Public Affairs Analyst

  There is no gainsaying that democracy is endangered in Nigeria. This is because institutions of governance are under ceaseless attacks by arsonists and gunmen. For some time now, after the gargantuan losses incurred during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests when scores of police stations, courts, and prisons were burnt or vandalised, there is now a resurgence of similar attacks in the South-East and South-South zones of the country. Unfortunately, the scope of the attacks has expanded to include the assets of the Independent National Electoral Commission. This newspaper in its last Friday, May 14, 2021 edition chronicled the number of INEC’s offices that have either been razed or attacked by hoodlums and it is very staggering. The number was then put at 19; that was before last Sunday’s attack on INEC’s state office in Enugu State where six operational vehicles were burnt. According to The PUNCH, a breakdown of the fire incidents showed that the most affected states include Akwa

  There have been several news reports over last Friday’s Supreme Court decision over the illegal dissolution of elected council chairmen and councillors in Katsina and Oyo states. The Nation newspaper of Saturday, May 8, 2021 reported that the apex court, in two judgments on Friday, May 7, 2021, set aside the decision by Governors Aminu Masari of Katsina State and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to dissolve elected Local Government councils in their states. A five-man panel of the apex court was unanimous in holding that no governor has the power to sack democratically elected council chairmen and councillors. It held that Masari and Makinde, by sacking democratically elected local government councils, acted in breach of Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution. The two judgments were on the appeals filed by sacked LG chairmen and councillors from Katsina and Oyo states. The LG chairmen and councillors from the 34 LGs in Katsina, led by Abubakar Ibrahim Yantaba, were elected under the banner

  In the last few days, two international events were held in Nigeria. The first was the International Workers’ Day and the second, World Press Freedom Day. Last Saturday, May 1, 2021 was the International Labour Day, also known as Workers Day or May Day. In Nigeria, in order to enable workers to mark the day, the Federal Government declared Monday, May 3, 2021 as public holiday. In celebration of the day, workers filed out in their numbers at stadia across the country to celebrate with march past and speeches from the governors and the labour union leaders. In Abuja, the President was represented at the ceremony at the Eagle Square by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr.   Chris Ngige, who assured workers of better packages to cushion the economic effects of COVID-19 on their resources, stressing that his regime had put in place some socio-economic policies to alleviate poverty. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, in his own message, expressed the commitment of his admin