Public Affairs Analyst

The waiting game is on. This Friday, June 28 will make it exactly 30 days or one month since President Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated for a second term in office. The president in a media chat had promised to surprise those who call him “Baba Go Slow” with the agility with which he will tackle national issues in his second term. Seeing is believing. We are still waiting with bated breath for the president’s new set of ministers. I do hope we wouldn’t have to wait for six months as we did in 2015. How I wish our dear president will take a cue from South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa who formed his   gender balanced cabinet barely a week after inauguration. The president has been in the saddle for four years. Election into that office was conducted four months ago, precisely on February 23, 2019. Shouldn’t the president hit the ground running? Is he still searching for saints among sinners to be appointed? Already many kites are being flown about the persons who had made t...

“We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need could wait — the child cannot” —Chilean poet-diplomat, educator and humanist, Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, known by her pseudonym, Gabriela Mistral. June 16 every year has been observed as the International Day of the African Child since 1991 as prescribed by the Organisation of African Unity now known as African Union.   The day aims at raising awareness about the condition of African children and how there is an urgent need to provide them with a better standard of living. The day commemorates hundreds of children murdered by the apartheid   regime in South Africa on June 16, 1976, during the Soweto Uprising.   The theme for this year’s International Day of the African Child 2019 was ‘Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First’. The International Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on Novemb...

There are three arms of government, no doubt. They are the Executive, the legislature and the judiciary. They are very pivotal to sustainability of any democracy. Other institutions of democracy include the Election Management Body such as the Independent National Electoral Commission and State Independent Electoral Commission, Civil Society Organisations, the media and the political parties. Members of political parties are called politicians. They elect among themselves leaders to run their party offices. Some of the organs of political parties to which people are appointed or elected to occupy include the Board of Trustees, National and State Executive Committees, National and State Working Committees among others. Part of the functions of political parties includes leadership recruitment and political socialisation. Leadership recruitment function of political parties includes sponsorship of candidates for elections into both the executive and legislative positions. Cortical to...

Hearty congratulations to the new federal and state executives who are billed to take their oaths of office today, May 29. These include President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as well as 29 governors and their deputies who either won a re-election or are being sworn in for their first term in office. Among the lucky few who won re-elections are Simon Lalong of Plateau State; Samuel Ortom of Benue; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; Darius Ishaku of Taraba; Aminu Masari of Katsina;   Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna; and Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano. Others include: Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta; Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Ben Ayade of Cross River; Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom; and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia. Governors Jubrilla Bindow of Adamawa and Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos were not so lucky. The latter did not get his party ticket to re-contest while the former lost his re-election bid to the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri. As this new set of Nigeria’s political leaders get...

“The NASS guidelines negate the constitutional principle of freedom of expression and run contrary to the African Charter on fundamental rights and the right of the people to know. The Guild strongly objects to these guidelines in their entirety as they serve no public good except the myopic interest of its chroniclers and purveyors.” – General Secretary of Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mary Atolagbe while reacting to the new accreditation guidelines for journalists released by the National Assembly on May 20, 2019 I like the way News Agency of Nigeria captioned the story, “NASS stings media houses: Sets stringent accreditation guidelines”. A fresh attempt to gag the Freedom of Information and Press Freedom was made by the National Assembly on Monday, May 20, 2019. A new re-accreditation guidelines signed by the Director of Information in NASS, Mr. Emmanuel Agada Esq was released to the public barely three weeks to the June 11, 2019 inauguration of the 9 th National Assembly. The mo...

On May 1, 2019, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum organised a one-day induction for state governors’ wife on protocol and etiquette. On Monday, May 6, a gender activist, Mary Ikoku, and I were privileged to discuss the First Ladies and their pet projects on Roots TV, Abuja. The discussion anchored by Gloria Orji-Emordi centred on how to make the Office of the First Lady accountable given the enormous resources they expend on their pet projects when their husbands are in power. How did this phenomenon of the First Lady evolve? According to literature, First ladyship has its origin in the United States of America. It originated in 1849 when the US President, Zachary Taylor, called Dolley Madison “First Lady” at her funeral while reciting her eulogy.   However, it was said to have gained wider recognition in 1877 when Mary C. Amees wrote an article in the New York City newspaper, “The Independent”, describing the inauguration of President Rutherford B. Hayes. She was quoted as having u...

The 2019 general election may have come and gone but the ripples are still being felt. While many aggrieved candidates and political parties have filed petitions at the Election Petitions Tribunals to recover their stolen mandate, many stakeholders such as political parties, civil society organisations, the academia and media have commenced post-election review meetings. I have been part of many of them. Two academic institutions have approached me to write a paper for them on my observations of the last elections.   I was also part of the participants at the Annual Political Parties and Stakeholders Summit organised by the Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies on May 2 and 3, 2019 in Abuja. I also   participated at   the   European Centre for Electoral Support   and the   Federal Republic of Germany-funded Preventing Electoral Violence and Education LEAD training in governa...