Public Affairs Analyst

In an unprecedented manner, the Independent National Electoral Commission in exercise of its constitutional mandate decided to release the timetable for the 2015 polls some 13 months ahead of the D-Day. INEC on Friday, January 24, issued a press statement announcing the date for the next General Elections as well as those for the Ekiti and Osun state governorship polls. The Commission fixed the order of elections as follows: Ekiti governorship election – June 21, 2014; Osun State governorship election – August 9, 2014; Presidential and National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) Elections – February 14, 2015 (St Valentine’s Day) and Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections – February 28, 2015. On Saturday, January 25, INEC followed up the initial announcement with details of activities such as the timeline for the publication of National Register of Voters, conduct of primaries and public campaigns, among others etc. The publication of the election timetable wi...

I am worried and all men and women of goodwill should equally be concerned about the creeping violence on the Nigerian judiciary especially the judges and the courts. It is fast becoming a norm for judicial officers or their family members to be assaulted in order to intimidate them from carrying out their lawful duty. Sometime ago, some judges in Delta State came under severe molestation by assailants. According to media reports, on August 7, 2012, a High Court judge, Marcel Okoh, was abducted and spent 10 days in his abductors’ den. Also, on Tuesday, December 3, 2012, another judge of the High Court, Marshal Mukoro, allegedly escaped death by the whiskers after his Sports Utility Vehicle was riddled with bullets by unknown assailants.  There was another case of Justice Azinge who purportedly escaped being kidnapped and had to run away from the court for months. Also, on Friday, May 10, 2013, unknown gunmen abducted the wife, daughter, and driver of a Supreme Court Justice, Bode ...

"He may have done well with the provision of physical infrastructure. However, what about my own stomach infrastructure?” —Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State mimicking his detractors on TV I had planned to write on something else but decided to examine the three years and three months administration of Governor John Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State after watching the January 11, 2014 edition of Sunrise on Saturday, a magazine programme of Channels Television anchored by the inimitable duo of Alero Edu and Kayode Akintemi.  I am ascribed different titles by many people but among my honorifics you will not find the word politician. I simply detest Nigeria’s type of politics. I have known Fayemi when he was the Executive Director of Centre for Democracy and Development. When he decided to join active politics, I privately commended his courage. I followed his campaigns in the media and after he was robbed of his victory at the poll, I equally kept tab on his long drawn battle to r...

The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus up to the chin in water, and yet thirsty —Thomas Adams Am I suffering from auditory hallucination? Could it be true that President Jonathan is planning to acquire another jet for his comfort and that of his lieutenants and cronies? How well does this serve the country and address the issue of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment in our dear country? I am dumbfounded that Jonathan has chosen this path of ostentation rather than prudence given the story of his life he regaled us with during his campaign in 2011 when he said he was shoeless when going to school. He promised fresh air and transformation of the country. The president’s opulent lifestyle portrays him as someone who lacks sympathy for the majority poor Nigerians whose lives have been made miserable by dearth of opportunities to meaningfully fend for themselves. Media reports have it that in this year’s budget, the presidency has earmarked a princely s...