In Nigeria, the phrase has been over used, time-worn and cliched, but it still resonates with the media and some electorates. Usually, elected officials and sundry appointees promise to ‘hit the ground running’ upon assuming office. Indeed, this self-imposed covenant, often made at the hustings, puts them under a lot of pressure from the very beginning.
Browsing: Viewpoint
The meeting of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, was attended by the Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, along with the Commission’s members, and Leaders of Political Parties to Review the 2023 General Election.
The recent movements in the top national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has created vacancies and opened a discourse on an apparent rush to appoint or elect a new national chairman and secretary for the party.
Let me begin with the golden words of Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.”
With the Women’s World Cup launching this month, FIFA is still siding with corrupt national football federations over women players. Across Africa, wage theft for female players and rampant gender inequality continue to characterize the women’s game.
Nigeria is an interesting country and one with peculiar set of citizens. It is an intricate place to govern. Anyone, who is not prepared for leadership, but found themselves in political position of authority to lead, would be overwhelmed in no time with the kind of complexity in the nature of the country and its people. Sometimes ago, when the newly sworn-in President Tinubu was asked how he felt with the challenges facing the country as he took over, his response was epic and depicted someone who knew what he was getting himself into. He simply answered that “nobody should pity him because he asked for the job”.
Years back, a report I read explained how at some point South Korea’s economy grew significantly with infrastructural development.
One of the major issues begging for consideration as Nigeria and other stakeholders review the aftermath of the country’s 2023 General elections would definitely be the health of Nigeria’s political party system. It is a matter of fact that by the 90s, in an attempt to stem the tide of communism, one party states, and dictatorships around the world, the West recommended and supported multi-party democracy as the way forward, to ensure participation, inclusion, and fairness. This was packaged as a pill to address the menace of one-party states and authoritarianism and indeed many African countries, including Nigeria bought into it, and even went a step further to fashion our democracy after the American model.
Intrigues, mischief, blackmail, and internal crisis are some of the characteristics of any ruling party in Nigeria. This is what has become of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in recent times. The party is constantly facing multidimensional crises, and getting a good party man to stabilize it is becoming an impossible and herculean task.
Before and during his campaign days, the President of Nigeria, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu told everyone that becoming the country’s president was a lifelong ambition. He boasted of his agenda of readiness and competence to take Nigerians out of the woods, the backstage of suffering. At a point, he told Nigerians that he would build on Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements. Don’t forget that Nigerians were already suffering and building on that is “a killer.”