Public Affairs Analyst

  The twin evils that research has shown as malignant tumours that affect credibility of Nigeria’s elections are violence and vote buying which I choose to call vote trading as it involves both buyers and sellers.   It is important to note that not a few people suspected that the redesigning of N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes by the outgoing administration through the Central Bank of Nigeria was aimed at preventing vote trading during the 2023 polls. In his nationwide broadcast on February 16, 2023, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) admitted that much when he said inter alia in paragraphs 21 and 22 that “I am aware that this new monetary policy has also contributed immensely to the minimisation of the influence of money in politics. This is a positive departure from the past and represents a bold legacy step by this administration, towards laying a strong foundation for free and fair elections.”   Did the policy really stem vote trading? Notably among...

  Nigeria’s seventh general elections in this Fourth Republic has come and gone but the ripples will take a while to settle. I was an Independent National Electoral Commission accredited observer in the election under the platform of Nigerian Women Trust Fund. As the saying goes, “one eye witness is of more weight than ten hearsays.” In order to refresh our collective memory, there is a need to recount the key statistics on the elections. The polls were held over two separate days– the first which was for the national elections to elect people into one presidential seat, 109 senatorial seats and 360 House of Representatives seats held on Saturday, February 25, 2023. The second strand which were for state level elections into 28 governorship seats, and 993 state Houses of Assembly seats were held on Saturday, March 11, 2023. As against 2019 when 91 registered political parties contested the polls, in 2023, 18 political parties contested the elections. There were 176, 846 polling u...

  The national elections (presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives) scheduled for February 25, 2023, held last Saturday. INEC accredited 229 national and foreign observers (196 national or domestic groups that collectively deployed 144,800 observers and 33 international organisations that deployed 2,113 observers) In all, 146,913 observers were deployed for the 2023 general elections. I was among the domestic observers. I was accredited and observed the elections under the platform of Nigerian Women Trust Fund where we observed the polls using gender lens. I am also a Channels TV election analyst. I participated fully in the pre-election and election day observation at Abuja municipality. My overall impression about the elections are as follows: The Independent National Electoral Commission again disappointed Nigerians with the late commencement of the polls in most of the 176,606 polling units where it deployed poll officials and materials to; the commission could n...

  It’s 72 hours to the seventh consecutive general election in this Fourth Republic which started in 1999. By this election, Nigeria is also celebrating a centenary of electoral democracy. Recall that election was first held for political offices in the country (in Lagos and Calabar) in 1923, after the enactment of the Sir Hugh Clifford Constitution of 1922. Expectations are high that the forthcoming election shall be like none before. As of today, political pundits are talking of three horse presidential race with no certainty on who will likely be the country’s next president after the incumbent. Many are saying it is too close to call and that the presidential race may go into the second round for the first time. The integrity of the 2023 general elections is important because that is what will confer legitimacy on the winners. We once had deeply flawed elections in 2007 that were described as being below not only global standard but also regional standard. The winner of tha...

  Introduction This weekend’s seventh consecutive general elections in this Fourth Republic has been imperiled by the ongoing Naira Redesign and currency swap crises. Not a few political juggernauts have read political undertone to what was initially considered sound economic decisions. In the ruling All Progressives Congress, things have fallen apart as some of the governors of the political party have openly disagreed with the president, Muhammadu Buhari on the handling or purported mishandling of the policy. Even a serving minister, Festus Keyamu, SAN has said openly that the president was misadvised by the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele. Some APC governors have dragged the federal government to court on this matter while untold hardship has been visited on the Nigerian populace. There have been protests against the policy in many Nigeria states and lives have been lost and property worth billions of Naira destroyed. In fact, the standard bearer of the rulin...

  The seventh consecutive general elections in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic hold next weekend and early next month, precisely on February 25 and March 11, 2023. I have been invited to several media and civil society fora to speak on the role of Nigerian youths in the forthcoming polls. There is no gainsaying the fact that this vibrant, irrepressible, articulate, highly cerebral Gen Z who are between 18 and 35 years will determine the way forward for the country at the elections. When that distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique, Frantz Fanon, said in his classic book, “The Wretched of the Earth” that “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity,” he was indirectly referring to the youths of society. The following are what Nigerian youths have been doing in the lead up to the forthcoming polls and roles they will be playing at the elections. As you may well be aware, the electoral cycle is in three phases – Pre-election, election and p...

  It’s 17 days to Nigeria’s seventh general elections in this Fourth Republic which started in 1999. On Tuesday, January 31, 2023, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the Leadership newspaper at its 14th Annual Conference and Awards hosted the former Prime Minister of Kenya and leader of the opposition known as Azimio, His Excellency Raila Odinga. The elder statesman gave the keynote address at the well-attended ceremony where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was the chairman and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, was the chief host. The royal father of the day was the Etsu Nupe HRM Yahaya Abubakar while Chairman of the Leadership newspaper titles, Mrs. Zainab Nda-Isaiah, gave the welcome address. Others in attendance include captains of industries, bank executives, inventors, technocrats, bureaucrats and other dignitaries and awardees. Raila’s speech was titled, “Credible Elections and an Economy in Transition.” It’s important to note that the form...