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Why Buhari Must Unshackle Himself From The TBO. By Hassan S. Indabawa It gladdens the heart of all who mean well for General Muhammadu Buhari that many have been observant enough since the retired general joined politics and got surrounded by some within The Buhari Organization (TBO) that he has not been receiving the right advice, or rather have become their hostage and that this has contributed to past failures and uncertainties of the immediate future. Details
Between An Invading Centre And A Marauding Periphery: The Shari’ah Based Governance Of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau: Essay On Achievements Through Hurdles. By Ahmad Yahya The recorded human history witnessed a variety of systems evolved by humankind with the sole aim of administering their affairs. Eventually, essential flaws in these systems destroy their own fabrics and engender their imminent extinction. Come to think of them, totalitarianism, fascism, communism, capitalism, etc to mention just a few. Details
Who Will Bring Us Together? By Victor E. Dike Sometime soon, Nigeria will have another election, and a new person (hopefully) will be at Aso Rock. Perhaps, out of desperation General Obasanjo has been campaigning around the nation as if he is running for an elective office, slugging political jabs on his political opponents, who have the courage to say that he personifies the evil politician because of the adverse impact of his caustic, reckless and unguarded utterances on the polity. Details
Atiku's Rebuttal Makes A Complete Nonsense Of The Senate Committee Report. By Dr. Wunmi Akintide It is true like I have predicted long time ago that this Vice President cannot survive with all the arrows pointed at him by a desperate President whose only alibi or defense is his presumption that the Senate or the whole nation can ill-afford to humiliate a sitting President and run him out of office, no matter the seriousness of his offense and guilt when compared with those of his Vice President. But the Law which is no respecter of persons would certainly be more deferential to the Vice President because himself and his boss both swore to the same oath of allegiance to the Constitution and they are both equal under the Law, I might add. Details
Nigeria: the Need for Two Presidents. By Abdullah Musa We are not interested in judging history. But the question that comes to my mind is this: was such course of action sustainable? Could it have been done for an ordinary citizen, one who for instance voted the NPC of Sardauna to power? As Northerners we are hardly comfortable challenging the actions of our elders, indeed in some cases father-figures. But in this case the future is at stake. Details
Niger Delta: Recent Pronouncements by Presidential Candidates. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde Suddenly the Niger Delta is on the lips and agenda of all the 2007 presidential candidates. For whatever reason, they are all now jockeying to place themselves in the grace and good book of Niger Deltans: proffering solutions, declaring their love and affection, and signifying their consternation at the state of things in the region. Even Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has gotten in on the act, stating that “poverty-ridden militant youths of the oil rich Niger Delta region are justified in their agitation for a fair share of their resources.” But why the sudden sympathy and sudden conversion? What’s the motive behind the sudden change -- assuming these are genuine change of heart? Why the change and why now? Details
The Next President, Opposition Groups And Future Of Nigeria. By Chudi Ikwueze Ph.D. This election year coincidentally marked the 40th anniversaries of three major events that significantly changed the trajectory of post independent Nigeria, for worse. First, it was in 1967 that the Federal government and Biafra began a definitive three-year military hostility, better known as Nigerian civil war. Second, it was the same year that any form of accountable, responsible and citizens-based Federal government seized to exist. Third, it was the year that Federal Military Government dissolved the regional structure for state structure, a single act that significantly enabled the emergence of such Nigeria we live in, characterized by irresponsible, unaccountable, citizens-hater and under-performing governments at all levels. Details
Tennis Development in Nigeria: Problems and Challenges. By Sadiq A. Abdullahi, Ed. D. Tennis programs, like many other sports programs, lose momentum when coaches, players, and sports administrators simply give up. Many are dissatisfied with how they we treated by the tennis federation in the past. Details
NLC and the Challenges of 2007 Elections. By Zayyad I. Muhammad The strength of the labour is not only its size or the size of their bank account. It is the level of commitment of its leadership and their heart. Like the Nigerian polity, the labour movement has had its own fair share of hustle and bustle and uncalled for military government interference. Details
HIV/AIDS in Babies-Avoidable Deaths. By Hadiza Bawa-Garba 15 million children around the world have been orphaned by AIDS, losing one or both parents to the disease. Bringing these figures closer to home, in Africa more than 60% of all people living with HIV, 24.7 million, live in Sub-Saharan Africa.5 In 2006, an estimated 2.8 million people in the region became newly infected. In Nigeria, UNAIDS reports that in 2005 there are 2.6 million people between the ages of 15-49 years who are HIV positive of which 1.6 million are women and 240,000 are children.5 This is retarding economic growth and destroying human capital. Details
Seeking The Centre: When Will Buhari Start Campaigning On Issues? By Saint Azuh Gen Buhari, the ANPP presidential flag bearer, rather than concentrate on marketing and selling issues and programmes to the Nigerian electorate, had spent more of his campaign time either disqualifying Atiku or accusing Obasanjo for having perfected plans to actualize the PDP rigging wizardry haven produced the yet-to-be -conducted election results. Details
Gani Fawehinmi's Grouse Against The Nigerian Appeal Court Verdict On Atiku Should Have Been Much More Restrained And Deferential. By Dr. Wunmi Akintide I suddenly find myself at a crossroad as to which side to support while the whole nation is waiting for a ruling from the highest Court in the land, the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Gani Fawehinmi as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria has spoken but the 5 judges of the Appeal Court are in no position to publicly offer a rebuttal. We are therefore left in a quandary until we hear from the Supreme Court. Details
Nigerians, When Will this Hypocrisy Stop? Terkura Aku Even if the courts have not yet pronounced judgements in these matters, is it not proper for Nigerians to celebrate and support the fact that the EFCC is taking the fight against corruption to another level? Moreover, the EFCC does not investigate anyone unless there is a petition against such a person. Many at times, we know that such petitions come from the person’s constituency. To blatantly say that what the EFCC is doing is wrong is a wanton admittance of hypocrisy and should be rejected by every well meaning citizen! This is because the proponents of this opposition would prefer they be allowed to go on stealing what belongs to the rest of us. Details
Combating Elite Corruption in Nigeria: Wake-up Call On The Judiciary. By Akpodigha Filatei The EFCC has recorded unprecedented progress in unearthing and cracking cases of corruption starting with the erstwhile police boss, Mr. Tafa Balogun and including dozens of state Governors, Senators, Federal Ministers and other private individuals. However, the punishments have not been commensurate with the seriousness of the offences. While petty thieves spend decades in prison and most times are forgotten in prison cells, high-profile thieves are aided by best lawyers and sometimes connive with Judges to prolong court processes indefinitely or receive light sentences. Some lawyers have become prominent for their defenses of every high profile thieves caught by EFCC. I recognize that it is their professional calling to do so, but they seem not to appreciate the damage caused by elite corruption. Or, not as outraged as I am. Details
If Murtala had thought he was totally above men he would not have done some of what he did when he was Head of State for 200 days into eternity. At one point in his short tenure, he would leave his house at Ikoyi early in the morning, get out of his car to start directing traffic at major intersections in the crawling city of Lagos. One of the first things he did as Head of Government was to return back to Government some of the row of houses he had built in Kano from sources he had believed were corrupt or illegitimate. He did yet one thing that would surprise every Nigerian reading this piece. Murtala belonged to a different kettle of fish from Obasanjo. You can take that from me. Details
The Nigerian Media And Nigeria’s Image. By Terkura Aku Largely, Nigeria’s poor image does not arise from government’s irresponsible behaviour but from those of Nigerians! It is the ordinary Nigerian who litters the streets with trash. It is the ordinary Nigerian taxi or bus driver who gives out twenty naira to policemen instead of getting all his vehicle papers right. It is the ordinary Nigerian who shunts queues at filling stations, banks, or wherever order is required. to the consternation of the rest of us. It is the ordinary Nigerian who vandalizes NEPA property, NNPC pipeline or other public property, thus disrupting the meagre services the rest of us should receive from these sources. Yet it is the ordinary Nigerian who blames government most for all his woes. It is the ordinary Nigerian who creates bad publicity for this country, but it is the government that takes the blame. I am sad at this irony. Details
Obasanjo and History. By Moses Ochonu By 2003 when Obasanjo’s first term ended, it was clear that Nigerians had committed the most naïve blunder in Nigerian political history. It was apparent that Obasanjo’s deceptively delicious rhetoric about transparency and infrastructural transformation where just that. So damaged was Obasanjo and his political platform, the PDP, that he had to rig his way back to power in the April 2003 election. Details
In Nigerian Law You Are Guilty Until Proved Innocent. By A. Mohammed Bashir Nigeria is in a serious political dilemma and there is no sign that the nation is getting out of the uncivilized group of nations where laws and rules are bent to favor the few in the echelons of power to the detriment of law abiding citizens who are hounded and brutalized into submission to the whims of those in power. Many recent events in Nigeria are pointers to a nation that has been thrown into a state of anomie and the fact that the security services failed to learn any lesson from past mistakes calls for a serious rethink about their place in a civilized Nigerian democratic state. Details
ANPP: The Mother Of All Betrayals? By Dan Azumi Kofarmata Under this well organised and orchestrated strategic assets tripping of the ANPP by President Obasanjo and his ruling PDP, there will soon be no trace of ANPP in the political map of Nigerian political parties. Take for example, in Sokoto State; the ruling PDP sacrificed its shining-star gubernatorial candidate Alhaji Muktari Shehu Shagari - a former Obasanjo’s Minister of Water Resources for six years. The PDP adopted the erstwhile-embattled former Sokoto State ANPP Deputy Governor as its own negotiated 2007 gubernatorial candidate in Sokoto State; effectively dumping Muktari Shehu Shagari who had earlier won the PDP gubernatorial primaries in the State. Details
Head Or Tail The North Wins. By Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa No matter how some of us may think or feel about the Presidential race, the most viable candidates are from the North. This has placed enormous responsibility on our Northern brothers and sisters to support the best candidate 140 million people can reasonably produce. Nigerians must not repeat the same mistake we made in 1999, when the South-west blamed the rest of the Country for giving us another recycled ex-dictator. Details
Abubakar Atiku and the Rule of Law. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde There are several lessons to be learnt about the Atiku method, amongst which are that the law may be an ass, it may be slow, and it may be cumbersome, still, it is a better recourse and far better than jungle-justice; and also, no man -- no matter how highly placed he may be -- is ever and should never be above the law. And so I salute Vice-President Abubakar Atiku. Details
Who is the Thief Between Agagu and Mimilo? By Dr. Wunmi Akintide Left to the President alone the thief is Mimiko, but left to the EFCC and Nuhu Ribadu and the overwhelming majority of Ondo State voters and the Commission of Enquiries that have so far probed Agagu, we know who the real thief is between the two, and we thank the President for once playing his role as the father of the nation by helping us to easily reach that conclusion. Details
The Spokesperson: Between Propaganda and Public Relations. By Yushau A. Shuaib The influence of propaganda in creating newsworthiness on its principals and opponents has pushed to the background development journalism that could have addressed our economic and industrial needs. There is little the editors and other news gatekeepers can do to ensure that what they receive is accurate, factual and authoritative information because of the official designations of the sources, though they can easily identify propagandists from public relations persons. Details
What About Bird Flu? By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye When it was reported that Nigeria has recorded “the first” human casualty from bird flu, a World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson, Gregory Hartl, said cases of humans contracting the H5N1 virus in Nigeria should come to no one as a surprise, considering the experience in a country like Indonesia, which, like Nigeria, has huge concentrations of poultry where human beings live. Details
Who Benefits from the Nigerian Political Stalemate? By Dr. Wunmi Akintide If you don't believe me, check it out.. IBB had to be forced to quit or "step aside" after close to 9 years in office with a gun pointed to his head, so to speak. Obasanjo who had promised to serve only one term in 1999, had completely forgotten his promise when in 2003 he had to go on his knees begging his V.P. and his king makers in PDP not to hold him to his words. Details
To say that corruption both real and imaginary is already at the heart of the ongoing electioneering campaign by political parties is an understatement. Under the current dispensation of you be thief, I no be thief campaign, there is no better time to address the rot in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) than now. Details
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and His Witch-Hunting Brigade. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde For all intent and purposes, the EFCC was to be an independent body, free from private and pubic interference by the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. The Commission was supposed to be sovereign, impartial and above reproach. Considering the history and experience of such bodies, the EFCC was not to be seen to be doing the bidding of the president. It was not to be an instrument for vendetta; it was not to be an extension of the presidency; it was not be a tool used for browbeating political opponents, critics and perceived enemies of the state. And Ribadu himself was supposed to be on the side of the people, be above board and not act as the president’s poodle or hangman. Details
Emperor Obasanjo, Nigeria is Smarter than You! By Habu Dauda Fika We know without question that the most important thing we need from this president is a sincere, capable, competent, and focused leadership. We also know that events on both sides of the Niger/Benue and the thinking in our capital have underlined the inextricable need for reducing poverty, increasing security, and spreading the foundations for a democratic, rights-based society. Details
Political Campaigns And The Flight Of Oratory. By Atayi Babs Opaluwah Our current ‘men of power’ who rate high on the noise quotient but bring little intelligence and littler moral mettle to the table should draw life lessons from the above and not be versed in vain babblings that manage the magic of appearing to say something while essentially obscuring issues. They should learn that only three things matter in a political speech and they are: who says it, how he says it and what he says, and of all these, the last matters the most! It is hoped that they will begin to explore the secret of oratory that lies not in saying new things but in saying things with a certain power, which moves the heavens. Details
Call it what you like, Nigerians did not overwhelmingly vote for the PDP to continue in governance beyond 2003 but it carried on anyway and shockingly only a few Nigerians fought the battle against an illegitimate regime to the end, a battle that was shamelessly trashed by the Supreme Court which beyond all expectations gave OBJ the tazarce approval. That was the battle General Muhammadu Buhari, almost single handedly fought gallantly like a true soldier as they say in Hausa: “Ba gudu ba tsoro.” Details
Professor Iwu’s INEC Challenge To Nigerians. By Max Gbanite Nigerians are not blind or hard of hearing; they know that most of the directors, commissioners and electoral officers working in INEC are billionaires; yet, EFCC and ICPC are yet to be invited or failed in their duty to purge the system. The professor has also shown an uncanny preference towards PDP by attending a retreat organized by the party. This action does not hold well in the mindset of the voters; they, therefore, cannot be blamed for accusing INEC of taking sides. Details
Obasanjo, Boni Haruna and the Political Turbulence in Adamawa. By Zayyad I Muhammad Few hours after the Adamawa state house of assembly allowed him to be the Acting Governor of Adamawa state, Tukur went on ‘rampage’ purportedly ‘sacking’ the twenty-one caretaker local government council officials who were elected by an electoral-collage, not satisfied, the man went ahead to ‘sack’ the members of Adamawa state executive council, who in pointblank told Tukur; “ you are joking!, one irony of the whole issues is , Boni Haruna who is the elected executive governor of Adamawa state, is not dead, nor has he resigned his position , neither has Boni become incapacitated, nor the Adamawa state house of assembly had impeached him. Details
Soyinka And Buhari's Presidential Ambition. By Anthony A Akinola Briefly summarised, Professor Wole Soyinka recently called on Nigerians not to vote for General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential polls. Soyinka's main disagreement with Buhari has to do with the latter's human rights records as Nigeria's military dictator between 1984 and 1985, as well as his perceived divisive standards in the politics of a divided nation. This article is a further appraisal of what can be called the "Buhari question" Details
Buhari , 2007 and Achieving Millennium Development Goals ( Parts One and Two ). By Dr. Aminu Magashi In conclusion, I will like to say that while GMB’s loyal supporters are of the opinion that he is the best candidate Nigeria needs at the moment due to his impeccable Honesty , Prudence and Accountability and his die hard opponents are with the opinion that because of his military mentality and past records of draconian rules he is not fit to lead us . While I cannot take away those good qualities from him , I cannot also completely exonerate him from such criticisms. Details
Kano Governorship Race Without Malam. By Jaafar Jaafar The beginning of lunacy, a Hausa adage observes, is irregular spitting. Needless to say, His Excellency Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the executive governor of Kano State, has become a funny bloke, and a poor wretch who, in order to show his anger, spits venom and tirade in high dudgeon. Details
How Shekarau Operates His Foreign Bank Accounts. By Jaafar Jaafar “…one M.I. Shekarau, a Nigerian, has a classified National Westminster Bank Plc account with a whopping deposit of £4,512,269.59 with the account number: 4113242. National Westminster Bank Plc is at Level 7 Phase 2, Pentioville Road , London , N1 9h1, England . (Ibid) The same masquerade who calls himself M.I Shekarau also operates a classified account at National Commercial Bank Plc., Head office Jeddah , Saudi Arabia with the equally whopping deposit of 2,214,905.67 Riyals. The account number is 9600438 and National Commercial Bank is located at Jeddah 21481, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . Details
These are the major forces that combine and seem to co-ordinate their activities in order to ensure that the administration of Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is enlisted in the black book of Kano history. However, their only problem appears to be the teeming population of Kano state whose votes can make and mar and whose psyche no body can make fool of. Details
‘Father’: Kindly Step Aside! By Abdullah Musa General Buhari is a presidential candidate. He had at many fora castigated the policies of the present PDP administration; his chief grouse being what he called monumental fraud at 2003 elections; which however the courts decided that it was not significant enough to have tilted the results in his favor even if reversed. Chief Obasanjo knew of the fraud (per his encounter with Ngige and Obi), benefited from it, and did not punish the culprits. And it is to such soul that you would accord altruistic motives in a campaign meant to sanitize both Government and Politics. Details
Nigeria In Trouble, If Obasanjo's "Modus Operandi" Becomes The Standard For Next President. By Dr. Wunmi Akintide The principle of rotation of the presidency between the North and South would now appear to be firmly established in the psyche of Nigerians, and I would argue it is the right thing to do, given the dangers inherent in the other conceivable solutions. The conventional wisdom now is that since a southerner is currently holding the job, and has done so, for eight years, the next President must, of necessity, come from the North and hold the office for the same number of years regardless of performance.. Details
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