Public Affairs Analyst

"For my friends everything, for my enemies the law" -           Ex-Peruvian President, Óscar Raymundo Benavides Larrea (March 15, 1876 – July 2, 1945) The Siege Tuesday, July 24, 2018 was a sad day for democracy in Nigeria. On that day, a detachment of Police and operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission laid siege on the official residences of both the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu. While the Senate President was able to outsmart the police by allegedly sneaking out of his residence by personally driving himself through another route, the DSP was not that lucky. He was not allowed to leave his residence. It beggars believe that Saraki whom police had invited to appear before   the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force in Guzappe, Abuja that same morning will be prevented from leaving his residence. I cannot also fathom the rationale behind the siege on the official...

On July 17, 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari’s July 11 correspondent to the National Assembly for virement of N242bn from the 2018 budget was read on the floor of the Senate. The money was meant largely for the conduct of the looming 2019 general election. According to the president,    out of the needed figure, N164.10bn should be provided through virement or supplementation of 2018 Budget. It also requested that the balance of N78.34bn, mostly related to personnel allowances, fuelling and other costs not required until election proper be provided for in the 2019 budget. The sum of N189.21bn was earmarked for INEC, N4.3bn for Office of the Security Adviser, N12.21bn for DSS and N3.6bn for Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. The Nigeria Police Force got a proposal of N30.5bn while N2.6bn was earmarked for Nigeria Immigration Service. Specifically, the president requested that N164.10bn of total funds proposed for the elections should be funded from the N578.31bn inserte...

“What we are doing is not election. It is money competition. The PDP started it by paying N3,000 into the accounts of civil servants and pensioners. I am a pensioner and I received an alert of N3,000 to vote for the PDP. I called the pension office to ask if my pension was now N3,000. They told me that it was meant for logistics to and fro, that we would meet on the field for the balance.” -           Abiodun Aluko, Accord Party governorship candidate in the July 14, 2018 Ekiti poll. The July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election has come and gone with Dr. John Kayode Fayemi emerging victorious at the poll. Hearty congratulations to him.   There was a lot of tension ahead of the election given the fact that the state nicknamed ‘Fountain of Knowledge’ and ‘Land of Honour’ is notorious for election-related violence.   I was privileged to be one of the thousands of accredited observers of the gubernatorial election. My team arrive...

“I am very happy to be here. Let me remind you that this place – Shrine is a music place as well as politics, which is needed to change the society. So, I will say to the youths, politics is important, be involved”   – French President, Emmanuel Macron, at Afrika Shrine, Lagos on Tuesday, July 3, 2018. It is 220 days to the next general elections taking place in 2019. Preparations are on by different stakeholders to make the exercise credible, peaceful and successful. As happened on Monday, July 9, political parties are already forming working alliances with the Peoples Democratic Party leading the pack by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with 38 other political parties and associations. The Independent National Electoral Commission is not left out. As the umpire, INEC has been organising training workshops for many of its staff; Election Management System, Election Project Plan, Election Operations Support Centre are being activated while a series of meetings are also...

All our visitors make us happy. Some, when they come, others when they go. -           Author unknown French President, Emmanuel Macron, is here with us on a two-day state visit. In his itinerary is a bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on issues bordering on insecurity, terrorism, commissioning of Alliance Francaise office in Ikoyi and visit to Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos. I was on Radio Nigeria 7am news yesterday to analyse the importance and gains of the French President’s visit, beginning with his intention to discuss insurgency and insecurity with Buhari. In my opinion, this is a welcome development. Terrorism has become a global phenomenon, which France had also tasted bitterly. It would be recalled that between January 7 and 9, 2015 a total of 17 people were killed in terror attacks ignited by a publication in the French satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo; a kosher grocery store and the Paris suburb of Mon...