet Boi in an attempt to remain hidden. She, however, ran out of luck when operatives of the EFCC swooped on her at her residence in the Ojodu area of Lagos on February 21, 2022. Upon her arrest, a national identity card with the name Janet Boi as well as a Texas driver’s license with the name ...
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Northern Christians And Nigeria’s 2023 Elections
By Rev. James G. Pam Over the years, I have maintained an opinion that the Nigerian state is sitting precariously on the tripod of religion, ethnicity and region. We need to restructure the state’s instruments and our minds because this trip will fail us soon. Several scholars agree about this. Yusufu Turaki, a Professor of Social Ethics, who has devoted his time to the study of the Nigerian political legacy from the colonial era, through the military era and to the civilian era, concluded that “The British founded Nigerian politics upon three major pillars, which have become Nigeria’s political Goliaths. These three Goliaths are Ethnicity/Tribalism, Regionalism/Sectionalism ande Religious Bigotry.” He added that as a result of these faulty triune foundations, Nigeria suffers from the political problem of “Leadership-Followership cum Ethnic-Regional-Religious Syndrome.” (Yusufu Turaki, Elections and The Middle Belt/Northern Minorities, March 2015). Ademoyo of the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell ...
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CBN Confirms Evacuation of Banknotes to DMBs
...Directs Banks to open their branches on Saturday and Sunday ...CBN Gov to monitor compliance personally The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations. The CBN has also directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, disclosed this in Abuja, on Friday, March 24, 2023, stating that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers. According to him, the CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends. “Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays ...
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For Tinubu’s eyes only, By Dan Agbese
Email” [email protected] SMS: 08055001912 This is the interregnum, the period between an out-going administration and its in-coming successor when there is usually a feeling of both hollowness and animated anticipation. It is not an idle period. This is the period during which we listen keenly to every word that falls from the mouth of the president-elect. Those words, uttered in jest or seriousness, could point to his thoughts on the shape and the character of his administration. The president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has so far not dropped major hints as pointers to enable the pundits and the amateur readers of lips and body language begin the productive but delicate business of predicting him on what he intends to do with the giant of Africa from May 29, 2023. Will he lead or will he rule? You should appreciate the difference between leadership and rulership and what his choice would portend ...
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Votes, Violence and Validity: Nigeria’s 2023 Sub-national Elections, By Jibrin Ibrahim
On 18 March, following a one-week delay by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable it to comply with a Court of Appeal judgement, Nigerians returned to the polls to cast their ballots in governorship and state house of assembly elections. Voters in 28 states had the chance to elect new, or re-elect existing, governors in the March 18th 2023 vote, with the remaining eight states operating off-cycle processes, three of which are scheduled to take place later this year. This is a summary of the report of the Election Analysis Centre of the Centre for Democracy and Development on the elections. BVAS was largely deployed and functional across the country for accreditation. Linked to the improved deployment of BVAS, the uploading of declared polling unit results to the INECs results viewing platform (IReV) was significantly improved as compared with the 25 February polls, with 23% of declared polling ...
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