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  • The politicians who never stop running

    The politicians who never stop running

    Across Nigeria, a familiar group of candidates always contest, one election cycle after another — undeterred by defeat, driven by ambition, and emblematic of the country’s enduring political cycle. Assistant Editor EMMANUEL BADEJO reports

    In Nigeria’s rough-and-tumble political arena, defeat rarely spells the end. For some politicians, it’s merely another round in an unending contest. They emerge every election cycle—older, perhaps wiser, but always determined to try again. From the presidential stage to state governorships, these serial contenders have come to define a certain brand of political resilience. Their persistence, often bordering on obsession, has shaped conversations about ambition, ego, and the ever-elusive nature of victory in Nigerian politics.

    Below is a look at some of the country’s most consistent contestants—men and women who have made running, even without winning, their political calling.

    Atiku Abubakar

    Atiku Abubakar’s political story began in 1990 when he announced his intention to run for governor of the old Gongola State. Fate intervened a year later when the state was split into Adamawa and Taraba. Atiku, now in the new Adamawa State, went on to win the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship primary in 1991, only to be disqualified before the election.

    That setback didn’t deter him. He became Nigeria’s vice president under Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007 and has since sought the presidency multiple times—losing each attempt.

    His defeats have come under different political banners: the SDP in 1993 (losing the primary to M.K.O. Abiola); the Action Congress in 2007 (defeated by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua); the PDP in 2011 (lost the primary to Goodluck Jonathan); the APC in 2015 (lost to Muhammadu Buhari); and the PDP again in 2019 and 2023 (defeated by Buhari and Bola Tinubu, respectively).

    Atiku, who turns 79 soon, still refuses to step aside. Despite losing six presidential bids, reports suggest he may try again in 2027, when he will be 81. For him, the race for Aso Rock remains unfinished business.

    Pat Utomi

    Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, better known as Pat Utomi, built his reputation as an academic and economist long before stepping into politics. A former adviser in the Shagari administration, Utomi entered the presidential race in 2007 as the candidate of the African Democratic Party (ADP). He lost resoundingly.

    Undeterred, he tried again in 2011 under the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP). That attempt also failed, and the party faded soon after.

    In 2019, Utomi switched gears, seeking the governorship of Delta State under a faction of the APC. Internal party disputes derailed his campaign. Still, his name endures as a symbol of Nigeria’s intelligentsia struggling to break into its hard-nosed political class.

     Jimi Agbaje

    Jimi Agbaje, a pharmacist-turned politician, has become synonymous with Lagos governorship races. Charismatic and respected across party lines, Agbaje contested three times under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)—in 2007, 2015, and 2019. Each time, he lost: first to Babatunde Fashola, then to Akinwunmi Ambode, and later to Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    Agbaje rose to prominence through the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, where he served as treasurer. His genteel style and focus on civility in politics won him admirers, but Lagos’ deeply entrenched political machinery has proven unbeatable. To his supporters, Agbaje’s repeated runs are noble; to critics, they’re quixotic.

    Eyitayo Jegede

    Eyitayo Jegede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Attorney General of Ondo State, has twice run for governor of the state—first in 2016 and again in 2020. Both times, he came close but lost to the late Rotimi Akeredolu.

    Despite his impressive credentials and strong campaign messages, Jegede could not overcome internal party divisions and the APC’s dominance in Ondo. In 2024, he withdrew from another planned attempt. Even so, his calm demeanour and loyalty to the PDP have earned him respect across the political divide.

    Agboola Ajayi

    Agboola Ajayi’s career reflects the fluid nature of Nigerian politics. He began with the SDP in the late 1980s, later joined the PDP, and served in multiple local government roles before representing his constituency at the House of Representatives.

    In 2016, Ajayi switched to the APC to run alongside Rotimi Akeredolu, serving as his deputy governor. However, by 2020, the alliance had soured, and Ajayi contested against Akeredolu on another platform—losing badly. He tried again in 2024 and lost once more.

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    Known for his defiance and political restlessness, Ajayi remains one of Ondo’s most active yet unlucky politicians.

    Osagie Ize-Iyamu

    Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a clergyman and political strategist, has twice sought to govern Edo State. In 2016, he ran under the PDP and lost to Godwin Obaseki of the APC. Four years later, in 2020, he switched to the APC and faced Obaseki again, who had by then defected to the PDP. The outcome was the same: another loss.

    Ize-Iyamu’s long association with the late Adams Oshiomhole and his deep roots in Edo politics make him a constant figure in the state’s power game. Still, victory remains out of reach.

    Ovie Omo-Agege

    Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s rise from Delta State politics to the national stage was fast. After losing early PDP primaries, he became Secretary to the State Government under James Ibori and later won a Senate seat on the Labour Party ticket in 2015.

    In 2023, as Deputy Senate President and APC heavyweight, Omo-Agege contested for the Delta State governorship. Despite high expectations, he was defeated by Sheriff Oborevwori of the PDP. It was a humbling loss for a man once considered his state’s most powerful politician.

    Great Ogboru

    If persistence alone won elections, Great Ogboru would have governed Delta long ago. Known as “the People’s General,” he has contested nearly every governorship race in the state since 2003 under different parties: the AD, the DPP, the Labour Party, and the APC.

    A businessman once linked to the 1990 coup attempt against Ibrahim Babangida, Ogboru returned from exile to challenge the Delta’s political elite. His populist appeal and grassroots support earned him repeated nominations—but never victory. To some, he’s an icon of determination; to others, a case study in political futility.

    Chris Okotie

    Chris Okotie, the flamboyant pastor and televangelist, has made several attempts at Nigeria’s presidency. Running in 2003, 2007, and 2011, he lost each time—first under the Justice Party, then the Fresh Democratic Party he founded.

    Despite his eloquence and national profile, Okotie’s campaigns were largely symbolic. His repeated losses made him one of the country’s best-known “serial contenders,” albeit one who seems to have accepted his fate with humour and faith.

    Bukola Saraki

    Bukola Saraki, former Senate President and two-term governor of Kwara State, was once among Nigeria’s most powerful politicians. But his recent record has been a string of losses.

    He failed to secure reelection to the Senate in 2019, marking the collapse of the once-formidable Saraki political dynasty in Kwara. In 2022, he sought the PDP presidential ticket for 2023 but lost to Atiku Abubakar. For Saraki, who once held sway over national politics, the defeats were a reminder that influence in Nigeria can vanish overnight.

    Andy Uba

    Andy Uba’s name once struck fear into Anambra politics. Wealthy, well-connected, and powerful, he was once seen as untouchable. His troubles began in 2007 when the Supreme Court nullified his governorship victory after only 17 days in office.

    He later lost the APC governorship primary in 2018 to Tony Nwoye, then the 2021 general election to Charles Soludo of the APGA, finishing a distant third. When he challenged the result in court, the Supreme Court again ruled against him.

    Once a political giant, Uba has watched his influence evaporate. Yet, like others on this list, he shows no sign of retreating from the stage.

    Uche Ekwunife

    Senator Uche Ekwunife has fought and lost several major elections, including two governorship and two senatorial bids. In 2023, she lost her Senate reelection attempt for Anambra Central, placing third. Two years later, she was on the APC ticket as deputy governorship candidate in Anambra’s 2025 election, losing again to Charles Soludo.

    Ekwunife’s 2015 Senate victory was also annulled by the Court of Appeal, forcing a rerun. Despite these setbacks, she remains admired for her grace in defeat—often congratulating her opponents publicly. In a field dominated by men, her persistence has earned her respect as one of Nigeria’s most resilient female politicians.

    Tony Nwoye

    Tony Nwoye’s repeated attempts at Anambra’s governorship have made him a familiar face in state politics. He first ran in 2013 under the PDP, losing to Willie Obiano of APGA. He tried again in 2017, this time as the APC candidate, and lost once more to Obiano.

    Ahead of the 2021 race, Nwoye sought the PDP nomination but withdrew from the primaries, citing irregularities. Over the years, he’s also contested various party primaries—sometimes withdrawing, losing, but always returning for another shot.

    Alphonsus Igbeke

    Alphonsus “Ubanese” Igbeke’s political career in Anambra North has been marred by controversy. In 2007, he lost a senatorial race to Joy Emodi but later secured a Court of Appeal judgment declaring him the winner in 2010. That decision, however, remained clouded by legal confusion.

    In 2011, Igbeke’s claim to the PDP senatorial ticket was rejected by the Supreme Court, which upheld Margery Okadigbo’s victory. Accusations of forgery in the primary process further dented his reputation. While Igbeke did serve briefly in the Senate, his victories were pyrrhic—overshadowed by litigation and allegations.

    What drives them? Why do these politicians keep returning to the ballot despite repeated rejection? The answers vary. For some, it’s conviction; for others, ambition—or the belief that the system once denied them unfairly.

    In Nigeria’s political culture, defeat doesn’t always end a career. The electoral process can be unpredictable, and fortunes change quickly. The same voters who reject a candidate today might embrace them tomorrow if party dynamics or public mood shift.

    Persistence can also be strategic. Each contest keeps a politician relevant, sustains their patronage network, and positions them for appointments, negotiations, or influence within their parties.

    But there’s a fine line between resilience and delusion. At what point does perseverance become self-defeat?

    Conclusion

    Nigeria’s democracy is littered with the footprints of these perennial candidates—men and women who refuse to accept that the race might already be over. They embody both the strength and the weakness of the country’s political class: a determination that borders on stubbornness, a belief in personal destiny that sometimes overshadows public service.

    Whether one admires or pities them depends on perspective. Some see unyielding courage in their persistence; others see an inability to let go. Either way, their stories remind us that in Nigerian politics, defeat is rarely final—and ambition, like the election season itself, always finds a way to return.

  • Politicians: learn ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’

    Politicians: learn ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’

    Problem: Sacrificing a N500m National Assembly NASS meeting for a N5,000 photocopy?? WHY NOT JUST SAY ‘PLEASE’?  Everything is not a conspiracy against you or disrespect! 

    We live in a country which appeared to prefer to equip the political class than empower police. Police Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs were confiscated from police in military regimes and the police were degraded.  Our police are tele-guided to guard politicians and ‘big persons’ over the public. Politicians expect police to carry handbags, briefcases and cash. We live in a country screaming about Information Technology, and now ‘Artificial Intelligence -AI’,  advances from the rooftops but which has no ‘2025 Standard Operating Procedure Cell Phone Use’ in every police station for record and transmission of cell-phone mugshot photos, fingerprints and for ‘National Data Base of Permanent Computerised Documentation of Accused, Crime, Criminals and Contacts’.

    Worst of all, we live in a country where we allow politicians to lose focus from service to become monsters. Where an ‘elected official’ and ‘serving senator’, Deputy Whip, who attended a scheduled meeting considering the relocation of the 2025 Police Budget as well as Budget Defence by the Inspector General of Police, vexed in his pomposity because he was given a different version of the IGP’s speech than the IGP was reading from. This was interpreted as a malignant breach of ‘protocol’.

    Was this a mistake, or ‘failure to distribute available copies of the IGP’s document’? Did they have more than expected numbers? You know how we grab programmes. However, it was, deliberately misinterpreted as a deliberate insult on his political personage or whatever was deemed by him to be such a monumentally heinous crime against himself and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the  Senate, sitting and at home, his person and voters who sent him to the Senate. This warranted him arrogantly and belligerently walking out like a bull out of a China shop. Are we so sorry? Should we on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the entire citizenry, the birds in the air and the lizards on the street, apologise to your ‘High and mighty’? If it was in our power, should we direct that Nigeria suspends Senate and House of Representation sessions for a ‘National Day of Apology’ for wounding the pride of the political lion, a whole senator?

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    We should call for a quiz among students to answer the question ‘When some Senators have a document and some have not- is it mistake, administrative error, underestimation of attendees, under-photocopying, a conspiracy? But more importantly – What is the best, diplomatic “on air’’ solution?

    A: SHOUTING AND PROTEST; B: WALK OUT; C: A+B; D: POLITICAL CONSPIRACY THEORY; E: CALL FOR A 5-10 MINUTE ADJOURNMENT FOR COPIES TO BE CIRCULATED OR PHOTOCOPIED. My vote is for E.

    There was huge attendance at the Police Budget meeting. There was an abridged and full budget booklet distributed and the annoyed senator was given the one not read by the IGP. Simple. Regardless, NASS members need to understand the cost of such meetings before disrupting, adjourning or walking out of them. Why should NASS suspend meetings when one of their members dies? A minute’s silence is ok!  Nigerians die every day, unsung, unmarked. NASS ‘Meeting Suspensions’ cost Nigerians many millions.  What cost to the citizens is borne for these meetings? Don’t laugh. Add the cost of 100-200 airline tickets for attenders and aides to-and-fro nationwide, 1000-2000 security personnel, per diem, local hotel bills, vehicular transport, hangers-on. And add the human disaster cost in lives. MEETINGS IN NIGERIA ARE NOT A JOKE! THEY ARE A RISK!!  Officials, aides, security personnel die in transit to such meetings in plane, road crashes and road and rail armed robberies and kidnappings. We are not talking N500m for this meeting, are we? Be truthful. When all the costs including pre-planning stages and countless meals, fuel costs and per diem are included, nearly N1billion.  So, politicians, especially self-styled ‘Distinguished & Honourable’ NASS and State Assembly members must not, rubbish N500m-1b  expensive meetings for a N5-10,000 photocopy politicised beyond belief, televised.

    PS: D&H is repeatedly exemplified as ‘Un-Distinguished and Dis-Honourable’.

    Let us not forget: We are still awaiting news of the dismissal from political office, the criminal charges and the ‘Grievous Bodily Harm’ trial of the House of Mis-Representation member ‘I WILL MAKE YOU DISAPPEAR AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN’.

    Both cases above manifest the hyper-self-importance manifested by the urge to get noticed by voluble or violent scene to overcome the common sense of silence and appreciation. POLITICAL POWER REVEALS TRUE HUMAN NATURE.

    What ever happened to the serious crime of ‘bringing the profession into disrepute’?  Sorry, it is the ‘profession of politics’ with its questionable service reputation as a ‘profession of politics’. Who will save politicians from themselves?     

    There are second and third political incidents to consider.

    We congratulate the first female Lagos State Speaker Mojisola Meranda BSc, MPIA. From the fate of her predecessor, remember that it is not how long but how well you do your job. You have an unprecedented opportunity and responsibility to females in Lagos State. Recall that ‘DELIVERY DAY IS THE MOST DANGEROUS DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE WOMAN AND CHILD’. Do not let them labour in the ‘Labour War’-d in vain. Make it a safer Lagos State which has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. 

  • ‘What politicians should do to make society better’

    ‘What politicians should do to make society better’

    By Dr Goodluck Uguoji

    Love them or hate them, politicians are a group of people that society cannot do without. Though the politician is perceived as a crafty fellow whose name conjures the image of underhand dealings, insincerity and craft opportunism society and democracy cannot do without politics and the politicians.

    World-renowned writers, philosophers and politicians have over the years captured their ambivalent feelings about politicians for posterity. For instance, Tony Wilson, the pop musician, would rather see the politician as “a man of many words with so many faces”. 

    Even notable politicians agree. Politics, says one-time American President Thomas Jefferson, “is such a torment that I would advise everyone I love not to mix with it”.

    Down the ages, men have never been enamoured of the politician and his game. The politician has more often been vilified as the quintessence of evil which, ironically, society has to tolerate. The point was well made long ago by Robert Lowe in a telling editorial in the London Times of February 7, 1852.

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    According to Lowe, “Concealment, evasions, factious combinations, the surrender of convictions to party objects, and the systematic pursuit of expediency are things of daily occurrence among men of the highest character, once embarked in the contentions of political life”.

    Not even Socrates could reconcile himself to active politics. To his fellow citizens, he declared: “If I had engaged in politics, I should have perished long ago, and done no good either to you or to myself’.Why society should hold the politician as a villain is not far to seek.” Ambrose Bierce provides an insight when he defines politics as “the conduct of public affairs for private advantage”.

    Nowhere is this private advantage best demonstrated than in the personal fortunes and possibly, glories easily garnered by the successful politician, who in the order of things, would have pined away in obscurity were it not for politics. Like the great essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson would have us believe, the ultimate of politics is, “Government has come to be a trade, and is managed solely on commercial principles”.

    More pointedly, he holds that “a man plunges into politics to make his fortune and only cares that the world shall last his days”. It is this trait of the short-sightedness of the politician caring for only his day that distinguishes him from the ennobling virtues of the statesman.

    As James Freeman Clarke put it, “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation”. The fact of the election is the politician’s undoing. It is a settled fact in society that a group of people would have to make the governing of others their business. The politician often finds himself being all things to all manner of persons.

    As a potential leader, he must see himself as a man with the solutions and the plan. He finds himself a little less truthful, a little less sincere and a little less forthright. Compromise, evasiveness and expediency become his hallmark. With time the politician is unable to distinguish between natural and strange bedfellows.

    When in 1979, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was asked why his party contained so many discredited persons, he fired back that as a politician on the hustling, his business was to win votes, not to turn himself into a judge of morals.

    “Who am I”, he queried, to say these persons are discredited when they would be voted for by their people. The logic was sound, as he eventually won the election. Despite the villainy associated with it, society would continue to tolerate politics and politicians.

     As Aristotle has correctly observed, man is essentially, a political animal. At every point in time, he would be his political self. As Shakespeare noted, “a politician would circumvent God”. Can we disprove Dryden’s characterization of the politician as “someone who is in false friendship, implacable in hate, and resolved to ruin or to rule the state?

     Politicians, according to Wendell Philips, “are like the bones of a horse’s fore-shoulder not a straight one in it”. Politics and economics are two separate disciplines which, when you come to think of it, are not quite too separate. They are intertwined, perhaps inextricably intertwined; their lives touch each other and each influences the other in more ways than can be easily imagined.

    For instance, the scramble for Africa by the Europeans was a political decision taken for economic purposes. This indicates that the two are not quite apart. The point is that because of the umbilical cord that exists between politics and economics, it is not possible to isolate either whenever crucial decisions are about to be taken. That is why those who seek to make a change in the economic arena believe that the place to be is the political arena.

    • Dr Uguoji, a security consultant and commentator on national affairs writes from Akute, Ogun State

  • Don’t allow politicians use you as thugs, students warned

    Don’t allow politicians use you as thugs, students warned

    The Niger Delta Student’s Union Government, (NIDSUG) has warned its members in the region against being hired as thugs by politicians during the forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa and Imo states.

    The student body  called on oil companies operating in the region to implement policies and programmes favourable to students insisting that International Oil Companies (IOCs) were lagging behind in providing Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) to the student Community.

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    The President of NIDSUG, Scott Ogunseri, who spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday, said students must not be identified with violence before, during and after the elections.

    Ogunseri said: “Campaigns have started in Bayelsa and Imo, soon the election will be held.  We are not saying that students should not participate in the election. But we are saying that they should vote and not cause violence.

    “They should not allow themselves to be used to cause violence. If they give you money, take the money, eat and don’t fight. It is not about the election, but about the next generation. Let’s vote for that candidate that has the interest of students and youths.”

  • Democracy beyond politicians

    By Kayode Robert Idowu

    If you seek hard evidence that the character content of a country’s political culture derives in a large measure from its leadership elite at any given point in time, you only need look at the United States now. At the last count, the world’s epitome of democratic decency had slipped into riotous political behaviour that typifies backwater democracies.

    On Wednesday, last week, some two dozens Republican lawmakers stormed a secure meeting room for US Congress committees in Washington to disrupt Democratic-led impeachment inquiry on President Donald Trump. The current American leader, as is well known by now, came under scrutiny for possible impeachment liability after a whistleblower alleged that he and top officials of his administration had pressured some foreign leaders, most notably Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to dig up dirt on his political rivals as would facilitate his re-election bid in that country’s 2020 poll. Mr. Trump and his supporters have insisted, however, that he’s done nothing wrong.

    Reports said the GOP lawmakers last week barged into an interrogation bunker known as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), railing against the impeachment inquiry and holding up a scheduled testimony by a Pentagon chief for about five hours. Some of the intruding legislators took their mobile phones with them into the facility, prompting Congress leaders and others to accuse them of security breach. Reason: SCIFs are designed to prevent electronic eavesdropping and allow people to table classified information; hence electronic devices are not permitted.

    US Congress rules stipulate that only committee members and authorised staff members are permitted to attend depositions like the one that held on Wednesday. But the conservative lawmakers forced their way in and demanded they be allowed to witness the closed-door proceedings where members of House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees conducting the impeachment probe were set to interview Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper. The intruders eventually sat in on the committee room and engaged in a shouting derby with their Democratic counterparts. At lunchtime, they ordered pizza to be brought into the meeting area. They ended their protest hours later only when they had to leave for attendance at House votes.

    News analyses argued that the brawl option last Wednesday stemmed from mounting pressure on Trump’s camp following the deposition a day earlier by US acting ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, who testified that the American leader had made military assistance to Ukraine conditional on a pledge that Democratic frontrunner for the 2020 poll, Joe Biden, would be investigated for suspicion of damaging deals when he was vice president under ex-President Barack Obama. Taylor had said US relations with Ukraine were consequently “fundamentally undermined.” In response to that testimony, however, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that the proceedings were “a coordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution.” Mr. Trump himself had earlier described the impeachment inquiry as a lynching.

    Reports further said the facility sit-in occurred two days after the American leader rallied Republicans to “get tougher and fight” for him. Ace news channel, the Cable News Network (CNN), reported that many of the lawmakers involved in the protest were at a White House meeting on Tuesday with the president. It added that someone familiar with the matter disclosed that Trump had advance knowledge of plans to enter the space. But the channel as well cited notable GOPs saying Wednesday’s protest was not raised at the meeting the previous day with Trump.

    My interest in the apparent degeneration of political culture in Trump’s America is the inherent immunity, to a considerable degree, of that country’s institution of democracy against character failings of its power elite. This is due mainly to the fact that democratic norms and values are deeply enshrined and the governance structures firmly institutionalised, hence they ultimately outlive momentary shockwaves. In other words, the system has been so cultivated and calibrated over the years that it somehow gets to filter out rouge occurrences and hold its ground.

    Nigeria’s democracy is emergent and highly vulnerable to culture shocks from the generally poor political conduct that characterises this clime. For our democracy to thrive, therefore, we need to painstakingly cultivate and institutionalise attendant values and governance structures beyond peculiar traits of the political elite. This admonition formed the thrust of a keynote paper by former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, at a conference on 20 years of democracy in Nigeria staged in Abuja on Wednesday, last week, by TELL Communication Limited.

    Speaking on the subject, ‘The electoral process in Nigeria: Safeguarding the people’s will for democracy to thrive,’ Jega said the challenge of democratic development in a country like Nigeria is how to prevent reversals and ensure consolidation of positive strides made hitherto in the political process. But the political elite, according to him, constitutes the biggest sticking point of this challenge. He noted that while most ordinary Nigerians have struggled for democratic development and consolidation since the return to civil rule in 1999, the political class, “perhaps due to lack of enlightened self-interest, (has) tended to treat and engage with the process of democratisation with kid gloves.”

    Jega explained: “In such a significant area as the electoral process, the integrity of which is crucial to democratic consolidation and good governance, the prevailing mode of participation and engagement by the elite is akin to kids playing with fire: at the least, they get burnt and at worst, they could set off a conflagration that consumes the entire edifice. As commonsense dictates that we must stop kids (from) playing with fire, so it is that we must stop the elite, especially the reckless segment of the ‘political class,’ from setting off an electoral conflagration that could consume our entire democratic edifice. The only way to successfully do this is to strive for, and imbue the Nigerian electoral process with requisite integrity that would guarantee the actualisation of the aspiration of Nigerians for both stable democratic development and consolidation.”

    The political scientist noted “remarkable trust deficit” on the part of voters in the electoral process, as indexed by progressively declining percentage voter turnout in periodic elections. To redress this, he urged that no effort be spared to “ensure that elections are conducted with integrity; i.e. (that) elections are free, fair and credible and are characterised by inclusiveness, transparency, accountability and competitiveness…substantially complying with international standards…”

    But the surest route to thriving democracy, according to him, is to institutionalise electoral integrity as would safeguard the people’s will. To this end, all key stakeholders have roles to play. Among others, the political class must eschew desperation and be statesmanly in electoral contests. The electoral body, INEC, must deeply entrench its neutrality and constitutional independence, enhance the professionalism of its workforce and strengthen linkages and mutual trust with major players in the electoral process, including the security agencies. The executive and legislative arms of government need to ensure the best possible legal framework for INEC to conduct good elections and adequately provide for financial as well as administrative autonomy of the electoral body. And the media should engage with the electoral process professionally, eschew fake news and reporting of hate speech, partisanship and other unsalutary conducts.

    An obvious deduction from foregoing recommendations is that we need to take Nigerian democracy beyond politicians for the practice to thrive.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.

  • Abe blames politicians for insecurity

    A former representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Senator Magnus Abe, has described politics as one of the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria.

    Abe who spoke through his spokesperson, Parry Benson, said the 2019 Niger Delta Chief Executive Officers; (CEO) summit, with the theme: “Economic Revitalisation for Sustainable Development,” at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt in Rivers State.

    The former Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG) urged all political leaders to commit themselves to the principle that they will not send their followers on any errand or mission that they themselves will not undertake and to which they will not send their own children.

    He said: “Politics is one of the root causes of insecurity. If you doubt me, simply look at the level of violence in the Niger Delta on election day and during the campaigns.

    “We cannot armed boys, feed them, instigate violence during elections and then after the elections we begin to talk and pretend that we do not know what is going on or when the society begins to fall apart, we act as if we do not know what is at the bottom of it.

    “If we take violence out of our politics, violence in the society will reduce to manageable proportions. There is violence everywhere in the world, but violence can only spiral out of proportion when it is state-sponsored or state tolerated.

    “If we take violence out of our elections, it will not only solve the problem of insecurity in the Niger Delta, but we will enthrone good governance, because it will substantially reduce godfatherism as it will become impossible for any leader to singlehandedly handpick every member of the House of Assembly and every local government chairman.”

    Abe also stated that if the law was fairly and impartially enforced, and effective mechanisms for review of state actions were  created, progress would be made.

    He said the state actors that violated the rules should be punished, while the private actors that compromised the system should also be sanctioned.

    The senator said: “The scenario I will like to point out, about the issue of insecurity in the Niger Delta, is to say that insecurity in this region started out of the insincerity of the political leadership.

    “It is sustained in large part by political leaders who are determined to control the rest of us by all means, fair and foul, and so, they sponsor and protect violent youths to intimidate the rest of us and control the political space.”

    Abe also expressed shock over a statement credited to the  Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof. Nelson Brambraifa, that sought to disparage the Niger Delta CEO’s Summit for political reasons, describing the statement as unfortunate, unfounded and uncalled for.

    He said: “I was shocked and stunned beyond words, that the Managing Director of NDDC issued the statement, because he was not politically comfortable with some of the persons invited and I asked myself; how can we develop the Niger Delta with this kind of thinking?

    “If you did not want to attend, you could quietly stay away. I was planning to quietly stay away. You could send somebody to represent you. If they asked you for sponsorship or for support and you did not want to give the support, it is your prerogative.

    “You have been giving money to people in all sorts of empowerment schemes that empowers nobody. When I heard that, I said, I would come. We must all condemn the kind of behaviour that will place politics above development.

    “It does not help the Niger Delta. We should have the courage to say what is right and insist that the right things be done.”

    The former Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), also urged the CEOs to join to make politics in the Niger Delta region right, in order to prevent politicians from using government to mess up their businesses.

    The immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who chaired the occasion, in his address, called on CEOs in the Niger Delta to invest in agriculture, as an alternative to oil.

    Lokpobiri described agriculture as the largest employer of labour, insisting that investment in agriculture would reduce unemployment and agitations/restiveness in the Niger Delta.

    The facilitator of the Niger Delta CEOs Summit, Ernest Sorgwe, earlier in his address, stated that the programme was put together annually to stir up the right conversation among the people of the crude oil and gas-rich region.

    Sorgwe said: “We do it (summit) to stir up the necessary conversation to change the narrative, because a place is not made by the name, but by the people who live in the environment.”

     

  • ‘Politicians carry drugs in branded vehicles in Anambra’

    A group, Human Rights Liberty Access and Peace Defenders Foundation (HURIJE), has accused politicians in Anambra State of using branded vehicles to peddle hard drugs and other harmful products.

    The group asked the Police to implement its decision of impounding such unmarked vehicles of political parties in the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura, had earlier in the week ordered  the arrest and prosecution of persons using unmarked/tinted and masked vehicles without authorization from June 1.

    The Board of Trustees’ chairman of HURIJE, Dede Uzor Uzor, in a statement on Friday in Awka, also accused the politicians of using the customised party vehicles to perpetrate heinous crimes. He said, “We commend the state Police Command for this bold move and urge them not to relent in implementing this policy to its logical conclusion. “Some of them use it to convey hard drugs as well as other harmful products that constitute dangers to the society and human families.

    “They sometimes use the vehicles to constitute traffic nuisance on the roads with their recklessness and cause other glaring traffic violations. “There should be no sacred cows on the prosecution of offenders. Those arrested should not be spared.” Uzor who also lauded police decision to deal with security men escorting vehicles with covered number plates, said the move would not only reduce crime in the state, but also reduce the security personnel intimidation on members of the public.

  • ‘Our Girls; Politicians and World Bank

    Our Chibok girls were kidnapped on April 15, 2014, five years ago on Monday and 112 are still missing. Leah Sharibu, kidnapped on Feb 19, 2018, one plus years ago, in Dapchi was the only one held back after a mass release of over 100, excluding five who died directly as a result of the terrorist ordeal. It is said Leah refused to convert from Christianity. During these years, over 25,000 other Nigerians have been murdered and approximately 3-4million internally displaced Nigerians, registered in underserviced IDP camps or unregistered, seeking employment countrywide.

    Unfortunately we in Nigeria are the architect of our ‘failure to thrive’. In Nigeria we must overthrow the retrogressive feudal ideology of master-servant, the deliberate under-educating ofcitizens. We must not fail to change our politicians’ mindset. Instead of Sustainable Development Goals’ strategies, they repeat the scheming about NASS officers, usually an automatic event based on party numbers. Some do not see the national political failure largely because of their own personal good fortune. Good fortune may be through hard work but professionals have been forced to give bribes, or inflate government contracts or give ‘thank you kickbacks’.

    Why can we not change the narrative that ‘No bribe=no work’ or no payment on a contract? It is difficult to imagine that many highly regarded professionals and ‘icons’ have low morals or compromised their principles to survive. Add poor supervision and zero consequence for failure and we are programmed by our own politicians to fail?

    A new president, David Malpass, appointed by the US president in keeping with tradition, is to run the US-led and mainly US funded World Bank. There will be Trump-ic, America First changes. He does have a lot of experience in development and is critical of the World Bank and IMF. So am I. For example while Ghana, to stimulate growth, is reducing and cancelling VAT in huge areas of business and consumption, Nigeria is being pushed by the IMF and perhaps the World Bank to widen the VAT pool and increase VAT, ‘remove fuel subsidy’ and weaken the value of the naira-again. The previous times we did these we were plunged further into poverty by making more poor people. This will certainly cancel the effect of any minimum wage increase.

    In Africa it appears we for the most part cannot help ourselves. We seem to be great as individuals, but collectively lack a successful forward development drive. We have great artists, scientists, professionals at home and abroad but collectively our hospitals, universities, schools and highways are collapsing. We cannot even fill potholes at level crossing consistently.  Ask the girl ‘Success’ to show you round her school – a pigsty unfortunately called after late murdered Minister of Finance the flamboyant Okotie-Eboh. His children are still in court over his assets!

    There is the perpetual African epidemic of poorly performing self-serving politicians who ‘purchased’ their posts at an unsustainably enormous cost of production through overpriced elections. Unfortunately, with too few good exceptions, politicians have placed themselves high above the people forgetting their sworn oath to serve the people. Politicians repeatedly failed to deliver timely budgets and honest accounting to deliver the full economic and societal growth potential of democracy. Rwanda stands out with its recent developmental strides under its focused leader and high female politician ratios but at the cost of 800,000 lives. We in Nigeria have a belligerent new generation born after 1970 when we also ended a civil war which cost more than one million lives. Our developmental strides should not require another civil war. But politicians do not easily change their spots. In Nigeria we must reduce our financial demands on delusional politicians.

    We need help against the apparent corrupt politicians’ agenda. I wish the World Bank and IMF, the UN, the EU,  and even Brexit-ed Great Britain refuse to negotiate any deals, give any loans, agree any diplomatic protocols, provide any contract funds with Nigeria in particular and Africa in general until Africa’s political class demonstrate and introduce a less flamboyant, cheaper, transparent, morally, ethically and economically responsible remuneration structure for themselves and better development budgets for the citizenry. The worst culprit is the shamelessly greedy NASS and now the governors further bleeding their states by insultingly high severance and pension packages. Politicians must be forced, by local and international pressure, to demonstrate a much higher sensitivity to the poor citizenry. In Nigeria all efforts have failed to get the politicians to fully disclose and cut their Salaries and Perks- SAP, which are SAPing Nigeria dry with their irresponsibly high and ‘legally illegal’ total take home pay and allowances.  Many of the countries with high poverty levels also have directly related high corruption levels. Remember many politicians come from a background which still believes in a ‘Keep citizens poor, uneducated and sheepish’ policy. No international assistance will work until that policy and mindset is changed.

    The World Bank can demand a higher personal political fiscal morality. Corruption causes poverty and poverty breeds corruption. Fighting extreme poverty, a World Bank goal, is only achievable if it neutralises an evil, demonstrably greedy elected entrenched political elite which withholds and steals its nation’s ‘responsible’ budget funding for essential development projects like improved maternal and infant mortality rates, education, training and business environment funding.  Africa’s and Nigeria’s politicians, preoccupied by selfish greed abandon their responsibility, leaving it to the World Bank and other agencies. Who is more mumu? Shame.

  • Politicians filed 736 petitions against 2019 elections

    A total of 736 petitions have so far been filed before the various election tribunals established by politicians aggrieved over the outcome of the last general elections.

    A break down of the number, made public yesterday by the election petitions coordinating office at the Court of Appeal, revealed that four petitions have so far been filed in respect of the presidential election.

    The office, headed by Mrs. Rabi Abdulazeez, also revealed that 43 petitions have so far been filed in relation to the governorship election.

    Court of Appeal’s spokesperson, Sa’adatu Musa Kachalla, who made the information available, revealed that 207 petition have been filed in relation to the Senate election.

    A total of 101 petitions are now pending in relation to the House of Representatives election, while 381 have been filed in respect of the state Houses of Assembly election.

    As regards the presidential election, the first was Filed by Hope Democratic Party(HDP) and Ambrose Owuru, who claimed to be the party’s presidential candidate.

    The petition, marked: CA/PEPC/001/2019 was filed on March 7 this year.

    Read also: Military action necessary during 2019 elections, says CDS

    The second was filed on March 8 by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar. It is marked: CA/PEPC/002/2019.

    The third, marked: CA/PEPC/003/2019 was filed by the Coalition for Change(C4C) and Geff Ojinika, who claimed to be the party’s presidential candidate.

    The core contention of the authors of the third petition is that the election, held on February 23 this year, “was vitiated by substantial non-compliance with mandatory statutory provisions, which irregularity substantially affected the election, such that the 1st respondent (Buhari) was not entitled to be returned as the winner of the presidential election.”

    The fourth petition, marked: CA/PEPC/004/2019, was filed on March 19 this year by the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pastor Aminchi Habu, listed as the party’s presidential candidate.

     

  • Politicians, others upbeat over pending polls results

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended its planned resumption of the collation of the March 9 governorship election results in Bauchi State.

    Bauchi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Ibrahim Abdullahi announced the development at a news conference yesterday.

    The REC said it was in line with a court order restraining INEC from resuming the collation of the results which it suspended on March 13.

    Abdullahi said the order did not affect the House of Assembly election, disclosing that the commission would go ahead with the collation of Tafawa Balewa constituency and subsequently announce the winner.

    The REC said: “As you are aware, we have been indulged by members of the press as to the news that in respect of the news making the rounds in respect of Tafawa Balewa.

    “So, I am to inform you formally that the INEC is in receipt of a court order restraining it from proceeding with the collation and announcement of results in respect of Tafawa Balewa only.

    “I’m also to add that the order which was sort and granted does not include the Tafawa Balewa constituency, hence we will make arrangements to continue with the state constituency collation and subsequently announce the results.”

     

    Observers seek synergy

    between Ganduje,

    Police Commissioner

     

    A domestic observer group, Centre for Intervention (CFI), has called for synergy between the police and Kano State government to ensure peaceful and violence-free make-up poll.

    In a statement by its coordinator, Dr. Ibrahim Baba, the group lamented the perceived bickering between the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Wakili, and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, describing it as unhealthy and uncalled for.

    The statement reads: “We urge the Commissioner of Police to develop much mutual/cordial relationship with the Kano State governor. The state police commissioner should cultivate the right attitude to work with the Kano State governor in order to make sure that the rerun election is free, fair, credible and transparent.”

    The group urged the supporters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to play by the rules to avoid plunging the state into unnecessary violence.

    The group called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rectify all the anomalies witnessed in the March 11 elections.

    “Late arrival of materials and officials to polling unit should be addressed in this rerun more importantly. INEC should ensure that the smart card readers (SCR) are functional because it remains one of the vital aspects of the elections in Nigeria.”

    The group hailed the Chairman of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC),  Muhuyi Magaji Rimin Gado, for his tireless efforts in fighting the menace of vote-buying. It called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to ensure that culprits of vote-buying are prosecuted according to the law.

     

    ADP Rivers calls for

    cancellation of polls

     

    The governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), in Rivers State, Victor Fingesi, has criticised the violence that characterised the March 9, 2019 governorship and state legislative elections in the state.

    Fingesi, in a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital yesterday, blamed the bloody exercise on the activities of security operatives, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party(PDP) and called for their exclusion from a fresh exercise.

    The statement reads: “Action Democratic Party in Rivers State is calling for the outright cancellation of the March 9, gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections in the state for being marred by violence, vote buying, ballot box snatching/ hijacking, intimidation by military gangs and thugs.

    “Our party and others were prevented from all the collation centres from the ward, LGA and state levels. In so many polling units, only agents of PDP, AAC and APC proxy were allowed to observe the calling of the results. Also our polling agents were not signatories to any documents at the polling unit and collation centres.

    “Both PDP and APC via their proxy AAC were responsible for the disruption of the enabling environment INEC had put in place. ADP as a law abiding party whose manifesto and constitution believes in peaceful, free and fair elections, participated in the election according to the electoral procedure.

    “We fielded many credible House of Assembly candidates and me, the gubernatorial candidate for our party. The statement by 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Bori camp, indicting the police and INEC has resulted in a war of words between the military, Police and INEC.

    “It is sad that Rivers state is now the battle ground for all these acrimonies. INEC having admitted collation centres were invades, being the proximate reason for the suspension means that materials have passes through the wrong hands and so cannot be used to conclude the election.”

    “Again we are asking INEC to not only prosecute the political parties found culpable to the electoral offences after investigation, but  also ban them from participating in any exercise INEC will recommend for the resolution of the  electoral process in the state; as this cannot be waved away and would act as a deterrent for future elections nationwide.”

     

    INEC unfair to Rivers

    APC, says Cole

     

    Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Tonye Cole yesterday said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has demonstrated bias in the handling of the electoral crisis in the Southsouth state.

    He alleged that the electoral agency has failed to resist undue influence by Governor Nyesom Wike, adding that its integrity has been compromised.

    Cole called for the cancellation of the election results and the transfer of the Resident Electoral Commissioner as the critical steps for the resolution of the electoral logjam.

    A statement by his media aide, Tonye Princewill, said the commission made nonsense of the anti-corruption trend enacted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Noting that Rivers APC has been vindicated by its earlier complaints against the umpire, Cole said “the recent terse statement made by the Nigerian Army exposed a wide gap in the relationship between the “independent” umpire and the security agencies, which provided the conducive environment for INEC to operate.”

    He added: “What is striking in the statement released by the Army is not that they simply dented INEC’s credibility, but that they called them out in a key aspect of their qualification that leaves them in tatters; their expected independence. How INEC recovers from this remains to be seen. But, suffice to say that they can no longer speak with the freedom of the benefit of doubt they have been enjoying, from not only Nigerians, but from the international community.”

    Cole lamented that Wike has “tried to show us that he can buy anyone, recruit everyone and not be held accountable to anyone in his pursuit of his ambition to lord it over Rivers State”.

    He hailed the Army and the Inspector-General of Police.

    Cole added: “We in Rivers State know that there was no widespread violence that called for a total suspension of a whole state. If there was, how did INEC get results in 17 out of 23 LGAs? We know that widespread violence leaves a trail of death and destruction.

    “If that was the case, how come INEC was able to declare results for the presidential election when death and destruction were validated, but not for the governorship election when death and destruction were unconfirmed?”

    The chieftain said apart from obeying court orders, INEC should apologise to Rivers people and security agencies, especially the army, to rebuild the sense of joint duty needed to move forward.

    He also said the electoral agency should issue a statement condemning the violence triggered by the invasion of the collation centre by the governor.

    Cole added: “INEC should cancel the entire process and start again or pending the resolution of all legal matters, announce the results as a collation of results announced per LGA, up to the point of “suspension;” and change the REC and principal officers to conduct the election whenever the opportunity so provides, as there is no confidence in their neutrality and/or competence to conduct a free and fair election. Anything short of the above is business as usual and an exercise in futility.”

     

    ‘Publish list of collated

    results in Rivers’

     

    A coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Rivers State has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the list of local government areas in Rivers State where election results have been collated and the ones left uncollated before the process was disrupted.

    The coalition, in a statement by its convener, Somina Wokoma warned the commission against turning the state in a theatre of war.

    The coalition accused the Resident Electoral Commissioner Obong Effanga of collaborating with the Governor Nyesom Wike to re-write the results of the election.

    The statement reads: “We closely monitored the March 9th governorship and Assembly elections and we are alarmed by the treachery exhibited by the State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner Obong Effanga and his staff, especially the Admin Secretary who openly collaborated with the incumbent Governor Nyesom Wike in trying to manipulate the governorship election in his favour failing which Mr Effanga had the effrontery to wrongly advise INEC headquarters to suspend a smoothly running election.

    “We the members of the coalition, true sons and daughters of Rivers State and law abiding citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wish to state that the suspension of the election process was a well-orchestrated move by Governor Nyesom Wike and his co-conspirators, Obong Effanga and Elder Etim Umoh of Rivers State INEC.

    “Since the suspension of the collation of results in the State on March 10, 2019, the outgoing Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner Obong Effanga have been re-writing and doctoring unit results already collated in Rivers State Government House to favour Wike.

    “The suspension of the largely smooth running electoral process in the State is a flagrant violation of section 26 of the electoral Act. 2010 (as amended). INEC’s refusal to publish the names of the acclaimed collated seventeen(17) LGA’s and the outstanding Six(6) LGA’s is a clear act of deceit and treachery & confirmation of our long held suspicion that all is not well with the current Rivers INEC team .

    “That the clearly and openly compromised actions of Obong Effanga and Elder Etim Umoh have made us lose confidence in them to complete the process as this will be tantamount to Wike being also the umpire in his own election. We will resist this to our last blood.

    “The activities of the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obong Effanga, and the Administrative secretary Elder Etim Umoh are a breach of public trust and abuse of public powers.

    “We have it on record the Governor Wike through the Rivers State REC Obong Effanga secretly changed the list of the Collation and Returning Officers who conducted the presidential election and replaced them with card-carrying members of the PDP who realising that the elections were not favouring their paymaster, triggered the illegal suspension order by INEC.

    “We hereby inform these conspirators against the sovereign will of our people that we know them by name and have all their details. We will not sit idle and watch them destroy the peace of our State and return scot free to their own States. The coalition will act as one united body to ensure that the Rivers State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obong Effanga and the Administrative Secretary, Elder Etim Umoh and all those who are a party to this nefarious activity are held responsible for any break-down of law & order in the State.

    “We warn the national security agencies of an impending breakdown of law and order should unholy alliance/collaboration with Wike to force himself on Rivers people using INEC and the Judiciary is not nipped in the bud right away

    “We are sure that by now the intelligence agencies have confirmed that if not for the highly professional conduct of the security agencies especially the Military in protecting the electorate during that elections, Governor Wike and his thugs dressed on military uniforms would have turned Rivers State into an ocean of blood, worse than what they did in the 2015 general elections.”

    They however demand the redeployment of the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner Obo Effanga and the administrative secretary Elder Etim Umoh with immediate effect to forestall any foul play that will lead to making our dear Rivers State a theatre of war.

    They also want the INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to replace them with people of integrity and sound reputation that cannot be bought over by tyrant Governor Nyesom Wike and his blood sucking thugs; we also call on EFCC and other agencies to as a matter of urgency investigate and arrest Obo Effanga, Elder Etim Umoh and their partners in crime.

     

    Adamawa SDP

    governorship candidate mobilise voters

     

    The governorship candidate of  Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Adamawa, Chief Emmanuel Bello, has urged voters in the affected units of Saturday’s supplementary election in the state  to troop out en-masse to vote.

    Adamawa is one of the six states where the March 9 governorship elections were declared inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission and supplementary polls scheduled for Saturday.

    Bello, in a statement yesterday by the Media Director of his campaign organisation, Malam Umar Mustafa, reiterated his commitment to participating in the supplementary election.

    He debunked speculations that he had withdrawn from the race, describing it as an attempt to confuse his supporters.

    “I urge all my supporters to come out en-masse and partake in the election.

    “It is to be noted that the votes cancelled in the total of 44 polling units spread across the state are mostly in SDP’s stronghold,” Bello said.

    He lauded the people of Adamawa for their support and solidarity and urged them not to lose hope.