Category:

Opinion

Let’s watch APC’s 22 transactional senators

by Folarin Kehinde July 3, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

By Tonnie Iredia

President Muhammadu Buhari has met with some 22 senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who were reportedly aggrieved over the outcome of the recent party primaries to select flagbearers of the party for the 2023 general elections.

Before the meeting, there was a report that the senators were planning to defect from the party. The chief whip of the senate, Orji Uzor Kalu led his colleagues to the meeting which took place last Tuesday at the State House in Abuja.

Interestingly, it would appear that all that the president did was to appeal to the senators to exercise restraint in the interest of the party. Kalu later explained that the meeting was successful and that the issue of defection of the senators had been laid to rest.

The details of the grievances of the senators other than that they were unhappy with their party primaries were not made known. Also not made public were the exact promises made to them by the president which placated them enough for them to jettison the much publicized plan to quit the party.

Let no one tell us that such details were purely internal party matters because if they were, we should not have been told in the first instance about the defection plan and why the meeting was arranged to distract the president from his busy governance issues. In any case, did all the 22 senators have exactly the same grievance and why were other senators able to win their own primaries?

Quotes by the media from the president’s prepared speech on the occasion, suggested that what assuaged the feelings of the senators consisted of a) an opportunity to be part of a meeting at the flamboyant council chambers, b) an address by the president himself and c) a group photograph with the president.

The ease with which the alleged issue at stake was resolved tended to give the impression that none of the 22 senators had any point. They only wanted to be returned to the senate on the basis of automatic ticket, without regards for the provisions of the new Electoral Act which had made it hard for them to face stiff competition from their rivals.

As transactional politicians, they had looked forward to their continued stay in the senate so as to hold-on to huge material benefits accorded Nigeria’s federal legislators whose individual remuneration surpasses that of the American president.

Indeed, there was nothing the president said that the senators were unaware of. For instance, the president spoke about the importance of a level-playing field, which was no longer an issue for discussion after the primaries. Besides, the senators themselves had made huge efforts to pass a bill that was tilted in their own favour but which fate frustrated.

It is also obvious that senators are too senior within the hierarchy of the party to be brought together for the president to persuade on the importance of the party’s bigger picture.

In addition, their national chairman senator Abdullahi Adamu who had earlier met with them had made a similar appeal. Could it be that they wanted to hear it from the president himself or was it that they had expected some concrete rewards or ‘approvals’ which did not happen?

Analysts who are familiar with the nature of Nigeria’s electoral system know that APC’s transactional senators had nowhere to go, otherwise they would have followed the option of other senators who defected to opposition parties to get tickets to contest the 2023 elections.

According to media reports, no less than 13 members of the Senate defected from the APC to various opposition parties. Among them were: Senate leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Ahmad Babba-Kaita (Katsina-North), and Francis Alimikhena (Edo-North) who defected to the PDP while Dauda Jika (Bauchi-Central); Lawal Gumau (Bauchi-South), and Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano-Central) defected to NNPP.

The defections surprised no one because the superiority of personal interest over loyalty to a political party by politicians is well known. How many of the 22 senators started off in the APC?

It is to be hoped that in an attempt to placate senators who claimed to have dropped their defection plans, the APC would not overheat the polity by displacing those who won their primaries.

Already, there has been tension over the Yobe North and Akwa Ibom Northwest senatorial districts where efforts had been made to substitute some candidates. Not many in the polity have been able to comprehend how aspirants who were part of the presidential primaries held between June 6 and 8, 2022 could also have been part of the senatorial elections held earlier on May 27, 2022. Perhaps APC leaders had imagined that some winners could be persuaded to step down.

Unfortunately, the new law does not allow the old order where party supremacy was used to coerce members into submission; now a member must voluntarily withdraw in writing from the process before he or she can be replaced.

The issue of the moment now is the plan by some losers to blackmail officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the attempt to illegally replace some candidates.

Aides and lawyers of the privileged candidates are now busy accusing some electoral officials of partisanship. In the Akwa Ibom case, it has been argued that the resident electoral commissioner deliberately went to the wrong venue of the repeat primaries.

They forgot that he was in that same ‘wrong’ venue with the state commissioner of police. Was the latter also partisan? Again, the nation is yet to know the infraction that necessitated a repeat primary election. Instead, great efforts have been made to educate the public on the importance of party supremacy and how primary elections are the internal affairs of a political party.

This is simplistic because it forgets that Nigeria’s failed elections in the past were largely caused by poor internal democracy processes which now required INEC to ensure that the conduct of primaries follows extant rules.

There is also the viewpoint that a resident electoral commissioner (REC) is not a member of INEC but just an INEC representative in a state and that only INEC’s determination is valid. We are also told that it is only the judiciary and not INEC that has power to reject a party nomination.

This is a smart legal argument that has always been used to weaken our societal institutions by those who often claim that when elected to power they would strengthen societal institutions.

In other parts of the world, administrative bodies are empowered to act while courts can review how such bodies exercise their powers.

In Nigeria, politicians prefer to have public agencies that have no powers or discretion but mere on-lookers. Such an approach had in the past over-burdened the judiciary leading to the type of judgement in which a governorship candidate declared by our supreme court as winner of an election had more votes than available voters.

How can INEC which monitored primaries accept submissions that are made to her which contradict the results of the primaries she monitored?

As we prepare for the 2023 general elections it is time to appeal to our politicians that it is not only those that previously won primaries or general elections that would continue to be victorious in fresh political contestations.

Whenever a candidate loses an election, he or she should recognize that someone has to be in the opposition for democracy to grow. It is the role of the opposition to create a shadow cabinet that would keep the government in power in check.

The transactional approach of always wanting to be in government can lead to a one-party state which is not different from dictatorship.

It is worse when those in power manipulate elections so as to remain in power. INEC, must never allow politicians whose only focus is to remain in power by all means to divide its ranks because such politicians are only political traders and nothing more.

July 3, 2022

July 3, 2022 0 comments

Opinion

Jamb is obsolete and – – – – –

by Folarin Kehinde July 2, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

By Amamchukwu Okafor

I take on Joint Admission and Matriculation Board JAMB.

JAMB is the standard University entrance examination in Nigeria. The legal instrument establishing the Board was promulgated by the Act (No. 2 of 1978) of the Federal Military Government on 13th February, 1978. It was amended and codified into Decree No. 33 of 1989, which took effect from 7th December, 1989. That’s a long time ago. We can agree that the Act needs revisiting.

JAMB has been an obstacle both to Nigerian students seeking university education and to university autonomy.

Every year JAMB administers matriculation examinations which is valid for only one year. It also limits your university choices to ONLY 3 schools.

In essence, an applicant’s JAMB score is useful only in a given year for only 3 universities.

And in reality, if you missed the first choice university, you may not be considered in the other schools and would have to retake JAMB the next year (if you wish to get a Uni education).

Sadly, there’s no clearly defined score that guarantees admission. Like IELTS Official and TOEFL®, even worse, JAMB result has a validity of one year and limited choices for schools.

JAMB effectively obscures university entrance process such that it is nearly impossible for foreign students to attend Nigerian universities. Universities in Ghana, SouthAfrica, and even Benin Republic admits students from Nigeria and other countries. Loss of revenues and absence of diversity in Nigerian universities.

But JAMB registrars have always been university #professors. Yet, they fail to radically change the system, only boastful about how much revenue JAMB raked in. But JAMB isn’t a revenue spinner. Every year JAMB declares profit that it #extorted from applicants who take the exam multiple times.

There’s so much ills that JAMB is doing and so much good it isn’t doing. At this point, I call on Change.org, Change.org Foundation and Policy Shapers who are already doing so much to fight some of the subtle institutional rigidities to join me and take on Jamb.

July 2, 2022 0 comments

Opinion

Is PDP on auto-pilot mode?

by Folarin Kehinde June 27, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

By Tonnie Iredia

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has served as Nigeria’s main opposition party since she lost the 2015 presidential election. Before then, the party had formed the federal government of the country for 16 years from 1999-2015.

Against the backdrop of the failure of the current ruling party, the All Progressives Congress APC to meet the expectations of some Nigerians, there were hopes that the PDP might return to power. But only last week, one of her activists in my neighbourhood expressed pain that his party was no longer her vivacious self. In his words, ‘PDP has been on auto pilot mode’ in the last six months.

No one should misunderstand my friend; he was not referring to the autopilot system that is used to control the path of an aircraft without a human operator. He was only trying to describe a phenomenon that functions without thinking about what it is doing or without making a conscious effort to act. The rest of our discussions forms the content of this article.

Apart from across-the-nation sentiments about seasonal rotation of political positions, PDP is probably the only party that specifically provides for zoning in her constitution. Surprisingly, when some of the leaders saw the need to break the provision, they took no step to appropriately amend that aspect of the constitution. Rather they went ahead to throw the presidential election open whereas it was specifically zoned for the 2019 contest. Of course, clumsy arguments such as calculating the duration of certain office-holders or that zoning was not cast in iron are not viable defences to constitutional breaches. As a way out, the party purported to have set up a zoning committee as if that was a necessary procedure for rotation. In addition, it was clear that the unwieldy committee could never have done justice to the subject.

At the end of the day, the same area to which it was zoned four years earlier was formally given a chance to participate in the 2023 contest thereby hurting some feelings.

As if working to the answer, a decision on zoning was not made until after many aspirants from different zones had been allowed to pay huge sums to procure nomination forms. Everyone knew that the party had gone beyond a level where she could stop persons who already had nomination forms. Unfortunately, rather than calm frayed nerves, the PDP moved on to the next stage with some injuries that became exacerbated by the election of an aspirant not from the South as canvassed by the majority of PDP governors but from the North.

The hopes of those who thought the candidate that emerged would take steps to unite the party, were dashed as the naming of the running mate which was expected to be done by the candidate was again subjected to two unnecessary committees. The one that was to advise the candidate having found an opportunity to function like 2022 party delegates poorly handled it by making their choice known to the world at large.

The second committee which was reportedly set up to screen less than 5 PDP governors who are well-known to themselves and to the candidate was patently unnecessary. All it achieved was to make the energetic Nyesom Wike and his supporters to feel humiliated thereby increasing the number of aggrieved party members. It would have been a win-win situation if the candidate had personally handled the subject, by making his choice to the understanding of others.

The entire story depicts a new Atiku quite different from the master-strategist I knew as Vice President in the Obasanjo administration. One can only hope that some praise singers and hangers-on have not cornered him. Whatever the situation, he needs to quickly take control from the autopilot and stop all those who have a private agenda.

Candidate Atiku should not allow a repeat of the type of intervention by former Niger state governor Babangida Aliyu which virtually complicated negotiations and unity in the party. As one can see now, such careless talks have widened the gap and turned government house Port Harcourt into Nigeria’s political Mecca that is now open to all politicians who are anxious to woo a hitherto inviolable party man. Any person who canvasses the idea that Wike is dispensable is working for Atiku’s opponents. The same is true of the argument that the man is ungovernable. He was Chief of Staff to a former governor to whom he showed no insubordination, he was Minister of state for Education without fighting the main Minister.

He was later mandated to take control of the same Ministry and never gave the president cause for regret. The aggressiveness portrayed by him as governor merely underscores his capacity to fit into every new role.

The issues that some party members are using to challenge PDP’s cohesion exceed the candidature of the president and his vice. A good example of poor handling of party matters is easily seen in how the party performed at the recent Ekiti governorship election. PDP had no business allowing a contentious primary election that drove away Chief Segun Oni to another party while front-runners like Senator Biodun Olujimi who stayed back were pushed into the fringes of the party with suppressed anger. The case of Oni was particularly unwise because he had become a sought-for political aspirant in the state.

A special report by some analysts had indeed revealed that Oni was more the candidate to beat. This has been confirmed by the fact that he left the PDP to a less-known Social Democratic Party SDP, yet garnered more votes at the election than the PDP candidate.

To make matters worse, the national body of the PDP virtually abandoned their candidate during the election. The usual presentation of flag to the party’s candidate was not done just as the practice of a mega rally a few days before the election to boost the chances of the party and invigorate her members did not also happen.

There was an unconfirmed rumour during the election that a grant from the party headquarters to the state branch was not delivered in full making state party executives to return the money. Even if the only interest of the PDP is next year’s presidential election, it is obvious that the party’s candidate can only do well in Ekiti if the state branch is viable. PDP’s lukewarm posture seems to confirm the charge that she is on autopilot mode.

This becomes more obvious when it is realized that APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu that the PDP mocks as weak put up a strong showing along with governors of the party from different states who added ample elegance to the mega rally of the eventual winner of the election.

It is obvious that all is not well with the PDP. For example, some members from the Southern zones may work against the interest of the party if the North schemes to hold-on to both the presidential candidate and national party chairmanship positions. Already some leaders in the South are waiting anxiously for Iyorcha Ayu to step down as he once promised now that the North has produced the presidential candidate.

This has to be resolved without delay if the PDP wants a united national party. It makes very little sense to continue to argue that such primordial issues are no longer relevant in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious entity like Nigeria where now and again, centrifugal forces keep stretching the nation to breaking point.

Atiku Abubakar must rise up now to save his party if he intends to successfully wrestle power from the incumbent APC. On the basis of first things first, he has to remove his party from autopilot mode and take control of fence-mending to create a formidable team by stopping pockets of crises. For instance, although the government of Edo state was formed by the PDP in 2020, the party has since remained an atomistic entity that is permanently at war with itself. But if however, the PDP is complacent. about taking over government at the federal level in 2023 she should endeavour to at least help deepen Nigeria’s democracy by remaining a daunting opposition that can put the ruling party on its feet.
June 26, 2022.

June 27, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

The beauty of Nigeria’s recent delegate elections

by Leading Reporters June 19, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

Tonnie Iredia

The pain of Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives that many of his colleagues would be unable to return to the National Assembly is with due respect misplaced. While Femi as an individual is free to miss some of his close friends who could not secure their party tickets to run in next year’s general election, their loss was not against the run of play.

Indeed, failure of many lawmakers to return to the legislature has been the trend since 1999 when democracy was restored in Nigeria. At each election season, the competition to get into office grows more intense progressively. To start with, Nigerians who thought politics was a dirty game have since changed their minds by discarding the fear of political violence because of the transparent evidence that nothing in the country is as lucrative as politics. Thus, with increased interest in politics, electioneering has assumed a fiercer dimension capable of unseating several incumbents.

The Speaker’s conclusion that loopholes in the delegate system caused the loss of his colleagues at the party primaries is also not entirely accurate. The system may have played a role; but if the truth must be told, many legislators are undeserving of reelection. They really have no business in the legislature because they are only there to pick-up ‘basic’ salaries and humongous allowances.

Their incapacity is aggravated by their omission to appoint competent legislative aides to assist them perform their duties satisfactorily. For inexplicable reasons, they also have no viable constituency offices as demanded by law which would have positioned them to get acquainted with the real preferences of the people they represent. Many are in fact unknown to their constituents. The contributory negligence of passing a poorly worded Electoral Act 2022 was essentially the last self-inflicted injury. Just before that, there were bills with unpardonable typographical errors and sheer contradictions of the provisions in different sections that no one detected.

In fairness, national legislators are by far better than their colleagues in the Houses of Assembly in the states – a good example being the 24-member Kwara state legislature in which virtually every bill passed since 2019 was sponsored by the state governor. Accordingly, Nigerians should not bemoan the inability of certain legislators to return to base in 2023. The argument about continuity is essentially feeble. What should bother us now, is how to raise the level of political awareness among our people to vote for persons of substance that are passionate about making laws for good governance of society. Of course, some legislators have endeavoured to acquit themselves creditably. Gbajabiamila is in fairness one of such dutiful lawmakers, hence he got back his party ticket unopposed to contest the seat of his Surulere, Lagos constituency notwithstanding the contentious electoral bill which targeted members of the executive branch of government.

From the events of the last few months, the new electoral law has inadvertently helped to get many incumbents out of the legislature. In a country like Nigeria with stunted growth, it is unfair for certain persons to be in power for too long to the detriment of other citizens. It was therefore almost like a divine intervention that made the lawmakers by their own volition to pass a bill to their own disadvantage, just as it blinded them from some rather unintended errors until it was too late to act. The ‘wisdom-after-event’ thought of overriding the president was probably for self-consolation as the present legislature had no capacity during its potent days to contemplate such no-go area, let alone now that many members are nursing heart-broken injuries while vibrancy has been adjourned till after the 2023 election.

One of the gains of the new Electoral Act is that it has emboldened hitherto timid people to rise up to challenge the self-made emperors in our democracy. It was quite interesting to learn that our senate president among a few others who lost out in the recent political intrigues had attempted but failed to coerce winners to step down for them. That was obviously a tall order within the context of the new circumlocutory electoral law. According to media reports, Bashir Sheriff Machina, the winner of the All Progressives Congress APC Yobe North Senatorial District primaries has said that rather than step down for Ahmed Lawan, he himself intends to become the senate president having served as a law maker earlier in 1990. Machina confirmed that it was because he never intended to step down for anyone that he declined to complete the withdrawal form attached by the party to the nomination package. Now, with the new Electoral Act, the Machinas of this world appear invigorated.

As proof of the growing awareness of the muscle of the new law, aggrieved supporters of certain flagbearers in Kogi state who were being cajoled to step down stormed the APC national secretariat last Thursday, to protest attempts to substitute winners with favoured aspirants. Protesters from Abia and Ondo states had earlier demonstrated against same allegations. In the case of Enugu state, some aspirants claimed the party denied them the necessary forms to fill for the submission of candidates. They also alleged that the party instead offered them ‘withdrawal concession forms’ which they reportedly rejected. In the past, party executives implemented such anti-democratic behaviour with ease. There is doubt now if the party would not end up losing as the oppressed have provisions of the new electoral law to proceed with.

The situation in Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District does not appear different from that of Yobe state where a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Udom Ekpoudom who won the party primaries has rejected pleas for him to step down for Senator Godswill Akpabio. There are few high points in the Akwa Ibom situation. First, the party having failed to get the cooperation of Udom claimed to have organized fresh primaries which Akpabio allegedly won. Second INEC monitored the first and not the second primaries. Third, the Akwa Ibom office of INEC disowned the second primaries thereby strengthening the resolve of the former police boss to hold-on to the ticket. The old attitude of putting blames on electoral officials didn’t succeed because INEC headquarters aptly discountenanced attempts to blackmail its Resident Electoral Commissioner in Uyo who testified that the only primaries monitored by his office was the one which produced the former police boss.

However, the development was not restricted to the ruling party. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP has had its share of the trend. Last week, the party’s candidate for the Kebbi Central Senatorial District, Haruna Dandio Saidu denied stepping down for the former Kebbi governor, Adamu Aliero who recently defected from the APC to the PDP. In a petition to INEC, Haruna warned that he was prepared to institute legal proceedings against any person who forges any document which purports that he accepted to withdraw his candidature. But for the new law, the underdogs in the two political parties would probably have been sacrificed to suit the wishes of party caucuses. This development therefore underscores the beauty of the recently conducted party primaries across the country.

Nigerians can now hope that elections in the country would depart, even if slightly, from the old order where we hosted failed elections. For example, the opportunity for the voices of the underprivileged people to be heard will at least stop the fake landslide victories of ruling parties whose members value party interests more than the wishes of those they are supposed to represent. In addition, our youths are now persuaded to pick up their permanent voters’ cards and vote out non-performing office holders. With this development, many contending national issues will be appropriately determined. One such issue is whether the nation is comfortable with a Northern candidate taking over from the outgoing President from the same region. This burning issue in addition to another one concerning whether a Muslim-Muslim ticket does not matter will all be determined not by political gladiators who are currently debating the issues but by eligible voters.

June 19, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Mbaka: The Pulpit Buccaneer and a religious Ponzi Master

by Leading Reporters June 16, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

It was in 2002 that Reverend Fr. Ejike Camillus Anthony Mbaka first unraveled. That year, he would gather his congregation at the Adoration Ministry and ask everyone to start pointing at the Lion building (Enugu govt house) while commanding Holy Ghost fire against the then governor Chimaroke Nnamani whom he said was a wicked Governor who God already told him would not live beyond that year not to talk of winning the 2003 re-election.

This man didn’t just stop at this weekly harvest of Holy Ghost fire against the governor, he actually went a step further to release a special audio tape titled “This Wicked Generation” in which he swore that if Chimaroke won his 2003 reelection bid, he (Mbaka) would know he was not serving a living God and would therefore resign as a Priest.

2003 election came and governor Chimaroke won his re-election, finished his second term and even contested and won another election as a Senator. As I type, Chimaroke is currently in the senate TWENTY YEARS after. And he just secured another ticket to go to the Senate again in 2023 and is set to be the Enugu state governor come 2023 BY PROXY.

Mbaka neither resigned as he swore he would nor did he even apologize for telling lies in God’s name.

This is Mbaka for you. A religious Ponzi Master who praises anyone who gives him money even if that person kilked a million innocent people to make that money. And once you refuse to give him money, you become an enemy. Recall how he lamented that the presidency no longer picks his call which was exactly why he started attacking the same Buhari whom he was praising in 2019 at a time it was obvious that his govt has been a disaster.

If you know Mbaka so well, you won’t wonder why he said a man who throws money around, even if it is stolen public fund, is better for Nigeria of today than another man who refuses to PUBLICLY announce his donation to the church even when doing so would have earned him some political capital but instead, requested to be taken to the project site, that he could even singlehandedly execute the project for the church. And this same man went and donated N100,000,000 to Bishop Shanaham Specialist Hospital Nsukka (BSSHN) to upgrade its School of Nursing and Midwifery to a College. BSSHN is a missionary hospital owned and managed by Nsukka Catholic Diocese.

Between PUBLICLY giving money to Mbaka, without seeing any project for which he intends to use the money, And donating a whopping N100,000000 to upgrade an academic HEALTH institution owned by the church, WHICH ONE SERVES HUMANITY AND GOD BETTER????

I’m happy that Nigerians are waking up. Integrrity-challenged, morally bankrupt crooks can no longer continue to hold us hostage simply because they are wearing a white cassock.

My only disappointment is with the mother church for refusing to wield the big stick on this chalatan. How can one emotionally truncated man hold the mother church hostage in this manner? I grew up as an Alter Boy at Sacred Heart Parish Akpugo and I know one or two things about the level of Organisational Discipline in the Catholic church. Mbaka is successfully making nonsense of all that while my Lord Bishop watches on. A shame, isn’t it?

By Charles Ogbu (Twitter @RealCharlesOgbu)

June 16, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Politics 2023: We are all delegates

by Leading Reporters May 29, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

The presidential primaries of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was scheduled to hold on Saturday and Sunday May 28 and 29, 2022. On its part, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had planned to hold hers 24 hours later. As I began putting this article together on the eve of the primaries, a news break indicated that the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) had extended the deadline for the conclusion of the events by one week. Before commenting on the implication of that, let’s not lose focus of the main issue in this article which is the role of delegates in the selection of party flagbearers for elections in Nigeria. So far, the delegates have had a great time deciding those that voters are allowed to choose from. However, not many believe they have done well or would conclude it successfully. For me, I think the general condemnation of delegates is not well thought out because it seems many citizens expect the delegates to act against the run of play. The pointing of accusing fingers is not a surprise anyway because many citizens are used to raising the bar for other people above their own behaviour in similar circumstances.

For governorship and legislative primary elections which have already been concluded, aspirants were blamed for not only bribing delegates but for using foreign currency instead of our blessed naira to get the votes of delegates. Is it only political aspirants that should be condemned for this? Those we empowered to manage our economy, that is, economic delegates who ended up making the naira less attractive in value must share in the blame. Whereas to bribe delegates with whatever currency is a condemnable crime, it makes little sense for anyone to carry huge naira notes around instead of small sized dollars of same value for the same purpose. Even the argument that many of the delegates were making huge demands must be viewed against facts on ground. What is the current standard of doing any transaction in Nigeria? Is the percentage increase of delegates’ demand higher than the percentage increase of the cost of nomination forms? Are we able to quarrel with air flights that now cost over N100,000 per person for a trip from nearby Kaduna to Abuja?

The two major political parties which charged as much as N40million and N100million respectively for presidential nomination had also, even if inadvertently, set a standard for the charges of their delegates. Indeed, the National Assembly had hugely raised the threshold for election expenses. So, if raising inducement charges by delegates is attributed to profiteering, both their leaders and political parties have not shown dissimilar inclination. A further evidence that everyone has a delegate’s attitude, is seen in the argument of the ruling party that she charged high nomination fees so as to harvest enough resources for a non-stop implementation of party programmes for a long time. In the same way, delegates demanded huge inducement so that for the next four years, they can have enough resources to live on, while those they elected become inaccessible. It can therefore be imagined that if those pursuing huge sums of money are delegates, then Nigeria has, by far, too many types of delegates.

One error which many appear to be making is the impression that many delegates are not well educated or exposed enough for what they have become. Interestingly, Nigerian political delegates are not dull at all as we have seen in some locations such as Kaduna where a cerebral personality like senator Shehu Sani could not outsmart them. According to media reports, for refusing to bribe the delegates, he got only two votes but later received calls from no less than 300 delegates who claimed they are the two who voted for him pushing Sani to simply equate them with bandits who demand ransom. They are thus not dullards but smart speculators like other politicians who virtually hypnotize anyone. Here, the experience of a former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro is instructive. Okiro revealed that after his retirement, he was swindled of his savings having been persuaded to contest election to the senate. That unfortunately is the nature of the zero-sum political system we run and if the nation cannot rise in unison to condemn it and demand reforms, we are all delegates.

The only political group whose members are not delegates in Nigeria are state governors. Understandably, they cannot be delegates because they are the proprietors of delegates, akin to king makers. And because they spend much to make and sustain the delegates which is called political investment, whatever anyone pays to a delegate is immaterial, what matters the most is what his governor decides. Naturally, delegates know that “one good turn deserves another” hence, they make no serious demands of aspirants installed by governors. The delegates have fellows who have different titles. One group is called screening committee whose role as the name implies is to screen-in aspirants in the favoured list and screen-out competitors. This seems to explain why in places like Lagos, Ogun etc. other governorship aspirants, on the day of the primaries, still didn’t know why they were screened out. Some didn’t even know they needed to demand for certificate of clearance.

There are a few delegates in the judiciary and that is a big plus because there is no human institution without its bad eggs. When a court deliberately entertains only political cases for which it has no jurisdiction, despite repeated warnings from the highest professional level, it is hardly an innocent mistake because what each court in Nigeria has powers to handle are well-spelt out. There are other delegate-judges whose pronouncements are usually capable of more than one meaning thereby leaving stakeholders in confusion. Some elements in the judiciary probably warm themselves up to opposite parties in a case thereby making factional-delegates from some states to continue to debate the authenticity of each other until after the primaries.

But is there a possibility that there are delegates in our electoral body? For two reasons, I personally admire the posture of the current INEC. First, I like the way the commission handled the issue of electronic transmission of election results and second, her firm stand in declining the request of the political parties for alteration to the election time table. Therefore, I had discountenanced earlier rumours that there are a few persons in the commission that have not fully had non-partisan background. This faith was shaken yesterday when I heard that INEC had caved-in to the extension request though for only a couple of days. Why can’t election timelines be sacrosanct as in other climes after they are published? I pray there are no delegates in INEC as the new development occurred hours to the national convention of the main opposition party. If the PDP can keep to her date of May 28, 2022, is it the ruling party whose convention is to come a day after, that cannot cope?

It is however gratifying to learn that irrespective of where delegates are hibernating, one day the aspirants who bribed them will take back their booty. Already, there are reports that the process has begun. Adam Namadi, son of former vice president Namadi Sambo has developed a strategy for retrieving the N2million he allegedly paid to each delegate who did not vote for him in the election to the Kaduna North Federal constituency of the House of Representatives. A serving Senator, Ayo Akinyelure from Ondo state has also reportedly retrieved vehicles given to some party leaders and he is now making efforts to get back monies given to seven delegates for failing to vote for him. What remains now is for Nigerians to stand firmly against vote trading as youths of Ibarapa, in Oyo state did the other day when they discovered that a delegate list prepared for their area was fake. It is only such efforts that can stop us all from becoming delegates.

May 29, 2022

May 29, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Can unclean environment produce clean president?

by Leading Reporters May 22, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

Several political aspirants seeking to become Nigeria’s president in 2023, along with many other citizens hold the view that all the country needs now is good leadership.

The strength of the argument is that a good leader with great visionary capacity is best positioned to show the nation, by personal example, the appropriate direction to sustainable development.

The limitation to the theory however, is that leadership is not an independent variable; it does not function on its own. It is instead subject to other variables such as followership, situations and circumstances. The contention is that good leadership is more likely to flourish with good followership.

Personal virtues alone may not be enough. As one analyst aptly put it the other day, the Pope cannot successfully lead a congregation of thieves. That is why it is said that a society deserves the leadership it gets.

Nigerian politicians should therefore tune down their claims of having a monopoly of the required capacity to lead Nigeria aright because an unclean environment can distort the acclaimed capacity of a clean leader.

They should talk less of their so-called qualifications and experiences and emphasize how they intend to use such credentials to overcome the myriad of factors which make their country unclean.

It was for this reason that this column last week, called for strong societal institutions and not just strong leaders. On account of the nature of the Nigerian society, many political leaders often generate several eloquent narratives supposedly for nation building when in reality they have very little motivation to go beyond the subsisting penchant for greed and nepotism that can only serve the self and its acquaintances.

When properly condensed, that inclination is common to many presidential aspirants. Otherwise, how come our expected Messiahs are always general and peripheral but hardly specific about the issues of the moment that are calling for action?

For over a decade, the issue of insecurity has hit the country hard making it perhaps the foremost item presidential aspirants should focus upon. Last week, insecurity in the form of mob action recurred on a large scale in at least 3 locations – Sokoto, Lagos and Abuja.

Those who had to deal with the trend were as expected Governors Tambuwal and Sanwo-Olu of Sokoto and Lagos respectively as well as Mohammed Bello, Minister of the Federal capital territory.

The best story teller would have very little to say about the reactions of our presidential aspirants. While an insignificant few made some tangential references to the subject, many went mute. Instructively, it was an opportunity for aspirants to leave in the hearts of compatriots, their commitment to an end to insecurity.

If the number one Muslim in the country, his eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto was able to condemn mob action on religious issues, political aspirants should have at least issued soothing statements to calm frayed nerves.

It would appear that having failed to say anything about the Sokoto episode, it became difficult to react to the bizarre killings by Okada riders in Lagos and Dei-Dei in Abuja which occurred sequentially at about the same time.

As a result, many aspirants missed the opportunity to transit to agents of national unity. Yet, they are suggesting daily that because the nation has never been this divided, one of their immediate objectives is to unify the country.

One can only hope that Nigeria is not headed to worse days if those whose mission is to unify the country fail to find their voice at the appropriate junction. Indeed, bearing in mind that some of the aspirants have accused the present administration of insufficient capacity to unify the country, how are we sure that the nation’s post 2023 era is likely to be better?

One thing that is certain is that events leading to 2023 are not in any way cleaner than those of previous general elections. First, there is saturated attention of stakeholders to the presidential election; its aspirants who are in search of becoming the flagbearers of their political parties are all over Nigeria overshadowing every other thing.

If such aspirants are everywhere visiting different opinion leaders especially traditional rulers while looking for the party ticket, what they would do when they become candidates for the election proper would be unimaginable.

Meanwhile, the presence of over 40 presidential aspirants who have for the same reason appeared now and again in Ekiti and Osun states whose governorship elections are a few weeks away has become confusing.

In addition, the environment in those states have been quite volatile. In Ekiti State for example, one of the leading governorship candidates, Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and his running mate have more than once cried out for help over assassination attempts allegedly by state actors.

At the same time, campaigns for party primaries have taken over governance throughout the country. Unfortunately, the preoccupation has been how to play one aspirant against the other. Reports of the old culture of conducting delegates elections while hoarding the official result-sheets have resurfaced.

The party officials are themselves unable to prepare their members for a clean contest as they have both eyes on what other parties are doing. This has resulted in hurried packaging of the requirements in the electoral act. In the circumstance, all political parties are on the same page, making passionate appeals to the electoral body to review the already published timetable to provide more room for concluding party arrangements which diligent handling could have dispensed with before now.

INEC deserves commendation for rejecting the request which could open the door for more demands to the detriment of credible elections. At the last count, the list of delegates of the parties have remained uncertain especially as last minute amendments made to the electoral act so close to the contests are still awaiting presidential assent.

The above scenario represents the unclean environment to which political parties are hoping to deliver clean office-holders. For such dirty environment not to overwhelm future leaders, we dare say so much has to be done.

First, Nigerian politicians need to learn to contribute to the progress of the nation irrespective of whatever party they belong to. Although it is not only presidential aspirants that should make such contributions, they happen to be the focus of this piece. Consequently, it would have been exciting if any of them had rescheduled his campaign train and returned to Kaduna to make substantive statements on insecurity and support Governor Nasir El Rufai who has of recent had several security challenges.

Apart from another attack a few days ago on the Abuja-Kaduna road, the governor has raised an alarm that insurgents had begun incursion into his state. Considering that where, when and how a statement is made can be strategic, any aspirant who seized such opportunity would have involuntarily but markedly projected himself as one who would not give insecurity a chance anywhere in the country if elected our next president.

The point to be made is that although Nigeria has many competent presidential aspirants, they need to know that it’s not everything they are harping on right now that Nigerians are anxious to hear.

I know for certain that many people would easily buy the idea that our next president must be ready to move the nation away from consumption to production. Nigerians must eat what they grow and grow what they eat. Such a campaign message is attractive as an obvious solution to a major challenge of the nation.

It is hoped that the media would assist the nation to place emphasis on such messages. It is also necessary to correct wrong narratives, a good example being the credit taken away from former Minister Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba. Whereas Nwajiuba unlike his colleagues resigned before the Presidential ultimatum to do so, Nigerians were erroneously made to believe that he was one of those directed to resign. Placing this story in the correct perspective would put on record that there are still some Nigerians who are honourable enough to quit when it is due.

May 22, 2022 0 comments

Opinion

TURNING MALAMI INTO NIGERIA’S POLITICAL SCAPE-GOAT

by Folarin Kehinde May 9, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Abubakar Malami, SAN, the current Attorney General of the federation and Minister of Justice is always in the news. Painfully, the comments on the Minister’s performance are usually fault-finding. The latest is a report which says he has distributed expensive cars to some of his supporters, ostensibly to facilitate their support for his quest to become the next governor of his home state – Kebbi, Northwest Nigeria. For this reason, many analysts, critics, political opponents and their paid commentators have accused the Minister of corruption with the argument that only a corrupt political office-holder can afford huge sums for the purchase of a fleet of cars to be distributed to supporters. Bearing in mind that empowerment of political supporters is one of the major things happening nationwide now, it is hard to fathom the mischief in Malami’s participation in it.

Thus, one does not have to be the Minister’s supporter to see that he is deliberately isolated for condemnation over a common trend in the political landscape of Nigeria. Everyone knows how huge the cost of contesting elections in Nigeria has become – a development that cannot not be traced to the current political actors, let alone only one of them. While some politicians are distributing vehicles, many others are distributing various other items whose volume easily exceed the cost of the total number of vehicles distributed on behalf of aspirant Malami. It is therefore unfair to chastise only the Minister.

Another evidence of bias against him is the refusal of his critics to listen to the explanation that the vehicles were donated by his friends akin to how other aspirants have received donations both in cash and in kind from friends, family members and associates. If anyone doubts the source of such donation, it ought to be across board.

It has also been suggested that huge funds have accrued to the office of the Attorney General because the Minister and his aides have been operating the Ministry as a corruption centre. Some media reports have even attributed what they called the recent siege by the EFCC on the office to the fact that the anti-corruption agency had become disillusioned by the excesses of the Ministry. Meanwhile some people have already accepted the verdict without verifying from the anti-corruption agency if it had in fact attempted such a siege. Some commentators are convinced that the addition of Francis Atuche a recently convicted Bank executive among those presented for clemency was because the office of the Attorney General was heavily bribed to entertain such an unhealthy compromise. These arguments are infantile because the office of the Attorney General can at best exercise the mandate of compiling a list of applications for clemency. The office cannot by whatever imagination influence which applicant will be successful in a process which passes through several stages to the Council of State.

Whereas no less than three other Ministers have opted to not resign from office before participating in the coming party primaries, Abubakar Malami seems to be the only one that people cherish to condemn for exercising the option only because some powerful haters have chosen to scrutinize only what Malami does or declines to do. Such critics have refused to realize that Malami and other Ministers in the same school of thought on the subject of when to resign from office are entitled to the type of political risks they wish to take. It will also be recalled that Malami has been severally held liable not only for what the executive branch of government does, even the decision of the Judiciary that a part of the new Electoral Act is unconstitutional is still the fault of Malami. Haba!!

The current publicly declared ambition of Abubakar Malami SAN is to become the governor of his state. The only persons qualified to constitute the relevant electorate are made up of two groups, party members in the case of primaries and registered voters in the state in the case of the governorship election. They are in essence the only ones at this point in time that can determine who would win the next governorship election in the state. Those who constitute themselves into political commentators on electoral matters in Nigeria as a whole should kindly leave Malami to grapple with the dispositions of Kebbi voters.

Femi Ajayi
Spokesman
Malami’s Governorship Support Group (MGSG)

May 9, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Nomination Forms Hike: Who will contribute for the Nigerian Youth?

by Folarin Kehinde April 29, 2022

written by Folarin Kehinde

Anyebe Victor, Abuja

Despite the democratic rule in Nigeria that the country “boast” to practice through constitutional amendments and laws to support it, the activities the of country could be best described as a Banana Republic where everything is possible.

Her Youthful population is now described as a curse owing to high rate of crime due to unemployment that has now become the new norm.

The Political landscape tends to beam a light for a prospective future for the youth especially when the NotTooYoungToRun bill was passed into law.

Meanwhile, Democracy as widely accepted is a system of government where laws, policies, leadership and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the people.

In simple words, it is of the people, by the people and for the people.

With this definition, one would wonder why and how the democracy would have its course in Nigeria when so much money is spent on getting just the nomination form alone and then spend huge amount of money to campaign afterwards then still spend another to rig election.

Nigeria is gradually failing with unpatriotic and uncivilized politicians who unfortunately got into the corridors of power through illegal means.

It is unheard of for a political party to peg its presidential form for N100m. Who exactly are they trying to prevent? That is a story for another day.

When I see young people celebrating today and making jest that most people seeking political leadership under the APC can’t afford to pick nomination forms, I fear for the next elections because events leading to such time will be lethal as those people who will win this circle.

The #NoTooYoungToRun campaign was to allow participation of young capable people into public service. The APC led government signed this into law then turned around to hike the prices of Nomination forms for offices beyond the reach of young people to the advantage of the cabals and forces that has always been.

The high cost of nomination forms by the ruling APC is clearly a message to the young people that it is better to acquire money at all cost, including; stealing, rituals, kidnapping etc as long as you are rich enough to be eligible for political participation.

The main opposition party PDP is by extension not left out because if they can makes theirs to be:

N41m – Presidential
N21m – Governorship
N3.5m – Senate
N2.5m – House of Reps
N600k – House of Assembly.

Then it is highly unreasonable if they as a party should criticise the ruling party APC. The question is; will they not hike the nomination forms as well if they were to be in power?

The man President Buhari in 2014 that most Nigerian Youths all contributed monies for to obtain the presidential form at N21m, the same man who signed the “No too young to run bill” into law with a promise to handover power to youths in 2018.

He’s today the chairman of NEC of his political party alongside his APC leaders hike the presidential nomination form fee to a whopping sum of N100m.

Where will the “lazy Nigerian Youths” according to him get such money?

It is unfortunate that a country where hunger, strife, unemployment, insecurity, disunity, economic hardship, decaying educational system and a dwindling standard of living has become normal, the APC has slammed a N100m price tag on Nigerians wishing to vie for the presidential position on its platform and it is ridiculously appalling that the youths that averagely earns N30,000 only as the so called minimum wage is expected to get into politics in Nigeria with the way things stands?

In Nigeria, it is now the case of “The more you look, the less you see”.

Nigerian Youth will at the end will be used as the usual tool for campaigns, electioneering and ‘rigging’.

What is even more worrisome is that Nigerian Youth are always ready and willing to be used as tools for these vices because of paltry sum at the detriment of mortgaging their “future” if one ever exist.

While the already wealthy politicians are still being contributed for to purchase the nomination forms, the Nigerian Youth looks headlong with no one to buy for them.

Considering the above, there is no gainsaying that the Nigerian Youth are still TooYoungToRun.

April 29, 2022 0 comments

Headlines Opinion

Is N100m for presidential nomination not prohibitive?

by Leading Reporters April 24, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

By Tonnie Iredia

It is futile to argue with some Nigerians on any matter in which they have an interest or which they have cause to suspect might favour them even if tangentially. All that those in doubt of this conclusion need to do is to watch people on television marshaling points in support of any subject. They forcefully leave no stone unturned.

Those who do this are usually talented in public speaking or are senior lawyers especially those who have firm knowledge not only of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution but the exact sections, subsections and schedules of relevant provisions. For instance, when the issue of defector-governors arose, they argued in support of the defectors eloquently sermonizing on the difference between law and morality adding that what matters is law. Those of us who often drew attention to the spirit of the law in querying unwholesome political behaviours were shocked a few days ago to see the pro-technicality analysts taking sides with us to condemn the decision of government to pardon convicted former governors Dariye and Nyame. It was as if no one remembered that our Constitution provides for state pardon. So, is it all about winning an argument or publicity consciousness?

Against this backdrop, my immediate reaction to the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC to sell its nomination forms to presidential aspirants at the cost of One hundred million naira (N100m), was that it would not be difficult at all to find Nigerians who would instantly generate reasons to justify the apparent prohibitive cost. No surprises as the defences have since begun. To start with, there is already the argument that politics is capital intensive and that anyone who cannot raise the amount would not be strong enough to be President of the largest country in Africa. In fact, the argument that the funds can be raised with ease has already been proven. For example, two Abia state businessmen – Ukaegbu James and Nnanna Kalu have signified their intention to provide N200m to buy forms for two federal legislators, namely, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu. However, the public perception is that the two beneficiaries can afford to buy their own forms because as senators they are among the richest public office holders in the country

One candidate who is not likely to have any problem whatsoever in getting the form is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose supporters are now competing for who will be the first to raise the amount. As soon as the figure was announced, the Asiwaju Project Beyond 2023 reportedly raised the amount and announced that “we will be storming the secretariat soon to get the form for him.” On his part, the Director General of the Tinubu Support Organization (TSO) Aminu Suleiman said he had already signed a cheque for the amount rendering unnecessary, the previous pledge of N10m made by some youths under the aegis of the Tinubulate Nigeria Agenda (TINA). Senator Kabiru Gaya, Chairman of the Progressive Project (TPP), the umbrella organization of Osinbajo support groups had similarly vowed to purchase the nomination form for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. A pro-youth group, the North Central Coalition for Leadership (NCCL) had also planned to buy a form for another APC presidential aspirant, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. It is therefore obvious that the strategy which all the aspirants used in getting different groups to earnestly beg them to show interest in next year’s presidential contest, would be deployed again to make the same support groups to announce their readiness to buy forms for their preferred aspirants. Such donors or perceived fronts are aiming to be the next set of cabals in the corridors of power come 2023.

A second argument put forward in support of the rather high figure of N100m is that the calculation took into account the current realities in which everything has increased. Petroleum products especially kerosene and diesel, foodstuffs, government loans, bandits’ attacks, ASUU strikes, petroleum subsidy, poverty etc. have all gone up astronomically. The fear in some quarters however is that the exorbitant cost of nomination forms for elections can be counter-productive. If nothing else, it will shut out some aspirants with good ideas which are greatly needed for national development. Politicians are probably the only ones comfortable with heavy expenses on politics and elections. Indeed, those of them in the legislature had earlier ensured that they legalized huge election expenses. In the new Electoral Act, they jacked up spending ceilings from between 150 to 400 per cent. Yet, nothing was done to halt the old order where political parties always breached the rule requiring them to disclose their electoral expenditures to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This brands the advocacy for high cost of nomination forms as self-serving.

Party leaders in particular are quite comfortable with the high cost of nomination forms because it gives them opportunity to generate ample funds for running their political parties. Putting it aptly, the new publicity secretary of the ruling party, Felix Morka had argued that Nigeria was yet to get to the level where party members would faithfully pay membership dues for running the party. It would therefore mean that the costs of nomination forms across board are that high because this is the ideal time for collecting revenues from elusive members. The truth therefore is that party leaders are anxious to secure huge party finances to put an end to the practice of going cap in hand to beg elected office holders to come to their rescue on a monthly basis. The situation could be worse where a party loses an election and would therefore have no elected office holders in their party to look up to for assistance.

The debate on whether the huge cost of nomination forms is prohibitive or not is fruitless because for quite some time nothing has shown that an increase in finances affects our people positively. Even the revenue from nomination forms could be squandered because some party members believe that the struggle for party offices is usually influenced by the desire of party leaders to help themselves to such funds. The same is true of government finances. Only last week, the House of Representatives’ Adhoc Committee investigating the state of the nation’s refineries had to raise an alarm over suspected sharp practices on the subject. The Committee is bothered that after allegedly spending $3.7 billion on repairs, none of the refineries has been restored to any level of functionality. Yet, neither the Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Timipre Sylva nor the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari responded to calls by the Committee to throw light on the situation What the above narrative suggests is that instead of bickering over the cost of nomination forms, our civil society groups should rise up now to vote against non-performers. I

t is time to stop playing the victim and behaving as if citizens are hopeless and helpless the way Ekiti state pensioners projected themselves the other day. With an unpaid N37.8billion gratuities and pensions, Ekiti pensioners last Thursday began a prayer session seeking God’s face for swift intervention for the payment of their entitlements. If the pensioners come together to vote against the political party that placed them in their present predicament in the next governorship elections holding two months away, no state government would toy with them in the future. In other words, this is not a time to bother about the cost of nomination forms; it is also not the time for protests concerning poor governance, rather it is time to use the ballot to tell political leaders that they are elected to represent the people and not to turn them into objects instead of the subject of democracy. It is certainly not a time to beg leaders who previously failed to institute good governance to once more join the next race. Nigerians must take their nation’s destiny in their own hands.
April 24, 2022.

April 24, 2022 0 comments

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