Public Affairs Analyst

It’s five days to the end of 2018. In my estimation, though there are scores of issues that made news this year, there are three of them that got higher mention. They are politics, economy, and security. There is no gainsaying that it has been a topsy-turvy year for the country. Being the eve of our sixth general election in this Fourth Republic, politics dominated the airwaves and cyberspace. The Independent National Electoral Commission on January 9, 2018 released the official timetable and schedule of activities for the forthcoming general election which is down to some 52 days. In the outgoing year, as part of preparations for the polls, INEC has registered a total of 91 political parties and through its Continuous Voter Registration which was suspended on August 31, 2018, had been able to register 84.2 million registered voters. The commission in the outgoing year conducted two off-cycle governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states as well as several bye-elections and cou...

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” — Eleanor Roosevelt It was Prof. Albert Venn Dicey better known as A.V Dicey, a British lawyer, who propounded the principles of “Rule of Law”. They are:   Supremacy of the law; Equality before the law and Fundamental Human Rights.   In a free society, every human being should enjoy some inherent benefits. These include the right to life, right to acquire property, right to freedom from discrimination, right to fair hearing, right to personal liberty, and right to dignity of human person, among others. Unfortunately, much as no right is absolute, as it is said that where someone’s rights end is where mine begin, however, man...

Since news broke on December 7, 2018 that President Muhammadu Buhari has for the fourth time this year withdrew assent on the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018, opinions have been divided on the propriety or otherwise of his action. While some, especially members of the All Progressives Congress, commended him for the decision, majority of Nigerians including many senior legal practitioners have roundly condemned him over the action. I belong to the latter group. I say without fear of contradiction that the president must have been misadvised not to sign the all-important bill that would have helped strengthens the legal framework for our elections.   How did this all start? It should be noted that the move to amend the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended in 2015 as well as 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended in 2010 started early. It commenced in 2016 which was three years ahead of the next general election in 2019. Indeed, the process of the amendment of the Act was faster than t...

“Corruption impacts the poorest and most vulnerable in society the hardest. It is ordinary citizens who suffer most when the corrupt steal funds intended for public services like infrastructure, healthcare and education, or take back-handers to award lucrative contracts to their cronies. One in four people around the world say they have had to pay a bribe to access public services in the past 12 months. But, when ordinary people fight back against corruption, they can make a real difference”   – Transparency International on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day 2018. Last Sunday, December 9, 2018 was commemorated across the world as the International Anti-Corruption Day 2018. The theme of this year’s commemoration was, “The Power of the People’s Pressure”.   The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, observed that “One trillion dollars are paid in bribes annually, while another $2.6tn is stolen; all due to corruption.”   It is such a gl...

“Only a redeemed media can redeem the nation from drowning in the turbulence of malicious misinformation and hate-mongering that is already gathering”   – Prof Ayobami Ojebode on Thursday, November 29 at the Radio Nigeria 2018 Annual Lecture in Abuja. History has it that the first edition of Nigeria’s first newspaper, “Iwe Irohin,” came out on November 23, 1859. The newspaper, founded by Rev. Henry Townsend, was published every 15 days and sold for 120 cowries, which is equivalent to a penny. That means the Nigerian media has been in existence for 159 years!   There is an estimated 103 television stations operating in Nigeria with hundreds of other print and electronic media outlets. In order to add to the plurality and vibrancy of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, news broke last Tuesday, November 17, 2018 that the Federal Government had approved the issuance of operating licences to 213 new public and private broadcasting outfits in the country. There is no gainsaying...

As we countdown to Nigeria’s next general election which is 80 days away, I took it upon myself to unravel the mystery of the country’s electoral albatross and found out that legally speaking, the framers of our laws have done the needful to ensure credible elections. Today, am looking at the provisions of the law meant to enhance political accountability and electoral integrity. Starting with the appointment of leadership of the electoral body, I mean Chairman and 12 national commissioners as well as the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, better known as INEC; they are meant to be men and women of integrity. In fact, their appointments are “double decker “. Though they are appointed by the president, however, this is subject to the confirmation by the Senate. According to Section 14 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, these appointees shall be non-partisan and persons of u...

We’re on the fourth day of campaigns for the 2019 general election. According to Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, herein referred to as Act, “…campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours   prior to that day”. Hence, open campaign for presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives candidates began last Sunday, November 18, 2018 and will end on February 15, 2019 while candidates for governorship and state Houses of Assembly seats will begin theirs on December 1, 2018 and end on March 1, 2019. Now that official campaign for the next general election has started, do the stakeholders know the role they are supposed to play during this period? Are the political parties and candidates vying for the various political seats during the next elections aware of the laws regulating campaigns in Nigeria? What role has been assigned to security agents? Any duty for the electorate, media and civil society...

It’s exactly 94 days to the first tranche of elections holding on February 16, 2019. This Sunday, November 18, 2018, presidential and National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) the official campaign will start in accordance with the provisions of Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act, as amended. That section says, inter alia, “…the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.” Against this backdrop, it is needful to interrogate what kind of campaigns that will define the 2019 elections. Will it be issue-driven or smear campaign? Before going into the kind of campaigns I look forward to, let me recap some of the major political activities that have so far been carried out in preparations for the all-important sixth general election in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic which commenced on May 29, 1999. Hitherto, there had been registration of political parties, (now we have 91 of them officia...

“The level of impunity has assumed a frightening dimension under the leadership of our national chairman, who once prided himself as an apostle of change and the curative medicine to ‘godfatherism’. The primaries conducted so far by the leadership of the APC across the 36 states of the country are not only shameful, disgraceful, undemocratic, and a charade, but also threw many states into mayhem…Any party that fails to recognise the inputs of women and reward them with positions commensurate with their painstaking efforts to ensure victory is not only doomed but will suffer defeat.” – State Organising Secretary of APC in   Edo State, Aisosa Amadasun, while leading a protest of aggrieved female politicians   in Benin on November 2, 2018 The primaries of the political parties may have been conducted and concluded but the ripples and dusts generated by the exercise held from August 18 to October 7, 2018 have yet to settle.   Today, I have decided to chronicle the thoug...

“Among the areas of attention are the issue of out-of-school children, promotion of adult literacy and special needs education, revival of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Technical, Vocational Education and Training, strengthening of basic education, prioritising of teacher education, capacity building and professional development as well as ensuring quality and access to tertiary education and promoting of ICT and library services” —Deputy Governor Phillip Shuaibu of Edo State   while briefing State House Correspondents on the outcome of the monthly NEC meeting on Thursday, October 18, 2018 It is heartwarming that the long-awaited state of emergency in education sector has now been declared with effect from November 2018. The National Economic Council presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently urged governors to declare emergency on education in the 36 states of the federation. It also urged the state and federal governments to allocate at least...