Public Affairs Analyst

  THERE is no gainsaying that election is a money-guzzler. The popular lingo by Nigeria’s ace hip-hop artiste, Davido, that “if you don’t have money, hide, your face” depicts the situation in Nigeria’s political climate. To say the least, it is capital intensive. Just last week, the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, announced the cost of the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms as follows: “State House of Assembly – Expression of Interest – N100,000; Nomination Form – N500,000; House of Representatives – Expression of Interest – N500,000; Nomination Form N2m; Senate – Expression of Interest – N500,000; Nomination Form N3m;   Governorship – Expression of Interest – N1m; Nomination Form – N20m; President – Expression of Interest – N5m; Nomination Form – N35m.” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, announced the development after the joint meeting of the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee of the party. The PDP spokesp...

  When the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), described the Electoral Act 2022 as a revolutionary piece of legislation, he was not making a flippant statement. Having been able to get a signed copy of the bill and read through it, I cannot help but agree with the president. Unknown to many Nigerians, the Act contains a wide range of reforms that, if truly and genuinely implemented, will enhance credible future elections and deepen our democracy. There are nine stakeholders in the electoral process whose fidelity to the election project must be sound and faultless. They are the electoral management bodies (in Nigeria we have 37 of them viz.   Independent National Electoral Commission and 36 State Independent Electoral Commissions), political parties, contestants (that is, aspirants and candidates), security agencies and the media. Others are accredited observers, the judiciary, the legislature and the electorate. It is surprising that there is a lot of ignor...

    “Alleged corruption and mismanagement in the oil sector, the importation and distribution of dirty fuel, and protracted fuel scarcity amount to a fundamental breach of constitutional and international human rights obligations, depriving Nigerians of economic opportunities and subjecting them to cruel and degrading treatment” – Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project in a letter dated March 5, 2022 addressed to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The first sign of fuel scarcity was noticed in Abuja about January 24, 2022 ahead of the planned nationwide protests by the Nigerian labour unions to prevent the Federal Government from removing fuel subsidy by July 2022. Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress were to cancel the protest scheduled for January 27, 2022 after the Federal Government issued a statement suspending the removal of fuel subsidy for 18 months according to a January 25 statement credited to Minister of State for Petro...

  ARISING from the foregoing, with particular regards to the benefits of the Bill, industry, time, resources and energy committed in its passage, I hereby assent to the Bill and request the Nationally Assembly to consider immediate amendments that will bring the Bill in tune with constitutionality by way of deleting section 84(12) accordingly”   – The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the signing of the Electoral Amendment Bill 2022 into law on Friday, February 25, 2022. It is heartwarming to see some of one’s advocacies as a writer paying off. I did, on this page, in my column of January 5, 2022, advocate for the quick reworking and passage of the almost stalemated Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 as well as the conclusion of works on the constitutional alterations by the National Assembly. It is gratifying that both are receiving prime attention from federal lawmakers. While the National Assembly expeditiously reworked the Electoral Act Amendment Bil...