A few days ago, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the governor elect of Anambra State released the list of members of his transition committee. In that list were names of very distinguished Nigerian men and women from all walks of life and beyond the geography of Anambra State. The quality of the membership of that committee to be headed by Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili has set the entire Southeast buzzing for the right reasons. For many, Soludo even before being sworn in has offered a dizzying peep into what to expect from him as governor of arguably the most prominent state in Igboland.…
Author: Uche Ugboajah
For some time now, the stories emanating from the largest political party in Africa, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), cannot be said to be palatable, at least to its members and supporters. First, it was rumoured that some governors elected on the platform of the major opposition party were gearing up to move into the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) until it happened. At the last count, three governors, two from the South and one from the North had decamped from PDP to APC. And there are still hush-hush talk of other PDP governors putting on…
The past month has been revealing to the government and people of Nigeria. As the dust of the epochal youth protest tagged #EndSARS settles and the billows die down, everybody is taking note of the costs, what was done, what shouldn’t have been done and the possibilities ahead. For once, the young people have said it loud and clear to the people in government that they are watching and can change the course of history. Yes, for the period the protest primarily targeted at ending police brutality lasted, these defiant youths proved how activist they are, and if care is…
The last time an amendment was made to the laws governing elections in Nigeria was in the year 2010. That is clearly ten years ago, when the Electoral Act was amended. From that period up until now, several issues and problems arising from the conduct of elections make an amendment of the subsisting law even more imperative. From Imo State where the majority of the people feel that the Supreme Court imposed on them a governor they never elected, to Zamfara and Bayelsa, where candidates who were actually defeated on election day now preside as governors, there are genuine reasons…
The recent activist behaviour of the judiciary through the many and sometimes controversial judgments handed out by our courts in election petition matters can only suggest that it is time we fixed our electoral process. From Zamfara to Rivers; from Osun to Kano; and from Imo to Bayelsa, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the highest court in the land, had pronounced judgments that got many citizens not only disagreeing but also questioning the rationale of the finality of the court as enshrined in the nation’s constitution. In Imo State particularly, the judgment of the Supreme court on the gubernatorial election…
