Public Affairs Analyst

United Kingdom, one of the world’s oldest democracies had its general elections on Thursday, May 6, 2010. The poll was to elect 650 parliamentarians into the House of Common. The election which took place in 649 constituencies failed to produce a clear winner as the Conservative Party which eventually dislodged the Labour Party from the 10 Downing Street failed to win the 326 seats it needed to singularly form a cabinet. This resulted to a hung parliament, first time since 1974 and second time since the end of the Second World War. In spite of the inability of the top three political parties’ viz. Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats to clinch an outright victory that will enable it form parliament, the political logjam was not allowed to linger. Within a week, Conservative party which had 306 seats was able to negotiate a coalition government with the Liberal Democrat party which had 57 seats. Labour party who had ruled for upward of 13 years and whose electoral fortunes dipped...

The debate is raging on whether President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should contest the presidential elections in 2011. In what appears to be a major indication that the president may run for the number one position in the next general elections, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, the president’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, 12 May, 2010, was quoted to have said thus: “Mr President is a PDP president and he is a member of PDP, and Mr President will run under the PDP,” He further averred that despite the zoning policy of the party, President Jonathan will run and they are certain he will win. Whao! So we already know our next president ahead of the 2011 polls. Thus, there is no need for presidential elections in 2011. Cairo was later to issue a public statement that he made the earlier statement as a private citizen. Could that be true? If yes, it is the most unguarded statement by a president’s aide and should be sanctioned. Meanwhile, p...

Former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is a man with good wishes and intentions for Nigeria but whose debilitating health did not quite allow to make sufficient positive impact on the country. In the area of economy, the Ex-President ideas are embedded in two key initiatives viz. the 7 Point Agenda and the Vision 20: 2020. Quite unfortunately, he couldn’t see any of the two programmes to fruition. For instance, one of the indicative parameters under the Vision 20: 2020 was that Macro Economy will experience “A sound, stable and globally competitive economy with a GDP of not less than $ 900 billion and a per capita income of not less than $4000 per annum” this and the key infrastructural development that was meant to happen as part of his seven point agenda had not been achieved largely due to the global and domestic financial crises which started in 2008 and negatively impact on the nation’s Stock Exchange as well as the Banking and Insurance Sectors of the economy. Share price had lo...