The Nation Newspaper

Tag: elections

  • Obama inspires brother to run for office in Kenya elections

    Obama inspires brother to run for office in Kenya elections

    KOGELO, Kenya – U.S. President Barack Obama’s message of hope and change has inspired his half-brother Malik to launch a political career of his own, with his eye on elections in Kenya in March.

    “If my brother is doing great things for people in the United States, why can’t I do great things for Kenyans here?” Malik Obama said in an interview in the village of Kogelo, President Obama’s ancestral homeland.

    Malik, 54, is running for governorship of the rural Siaya county as an independent candidate.

    His sibling’s message resonates with a Kenyan electorate angry over a political class widely regarded as greedy and corrupt.

    However, the odds are stacked against lone candidates in a country where ideology is trumped by tribe or clan ties. This is the first time independents have been permitted to run in an election after a constitutional change in 2010.

    For Obama, the inspiration comes from elsewhere.

    “He is an inspiration to me and I feel that he is an embodiment of my father’s dream,” he said of the U.S. leader.

    “All he told me is ‘brother, it is not an easy thing to get into public office. Just have a thick skin because people will be targeting you. The media will be saying this and that. There will be people who love you and people who won’t love you’.”

    He said his younger brother has flourished by following the footsteps of their father, Barack Obama Snr – the first African to attend the University of Hawaii before returning home to work in the senior echelons of the Kenyan civil service.

    “The old and tested way has not really worked for us. Right now we need a bold, radical and fresh approach,” he said.

    To capture the governorship, Obama will face a bruising battle from the likes of Oburu Odinga, brother to Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and a new and popular entrant to the political scene, William Oduol.

    Oburu Odinga is a long-serving member of parliament in the area, while Oduol, 35, has won favor with the youth.

    “As much as the brother has done well in the U.S., the truth of the matter is that he (Malik) is not very close to the people here on the ground,” Amos Owino, a 29-year old clinician, said.

    Malik Obama, a resident of the United States, has lived in Washington DC since 1985 where he worked with various firms before becoming an independent financial consultant.

    In his office are framed photographs of himself with President Obama in the Oval office and another at the president’s wedding, where he was the best man.

    He lives partly in the United States where he takes up work contracts from time to time and Kenya.

    “We are very proud of him (Malik), but Oduol has better policies especially on education improvement and roads construction,” said Irene Sindih, a 24-year old businesswoman.

    Obama said he is running as an independent to avoid being beholden to party grandees whom he blames for what he says is the failed leadership in the country of 40 million.

    Obama said the U.S. president also urged him to be honest with the electorate and to be true to himself.

    His campaign slogan is “Just as it is in United States, I want it here”, he said in his office in a recreation centre he set up with the Barack H. Foundation, a charitable organization he founded to build houses for women and orphans.

    With a population of 832,000 people, the main economic activities in Siaya county are subsistence farming and small trading. Many residents live in mud huts with thatched roofs.

    Obama wants to help build new roads, water and electricity supply, hospitals and small-scale industries once he is elected governor. After conquering this, he has eyes for an even bigger prize, the Kenyan presidency at the next elections in 2017.

     

    …begins second term with 51 per cent approval rating

    President Barack Obama embarks on his second term in office on Monday with half the nation giving him a good performance review, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday.

    Fifty-one percent of Americans surveyed Jan. 11-15 approve of how Obama is handling his job, the poll said. Forty-one percent disapprove.

    The Times’ Marjorie Connelly notes in her analysis that Obama’s approval rating is similar to the one held by former President George W. Bush at the start of his second term, but far below ratings garnered by former President Bill Clinton (60 percent) and former President Ronald Reagan (62 per cent) at the beginning of their second terms.

    The “fiscal cliff” negotiations didn’t alter public opinion of the president’s ability to handle the economy, the poll said.

    Forty-six percent of adults surveyed said they approve of the president’s ability to handle the economy and 49 per cent disapprove. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3 per centage points.

     

  • Still on the American elections

    Still on the American elections

    SIR: The American national elections might have come and gone with all the interest and anxiety generated, political permutations and projections, both within and outside the shores of the United States. The Winner had emerged and the loser accepted the faith, but what are the lessons inherent for African leaders and particularly Nigerian politicians, political parties, electorate, electoral umpire, security agencies, and indeed the media to learn from this world’s beacon of democracy?

    Let us start from the emergence of candidates, particularly the Republican Party flag bearer Mitt Romney who emerged through rigorous and tedious party primaries. Immediately after he won the primary every other aspirant queued behind him and gave him the needed support. It is instructive that none of them defected to any other political party in a desperate bid to seek nomination or to vent anger on the party. Same was applicable to the Democratic Party flag bearer, Barrack Obama who emerged consensually without the power of incumbency playing any visible significant role.

    The electioneering campaign itself was so interesting and enlightening, as it was issue driven. Candidates focus majorly on how to revamp the economy, tackle growing unemployment rate, strengthen the middle class, and improve foreign policy direction among others. These are the fundamental and cardinal objectives on which the candidates canvassed to get Americans’ votes.

    This is contrary to what obtains in Nigeria where election campaign is far from being constructive. Contestants mount the podium to rain abuses on the oppositions and castigate one another relegating serious and fundamental issues to the background. It is difficult to recollect when elections and party politics in Nigeria were defined by ideology.

    Today, almost two years into the Jonathan presidency, the federal government is yet to grapple with the myriad of problems facing the country.

    It is also quite instructive that the election in America was violent free. Most often, the two leading candidates; President Barrack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney campaign simultaneously in the same State or even in the same county without any eruption of violence. What a disciplined party followership. This is the hallmark of civilised democracy. Unfortunately, violence has become an embodiment of electioneering campaigns in Nigeria, and indeed Africa. It is equally interesting to note that even with some of the challenges faced by the electoral body in some polling units in the American election; the electoral body was not castigated by the Politicians to undermine the outcome of the election. There were polling units where election did not start on schedule because of lack of electricity to power the voting machines owing to the stormy sandy that left many cities without electricity few days to the presidential elections. Voters waited patiently on a long queue to take their turns. Both the electorate and the Candidates believed in the impartiality of the electoral body. There was no snatching of ballot boxes or other election materials, no reported case of collusion between the electoral bodies with any politician for electoral advantage.

    Their Umpires conducted themselves impartially to win the confidence of the stakeholders.

    The question is: when will INEC gain the sort of credibility that would earn it the trust and respect of Nigerians as a truly independent body? The Media also has a role to play in this respect. First and foremost, the media has a sacred responsibility to inform, educate and enlighten the people, as guaranteed by the constitution. Hence, the media need to constantly remind political actors about the rules of the game and civilised ways of political conduct.

    Perhaps, the most amazing episode in the whole process of the American election was the manner the two principal Candidates accepted the popular will of Americans. Despite the fact that the result was still a forecast and projection from exit polls, the supposed looser had accepted defeat and winner accept victory.

    All these are pointers to the fact that we still have a long way to go for our democracy to be firmly rooted. But we will get there if all the stakeholders in the Nigerian project decide to abide by the simple dictate of democracy and do things right all the time.

    • Tope Ojo is of the PR Unit, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Ondo elections and the Yoruba nation

    Ondo elections and the Yoruba nation

    The issues at stake in Ondo State as the governorship contest looms are quite dear to the discerming mind. It goes goes beyond the person of Dr. Olusegun or Aswaju Bola ahmed Tinubu. Any attempt to norrow the issue down to these eminent personalities totally misses the point. The central question is: What will advance the survival of the Yoruba nation in the tottering federation called Nigeria?

    International law clearly recognizes the right of nations within political states to self-determination and autonomy status.

    What is a “Nation”? A nation is a group/people with a common culture, language, destiny and social ambition. Where such a people finds itself clustered with other groups in a political state such as Nigeria, it is their right and prerogative to determine the terms of their association with such other groups. They may opt for integration and political participation into the political state by way of a federation or confederation if the circumstances are conducive. They may alternatively, opt for regional autonomy or self governance. Such a decision belongs to the group is a recognized and right under international instruments and principles – right to development, right to self-determination, control over natural resources, right of minorities etcetera.

    A political state also has its rights in international law – sovereignty and territorial integrity. The right of minorities and of political states have to be carefully managed and balanced and the path to achieving such balance is through discussion and negotiation. Where the discussion and negotiation are done in good faith, there is every likelihood that the political state will survive. However, where the negotiation or discussion is not done in good faith or even disallowed as in the Nigerian federation, then the result may be a collapse of that political state through war, terrorism or other forms political agitation culminating in secession as in India/Pakistan, Pakistan/Bangladesh, Sudan/South Sudan and Somalia.

    In the modern era, there is no truly homogenous political state. Most political states are an agglomeration of different people’s and cultures. One important hallmark of developed and successful political states is that they have managed the tensions of heterogeneity intelligently and sincerely. The United Kingdom went through its own period of political tension with the its Irish “tribe”. The Irish political organ Sinn Fein opted for armed struggle over a long period until the labour governments of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gordon Brown agreed to regional self government for the Irish and the Scots.

    In Canada, the Quebec region consisting of the French speaking peoples of Canada has also achieved a measure of self-government leaving Canada in relative peace.

    In Spain, the Basque region has only recently worked out a truce with the central government and negotiation is being done to fashion out fresh terms of association.

    Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands have their own language and cultural divisions but these have been ably managed by the enlightened leadership of these countries.

    One common denominator in these various countries is that the nations with a nation have united themselves under a common political banner to advance their group interests and enhance their chances of stronger political bargaining and negotiation for the survival and advancement of their groups/nations.

    To my mind this is the raison d’etre for the existence of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) like its Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Action Group (AG) predecessors. Many who complain that these are regional/tribal parties need to understand the political dynamics of heterogeneous political entities. Political parties are vehicles of advancing political interests and no party needs to apologize for this. The Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and at inception, up to a point, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had a core northern agenda. Late Sarwuan Tarka saw through the subterfuge of an ubiquitous “Northern Region” and formed, in the First Republic, a separate political entity to cater for the interests of the Middle Belt but myopically his successors did not follow through on that initiative and now they are reaping the results of their self-deceit with the present crisis in the Plateau. The Eastern Region had its NCNC, its Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and now its All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA). (Never mind, the inclusion a few persons firm other tribes to give it a national flavour). APGA’s inability to consolidate itself is one of the reasons why an Igbo Presidency will continue to be frustrated.

    For the Yoruba nation to advance its national, cultural and socio-economic interests in the Nigerian federation as presently constituted, therefore, all reasonable Yoruba sons and daughters should realize that their future, indeed their survival as a people lies in identifying with the ACN as a vehicle for ensuring the completion of the resuscitation and rescue of a Yoruba nation gasping for breath in the polluted by air political of Boko Haram, Northern irredentism, denial of equitable political participation, dwindling economic and social progress, and inept leadership.

    Consequently, the issue in the Ondo State elections is beyond Mimiko and the contrived personality disputation with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Personally, I am unable to comment on any alleged achievement of Mimiko in Ondo State as I have not visited the state in recent times, but I have been to Edo State and seen the giant strides of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and I do believe that the ACN does have a template for developing the states that fall under its sway so that a Rotimi Akeredolu, astute and competent as he is, works in tandem with a larger regional agenda..

    The issue is that the Yoruba need the ACN as a weapon of offence and defence against internal colonialism in Nigeria. Ondo people should not be the chink in the Yoruba armour.

     

    • Prof. Ibidapo-Obe is of Faculty of Law, University of Lagos.

  • Why military should not monitor elections, by Amosun, Oyo speaker

    Why military should not monitor elections, by Amosun, Oyo speaker

    Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and the Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Alhaja Monsurat Sunmonu, yesterday insisted that the military should be the last resort in quelling electoral crisis in the country.
    Amosun and Sunmonu explained that police, who are constitutionally empowered to provide security for such internal exercises, should be allowed to play the role in election monitoring.
    They spoke at a lecture marking this year’s Press Week of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo state.
    Amosun, who was represented by his Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in his lecture entitled: “The Role of the Military in Strengthening Democratic Process” noted the development theory of the military, which requires them to cooperate with elected leaders and other democratic institutions to ensure that the country is well governed.
    He said: “The military can achieve this through constant contribution of ideas on internal security, economic development, foreign affairs and political intelligence.”
    The Governor also stressed the need for the military to play a better role in fostering inter- agency relationship.
    In her remark, Sunmonu pointed out that the government would have no reason to deplore military personnel if citizens and politicians played the game by the rules.
    She urged Nigerians to obey the law and uphold the ‘one man, one vote’ mantra of democracy.
    According to her, monitoring of elections is basically the task of the police and other Para- Military agencies.