Atiku, Adamawa and one tree as a forest, By Tunde Olusunle
I received an invite early last year from the editorial team which was putting together a diamond birthday festschrift in honour of my very good […]
Atiku, Adamawa and one tree as a forest, By Tunde Olusunle
I received an invite early last year from the editorial team which was putting together a diamond birthday festschrift in honour of my very good friend and brother, Sunnie Ododo, a professor of performing arts and incumbent chief executive of the National Theatre. The proposed publication was titled: Sunnie Ododo: One Tree A Forest. My first reaction was: How can a single tree arrogate to itself the toga of being an infinite woodland? I interrogated the title again and again, before it began to make sense to me. Yes, Ododo is a bundle of variegated talents and competencies, embedded in one person. He is a scholar, dramatist, poet, technical theatre exponent, culture administrator, author, editor and more. Those who conceived of the title, I was then convinced, must have taken into account these multipronged intellectual and creative dimensions of their subject. It is against this backdrop that I have adapted ...
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Photo: CP Eastern Ports visits MD of NPA
Commissioner of Police, Eastern Ports Command, Onne, Port Harcourt, Tony Olofu, receiving a souvenir from the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, while on a visit to NPA Headquarters, Lagos, recently ...
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America, watch your back! By Azu Ishiekwene
Former US President Donald Trump didn’t just happen to the United States. He hit the world like the climax of a horror movie. Scene after scene, act after act left the thoughtful in bewilderment, the reserved in shame, and even the incorrigible in doubt. Only the fantasts and ultra-right wing extremists were impressed by Trump’s macabre dance. It was a phase like no other when he freely abused the expression, “To make America great again”. Apart from his British double and ally, Boris Johnson, only clips from Uganda’s past, without their bloody trail, throw up a shadow of semblance in contemporary history. If Idi Amin, Uganda’s maximum ruler and self-styled conqueror of the British Empire, was alive, Trump would have had a living black effigy, a master of doublespeak. He shifts grounds from subject to subject, changing the narrative before the audience had time to think, and then closing the ...
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Osun Tribunal Admits Adeleke’s Certificates as Exhibits
-- As Oyetola, APC Close Case The Osun State Election Petition Tribunal on Saturday admitted in evidence the file with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) containing the secondary school certificate and testimonial of Governor Ademola Adeleke of the State. This is just as the Petitioners, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC), closed the prosecution of the matter, leaving respondents to state their defence. The admission of the documents followed the appearance of INEC representative, Mrs. Joan Arabs, who brought Adeleke's original files containing the certificate he submitted to the Commission in 2018. It will be recalled that during the last sitting of the panel, the Commission had submitted blank document as the secondary school certificate of the governor, a situation that compelled the panel to order that the original file be brought, and to threaten to invoke Coercive Power if it fails to do so. At ...
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Atiku appoints Olusunle as media aide
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has announced a veteran media personality, Mr. Tunde Olusunle as Special Adviser Media and Publicity. A press release signed by Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe says the appointment takes effect from December 1, 2022. Olusunle, a scholar, author and media guru, holds a PhD in Media Arts and has decades-long experience in media relations. He has served previously as Media Adviser to three former governors and was Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo ...
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Alert: Atiku cautions Nigerians against scam empowerment schemes using his name, PDP
The media office of the Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has warned Nigerians not to fall victim to a scam being orchestrated in the guise of empowerment scheme sponsored by the PDP and its presidential candidate. A press release signed by Media Adviser to Atiku, Paul Ibe on Saturday notes that the so-called empowerment scheme did not emanate from Atiku and the PDP Presidential Campaign Council. The release said, “It has come to our notice that some unscrupulous elements have devised a scheme to fleece the public through a fake empowerment scheme. “It therefore becomes necessary to warn the public to be wary of any such scheme that is not communicated either through a properly advertised publication or through verified social media accounts of Atiku Abubakar or the Peoples Democratic Party. “For the avoidance of any doubt, the Presidential Candidate of PDP nor his party is not ...
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Adele Jinadu and Electoral Democracy: Knowledge Production and Praxis, By Jibrin Ibrahim
For his 79th birthday, friends, colleagues, school mates and mentees of Professor Adele Jinadu convened a colloquium in Abuja on 30th November to celebrate his contributions to deepening democracy on the basis of knowledge and praxis of his discipline of political science. The crème de la crème of the community was there including Professors Okwudiba Nnoli, Tunde Adeniran, Attahiru Jega, Anthonia Simbine, Nuhu Yaqub, Kole Shettima and Saliu Hassan. Sam Oyovbaire and Bolaji Akinyemi sent messages of solidarity, while Ameze Guabadia spoke from her standpoint of a law professor and Professor Anthony Asiwaju spoke for historians. Okey Ibeanu and yours truly having the privilege of sharing the same birthday with Jinadu were also on the panel. General Ishola Williams and Dr. Bukar Usman represented Kings College old boys. A million thanks to Princess Hamman-Obels of the Electoral Hub for organizing the grand occasion. In his message to the Colloquium, the ...
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Uneven disbursement of N500 bn: Agencies still shun Senate
…as Senate vows to take tough measures By Haruna Salami Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Uneven disbursement of loans/grants/interventions of six geo-political regions of Nigeria by Nigeria’s Development has resolved to “take action on any of the agencies that may fail to turn up by next week”. The Senate Ad-hoc Committee has said some MDs that were supposed to appear before it on Wednesday and Thursday, but didn’t show up without any communication await tough action from the upper chamber. Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa (Niger East) lamented that the tired to find out “why they were not here” even though the secretariat has been in touch with some of them. He disclosed that the Committee received three apologies from Bank of Industry (BOI), Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). However, he regretted that they have no response from the ...
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Political Parties, Elections and Consolidation of Democracy in Nigeria..By Attahiru M. Jega
Political Parties, Elections and Consolidation of Democracy in Nigeria: Emerging Issues and Needed Interventions By Attahiru M. Jega Professor Department of Political Science Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria [email protected] [email protected] Keynote Address Delivered at the Annual Summit of Political Parties and Stakeholders, Organized by NIPSS-PPLPDC, Transcorp-Hilton, Abuja, November 29-30, 2022. Introduction In the liberal democratic context, political parties and elections are among the most important pillars upon which democratic consolidation is predicated. Other pillars include strong governance institutions, competent and credible leaders, a thriving democratic political culture, good democratic governance, ‘universal’ human rights, and stable political and economic development. Democratic consolidation is necessary for, and aspired by citizens of, virtually all countries which have embarked on transition to democracy. This transition from authoritarian rule, incrementally to various gradations of democratic rule (i.e. as classified from ‘hybrid’ regimes to flawed democracy and full/mature democracies) to a large extent, depends on how well ...
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How INEC office was set ablaze in Ebonyi, 340 ballot boxes, others destroyed
At least 340 ballot boxes were among critical items destroyed as unidentified persons set ablaze the office of Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC in Izzi Local Government Area office located at Iboko. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in a statement Sunday. Announcing fire the incident, Okoye said: "The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ebonyi State, Mrs Onyeka Pauline Ugochi, reported that our Izzi Local Government Area office located in Iboko, was set ablaze this morning." According to him, "The incident occurred around 10.00am when some unidentified persons set the entire building ablaze. "Although no casualties resulted from the attack, the main building and all the movable and immovable items inside it were destroyed. These include 340 ballot boxes, 130 voting cubicles, 14 electric power generators, large water storage tanks, assorted office furniture and fixtures and yet to be determined quantities of Permanent ...
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Buhari flays corruption in local govt system, promises to act on NIPSS report
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja flayed the tendency of some chief executives to encourage corruption at the local government system, thereby inhibiting development at the grassroots. According to a statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), the President spoke at a parley with members of the Senior Executive Course (SEC) No. 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. He narrated his personal experience on stemming the tide of corruption in the local government system after the presentation of the report of NIPSS SEC 44. After listening to comments on the Course 44 presentation, themed ‘‘Strengthening Local Governance in Nigeria: Challenges, Options and Opportunities”, by some members of the Federal Executive Council, who aired their personal views on enhancing the autonomy of local governments, the President narrated his own experience on the treatment of local governments by some ...
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NEXIM: Okotete fires back at protesters
....says they acted out of ignorance By Haruna Salami Few hours after a group under the aegis of Lawyers for Reform, threatened to drag President Muhammadu Buhari to court if Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete is not removed as Executive Director of Nigerian Export - Import Bank (NEXIM), the embattled bank director fired back . The group had in a protest tagged "#Remove Stellaokotetenow" , staged in the early hours of Thursday at the main entrance of the National Assembly , said the NEXIM ED , is not qualified by every standard to hold the position . Barrister Oladotun Hassan Esq, who led the protest , alleged that appointment of Stella Okotete as Executive Director of NEXIM by President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2017 was wrong headed going by clearly stipulated requirements in the extant laws governing the Bank. According to him , Okotete did not have the required 18 years post ...
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Ugwuanyi/Mbah and sustainable of good governance in Enugu State
By Dr. Luke Mgboh On his assumption of office in 2015, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi aptly dedicated Enugu State to, "The hands of God" and true to this solemn dedication, he anchored his administration on the concept of the "common good" as propounded by St. Thomas Aquinas, the Italian Dominican friar, priest and philosopher. The concept of the “common good” in its original sense, encompasses the protection of life, preserving the state and promoting peace. According to its broadly accepted conception, the common good indicates, “The sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily. In Ugwuanyi, Enugu State has attained these conditions. It is a fact of experience that under him, the charge for the common good has been pursued to satisfaction as the administration has devoted itself to a four point policy thrust of enhanced ...
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We need change of tactics in the anti-graft war
By Dan Agbese Email: [email protected] SMS: 08055001912 It would be uncharitable to suggest that successive Nigerian leaders have spoken from both sides of the mouth in tackling corruption in the land. Dem don try. It would be naïve, of course, for anyone to suggest that the longest running war in the land has either been won or there are prospects it will sooner than later. The fact is that corruption is at an all-time high. President Muhammadu Buhari is unable to kill it. It is killing Nigeria. There is need to change tactics in prosecuting the anti-graft war for purposes of obtaining better results. Corruption will not end but it should be possible not to make it a way of life in the country. We have used probe panels to unearth the corrupt in our public services; the landed and other properties of the guilty were confiscated to deny them ...
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2023: Fears Over Election Violence
By Jibrin Ibrahim As campaigns heat up and the elections approach, concerns are emerging over fears of violence in the country affecting prospects for successful conduct of the polls but also the growth of specifically election related violence. It is clear that insecurity is one of the most serious concerns for voters in the country and the level of violence in many parts of the country will make it very difficult to organise election logistics and many a voter would think twice about the risk of stepping out to vote. Violent extremism by Boko Haram continues in the North East and parts of North Central Nigeria while terrorism organised by bandits has become a normal part of the political landscape in the Northwest zone. In the Southeast, violence associated with the separatist IPOB movement continues and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has become a favourite route for kidnappers. Almost nowhere is safe ...
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Military Detention Facility Assists Boko Haram Women Deliver Children
As part of showing love to humanity, health personnel at the Giwa Barracks detention Centre in Borno State have been helping pregnant wives of detained Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists to deliver their children successfully, PRNigeria has gathered. The detention facility has also been providing the children of their detainees the necessary care for their physical growth. A PRNigeria reporter who visited the Borno barracks recently observed that the detention centre prioritizes giving necessary ante-natal support to pregnant Boko Haram fighters' wives brought to the facility. The health facility at the barracks has successfully handled the childbirth of two women, and thereafter provided their babies with necessary feeding and clothing provisions, in recent times. One of the wives of a Boko Haram suspect who is still at large, Aisha Ibrahim, gave birth to her seven-month-old son, Moammadu in May. But it was not at the detention facility she conceived the ...
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Buhari draws attention to ECOWAS founding fathers’ vision
President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday in Abuja, reminded legislators of the ECOWAS parliament on the need to align their programmes to those of the founding fathers of the sub-regional body. This was contained in a statement by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) on Monday. The President, who stated this at the opening session of 2022 Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, said that “the vision of the founding fathers of ECOWAS was to have a West Africa that is integrated economically with harmonized policies, enjoying free movement of persons, goods and services, as well as seamless right to establishment. ‘‘We must continue to strive harder to attain those objectives. ‘‘Let us take advantage of existing mechanisms and our enterprising population to turn our dreams into reality. ‘‘We have the capacity to do so. Let us collaborate more and remove our outdated physical and psychological ...
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MPI: Buhari’s government did not throw 133m Nigerians into poverty..By Prince Clem Ikanade Agba
...report is a call for sub-nationals to be accountable to citizens It is Peter Drucker- the management guru, that is often quoted to have said: “you can't manage what you can't measure.” But I wish to follow up with an addition that is as relevant and critical, which is: “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. These quotes are important premises for this discourse. On Thursday 17 November, 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a new tool for measuring poverty in Nigeria, which found that 63% of people – 133 million Nigerians out of an estimated population of 211 million – are multidimensionally poor. This new tool: Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), has been deployed in over 100 countries and defines poverty as the overlapping combination of deprivations that people can face in several areas of their lives. This is markedly different from the narrow focus on only ...
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Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II endorses Uba Sani
Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Spiritual leader in the Tijanniyah Sufi Order in Nigeria, has endorsed the candidacy of Senator Uba Sani, the All Progressives Congress(APC) gubernatorial flagbearer in Kaduna state. Sheikh Tijani Sani Auwal Inyass, one of the leaders of the Tijanniyah in Nigeria, disclosed this at the 1st Annual General Meeting of the Tijanniya Grassroots Mobilisation and Empowernment Initiative of Nigeria(TIGMIEN) at the weekend. A press statement issued by Director Strategic Communication of the APC Campaign Council, Malam Ibraheem Musa on Monday, quoted Sheikh Tijani Auwal as saying that Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II told them that he is not politically aligned to any party. The statement said that the 14th Emir of Kano reportedly asked the followers of Tijanniyah in Kaduna to support Senator Uba Sani in the coming gubernatorial election. The Director of Strategic Communication said that Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II gave his reasons for giving the ...
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133m poor Nigerians: SERAP asks Buhari to probe spending on ‘social intervention programmes’
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “promptly set up a presidential panel of enquiry to thoroughly, impartially, effectively and transparently investigate spending on all social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects executed between 2015 and 2022.” SERAP also urged him “to ensure the findings of any such investigation are widely published, and suspected perpetrators of corruption, and mismanagement of public funds meant to take care of the poor should face prosecution as appropriate, if there is sufficient evidence, and any stolen public funds should be recovered.” A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows damning revelations that some 133 million Nigerians are poor, despite the government reportedly spending N500 billion yearly on ‘social investment programmes.’ Half of all poor people in the country are children. In the letter dated 19 November 2022 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, ...
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