Politics

SERAP Wants Governors To Account For Held LG Allocations

SERAP Wants Governors To Account For Held LG Allocations

By Hadiza Suleman The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Thursday, told the thirty-six state governors and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to account for local government allocations they had been taking custody of or face legal action. This followed the Supreme Court verdict that it is unconstitutional for states and the FCT to hold allocations meant for LGAs. The judgement followed a suit filed by the federal government aiming to make the 774 LGAs in Nigeria autonomous. SERAP said the apex court's decision would end the persistent misappropriation of FAAC allocations and public funds meant…
Read More
Akpabio Takes A Swipe At Udom: I Made Him Governor But He Did Nothing For My Zone 

Akpabio Takes A Swipe At Udom: I Made Him Governor But He Did Nothing For My Zone 

Our Reporter Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has rekindled his acrimony with the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel by alleging that despite making Udom governor, he paid him back with a bad coin.  According to Akpabio, the former governor did not implement any project in his north-west senatorial district all through his tenure. Akpabio who was governor of Akwa Ibom from 2007 to 2015, made the statements while speaking with Senator Akpan Sampson (Akwa Ibom South) during the Senate plenary on Thursday.  He did not however say whether or not he regretted making Udom to succeed him.…
Read More
Nyesom Wike, The Ugly Face Of Nigeria’s ‘Democracy’

Nyesom Wike, The Ugly Face Of Nigeria’s ‘Democracy’

By IKECHUKWU AMAECHI The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, is a cantankerous old fossil – irascible, quarrelsome and testy, no doubt. Whether as a local government chairman, chief of staff, minister or governor, he is bad-tempered, cranky and grouchy; a man not only at war with himself but perpetually with others. Such behaviour is totally unbecoming of a leader. Leadership demands a healthy dose of humility. But as governor of Rivers State for eight years, Nyesom Wike was at war with everyone, abusing all who dared cross his path. With him, every criticism, no matter how constructive is a…
Read More
The Priest As Political Provocateur

The Priest As Political Provocateur

By TUNDE OLUSUNLE When Hyacinth Iornem Alia, a priest of the Catholic church declared his intention to contest for the 2023 governorship in Benue State, his interest resonated with the people of the state. Back in 1991 under the eternally endless "Third Republic" transition programme of the General Ibrahim Babangida administration, an older priest of the same denomination, Moses Orshio Adasu, contested the governorship of the same state. Adasu ran on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP) one of the two political parties established by the Babangida regime at the time, won the election and was inaugurated on…
Read More
Paradox Of Tinubu’s Democracy Day Speech

Paradox Of Tinubu’s Democracy Day Speech

By SHEDDY OZOENE "Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.” – Walter Cronkite For the second time since his inauguration last year, President Bola Tinubu has made a show of the Democracy Day, and using it as a reminder to the public of his democratic credentials as an activist, protester and a man who deployed the media in setting the nation's political agenda. The last one was even more so, as he virtually raised the dead heroes of Nigeria's Democracy, with an uncommon outpour of encomium. It all started 31 years ago, when the…
Read More
One Year Of Doing Things Differently: The Peter Mbah Story

One Year Of Doing Things Differently: The Peter Mbah Story

He arguably comes across as the Governor with the best scorecard in 365 days. Ndi Enugu can attest to this truism. The Enugu space today tells lucid testimonies of the place of commitment, dedication, capacity and competency in transformational leadership. And such is the remarkable Story of Peter Mbah. I had a near 30 minutes private dialogue with His EXCELLENCY Peter Ndubuisi Mbah three days after he was sworn in as the Executive Governor of Enugu State in 2023. Interestingly I have elected to pen this Tribute in Profound Leadership in his honour exactly one year after that incisive dialogue.…
Read More
Tinubu’s Best-forgotten First Year In Office

Tinubu’s Best-forgotten First Year In Office

By IKECHUKWU AMAECHI  Asked last December to comment on Bola Tinubu’s performance as President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces since May 29, 2023, Prof Wole Soyinka, first black man to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and one of the most fervent cheerleaders of the Tinubu presidency, said he will only do so on the administration’s first anniversary. “Well, you know, something you may have noticed about me is that most heads of state, when they take office, I always leave them alone for about the first year… because they need time. I know when they come in, they…
Read More
BREAKING: Senator Ayogu Eze Is Dead

BREAKING: Senator Ayogu Eze Is Dead

The former Senator for Enugu North, Ayogu Eze, is dead. He died this morning, Thursday 25th April, in Abuja. The Senator has been down with heart-related ill health since February which confined him most of the time, to his Maitama home in Abuja. Last February, Senator Eze was bubbly when he hosted his relatives, friends and the cream of his political associates for the traditional marriage of his daughter at City Park, Wuse II, Abuja. The event was chaired by his political mentor, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo. He lapsed into serious ill-health few days after and was unable to attend the…
Read More
Remembering Mamman Shata, 33 Years After

Remembering Mamman Shata, 33 Years After

By SHEDDY OZOENE House number 43, Idi Maska Road in Funtua, Katsina State, was just like any other building in the busy neighbourhood adjourning the Funtua Central Motor Park, save for the unending stream of visitors that trooped in and out of it. Some of the callers were friends of its famous occupant while others were members of the Social Democratic Party, (SPD). The building, a one-storey affair, green in colour, was the residence of the legendary Hausa  folk musician, poet and politician, Alhaji Mamman Shata who was at the time, chairman of the SDP in Funtua Local Government Area.…
Read More
When Supreme Court Dodged A Bullet

When Supreme Court Dodged A Bullet

In Kano, Plateau and Zamfara, the Supreme Court and President Bola Tinubu simply dodged a bullet on Friday, January 12. The judgements revalidating the mandates of Abba Kabir Yusuf, Caleb Muftwang and Lawal Dauda, who were earlier sacked by the Court of Appeal, were not altruistic. Enlightened self-interest informed both the apex court and the presidency – Siamese twins – that the cost of judicial malfeasance in those three states will be colossal. They were, therefore, forced to back down from their sinister plot. They don’t deserve the praises heaped on them by impressionistic Nigerians. By IKECHUKWU AMAECHI  Since the…
Read More