Public Affairs Analyst

The corruption epidemic in Nigeria is real. The challenge is very endemic and it has permeated every sector and strata of the society. The contestation now is about which sector is most corrupt, not the one untainted by the malaise. When Transparency International released its 2019 Corruption Perception Index and reported that Nigeria has slipped two steps from 144 in 2018 to 146 in 2019, our Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, as well as anti-corruption agencies, namely, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, issued strong statements to rebut TI’s report. Unhappy with Nigeria’s rating on TI’s corruption perception index, Malami, condemned the 2019 CPI, stating that there was no evidence to back the country’s rating. On his part, the acting spokesman of the EFCC, Tony Orilade, punctured Nigeria’s poor rating on the index, questioning the bogus and ambiguous criteria that T...

It was a rude shock to the nation when the Supreme Court handed a cruel judgement to David Lyon and his deputy governor-elect, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, in the Bayelsa State governorship election petitions case last Thursday, February 13, 2020. It was a season of love and the atmosphere in the camp of the All Progressives Congress both at the national and state levels was that of merriment, and jubilation ahead of the planned inauguration of Lyon as the fifth governor of Bayelsa State on Friday, February 14. Lyon was at the rehearsals of his inauguration when the apex court sacked him and his deputy for his running mate’s submission of forged documents to qualify for the election. It was a hard-won victory for the APC in the November 16, 2019 governorship election as the oil-rich state had never been ruled by any other political party since the return to civil rule in 1999 except the Peoples Democratic Party. What got the APC into trouble was the fact that Degi-Eremienyo ...

Give me my Due Give me what is my rightful due, While I still live and breathe and love For little I have of you When I am called from up above. No flowers gay upon my bier Will I require when I am gone If when I lived there was no cheer To boost me when my work was done. So, keep your violets sedate I’ll have the Roses whilst its bloom But should you choose to vacillate Shed not your tears to ease my doom.                                     Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Lincoln University 18 October 1929. Last Wednesday, February 12, 2020 was a red-letter day among Nigeria’s Civil Society and academia. This is because two of their own reached milestone ages. Amina Salihu, Phd clocked 50 years while Kole Shettima, PhD also attained 60 years. These two kind souls have a lot in common. Aside be...

Last Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission wielded the big stick by deregistering 74 political parties in one fell swoop. This is unprecedented and not a few Nigerians are happy with INEC’s decision with many commentators even asking that the number be further pruned down to a maximum of five. What those calling for further reduction do not know or fail to understand is that the electoral management body did not just reduce the number by fiat. The exercise was not arbitrarily brought down but based on certain constitutional and Electoral Act provisions. Since INEC took that decision, I have been on several media platforms to discuss the development. I was on Independent Television, Nigeria Info 95.1 FM Abuja, Love 104.5 FM Abuja and had a telephone interview to West Africa Democracy Radio, Senegal on the issue. I foresaw last Thursday’s political development and wrote my thoughts on it on this page in an April 3, 2019 article entitled, “Should INEC deregister no...

Security and welfare of citizens are the primary reasons for governance, so says Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, as amended. Truth be told, despite assurances and reassurances by the President and the security chiefs that they are on top of the situation, they are indeed nowhere near the apex. Every day, the media is awash with news of abduction, banditry, insurgency, rape, ethno-religious conflicts, and all manner of vices. It would seem that peace, law and order have taken flight from Nigeria leaving us in the Hobbesian state of nature where life is short, brutish and nasty. The security situation is so dire that many Nigerians are calling for the resignation of the President, the dismissal of the heads of the security agencies, the retooling of our security architecture, establishment of regional policing system such as the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun, state police, community policing, as well as making sundry suggestions o...