Misunderstanding the Nigerian Understanding
By Prince Charles Dickson Ph.D. Let us forget our differences—Dr. Azikwe Let us understand our difference—Ahmadu Bello Let us understand the misunderstandings of […]
Misunderstanding the Nigerian Understanding
By Prince Charles Dickson Ph.D. Let us forget our differences—Dr. Azikwe Let us understand our difference—Ahmadu Bello Let us understand the misunderstandings of our differences—AbdulBalogun Chukwudi "Misunderstanding the understanding" can refer to a situation where someone fails to comprehend or interpret a concept, idea, or situation correctly, despite believing that they have understood it. This can occur due to various reasons such as cognitive biases, lack of knowledge or experience, miscommunication, cultural differences, or preconceived notions. For example, imagine a person from one culture trying to understand a complex concept or idea from another culture. Even if they have the best intentions and have studied the concept extensively, they may still misunderstand it due to differences in language, values, or beliefs. This can lead to misinterpretations and miscommunications that can create confusion and misunderstanding. Another example could be in a professional setting where a manager provides instructions to an employee, ...
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Southeast And The Quest For Senate Presidency
By Kazeem Akintunde The president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last week played a fast one on political watchers when he said that he had no preferred candidate for the number three position in the country, the Senate Presidency. Tinubu, who spoke at a meeting with the newly elected federal lawmakers on the platform of his party, the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, is of the view that the leadership of the party would come up with appropriate guidelines on who should get what when it was time to pick principal officers of the 10th National Assembly. Tinubu, who spoke through the vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima, however told the incoming lawmakers to go back to their states and ensure victory for the APC in thegubernatorial and House of Assembly elections. The National Chairman of the Party, Adamu Abdullahi, who chaired the meeting, held inside the Banquet Hall of the State House, also ...
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Governors: Right versus wrong people
By Dakuku Peterside The Gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections have come and gone in most states. Unfortunately in some states it was characterised by drama, unnecessary tension, flawed process, violence and broad day light electoral robbery . The victors are celebrating, and the losers must be feeling bad. We all hope that this election, flawed as it may seem, will deepen our democracy and that we have elected leaders that will stir the ship of the various states in Nigeria to a glorious destination. Governors who will convert electoral mandate to results in socio-economic progress. The few weeks coming will see election petitions on account of an obviously flawed process. And the judiciary will play its role in deciding the fate of most governors. As sad as this may be, this has become an unpalatable aspect of our democratic process. A critical reason for the massive interest in ...
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Open letter to incoming governor, by Hassan Gimba
Open letter to incoming governor, by Hassan Gimba This general advice to every elected Governor, was first published on May 27, 2019. I feel the need to republish it now that we have concluded the gubernatorial elections in concerned states of the federation. Your Excellency, this is unsolicited advice, of course. You got elected presumably for your ability to convince the electorate that you will serve them better than those you contested against. No doubt you promised to make the lives of the people better than they are at the moment; that at the end of your tenure, they would look back and acknowledge that you have taken them to a higher level. Your Excellency, have you sat down to ponder why every round of election is just like the last? That the issues never change? That an incumbent always struggles to return? If you did, you may come to ...
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If I were Tinubu – Part 2: A dream team and prayer warrior
By Segun Adeleye A prophet is regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. But is Tinubu also among the prophets? For the strategists and those close to the President – Elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, if there is something they must encourage him not to stop doing; it is not to stop speaking from his mind, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We have been living witnesses to the confirmation of the power of word. As the Word became flesh, we are what we say and what we say defines us. When Tinubu made his now famous ‘emi l’okan’ (it’s my turn) remark at a campaign gathering in Abeokuta on June 3, 2022, there was nothing to show that he wanted to be disrespectful to the establishment. But he portrayed a picture of assertiveness by someone that knew what he wanted ...
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#NigeriaDecides2023: Don’t compromise democracy by enabling election violence – Atiku
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has warned political leaders across the country, especially in Lagos State to desist from actions that promote election violence, such that can compromise peace and unity and democracy in the country. The PDP presidential flag bearer specifically frowns at how lackeys of political leaders in Lagos State continue to make ethnic slurs aimed at intimidating voters in the state. “I have watched with profound disdain a certain video in circulation where some persons known to be associates of the leaders of the ruling party in Lagos State are issuing threats against other ethnic groups in the build up to the Governorship and State House of Assembly election in the state tomorrow. “I condemn this uncivilized behaviour and also condemn the criminal silence of the security agencies and the political leadership in Lagos State and Abuja on this development." It will ...
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Revealed: EFCC arrests over 65 persons for alleged voter inducement
No fewer than 65 persons were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Saturday March 18, 2023 across the 28 states where Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were conducted, for alleged voter inducement. Wilson Uwujaren, head, Media and publicity disclosed this in a statement. He said twenty of the suspects were arrested by operatives from the Ilorin Zonal Command while 13 suspects were nabbed by operatives on election monitoring duty at the Kaduna Zonal Command. The teams monitoring the polls in the Port Harcourt Zone arrested a total of 12 people for various offences bordering on inducing voters with money to vote their preferred candidates, while the Uyo Zonal Command made 4 arrests in Calabar. The remaining suspects were arrested in Gombe, Sokoto , kebbi and Niger states. Those arrested in Kaduna consist of 10 males and 3 females. They were apprehended by operatives working on ...
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EFCC operatives attacked, injured by alleged vote buyers in Kaduna
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on election monitoring duty in Kaduna State on Saturday, March 18, 2023 came under attack at School Road, Unguwan Rimi Kaduna while attempting to arrest a suspected vote buyer. According to a statement by Wilson Uwujaren, head, media and publicity of EFCC, the team, working on intelligence on the alleged activities of one suspect who was seen in an amateur video allegedly inducing eligible voters by using his phone to transfer money into their accounts as they cast their votes, had mobilized to the scene to arrest the suspect. However, immediately he was accosted by the operatives, the suspect became unruly and screamed to attract the attention of his syndicate members, who descended on the operatives, using all manner of weapons that left some of them injured. It took great restraints for the operatives to ignore the unprovoked attack but insisted ...
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The Blackman in a world built on injustice
By Osmund Agbo The American civil right icon and champion of social justice, the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once gave an eloquent speech and spelt how the moral arc of the universe tends to bend toward justice. Well, while I am reluctant to disagree with such a legendary figure and public intellectual, I remain unconvinced that such is the case. It appears to me that our world is built on injustice and is a place where only the strongest and fittest could survive. Of course, a semblance of justice may happen every now and then no doubt, but the default setting favors injustice. The big and powerful nations of the world with their strong armies will always lord it over the smaller and less powerful ones. They often use every instrument of coercion and sometimes openly declare war when they fail to have their way. Occasionally Justice gets ...
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I hear the Supreme Court of Nigeria, By Dan Agbese
Email: [email protected] SMS: 08055001912 It is just as well that less than 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari denied that he instructed the attorney-general of the federal and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, not to obey the Supreme Court judgement of March 3, Emefiele took immediate steps to obey it – at least partially. He instructed the commercial banks to take in and pay out N1,000 and N500 notes. This is one of the problems with the policy of the naira redesign. It is not the only one. The more critical of these problems is the currency restriction on individuals. Thousands of people wait outside the gates of their banks daily to get some of their money. Think of the wasted man hours and the frustration that have become their lot. Emefiele is yet to respond to that. We ...
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Unwelcome And Unsafe In My Hometown Because Of Accountability Journalism
By Ahmad Salkida I used to think the life of a fugitive was exclusive to criminals. I didn't know someone like me, who has never been on the wrong side of the law and has put in so much effort in the service of others, would have to live a life of fear, where I look over my shoulder day in and day out. On the 15th of March, 2023, I sneaked into my hometown, Biu, in Borno State, after over a decade of being declared persona non grata by some rogue youths. According to them, I was critical of some of my kinsmen who held public office then. The last time I was home was in 2012. I have witnessed overwhelming moments like on the 15th of March very few times in my life. There are no words to describe what this day means to me. I have not ...
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Thoughts On Our National Trauma, By Prof. Steve Azaiki
For Nigerians, these are not the easiest of times. Happy faces are rare, because the mood is indignant. Adults—male and female—have stripped naked inside banking halls, demanding their cash. Fights break out routinely on queues before ATMs that dispense only miserly amounts. Small businesses have quietly folded up, at least in the meantime, because of low patronage occasioned by the cash crunch. Fuel queues disappear for only a few days, and then the filling stations run dry for weeks amid official explanations that don’t quite make sense to anyone any more. Nor do citizens feel safe and secure in cities, on the farm, or on the highways. Add the epileptic public power supply and the excruciatingly high cost of living, and it is easy to read the nation’s mood. But there was hope on the horizon with the 2023 general elections around the corner. Eligible citizens had been mobilized to ...
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Before Nigeria’s March 18 Elections
B y Reuben Abati After the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, now heavily disputed, Nigeria goes to the polls again on March 18, 2023 to elect Governors and members of state legislatures in 28 out of 36 states of the Federation. There would be no state elections in Kogi, Anambra, Ondo, Imo, Edo, Osun, Bayelsa and Ekiti which are in the off-cycle election belt. However, this weekend’s elections were meant to hold last Saturday, March 11, but the polls had to be rescheduled on account of the disputes that arose from the February 25 Presidential election and the orders given by the Court of Appeal acting as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Three political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), acting in self-defence in its case, had gone to court to seek permission to be allowed to ...
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Between Godwin Emefiele And Mahmood Yakubu
By Kazeem Akintunde The year 2023 is just three months old but two names that have had much impact on Nigerians in such a short time are those of Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Emefiele and Yakubu, within a very short period of time, have etched their names unto the subconsciousness of many Nigerians. Some sleep and dream of the duo, particularly the CBN governor. The two Nigerians, though not of the same ethnic stock, have impacted the lives of the average Nigerian due to their policies and how they have conducted the functions of their offices in the last three months. While Emefiele is from Ika South Local Government area of Delta State, Yakubu is from Bauchi State. Though born nine months apart, with Emefiele claiming the bragging rights to seniority, ...
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Bola Tinubu, may your road be rough!
By Abiodun KOMOLAFE In the choice of a fitting title for this piece, the late Professor Tai Solarin, one of Nigeria’s foremost educators and social activists, readily came to mind. May the labour of our heroes’ past not be in vain! That said, the title of the write-up suggests an overview of an anticipated journey and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Metaphorically, a rough road suggests an onerous means of achieving arduous set goals. However, the good news is that it keeps the journeying people awake and at alert all the time, because the road is not smooth. Coming to Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president-elect, the current situation of Nigerians necessarily implies that Mr President-elect’s road to the Promised Land must be pretty bumpy. Nevertheless, the requisite and functional input of Nigerians is to be diligently responsible for sustaining the consciousness of the roughness of the journey; otherwise, we may ...
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Youth and “Obedients” afterwards
BY DAKUKU PETERSIDE A critical element of the 2023 general election is the intensity and electricity of the Nigerian youths’ participation in the electoral process. Statistics may not fully capture or contextualise youth involvement in the 2023 national electoral process. The youth energy and involvement this time around deservedly forms a new chapter in post-1999 democratic politics. And we are all witnesses to their sheer determination to seize the moment and change the political orthodoxy. For obvious reasons, the Nigerian youths are victims of a political system and leadership that failed them, and they have suddenly risen from slumber to challenge the system and lead the fight to change things through political participation. This is evident in the last election. From the campaigns, voting, and post-voting phases, youths have been emotionally, physically, and psychologically involved. A cursory look at their conversations and dialogues in private, public, social, and online spaces demonstrates the ...
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EFCC Under Bawa Nightmare of Corrupt Public Officers, Fraudsters – CSOs
A coalition of Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, has described the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as a nightmare of corrupt politicians, public servants and internet fraudsters in the country. Speaking at a World Press Conference on Corruption and National Issues in Lagos on Monday, March 13, 2023, Rasak Olokooba, President, Campaign for Dignity in Governance, CDG, said: “Corrupt politicians and public officers across party divides, fraudsters across geopolitical zones and gods of men across religions and faiths now know that the fear of the EFCC is the beginning of wisdom.” Olokooba also commended the EFCC for performing beyond expectations, especially in the areas of prosecution of cases, adding that it had restored the confidence of Nigerians who now see the possibility of building a greater nation. Olokooba, who took a historical look at the activities of the Commission, praised the EFCC for the increase in convictions and recovery of ...
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Eluu Pee, and the Nigerian narrative…
Eluu Pee, and the Nigerian narrative...Ψ By Prince Charles Dickson Ph.D. All women think the same things about men… their father is a hero; their son is a genius and their husband is an… Northwest of Managua, in the city of León, lived the poet Alfonso Cortés (1893–1969), who had been declared ‘mad’ at the age of 34 and chained in his bedroom. Another of Nicaragua’s great poets, Ernesto Cardenal (1925–2020), grew up not far from the home of Cortés. As a child, Cardenal said he used to walk by the Cortés home from the Christian Brothers School and once he saw the ‘poeta loco’ in his chains. A lack of health care condemned Cortés to this humiliation. On one occasion, on his way to see a doctor in Managua, Cortés was driven past a thousand-year-old Genízaro tree in Nagarote, a tree to whom the ‘poeta loco’ wrote a beautiful ...
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Nigeria: Divided in Flesh, United in Spirit, by Hassan Gimba
This was first published on 20/08/2018 but it is still relevant, more so now that the presidential election held on 25/02/2023 has exposed our weaknesses. Outsiders, especially foreigners and Nigerians in Diaspora, may think that the bubble could burst any time soon and Nigeria could go to war with itself. They may well be forgiven for thinking so, especially if social media is their only means of gauging what obtains in Nigeria. In the Nigerian social media space, battles are fought 24/7. Politically, those who stand with President Muhammadu Buhari are at daggers drawn with those who think the apostle of “change” should be changed. Those who want Buhari to give way are also rooting for their various heroes. Muslims and Christians do not see eyeball to eyeball while at the same time contending with intra-religious quarrels. In that ‘war front’, the three major ethnic groups are battling one another ...
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Election coverage: SERAP gives Buhari 48 hours to withdraw threat to shut down broadcast station
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “instruct Mr Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to urgently withdraw the ‘last warning’ and threat to revoke the licenses of broadcast stations and shut them down over their coverage of elections and post-election matters.” The NBC had last week threatened to revoke the licenses of broadcast stations and shut them down “if they continue to allow unpatriotic individuals on their platforms to make utterances that are subversive, hateful, and inciting, and negative conversations particularly in the post-2023 Presidential Election.” But in a letter dated 11 March, 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said, “The ‘last warning’ and threat by the NBC if not immediately withdrawn would limit freedom of expression and the ability of broadcast stations to cover important issues around the 2023 general elections.” ...
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