Connect with us

POLITICS

26 years of Democracy: Many Governors have Failed Nigerians – Ex-VON DG

Published

on

Share

 A former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, says majority of the governors have failed woefully in the discharge of their duties since the advent of the current democratic dispensation.

Okechukwu, a founding member of All Progressives Congress (APC), said this on Tuesday in Enugu while reacting to the 26 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.

He said that many of the governors had failed Nigerians in spite of the huge federal allocations and increased internally-generated revenue (IGR) accruing to their respective states.

The APC chieftain also accused some of governors of conducting themselves like emperors, saying that this had affected the delivery of democratic dividends to Nigerians.

“In distilling the performance of our dear governors, it is safer to say that few in the last two decades had done exceptionally well; whereas majority of them have woefully failed the people.

“Most of the governors act as emperors and do not make a distinction between their interests and those of their states.

“They do not abide by the constitution or respect the balance of power with the other two arms of government – the legislature and the judiciary.

“The social contract between them and the people is always in the breach,” he said.

Okechukw said that it was regrettable that Nigerians, out of what he termed ‘long fatigue’, oftentimes transferred their aggression and hauled their blames on the president.

“They blame the president even for repair of local roads and primary health care centres in villages and communities in their states,” he said.

Okechukwu commended President Bola Tinubu’s vision to checkmate under-development in the states and, particularly in the geo-political zones, by setting up and funding regional development commissions.

“Yes, I’m of the considered view that the North-West, South-West, North-Central, South-South, North-East and South-East Development Commissions will not only propel regional development, definitely they are catalyst for grassroots development.

“In fact, some pundits have dubbed the development commissions as restructuring by other means.

“This is because members of the commission know better what each geo-political zone needs and the geo-political zone’s comparative advantage more than the minister whose landscape is the whole country.

“For instance, the South-East Development Commission, which one has more details about, if well-funded, will do well because the chairman, managing director and the executive directors were chosen from among our first 11,” he said.

On security, Okechukwu said that the Tinubu-led administration had done a lot to contain insecurity in the country.

He, however, said that more should be done, especially in the areas of food security and social services, such as education and health. (NAN)

POLITICS

Ozekhome Kicks Against Creation of Additional States

Published

on

Share

By Mike Odiakose, Abuja

Constitutional and human rights lawyer, Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has kicked against the agitation for the creation of additional states.The legal luminary maintained that most of the states that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria, today are not viable and as such saw no reason why more states should be created in the country.

Ozekhome, in an interview, blamed the conditions of the states on the “skewed federal template” being operated in form of a unitary system of government and called for a complete overhaul of the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, the present Constitution is not only cumbersome with the center vested with too much powers and responsibilities but was a product of the military class which has ruled Nigeria for quite some times.
He spoke at a “Walk for Wellness” campaign embarked upon by the Mike Ozekhome Chambers (MOC) in Abuja.”Some of us are now saying rather than create more states we should collapse the present structure into about six geopolitical zones, which should serve as regional government.”A parliamentary system of government operating on regional bases will be more beneficial to the people because it will catalyze development and competitiveness among the regions. Right now, no state is competing, all of them just go to Abuja at the end of the month to take from the federation account to share”, he said.The senior lawyer lamented that Nigeria has become a sharing country which is not baking anything because they don’t care or even know how to bake anything.According to him, while Nasarawa has the highest mineral deposits of over 36 items, followed by Plateau with 28 items with Sokoto and Kaduna States in that order, the entire country still rely on crude oil “which is fast losing its value across the world.”I will suggest that if we are to retain the state structure, we should retain the states as a federating units, thus having two tiers of government” he said, leaving local government to the states.Adding: “the only state I will have said should be created right now should be in the South East, to bring them to equity with other geopolitical zones in the country.”

Continue Reading

POLITICS

2027: APC Kicks As Opposition Backs Single Day Polls 

Published

on

Share

A major political storm is brewing over a fresh proposal to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow all elections in Nigeria to be conducted on the same day in 2027.

While leading opposition parties — the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, African Democratic Congress, and New Nigeria People’s Party — have thrown their weight behind the move, the ruling All Progressives Congress has rejected it, warning of dire consequences.

The proposal, spearheaded by the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review, chaired by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, is being considered as part of broader constitutional amendments following zonal consultations across the six geo-political zones.

If passed, the amendment would mandate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct presidential, governorship, National Assembly, and state assembly polls in a single day — a move touted to drastically cut costs and reduce post-election bandwagon effects.

Backing the initiative, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Ladipo Johnson, argued that same-day polls would be both cost-effective and efficient.

He said, “The costs of elections are too high, just like those of governance. And any reasonable thing to reduce the costs should be looked at. Even for the political parties, it is cheaper and more efficient for them to do their elections in one day.”

On concerns over rigging, Johnson dismissed fears, saying, “If these people are going to rig, they will rig. But if you have all your elections in one day, all your candidates are able to pool together resources so that the polling unit is properly manned.”

The Labour Party also gave its full backing. National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said the proposal would eliminate staggered elections and reduce bandwagon effects.

He noted, “The Labour Party aligns itself with the position that all elections should hold the same day… It’s also going to help reduce the cost of funding elections, logistics, and bandwagon effect where some voters, after knowing who wins the presidential poll, will start moving towards that direction in subsequent elections.”

For the PDP, Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, welcomed the idea but warned against manipulation.

“It is a welcome development if it is done with sincerity, clear intent and purpose. The truth is that the bogus amount that the government spends on elections is mind-boggling. There’s no rational reason why we spend over $350 billion conducting elections in this country, where at the end of the day, you don’t get value for the outcome of such votes,” he said.

The ADC, through its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, also declared support but with a caveat.

“Our support for doing the election on the same day is contingent on INEC logistics being top notch. At the moment, we don’t see any evidence that INEC is committed to improving its logistics,” he said.

But not all stakeholders are convinced. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) warned that the logistics could be chaotic.

APGA spokesman, Ejimofor Okpara, declared that “As laudable as it sounds, we believe it will be chaotic. Our elections, as they are, already appear too cumbersome, logistics-wise, for INEC. One can only imagine the outlook if these major elections are held in one day.”

Lawmakers are also split. North-West caucus leader, Sada Soli (APC, Katsina), backed the bill, describing it as “an idea whose time has come.”

But Osun lawmaker, Oluwole Oke, disagreed, insisting, “It’s INEC’s prerogative to decide which date to conduct elections.”

Lagos lawmaker, Babajimi Benson, added, “I strongly believe that this decision should be included only in the INEC Act so as to make amendments easy… This (proposed) amendment in the constitution may make it very difficult in the future.”

The APC formally opposed the proposal, describing staggered elections as the better option.

Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, warned, “To hold all elections on the same day puts a lot of pressure on the institution that is governing elections in Nigeria.

“You’re going to be holding elections at the State Assembly, House of Reps, Senate, governors, and the President. After those four years, INEC now sits back and literally does nothing.”

He added that staggered polls would keep INEC “active year-round” and reduce the risk of system collapse.

Also reacting, a former Director of Voter Education at INEC, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, condemned the plan, recalling that a similar attempt in 2003 was rejected by the courts.

“This is not a new idea. They tried this before when we were in INEC, and we actually went to court before the 2002 and 2003 elections. We won the case then,” he said, warning that Nigeria lacked the logistics and literacy levels required for such an exercise.

However, prominent lawyers see merit in the idea.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Lekan Ojo, argued: “From the economic perspective, it is a cost-saving measure… But it may be very clumsy. The electoral officers may be overwhelmed and that may lead to a floodgate of litigations.”

Another SAN, Wale Balogun, was more sceptical: “If our experience is anything to go by, then I’m afraid for Nigeria. I don’t think we have the capacity to do so.”

For Adedayo Adedeji (SAN), the move would “drastically reduce the cost of conducting elections,” though he warned of doubts over INEC’s capacity.

Civil society leaders, including Auwal Musa Rafsanjani of the Transition Monitoring Group and Debo Adeniran of the Centre for Accountability and Open Leadership, endorsed the proposal, insisting it would cut costs and make elections more transparent.

Adeniran said, “There is nothing stopping us from conducting all the elections in one day, except for those who are thinking of how to manipulate elections.”

Continue Reading

POLITICS

2027: No Vacancy in Aso Rock – APC Chairman 

Published

on

Share

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda has said he is very confident that the opposition parties including the African Democratic Congress (ADC) will fail in their bid to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming 2027 election.

Yilwatda who was addressing hundreds of supporters of the ruling party under the aegis of the APC league of Professionals, who were on a solidarity visit at the national secretariat of the party on Tuesday in Abuja, said the gains recorded already under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Tinubu led administration as basis for his position.

He further assured that the party would ensure that the entire candidates of the party contesting for governorship, National and State Assemblies seats across the country were victorious.

The Plateau state born academic who described himself as the bridge between the old and the young gave example with the students loan, and several other empowerment programmes being undertaken by the President Tinubu led administration that has impacted on the lives of Nigerians positively.

“The child of the poorest man in Nigeria can now go to school to the peak without borrowing from anywhere. The government has made provision for that. This is the only time we’ve had that in the history of Nigeria. Government has dropped N1.5 billion Naira in Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to support young men that want to go into agriculture.

“Never before, never before, never before have we had this opportunity. We have the youths fund being given for the youths. Never before has any government done this. And I can tell you that the opportunity for the young people is right under our President.

What I can show you first is a thank you for this support, a thank you for standing by our party, a thank you for believing in this party.

“Our manifesto targets people like you. The Renew Hope Agenda targets people like you. And I look forward to working with you to ensure that 2027 will deliver the President, will deliver the Governors, will deliver the Senators, House of Assemblies and House of Representatives members.”

Earlier in his address, leader of the group and the pioneer Secretary of the Bayelsa state chapter of the APC, Hon. Marlin Daniel said was confident that Prof. Yilwatda will take the party to the next level of development.

Daniel also expressed gratitude to President Tinubu and the Sen. Hope Uzodinma led Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) over the choice of Yilwatda as the National Chairman of the party.

He expressed optimism that the Chairman will deliver candidates of the party at the coming elections given his experience as a technocrat and politician of several years standing.

Continue Reading

Advertisement

Read Our ePaper

Top Stories

Uncategorized10 minutes ago

Coca-Cola Announces Sale of Chivita|Hollandia to UAC

ShareThe Coca-Cola Company has announced sale of Chivita|Hollandia (CHI Ltd.)  to UAC of Nigeria Plc. This is contained in a...

BUSINESS37 minutes ago

FCCPC Warns Traders against Price Inflation, Substandard Goods

ShareThe Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued warning to traders across Lagos State to cease artificial price...

NEWS6 hours ago

Enhancing Agricultural Productivity Through Research

ShareBy Abachi Ungbo Agriculture is an important economic activity that is providing employment to a huge segment of the Nigeria...

OPINION6 hours ago

New Wave of Malnutrition and the Road to 2027

ShareBy Dakuku Peterside As the political season begins in Nigeria ahead of the 2027 elections, we are beginning to see...

NEWS6 hours ago

Gov Adeleke Deploys 1,750 Imole Teachers Corps to Osun Schools

ShareFrom Ayinde Akintade, Osogbo As financial constraints delay planned mass teachers’ recruitment, Governor Ademola Adeleke has deployed a total of...

NEWS6 hours ago

NAICOM Issues Guidelines for Insurtech Operations in Nigeria

ShareBy Tony Obiechina, Abuja The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has officially issued operational guidelines for Insurtech businesses in Nigeria, following...

RMFARC RMFARC
NEWS6 hours ago

RMAFC Hosts First African Confab on Climate Justice

ShareBy Tony Obiechina, Abuja The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), in partnership with the Center for African-American Research...

NEWS6 hours ago

FG Allocates N78.6bn UBE Fund to 27 States, FCT

ShareBy Tony Obiechina Abuja The Federal Government has announced that 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had access...

NEWS6 hours ago

NAFDAC Generates N2.5bn from Illicit Drug Market Raids

ShareBy Ubong Ukpong, Abuja The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday, said that it...

NEWS6 hours ago

INC Rejects Bill Granting Exclusive Co-chairmanship to Ooni, Sultan

ShareFrom Mike Tayese, Yenagoa The umbrella body of Ijaw Elders, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) has rejected the Bill in...

Copyright © 2021 Daily Asset Limited | Powered by ObajeSoft Inc