ELECTION 2011 IS OVER; RIP TO NYSC CORPERS WHO PAID THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

The governorship and state house of assembly elections which held nationwide (excluding BAUCHI AND KADUNA states which was postponed by INEC due to security reasons) on the 26^th of April have come and gone.. As expected, the PDP still got the highest number of wins.

 The ACN swept the South-West with attention centered on Oyo state which was really dramatic. In Lagos state, Gov. Fashola had a landslide victory and his party (ACN) also swept the polls in the House of Assembly elections. However, the situation in states like Lagos and Osun where one party (ACN) won all seats in the state house of assembly is not too good for democracy, no single opposition in the house! This potentially means maximum protection for the governor, no internal challenge to policies and bills, the governor is almost unquestionable and party chieftains have more influence on the running of government and political appointments

The author of this blog highly condemn the perpetrators of post election violence in some states in the Northern part of the country, which led to the gruesome death of many innocent young Nigerians who were serving the nation in the name of NYSC. The nonchalant attitude expressed by the authorities towards the security of these innocent souls is regrettable. Just try to imagine the pain the parents, siblings, cousins, relatives, in-laws e.t.c of these souls would be going through. Yet, the culprits are free to roam the streets of the nation. No serious step was taken by the Chief Security Officer of this country (Mr. President) to curtail this crime to humanity. The sitting governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda made the following statement in a press interview and I quote


   "As far as I am concerned, these corps members were destined to experience what they experienced during the course of their service to their fatherland because every new day is a new experience to each and every one of us as human beings. You cannot hold Yuguda or Bauchi State (responsible) for what happened to those corps members, because it was the responsibility of INEC to take care of them."

What a pathetic statement to make!

 I read the account of a retired cleaner who struggled to train one of her 7 children in school thinking it would bear fruits; the only trained child was one of the corpers burnt like a ram in Bauchi state. I pray God bring comfort to the families of these innocent souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice of their lives for this undeserving nation (call me unpatriotic if you like).

The NYSC scheme should either be eradicated or massively overhauled, this NYSC was setup after the Nigerian Civil War and then I could say it was relevant, it no longer is! It is my earnest hope that one of the Senators you voted would deem it wise to sponsor a bill in the ‘house’ to bring an end to people’s suffering in the name of Service to one’s fatherland.

POST PRESIDENTIAL POLL

Greetings everyone, let me start this post by congratulating Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on is victory in the just concluded presidential polls, credits also go to Prof. Jega who despite the shaky start still went ahead to preside a free and fair election and also every Nigerian for the manner at which we conducted ourselves. I also must eulogize the youthful population for the increased interest shown in the political affairs of this nation. The future is really bright.

To Jega’s credit, all international observers judged this election the freest and fairest election we have conducted since the adjourned 1993 elections which M.K.O Abiola won. This blog highly condemns the post election violence experienced in the northern part of Nigeria today and is sad about the “i-don’t care” attitude of the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed forces of this nation (Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan). Not even a state of the nation address. This is deplorable!

In the spirit of democracy, all contenders must realize there is no looser, we are all WINNERS! All we deserve is a better nation and everyone must look contribute in one way or the other. The role of the opposition in democracy cannot be over stated. A political commentator once said “without opposition, politics is bereft of its substance” A crucial role the opposition plays in a democracy (which I expect the contenders who lost out to play) can be summarized as

“Acting as a watchdog, questioning the policies of the sitting government while SUGGESTING alternative ideas”

However, in our present democratic dispensation, this role has been ignored because the so-called opposition parties are un-aware and more importantly, these parties are wrongly built. They all like a skyscraper built on sand (Weak foundation) and they are bound to collapse. The CPC came into being about a year ago, just because Buhari wants to contest, he hurriedly came up with something. The ACN is slightly better despite its poor outing in the presidential polls.

Wikipedia defines a political party as a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions. Parties often espouse an expressed IDEOLOGY or vision bolstered by a written platform with specific goals.

In Nigeria today, I can’t see a single political party espousing any unique idea. There is a huge need for REAL political parties which have sound philosophical and political ideas. The present political parties should be over-hauled and political technocrats brought in to help re-build their foundation also new (IDEAL) parties should be formed, only then can we have a sound opposition. In the absence of this, we would only continue to have weak opposition who would readily disregard any step the sitting government takes just because it is not in power itself. Since 1999, after the elections, most of the so-called political parties only functioned as pressure groups

At this juncture, in order for us to move forward as a nation, I’ll appeal to everyone reading this to give the President-elect the support it deserves, anyone who does anything contrary aint doing it in the interest of democracy.

 I’ll expect the immediate priority of the Jonathan administration to be INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT. Infrastructure according to Wikipedia can be seen as

The basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, and so forth. Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory, and also for the distribution of finished products to markets and basic social services such as schools and hospitals.

This in my own opinion is the only sensible step to take, it is crucial to note the MULTIPLIER effect that infrastructural development as on a nation. Let me give an illustration here.

Stable electricity would encourage the few manufactures left in the country to increase their production capacity which would bring about more jobs for the unemployed graduate> reduce crime rate (unemployed graduates take to vices such as theft prostitution) > increase security (less criminals for police to run after).

Good infrastructure could lessen problems such as housing e.g. if there is stable electricity, good roads, some persons would go back to their villages and establish farms, probably invite some of the native of his village in lagos to follow him back, with good rails and roads he can transport some of the produce to lagos and other cities for sale.

Water management infrastructure which includes drinking water supply (good water supply would reduce cholera to an effect, lessen the congested hospitals a bit and funds that would have been hitherto spent by the government on treating these patients can be used for other purpose).

Sensible appointments should be made into key positions that can determine the prosperity and future of the nation such as the educational system, financial system.

Thanks for reading, look forward to a better Nigeria, the future is NOW! Be involved and participate. All over the world, we youths of Nigeria are being commended for our increased interest. Let’s keep the fire burning….No shaking 9ja dey bam!

Implication of the results of the NASS elections

NASS elections
First of all, we thank God the elections finally kicked off on the 9th of April. Reports reaching me showed that the polls went on quite smoothly in most parts of the federation amidst some violence in some places.
Some results have been announced while others are being collated, some powerful contenders like Dimeji Bankole, Iyabo Obasanjo Bello,Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Iyiola Omisore all of the PDP lost! In most northern states, Gen. Buhari's CPC swept the polls, Labour party did well in Ondo state while the ACN in the South-west did well for themselves. The South-east as been competitive too, with winners coming from different parties.
Am particularly pleased because these results are definitely a step in the right direction for our fledgling democracy. A diversified house(Senate and house of Representatives) is in favour of the people. Unlike previous years when the PDP had almost 2/3 of the house(2/3 conviction is needed for a decision to be reached in the house), passing bills that favour the senators and the president (since he's from their party was easy). But with a diverse house and no party having a clear majority of members to reach a decision, there'll be more critical debates before a bill is passed or before a budget is approved.
Also, another constitutional role of the Senators is to confirm presidential appointments which means they can frustrate Mr. President if the presented appointees are deficient.
Appropriation bills(which authorizes the government to spend money! Must be passed in the house too)
In Conclusion, the summary of the house in a democratic setting revolves around it's ability to 'check and balance' the Federal Government which Mr. President heads.

JEGA!!!

JEGA

In a game of Soccer, before the game begins. It is the role of the referee to ensure both sides have 11(eleven) players on each side of the pitch. If he fails to do this before the commencement of the game and later finds out as the game proceeds that one side is fielding  11 players and the other side parades 9 players and then he chooses to stop the game suspecting foul-play; that can be seen as taking the right decision at the wrong time.

In my OPINION, it is a sign of failure to attribute your short-coming to someone else’s ineptitude…that’s exactly what JEGA did yesterday, he claims a vendor is responsible for this lapse. For him to have allowed this to occur shows that he either has inadequate plans to organize an election or his plans were not followed with necessary actions.

As the Chief electoral officer, he ought to know when the So-called vendor delivered the materials into the country; he ought to monitor the distribution of these materials to the states as well. If he had performed those two tasks and found out that there were flaws, then he OUGHT NOT to have blown the whistle for the game (election) to begin…

For him (Jega) to have postponed the election to Monday and fix an INEC meeting was unexpected…a very hasty decision without taking into the consideration those who would be at a loss for closing business tomorrow (President Jonathan says this should be seen as a sacrifice to the nation), the outcome of his meeting with the political parties and the possibility of solving the logistic problem of distributing materials to all polling booths with our jagged transportation system.

A Yoruba adage says you don’t cure headache by cutting off the head, while am not calling for Prof. Jega to be sacked now, I simply think he has not justified his position so far.

All these things are not rocket science!

MY THOUGHTS ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN NIGERIA.

Join me as I’ll be sharing my OWN opinion as regarding the upcoming April 2011 elections based on happenings around the nation. I’ll be starting with the presidential polls.

Before we proceed, please know that my thoughts are not there to support a particular party or candidate, all am interested (and you should be interested in) is getting the right man to power. Getting the candidate we solely believe can bring about the much needed transformation. Have observed the major contenders closely i.e. Ribadu,Buhari,Jonathan,Shekarau…the others I believe are just joking,lol. 

Ribadu to me is simply lacking an action plan for this massive office, have read through his manifesto, and I simply can’t see any real-time vision for the nation, his PR team has done a good job though and they are trying to capitalize on sentiments such as we need a youth for a change,e.t.c . During a youth town hall meeting with him which I was privilege to attend, when faced with basic questions on how he intends to tackle the diverse problems of the nation, all he kept on repeating his that he is coming with his pedigree of fighting corruption (as former EFCC chairman) in bringing about solution to the sectors of our economy…I agree corruption contributes a great deal to our problems as a country, but that is not all of it! If a presidential candidate is asked about the power problems in Nigeria, he should be able to state basics such as the short and long term energy needs of Nigeria e.g. We are in need of 10,000 watts over the next 10 years and this is expected to increase to 15,000 watts in the next decade and half, our dams have the capacity to presently generate a meager 1,200 watts. Hence, we would need to diversify attention to other means of generating power such as Solar Energy which if we install so and so is expected to produce 2000 watts, we need to get more thermal stations working etc Most people canvassing for Ribadu are doing so based on sentiments and good PR.

Buhari is a professional politician in my books, he’s in the same class with the likes of Atiku…even if he loose this election, he’ll still run come 2015,2019(am not saying perseverance aint good o, at least we had the likes of Abraham Lincoln in the USA who showed his unwavering  determination to  achieve his ambitions). My problem with Buhari is almost like that of Ribadu, lack of solid plans for the nation. Despite being a former military General, he looks not only feeble in the eye but also in his brains.

Shekarau on the other hand was someone I was only familiar with as governor of Kano state, am not to sure if he did perform during his stints there, he also over-shadowed other contestants in the NN24 Presidential debate and he was able to show that he as a better understanding of the other problems of the country than other contestants. He over-performed at the debates, he was hitherto seen as an under-dog.

Jonathan is the sitting president and flag bearer of the PDP (a party that has occupied the presidential seat for 12 years). Not attending the presidential debate is a big minus to him, that singular act has arrogance wrapped over it. I must confess, I have not really gone through his manifesto (I’ll be doing that soon), but however, GEJ would be running under the umblerra(Dame Jonathan version) of the PDP a party boasting of the political artillery  of the likes of Baba iyabo(OBJ),Bode George(celebrated Ex-Convict),Tony Anenih,Atiku Abibakar,IBB, moneybags such as Dangote,Otedola,Adenuga.

All other parties also have some notable politicians in their ranks, but they simply are not going to match that of the PDP, most of the top peeps in other parties are former politicians who because of one disagreement or the other left the PDP. Most of the opposition parties were not formed a solid political structure whatsoever; they came into existence as a result of one grudge or the other with their erstwhile colleagues in the PDP.

The present situation favors’ the PDP a lot because the 3 credible contenders to Jonathan’s emergence are all northerners (majority of the votes would be coming from this region). So the votes there would be shared between the 3.

So where we do we go from here?

1. A short-term solution would have been a UNITED opposition, i.e. this means everyone is tired of the PDP led government and we all come out en-masse to vote a singular opposition candidate/party.

2. In the Long term, I would suggest us calling a TRULY sovereign national conference where we discuss critical issues such as if we really still want to co-exist as a nation, if yes, should we practice true federalism? Etc from the proceeds of the meeting, we can then call for all political parties to be dis-bounded and Nationalist to spear-head the formation of political parties with their indigenous and guiding philosophies.

Without this, I do believe we won’t be making much progress as a nation; the USA which practices one of the oldest and best democracies till date is run on the philosophy of the party the president belongs to. e.g. The Republican are well noted for their ever-ready approach to do battle in war, the Democrats are known for their approach to playing the Fatherly role to all nations of the world especially African nations and developing countries.

All I have stated above are my OWN personal opinion about the state of the nation and the way forward. Am a realist and this plays a huge role in the way I see things. Am very open to your meaningful contributions and constructive criticism.