Citizen | Page 12 of 41

The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.

This week’s Abroad Life subject is a Nigerian Twitter influencer who’s known as Oluomo of Derby. He lives in Derby, United Kingdom, where he doubles as a business entrepreneur and founder of the Nigerians in UK Community. He speaks with us on migrating to the UK, starting his community of 9,500 members and his views on the 2023 elections back home.

What motivated you to move to the UK?

Mostly my desire to have a better life than the one I was living in Nigeria. I grew up with a single parent, my mother. Paying bills for a family of five wasn’t easy for her. Many years ago, my uncle advised me to continue my education in the United Kingdom, so I could have more chances of providing a better life for myself and my family back home.

What was the migration process like?

I did my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering on a student visa. After my graduation, I was able to get a work permit and the rest is history.

What was school like?

It was a unique learning experience for me. The teaching process was more practical than Nigeria’s theory-based style. I could therefore assimilate everything much faster and easier. UK nationals usually see Nigerians as smart, so I was tagged “a bright lad”.

Focusing on school while working odd jobs, which I needed to pay my bills, wasn’t the easiest thing to. Sometimes, you want to go out with your friends, and you need money to finance the outings. I had to consistently remind myself of my goals to keep from giving up. The good part was that my uncle gave me shelter during my stay at the university. I didn’t have to worry about rent, at least.

How did you transition from mechanical engineer to business entrepreneur?

I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. After university, I got a job in London where I made less than £2k a month. It sounds like a huge amount of money, but there are so many bills to pay: rent, car insurance, the British council tax, regular tax and black tax. By the time I paid those bills every month for three years, I realised I couldn’t continue working under someone. This strengthened my resolve to be an entrepreneur.

My friend who runs a business in Derby offered to train me as a business entrepreneur. I was under her for a few months before I started my own business. At the end of the day, finances will always be a key factor in choosing a career.

How are the living expenses in Derby compared to London?

Living in London is very expensive. I wrote a thread on Twitter a couple of months ago, about how London is like Lagos in the areas of cost of living and the general “hustle and bustle”. On the flip side, Derby is this peaceful town with affordable living conditions. I’d like to call it the “Ogun State” of the UK.

For instance, in London, you can rent a room for about £700 a month, but the same room in Derby will be £350 a month, with bills all-inclusive. If it’s a house, you can rent that for £700 in Derby while you’d pay £1,400 for the same house in London.

WOW

Yup. And the one in Derby would be a well-furnished house with a driveaway, garden, everything. That’s why it’s always advisable to live in cheap cities around London like Northampton, especially if you’re new to the UK. And it’s always better to seek a Nigerian community in whatever new country you live in, so you don’t get stranded.

How did you build a Nigerian community with over 9,000 members in the UK?

The idea came to my head in March 2022. I noticed other diaspora communities, like the Indian, Filipinos, Polish and so many others, have made a lot of progress in terms of the standard of living for their community in the UK, but Nigerians? Not so much. We always say we’re intelligent, but as a community, we’re not doing so well with issues like tuition fees, job hunting, accommodation and what have you.

I decided to take it upon myself to build a community to make sure these issues become a thing of the past. I achieved membership growth by partnering with other Twitter influencers in the UK plus calls for membership on my own platform.

What are the benefits of being in this community?

Personal development trainings, career networking, job opportunities, real estate ads and even speed dating. Essentially, the Nigerians in UK Community is a home away from home. Recently, we started political awareness meetings to remind ourselves of the elections that’s about to take place at home. And we started a movement for members to contact their family back home to collect their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC).

We didn’t tell our members to vote for any particular candidate because everyone has the right to vote for whoever they choose. We don’t organise rallies, but our members attend the candidates’ rallies to show their support. For instance, I went with some to Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi’s London rally in 2022, where we had the opportunity to speak with him and Aisha Yesufu on his plans for implementing diaspora voting here in the UK.

Why Obi?

We’ve tried the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for 16 years, and they didn’t change Nigeria. We’ve tried the All Progressives Congress (APC) for eight years, and that didn’t work out either. We’ve heard about national gridlocks, fuel scarcity, nepotism, inflation, high level of unemployment, Buhari’s “medical tourism”, insecurity, kidnapping, etc. I cannot in my right mind vote for another APC candidate after everything that could go wrong HAS gone wrong with Buhari. Nigerians are tired of suffering. We can’t keep going in the same direction.

I’m not saying Obi is a Messiah, but compared to two bad eggs, he looks like a saint.

So you make sure your members remember their Nigerian roots?

Yes, I do. I use my Twitter platform to educate Nigerians on politics and policies like minimum wage, unequal distribution of wealth, etc. Lately, I’ve also hosted a lot of Twitter Spaces with political analysts to keep Nigerians abreast of the 2023 elections.

It’s important that even as we work towards making a living for ourselves here, we never forget who we are — Nigerians.
For Navigating Nigeria this week, Citizen spoke to Ndi Kato, a spokesperson of the Labour Party. She’s also an activist, political analyst and the executive director of Dinidari Africa. She spoke on various issues including the Labour Party dominating in three geopolitical zones at this month’s presidential election, her party’s stance on subsidy and why some leaders in the South East are against Peter Obi’s candidacy.

Editorial Note: Navigating Nigeria is a platform for Nigerians to passionately discuss policies and politics with little interference to individual opinions. While our editorial standards emphasise the truth and we endeavour to fact-check claims and allegations, we do not bear any responsibility for allegations made about other people that are founded in half-truths.

Peter Obi has trended on Twitter and gathered huge online support. Do you think this will convert to votes on election day?

Social media is representative of the larger picture. It’s representative of the larger community. It’s not robots that are here but human beings. I always say that one online [person] represents the thought processes of ten other persons who may not be here.

If other parties have plenty of supporters then they too should be on social media, it’s not as if when Jack launched Twitter he made it exclusively for Obidients, there was no conversation like that. It’s random people who are on social media, normal Nigerians who are on social media who have become supporters of this movement.

So those other people who say they have that many supporters, let them come on social media because this place is representative of the larger society. This will translate to votes. I’m not saying we’re going to get the highest number of votes everywhere, but we’ll get the highest number of votes in at least two regions. Na we go dominate. In fact, three regions. We’ll get plenty of votes in their regions.

Is this part of our interview, because Zikoko, the way you guys move? Hahaha.

Yes it is, lol

We have the South East, the South South and a good chunk of the North Central. And then we’d balance out in places like the South West. We’re not saying we’re going to get everything in the South West but we’ll have quite a good outcome there. That’s Tinubu’s base but we’re going to make a dent there. And with these new campaigns, you’re seeing the inroads we’ve made in the North. We’re beginning to see that 25% in some of these places is quite possible. So we’re moving, we’re moving.

We understand your candidate has support in the South East, but Tinubu also had a following when he campaigned in Enugu

Do you know how far they had to go to get people to come with their buses? See, once you attend a rally and you begin to see people in uniform, like people wearing green berets, just know that mobilisation has happened and it’s not organic. If you see people come as they are then that’s an organic rally.

If you come to my village and you tell people you’re going to give them ₦10,000 to enter a bus, in this economy that they’ve weaponised poverty, you think they won’t enter?

After the New Year, I was in Imo state. I can tell you that among the gathering there was only one guy that wasn’t with the Labour Party. And the way that guy had to defend himself? At some point, he asked to be left alone. He had no arguments to make anymore. They even have a song, once you mention Obi they respond with kererenke.

But the South East has two APC governors and even Soludo has said he won’t support Obi

God help them. The more these people talk, the more they have to backtrack. Remember when Ihedioha spoke against Obi? The pushback was so strong he had to apologise.

He did say he was taken out of context

Isn’t it good that he quickly came out to say he was taken out of context? When Peter Obi went to Imo state what happened? The governor came out to welcome him because he doesn’t want wahala. He doesn’t want the pushback because he wants to win a second term — if he can stand a chance to win it. And that’s wisdom.

Some of these people are pushing back because they’re wondering “why Peter Obi?” They believe that if power should come to the South East it should be them because they’ve been building their careers [from way back] and if Obi gets it then it means they won’t stand a chance to get it. And I understand. Doing everything they think is right, sucking up to the system and hoping they’d be the one and then this very simple man who doesn’t suck up to the system and always does what his mind tells him — which is for the good of the people to be honest — ends up being the one who gets this organic love. It can be painful.

Still, my guy. I’ve seen people in the South East who are serving in government, commissioners who have told their governors that as far as the presidential election is concerned, they’re voting for Peter Obi.

Well, all of that’s hearsay

It’s not hearsay. I know these people myself. I’ve worked with these people.

If they could come out to publicly say these things then that would confirm what you’re saying

You can see them sponsoring billboards. Have you gone to put mics in their mouths and they said no? That’s their method. You go to some of these places and you see these billboards where they say ‘for governor vote this party, sponsored by so-so person’. Same with other positions and for president, Peter Obi’s name will be there.

The Labour Party and the Nigerian Labour Congress have sat on different sides of the subsidy issue. How does your party hope to reconcile this?

If the party hasn’t settled this issue, the candidate won’t be speaking about it. You know, the last time I heard the candidate speak about subsidy and it being criminal itself and having to be removed, was right in front of the chairman of the party in Karfanchan. And the chairman of the party didn’t have anything against the removal of fuel subsidies. He’d have raised this to say “excuse me.”

I was there and to the best of my knowledge, no such thing happened. So yeah, the fuel subsidies will be removed. We cannot continue to pay that huge amount of money to a few individuals. It is organized theft, our candidate has said so repeatedly in front of party members and we stand by it.

You’ve said the LP would win the South-South. Aren’t you worried that the region is led by elected officials from the PDP?

My answer to this will be the same answer I have for the South East which is, they have the political class but we have the people. The people have decided to rise up and we’re seeing the people organising themselves and that should be recognised. When the people are organising themselves the political class [are just individuals] and they’ll be reduced to one person.

When the political class has the upper hand, they hope for voter apathy, they hope for things that will make voters not come out so that they can use their power to move things, you know, use the power of incumbency, buy votes here and there.

But when the people rise it’s a whole different ball game entirely. And so, again, my answer to all of this is they have the politicians, we have the people and the people are overwhelmingly larger in number.

You were once with the PDP, the same with your principal. What led you to make a switch? And how do you respond to those who say it’s hypocritical?

Politics is, hopefully, a conduit to good governance. It’s not something everybody likes to participate in. I’m not a fan of politics but it’s a necessity. It’s an uncomfortable necessity you have to participate in, in order to be able to deliver good governance to the people and many people do participate on that note. Peter Obi is one of those people.

He’s a successful businessman with so many other things to do and here he is participating in this because he feels it’s the best way to deliver good governance and bring about change for the people.

Unfortunately in Nigeria, you can’t run as an independent candidate, you have to join a political party. At some point, you’ll have to join a party that’s most viable to run with. But when push comes to shove, you have to take the bull by the horns. There’s nothing wrong in saying you want to step into one of the other political parties and run from there. I don’t see what’s hypocritical about that.

You once made a run for office in Kaduna. What was your biggest takeaway from that experience?

We need to do more for women’s political participation. We need quotas. Quotas are a good stepping stone to women’s political participation. We need to push for laws that will help women’s political participation. We need to push for laws that provide equal rights for women. The gender and equal opportunities bill has been on the floor of the House for quite a while and we need to push that. The special seats Bill too. Calls for special seats. One hundred and eleven special seats for four election circles.

I’m hoping that bills like that get in. Within political parties, gender-friendly policies are needed to help women’s political participation. I run an organisation, Dinidari Foundation, and there are other women-led organisations working on that. So more needs to be done and more attention needs to be paid to women.

There have been videos online about Labour Party supporters complaining about not being paid mobilisation fees for rallies. Could you confirm if your party pays for these things?

How do you suggest supporters get to the venues of the rallies? Buses need to move.

That’s your answer?

That’s my answer.

Does the Labour Party have full confidence in INEC’s ability to conduct the elections?

We’ll continue to put INEC on their toes. Our job’s to make sure we continue to put pressure on INEC to do the right thing and hopefully, INEC does the right thing at the end of the day.

You don’t sound confident

It’s the office of the citizen. The job of that office is to put pressure on and make sure those in charge do the right thing. When you do your own part, you hope that they do theirs and that’s where we’re at. We’re putting pressure anywhere we see that INEC is lapsing.

What’s your advice for young people looking to get involved in politics?

The best way to participate is to participate. Register with a political party. Many young people should know they’re already participating in politics by canvassing for votes for their candidates. They’re already participating in politics and that’s a good step, take the next step to register.

If the election doesn’t go the Labour Party’s way, is there any chance it would take it up in court?

I think we’ll leave it till then.

Do you plan to run for office in the future?

As of now, I can’t answer that question.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
If you’re a Nigerian and you’ve been able to get the new naira notes (without stress), say hi.

*inserts cricket sounds*

It has been “survival of the fittest” to get Nigeria’s new naira notes. Ever since CBN governor, Godwin “Meffy” Emefiele launched them in November 2022, Nigerians have not been able to get easy access to these notes.

To add to the commotion, a crazy deadline was earlier set for January 31, 2023, for phasing out the old naira notes. But still, no new naira notes were in sight.

However, today is February 1, which is a day after the deadline. Has anything changed? Here are the latest updates we have concerning CBN and this issue so far:

The deadline has been extended to February 10

Nigerians currently have 9 days to stop spending the old naira notes before it ‘expires’. Although Nigerians can still deposit old notes at banks after this deadline, it just would cease to be legal tender.

But there is STILL a scarcity of new naira notes in banks

Most commercial banks in Nigeria have found it very hard to obtain an adequate supply of new naira notes from the CBN. This has produced very frustrated Nigerians who have even fought at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in a bid to get the new naira.

Nigerians struggling to get the new Naira notes from an ATM in Lagos

pic.twitter.com/AM58tgEhPG
— Instablog9ja (@instablog9ja) January 30, 2023

But this doesn’t seem to go down, even with the extension deadline. A teacher, Ebele* in Ajah, Lagos told Citizen about her ordeal with collecting new naira notes from commercial banks as of today.

According to her “As I’ve done for the past five days, I went to five different ATMs close to my place of residence and three of them weren’t dispensing cash at all. The remaining two have only been dispensing money in N100 denominations. Even when I went to Fidelity Bank at Ajiwe, they were only able to give me up to N5000 in N100 and N20 notes.

A software developer based in Abuja, Favour* told Citizen that he has gone “completely cashless” since the naira note scarcity started.

“I can remember the last time I used an ATM on January 14. On that day, I went to the Guaranty Trust Bank branch in Kubwa for almost five hours to ‘cop’ my new naira notes. Only for me to reach my turn and these naira notes had finished, both in the bank and everywhere. Since that day, it’s only cashless transactions I have been making with my bank app.”

But even mobile banking apps are having issues

For the past couple of days, many Nigerians like Favour have been going the cashless route via mobile app and USSD transactions, but even that hasn’t worked out.

Popular commercial banks like Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith bank and even digital banks like Kuda have had complaints from several customers. This is concerning their inability to make transactions on the respective bank apps, amongst other issues.

Hello! @UBAGroup @UBACares

I have been having some issues with withdrawals and cash transfers since yesterday on my account. The issue is the withdrawal limit placed on my account.

Besides, I am unable to sign in to my dashboard on the bank app.

I need an urgent solution🙏
— Wordiator (@Wordiator2) January 31, 2023

Gtbank did me shege today. POS declined my card, Couldn't transfer cos app was showing invalid details, USSD wasn't working too. Thankfully my heritage bank became my saving grace.
See eh, e dey always good to have back up for everything in case of necessities. pic.twitter.com/OWErhi9Orx
— Uncle Cellz (@odirah_cellz) January 30, 2023

https://twitter.com/PrinceAmeerfres/status/1620460284472365057?s=20&t=6SyhJa8CPAQ00JRKQ4xgKQ

POS operators and money changers are cashing out

According to a source from Fidelity Bank at Ajiwe, Ajah, these sets of people are heavy contributors as to why the new naira notes are so scarce.

“Most times, these POS operators come in through the back of the bank premises very early in the morning (before working hours) and are able to withdraw the already scarce new notes in high volume. The banks also need the money too so they can’t refuse.” the source said.

This may be true as POS operators have been reported to charge as high as N1,000 for N10,000 in new notes due to its scarcity.

Money changers are also not left out. In a viral video released on January 30, large volumes of new naira notes were sprayed at a wedding, which makes one wonder — are the new naira notes really scarce, or are they hoarded?

One thing Nigerians can agree with for sure is that Meffy certainly needs to provide an effective means of supplying the new naira notes nationwide, otherwise things could really start to get ugly.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens, by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
This is Zikoko Citizen’s Game of Votes weekly dispatch that helps you dig into all the good, bad, and extremely bizarre stuff happening in Nigeria and why they’re important to you.

Subscribe now to get the newsletter in your email inbox at 8 am every Friday instead of three days later. Don’t be LASTMA

In the famous Harry Potter series, the villain, Voldemort, succeeded, for the most part, because he had followers who were more than ready to fight, bleed and die for him. Unfortunately, this type of loyalty doesn’t exist in Nigerian politics. The “Emi lo kan” campaign team of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) recently experienced this first-hand as they were seemingly betrayed by one of their own a month before the presidential election.

On January 21, 2023, Hajiya Naja’atu Muhammad, a Director in the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) for the APC, tendered her resignation letter. She claimed she didn’t want Nigeria’s affliction to rise a second time by supporting Bola Tinubu, APC’s presidential candidate, who’s too sick to rule a nation properly. Also, she said she’d be quitting partisan politics because none of them aligned with her values or beliefs.

This is why it was shocking to see Hajiya Muhammad, a mere 72 hours after her resignation and “quitting party politics”, smiling brightly for the camera with Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

And while we’re still trying to figure out if this means she’s now a part of PDP’s campaign, the APC recently released a statement saying Hajiya’s resignation is a scam as she was fired for incompetence and being a mole.

So you can’t help but wonder, was Hajiya Muhammad just someone planted by the PDP into Bola Tinubu’s presidential campaign or was she recently bought over?

What else happened this week?

Woman wins ₦1.5 million for being called a witch

In the words of the great Bobrisky, “Have you ever seen anybody on this earth that died of insurrrttt?”. Well, you can’t die from insult, but you can make money off it.

On June 5, 2020, Sahura Suleiman, on her way back from grocery shopping, was called a witch, hypocrite and bastard by six people: her in-laws, neighbour and a native doctor. They grabbed her by her neck and also almost stripped her naked.

In turn, she filed a case against them in court for defamation and breach of her fundamental human rights. Three years later, it ended in praise as a High Court in Kano ordered the six respondents to pay a sum of ₦1.5 million.

Have you seen this video?

You probably heard that for the better part of today, planes were grounded in the country . What led to this and who was responsible? We breaking it down in this video. #zkkcitizen #politics #NAHCO pic.twitter.com/okjqereQEA
— Citizen by Zikoko (@ZikokoCitizen) January 23, 2023

Question of the week

We’re weeks away from the 2023 general elections. Have you gotten your PVC yet?

Ehen one more thing…

Nigeria experienced one of the worst flooding crises in 2022. The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has released a report warning Nigerians to expect early rainfall in most parts of the country. Here’s everything you need to know about this.
You can call the All Progressives Congress (APC) party many well-deserved names, but the one thing they’re not is boring. Throughout the 2023 election season, they’ve made us go through many emotions ranging from pure amusement to “how are these people our leaders?”

On June 8, 2022, Bola Ahmed Tinubu won APC’s presidential primaries, and since then, his campaign has been in full swing. He’s gone from state to state trying to convince Nigerians to vote for him.

Surprisingly, the greatest opps to Tinubu’s presidential run aren’t members of opposition parties but instead members of his party, the APC.

What’s going on?

On February 1, 2023, Nasir El-Rufai, Kaduna state governor and Tinubu stalwart, during a live appearance on Channels Television, revealed that some people in the Aso rock are trying to sabotage APC’s presidential win. Why? They’re still unhappy with Tinubu’s victory over their preferred candidates at APC’s presidential primaries.

El-Rufai said Emefiele’s Naira redesign is taking place at a sensitive time because it leaves the APC vulnerable ahead of the upcoming elections.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen trouble in the APC camp

Naja’atu Muhammad

On January 21, 2023, Naja’atu Muhammad resigned from APC’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC). And like a bitter ex, she gave us all the tea on Bola Tinubu and why he shouldn’t be Nigeria’s next President.

She said the APC presidential candidate has dementia, and he bribed his way to the presidential ticket. Tinubu’s running mate, Kasim Shettima, also took some stray bullets as she accused him of being in bed with terrorists.

Babachir Lawal

When Bola Tinubu decided to run with a Muslim-Muslim ticket, many Nigerians raised eyebrows. Babachir Lawal, APC chieftain and former Secretary to the Nigerian government, was one of the many to voice his disapproval.

During an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), he stated that he had withdrawn his support from Bola Tinubu. And in December 2022, he publicly declared his support for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

President Buhari

President Buhari has been lukewarm towards Bola Tinubu’s presidential campaign. Although the PCC has come out to say that the president is too busy to attend campaigns, the opposition parties have picked up on this with a claim that he might be trying to separate himself from Tinubu’s presidential candidacy.

Tinubu has now entered full dragging mode and won’t leave Buhari’s baba’nriga. On January 31, 2023, during his campaign rally in Calabar, he called out the government over the consistent depreciation of the Naira from 200 to 800.

"He took dollar from N200 to N800, he couldn’t arrest the Naira from falling because “he don’t know how to think, he don’t know how to do…”

– Tinubu slam @MBuhari in Calabar pic.twitter.com/A8hH7bWHeg
— Chudé (@chude__) January 31, 2023

Before then, he had claimed at a rally in Ogun state on January 25, that some people in the party were trying to sabotage his campaign. Again, he said Emefiele’s redesign policy was targeted at him.

It’s starting to look like the APC might need to regroup because, with barely weeks left until the 2023 presidential elections, the biggest hurdles to their victory at the polls might just be themselves.

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On March 11, 2023, Abia state residents will cast votes in the governorship election to pick a new captain to steer the state for the next four years.

[Abia State. BusinessDay]

Thirty-six people are vying for the governor’s office in Abia state. However, based on opinion polls, a few candidates are ahead of the pack. These include Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP), Uchenna Ikonne* of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Gregory Ibe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Eyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

Ikonne was due to represent the PDP but unfortunately suffered a cardiac arrest that led to his death on January 25, 2023. In line with the Electoral Act, the PDP scheduled February 4, 2023, to pick a replacement candidate. The replacement candidate is Ambrose Okechukwu Ahaiwe.

Here are some other things to know.

Current leadership

Abia’s current governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, is a PDP governor in his second term and, therefore, ineligible to contest in 2023. He’s famous for being part of the breakaway group of governors known as the G5, who oppose the presidential aspiration of a fellow party member, Atiku Abubakar. His tenure expires on May 29, 2023.

[Okezie Ikpeazu: Vanguard]

Abia state’s house of assembly consists of 24 members elected into 24 constituencies. The PDP overwhelmingly dominates the assembly. Its current speaker is Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji.

ALSO READ: What Happens When a Nigerian Candidate Dies During Elections?

Interesting facts about Abia state

In December 2015, when the current administration had been in office for seven months, its debt stock was ₦41.7 billion. As of March 2022, Abia state’s debt stood at ₦91.4 billion — more than double the state’s debt in 2015.

Did you also know that the latest multidimensional poverty index (MPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) ranks Abia the third least poor state with less than 30 per cent of its citizens in multidimensional poverty? Only Ondo and Lagos post better MPIs.

[Screenshot of MPI by state. NBS]

What do Abia residents think of the coming governorship election?

Amarachi

“I reside in Umu Agu, Umuahia North local government area (LGA). I’m hoping that the coming governorship election is free and fair. I have no idea who I’ll be voting for because the person I’d have supported, Prof. Uchenna Ikonne, is deceased.

“What I want whoever’s coming in to prioritise above other things are the roads. Although the present government has already done major parts that connect to the city, there’s still more to be done.”

Kingsley**

“For now, based on the latest happenings, I think the PDP has lost their grip. It’d be hard for them to be victorious in the forthcoming election. For me, the race is between the LP, YPP and APGA. I didn’t include the APC because they’re dealing with an internal crisis with two candidates, Ikechi Emenike and Uche Ogar, claiming to represent them.

“I see it as God’s way of liberating the state, although it’s unfortunate it came at the cost of an innocent man’s life because Ikonne was a good man. What I think this state needs is someone who has no links with godfatherism, which is what Abia state suffers from.

“I hope whoever wins focuses on paying unpaid pensions and salaries as well as building infrastructure.”

Adaku

“I live in Aba but I’m not really into politics. But as a citizen, I hope the people’s choice gets elected. To be honest I’ve never voted before. If I’m to vote, my choice would be Eyinnaya Nwafor. The reason is that he’s an engineer and Aba needs a lot of reconstruction. I believe this can only be done by a professional.

“There are so many things I hope get prioritised when the next administration comes in. One is the construction of the roads. Roads in Aba are terrible, people are suffering. Secondly, the construction of markets. There’s so much chaos in the markets we have. People are paying so much money in tickets but are not getting anything in return. Hawkers are paying as much as ₦1,000 daily for tickets, they should look into this. Also, we need good public hospitals. The private hospitals are very expensive.

“Electricity is an issue. For the past six months we’ve not seen light where I live. These are things I hope the coming administration will take care of.”

** Respondent chose to remain anonymous

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Every four years, Nigeria’s enters another election season when politicians visit places they’ll never set foot in again to whisper sweet nothings into voters’ ears.

For the 2023 elections, nothing has changed. Politicians are again making promises they’ll probably forget or find difficult to fulfil if they get what they want.

Let’s take a look at some of them so far.

Fuel will become ₦100 per litre

On January 25, 2023, during a live appearance on Channels Television, Dan Nwanyanwu, presidential candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, promised to revitalise our refineries in 3-4 months.

Source: blueprint.ng

Also, he would build modern refineries in all six geo-political zones. Thus, by the end of his first six months, fuel would be sold for ₦100 per litre, saving us from the problem of independent marketers.

One thing the current administration has taught us is if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably never going to happen.

Relocation to the Sambisa forest

Everyone wants a leader who’d lead them fearlessly into battle. Hamza Al-Mustapha, presidential candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), plans to be just that.

Source: Vanguard

During an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa, he said that if elected president, he’d end our insecurity and terrorism crisis within six months. But that’s not all; he plans to spend his weekends and holidays in the Sambisa forest, where notorious extremist groups like ISWAP and Boko Haram are often camped.

Creation of 30 million jobs

One of the things Adebayo Adewale, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has on his agenda is the creation of 30 million jobs.

Source: Vanguard

He plans to achieve this using cryptocurrency. It sounds promising, but Nigerians have seen this film before, and we didn’t like the ending.

In 2015, President Buhari promised to create 3 million jobs annually, but gave us a 33% unemployment rate instead.

No more generators or foreign education

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has castles in the air, too.

Source: Leadership.ng

While explaining his manifesto, he said if elected, he’d draft a Nigerian Patriot Bill that’d ban public officers from giving their children foreign education.

He also plans to restrict their access to private and foreign hospitals, generators and boreholes for as long as the ordinary people can’t afford these amenities.

In theory, most of these campaign promises sound like good plans and a step towards making our lives easier. However, why do we hear nothing from these politicians after elections, and their campaign promises end up looking like lies?

No punishment for failed promises

Sadly, there is no provision in the law that holds politicians accountable for their campaign promises. As such, fulfilling it or not is entirely up to their hardly reliable goodwill.

Lack of funding

While some elected officials have plans to fulfil what was promised, they soon realise Nigeria –and by extension, states– are only rich on paper. For instance, a report last year showed that Abia state hadn’t paid some of its workers for 22 months. In such situations, the elected government would have to solve the existing problems before fulfilling his campaign promises.

Need for restructuring

Early December 2022, President Buhari, while addressing members of the Senior Executive Course (SEC), accused state governors of being responsible for the poverty level as they were looting local government allocations. According to the president, the local government chairmen would pocket half of what was allocated and thus fail to embark on necessary projects.

An evil we’ve been dealing with for a long time is corruption, and it, unfortunately, begins at the grassroots level. If we’re to experience any real change, the entire system would need to be cleaned and restructured.

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The Nigerian Voter is a series that seeks to understand the motivations that drive the voting decisions of Nigerians — why they vote, how they choose their candidates, why some have never voted, and their wildest stories around elections.

This week’s subject of The Nigerian Voter is Tolu*, a 200-level Mass Communication student in his early twenties schooling at the Federal University of Technology, Minna. He is passionate about voting, but with exams clashing with the elections, he and 26,000 other students at his school can’t travel home. He tells us of his frustrations with the educational system, his desire to vote and who he hopes can win this election.

When did you first enter university, and how many strikes have you experienced?

I got admission in 2019 but resumed in 2020. I was in school from January to March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown started.

I was at home from March to December 2020 due to COVID-19 and a strike from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). 2021 was the only year that I had a full session. In 2022, I was in school from January to March before the eight-month strike that ended in October. That is two strikes already in three years.

Wow. How would you say the strikes have affected you?

By now, I’m supposed to be in my final year (400 level), but I’m still in the second semester of my second year. I’ve not even written exams.

I’ve not been able to make progress with my goals in life. There were so many things I planned and put in place.

For instance, I had a summer job shortly before I entered university. The manager there liked me and promised I could return and work there in my 300 level for Industrial Training (IT). Now the manager that promised that opportunity was transferred last year. If there were no strikes, I’d have worked there by now. Now I can no longer do it there, and my chances of working at the firm in future have been cut short.

It has also affected my grades too. When I returned from the 2020 strike, some lecturers claimed that they had misplaced all the test scripts we had written before the strike. Hence, they gave people random scores and the “random score” I got wasn’t so favourable and it brought down my Grade Point Average (GPA).

Also, this has affected me mentally because I’m slowly but surely losing hope in the educational system. It makes me wonder if having an education is worth it or not.

Who do you think is the cause of the strikes?

Well, I can’t say lecturers for sure because my parents are also in the educational system. It is not easy to teach endlessly and not have your salaries paid monthly. A politician can’t be there taking your money, and you don’t do anything about it. So I’d say a larger portion of the blame goes to the politicians.

But I’d also like the lecturers to have compassion for us. We understand their plight, but it is also our future that they are using to fight for their rights.

Since the recent strike was called off in October 2022, how have you coped with your academics?

We had it rough for the first three weeks with back-to-back classes and tests, but now we’ve adjusted. I have classes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. Even though it is stressful, I like it in a way because it is helping us to meet up with the school calendar. We are far behind because of these strikes. We have no option.

Is the schedule by any chance clashing with the elections?

Firstly, I should say that it almost affected my collecting my Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC). We closed for the holidays three days to Christmas Day. If I didn’t make up my mind to collect it before resumption, I’m not sure I’d have ever been able to collect it again.

As to how it’s clashing with the elections, my exams start on February 20. I also have exams on February 24, which is the day before the presidential elections.

How does this affect you?

My residence is in Kogi state, a 7-hour drive from Minna. I cannot finish exams by 2 p.m. and then make a 7-hour drive to Kogi state just to vote. My parents will not support that, with the insecurity on that route.

I also have exams after February 25 as well. If I go back home, there is no way I’d be able to prepare that weekend (being election weekend). Only people from Niger state can go back home, and even then, it’s a five-hour drive at best. People from far distances like mine can’t go back. FUTMINNA has to realise that they are disenfranchising the rights of over 26,000 students in this school to vote.

I’ve been following the news in other schools too, and I’ve seen that 7,000 students have raised their grievances on this issue on social media platforms. I’m very sure that if universities decide to give a one-week break before the elections, I can bet that at least 10,000 students would use the opportunity to vote.

Why do you have so much passion for voting?

It’s because I’m very much concerned about the country’s well-being. The well-being of this country ultimately affects my future. There have been occasions when I was in my room, and I shed tears just because of the state of this country. And the only way I can change things is by voting.

But now I can’t even do that anymore. How can I be preparing since June 2022 to vote and now that the elections are almost here in 2023, I can’t vote? It hurts me a lot. The 2023 elections are possibly the only chance I’d have to rewrite the story of my country and my educational future. And now I’m about to lose that because of my school. If the presidency falls into the wrong hands, I will lose 8 years of my life. And eight years plus my current age is a lot. I might probably have had children by then. I don’t want my kids to live in a destabilised country.

Right now, public universities are talking about how to increase school fees. The current fee we pay here at FUTMINNA is N39,000. Even then, the money took a lot of work for most people. Some had to go on social media and open GoFundMe accounts to raise money for their tuition. How would things be if they increased it to N80,000, for instance? If you have a good country, the school fees would be regulated. I know how much my parents spend on my fees and well-being in this school, and I know they don’t have savings at the end of the month. Voting in this election is my only chance of making things right and ensuring that affliction doesn’t prevail a second time.

What are your plans going forward with the elections? Have you accepted your fate?

If it’s the will of God, I’ll vote. I’m being optimistic that things could change between now and election day.

Who would you vote for if you were able to, and why?

I’d vote for someone with competence and charisma. I’d vote for someone who I can hold accountable. I’d vote for who has a track record, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) is that person.

What about the other candidates?

I may not be old enough to have been around when the other candidates were at the peak of their political careers, but I’ve read books and watched their presidential town halls. Who has presented the most sensible points to us? Who can we look at his antecedents, at his past and say that he is a bit capable of rebuilding Nigeria?

I have been to Anambra state and I see what he did with the road network and it’s worthy of commendation.

In terms of education, what do you think Peter Obi would do for you if he became president?

When he came to Niger state, he assured us that our four years course would be four years. He also promised us SME skills for entrepreneurs. He will also give people small-scale loans for students who wish to do business while in school. He also promised to teach people online and technical skills.

Even though you might not be able to vote, are you mobilising others to exercise their rights?

Well, I know my parents and siblings are going to vote. Before I saw my exam schedules, people in my state planned to rent buses to transport people to polling units to vote.

Even in school, I make sure that I reach out to people back home to remind them to vote on February 25. My friends and I do the same thing here at school to anyone willing to listen.

Nonetheless, there are still a few of us who have enough passion and can put our lives on the line to go out there and vote.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens, by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
In his book, The Trouble With Nigeria, Chinua Achebe concluded that “the only trouble with Nigeria is a failure of leadership.” This is as true today as it was 40 years ago when it was first published.

Yesterday, the question on everyone’s lips was, how many people need to die before the government does something about the avoidable accidents on Ojuelegba bridge? Today, the question is, where are Nigeria’s missing people?

Nigeria has the highest number of missing persons in Africa

Regardless of who you cite as a source, the number of missing people in Nigeria is alarming. According to Beacon Consulting, which runs the Nigeria Security Incidents Tracker, 7222 Nigerians were killed between January and July 2022; 3,823 people were kidnapped in that period.

In August 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said Nigeria had the highest number of missing persons in Africa. It noted that 25,000 out of 64,000 missing persons reported are from Nigeria. The whereabouts of 14,000 Nigerian children remain a mystery.

This number only accounts for those reported missing, as others go unreported, and the actual figures could be much higher.

One way to look at this is: out of every ten people reported missing in Africa, four are from Nigeria.

[Family members of the kidnapped Nigerian Chibok girls, Nigeria, October 18, 2016. AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga]

What is government action towards solving this issue?

Nigeria has a leadership crisis and it’s why, despite the numbers, the government has no official database of missing persons. What it has though are agencies like the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) whose purview includes fighting for the rights of missing people.

In 2021, the Nigerian police in partnership with a tech company, developed an app, Missing Persons Platform. It’s supposed to help citizens report cases of missing people. However, this isn’t an exhaustive database. It’s also not clear how effective it is. No one knows how many missing persons have been found using the app.

Only last week, the federal government said “plans were afoot” to create a national database.

What else has been done about missing persons?

Organisations ranging from nongovernmental organisations (NGO) to the media have taken active steps towards addressing the issue of missing persons. Enough is Enough (EiE), a Nigerian NGO, has partnered with intelligence agencies like SBM to compile a database of missing persons. Similarly, HumAngle media has a dedicated dashboard for persons missing primarily due to extremism in the northern part of Nigeria.

[Dashboard screenshot of missing persons. HumAngle media]

HumAngle has also extensively reported missing persons in Borno state. In Borno, missing persons by gender are in the ratio of 43.5% to 56.5%, male to female. Its report noted that men are often forcefully conscripted by nonstate actors while women are frequent victims of abductions by terrorists. Still, the responsibility of safeguarding lives lies with the government and so far it’s not lived up to expectations.

What can you do?

Section 90 of the Nigeria Police Act says you have a duty to report a missing person to the police within 24 hours. However, the steady rise in missing persons suggests that reporting isn’t the issue but finding the missing.

Online, a petition has started urging the government to stop paying lip service to the matter and build a national database for missing people. You could lend your support to the cause. We’ve also written about how to stay safe in Nigeria; you can read more about it here.

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As the 2023 elections draw closer, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have started to dot their i’s and cross their t’s.

Part of the finishing touches is a mock testing of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine on February 4 in 436 polling units.

The machine is expected to eliminate one of Nigeria’s biggest electoral problems — voter identity fraud. This is to be achieved using both thumbprint and facial recognition technology.

But really has the problem been solved? Even though the system has some great benefits, BVAS has disappointed us more than once.

One begins to wonder if we can trust the BVAS to give us a free and fair election.

Let’s dive deep into these ‘failures’:

The Osun state elections

On July 16, 2022, Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) overthrew incumbent governor Gboyega Oyetola with 403,371 votes. This made him clinch the highest seat in Osun state — that of the governor. Here’s how we imagine the after-party must have been:

https://twitter.com/Qdpaper2/status/1618935009548845056?s=20&t=CJqKpFnIiiEwkS9FB1gr1g

But Oyetola wasn’t going to go down without a fight. In August 2022, he went to file a 1000+ page petition before the Osun State tribunal.

Six months after Adeleke’s triumphant victory and a string of changes in Osun state governance, there came some bad news for Adeleke. The tribunal had sacked him as Osun state governor. And it was all because of a case of over-voting with the BVAS.

What is over-voting and what does BVAS have to do with it?

Over-voting is simply a case of the number of votes cast being more than the number of accredited voters. Usually, after an election, the votes cast are transferred to a ward collation result form or “Form EC8A” after which the BVAS scans the forms.

If the number of votes cast on the form EC8A doesn’t tally with the number of accredited voters on the BVAS system, it simply means that there is foul play and the election should be cancelled. This is in accordance with Section 51 of the 2022 Electoral Act.

In the tribunal, it was noted that there were cases of over-voting in over 749 polling units in the state. This led to the reduction of Adeleke’s votes from 403,371 votes to 290,666 votes. This was significantly lower than the 314,921 polled by Oyetola.

Many Nigerians have wondered since then why the BVAS wasn’t able to detect over-voting when votes were compared during the elections.

The Anambra state elections

During the 2021 Anambra state elections, the Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) had to appeal to INEC to extend the time for voting .

This was due to the slow connectivity of the BVAS machines and even its inability to recognise voters’ faces.

The Abuja council elections

February 12, 2022, was also a bad day for BVAS usage in the Federal Capital Territory, as voters in cities such as Kubwa, Abaji and many others had challenges with BVAS.

After all said and done, how can INEC build trust in citizens once again concerning the BVAS?

How can INEC restore trust in the BVAS?
- Improvement of BVAS software: The BVAS operating software should be upgraded to have a feature that enables the camera to detect or capture/focus on the object of interest, such as the entire result sheet.
- INEC should electronically transmit and publish the number of accredited voters on its results viewing portal (IReV).
- More mock exercises of the BVAS should be done before the elections
- Ward collation result forms should be electronically transmitted straight to the IRev, and not physically compared with BVAS.
We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens, by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
Negligence by Nigerian administrators continues to cost lives annually, with incidences that should be freak accidents becoming the norm for many Nigerians.

On January 29, 2023, one such freak occurrence happened when a truck carrying a 20 ft container fell on a commercial bus at the Ojuelegba bridge.

Source: thecable.ng

This unfortunate accident claimed the lives of eight people, including two children.

How it happened

According to eyewitnesses, the container-laden truck was driving at high speed and lost control while trying to overtake the commercial bus. After evacuation efforts, only one of the nine passengers was found alive.

This isn’t the first, second or fourth time an accident of this nature has happened at the Ojuelegba bridge, and it’s baffling that the government’s not trying to solve a problem claiming the lives of its citizens.

Here’s a timeline of accidents on the Ojuelegba bridge so far

November 2014

In 2014, a container fell off a trailer while trying to climb the flyover. The container landed on a commercial bus under the bridge, but fortunately, no lives were lost.

September 2015

Sadly, the accident victims on this particular day weren’t as lucky. Around 4:45 pm, a heavy-duty container skidded off the bridge and landed on three cars: an SUV, a Toyota Corolla and a Nissan saloon.

Source: pulse.ng

The three drivers were all crushed to death, and many eyewitnesses reported that the reason for this accident was that the container wasn’t latched on properly. Unfortunately, this is another instance where people have lost their lives for preventable reasons.

June 2016

Another container fell off a trailer on the Ojuelegba bridge, but thankfully, no lives were lost this time.

Source: newsheadlines.com.ng

July 2017

On July 8, 2017, seven church members on their way back from a programme were victims of a fatal accident which claimed five lives immediately. A truck carrying a 40 ft container filled with plywood lost pressure in two of its tyres. This made the container tilt till it eventually fell on the vehicle containing the returning church members.

July 2018

Again, another accident involving a container happened on the Ojuelegba bridge, and three lives were lost, with four others injured. A container overloaded with plywood was trying to climb the flyover and, in the process, unfortunately, fell over and spilt its contents on the three commercial buses and one car under the bridge.

April 2019

In 2019, while trying to climb the Ojuelegba bridge with his trailer, he realised that the vehicle was moving backwards and couldn’t stop. Although no one lost their lives, seven cars were damaged.

August 2020

In 2020, two women, Chidinma Ajoku and Chima Nnaekpe were on their way from work when a container fell on the bus they boarded and crushed them both to death. Before this accident, Chidinma was expected to travel out soon as she had secured admission to a university in the United Kingdom, but tragically, her dreams were never realised.

September 2021

On September 20, 2021, a container fell off a truck onto a moving vehicle and trapped four people in the process.

Source: gazettengr.com

According to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the container developed a mechanical fault, which caused it to trip over onto the vehicle. The victims were, thankfully, all evacuated alive.

April 2022

On April 3, 2022, a container-laden truck again fell off the bridge and landed on a Honda accord. Unfortunately, the driver didn’t survive this incident as he was crushed to death.

As we can see clearly, these incidents aren’t isolated. They have happened at least once every year for the past nine years, and it’s ridiculous that the government hasn’t properly addressed this problem.

What’s the government saying?

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)

The FRSC put out a statement recommending the construction of barricades against vehicles like trailers, tankers and trucks.

The Lagos state government.

In a statement signed by Dr Frederic Oladeinde, the Lagos Commissioner for Transportation, the Lagos state government expressed sympathies to the victims’ families and promised to run investigations to avoid future occurrences. He also mentioned working with the Federal Ministry of Housing and Works to install barriers on the bridge.

While this seems promising, it would not be the first time his administration would be promising such, and at this point, Lagosians want solutions not sympathy.

It seems like our government walks on a fine line between negligence and wickedness with little to no regard for lives. So, we should remember this pain and the unjustifiable deaths when we choose the candidate to vote for in the upcoming elections.

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The 2023 general elections are weeks away, and we can already tell they’ll differ from previous election years. For one, there’s renewed interest in the election proceedings, and people are ready to vote in a new administration.

Let’s look at some significant differences in numbers between the 2023 and 2019 elections.

Registered voters

In 2019, we had a total of 84 million voters. But, things are looking better this year, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has noted an 11.3% increase in registered voters in 2019, bringing us to a total of 94 million registered voters.

Youth involvement

Another major difference between the 2019 and 2023 elections is youth participation. In 2019, the number of youths registered to vote was 22.3 million. However, youths make up the highest number of registered voters for the upcoming elections at 37 million. This is definitely a welcome improvement that should continue in the future.

However, regardless of the improvement in voter registration, it would be all for nothing if people don’t come out to vote.

In 2019, we recorded the lowest voter turnout for the first time since Nigeria’s democracy, at 34.75 %. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (I-IDEA), Nigeria’s voter turnout was the lowest of all African elections held between 2017-2019.

Some factors responsible for this low turnout include insecurity, apathy, election postponement and poor planning.

Hopefully, things will change in the forthcoming elections, and people will finally understand the type of power they have in their hands.
Who was Eyo Ita?

Eyo Ita was born in Creek Town in present-day Odukpani LGA of Cross River State, South-south Nigeria. Ita attended the Presbyterian Hope Waddell Training School in Calabar before pursuing his tertiary education at London University and Columbia University in New York. He stayed in the U.S. for 8 years.

While in Calabar, he was exposed to the teachings of James Aggrey, who pursued academic opportunities for African students in Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in America. Calabar became a training ground for some nationalist politicians due to the early site of secondary schools in the city and the influence of people like James Agrrey.

Prof. Eyo Ita

The many feats of Eyo Ita

Here is how Ita changed the face of Nigerian politics:
- He formed the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) in 1934 and galvanised the Nigerian youths for nationalism. This factored into Nigeria’s independence from Britain.
- Created the Youth Charter in 1938 to form complete autonomy of Nigeria within the British empire on a basis of equal partnership with other member states.
- Campaigned vigorously for African education in the 1930s.
- Became Vice-President of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). This was a strong political party during the colonial and early post-colonial years.
- Formed the National Independence Party (NIP). It became one of the five Nigerian political parties that sent representatives to the July 27, 1953 London Constitutional Conference. This helped to establish a federal system of government, a Federal Executive Council (FEC) amongst other developments.
- In 1951, major elections were held in the Eastern region of Nigeria with Eyo Ita becoming leader of the Eastern government.
While Eyo Ita is long dead and not often talked about, it was the courage of Nigerian nationalists like him that birthed a desire for freedom among young Nigerians. It was a spirit which was embodied during the #EndSARS protests of 2020, to demand for Police reforms in Nigeria.

This is a part of Zikoko Citizen’s election history education series. To read more, turn on post notifications and follow us on social media @zkkcitizen (IG); @zikokocitizen (Twitter).

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
As we advance towards Nigeria’s presidential election on February 25, there will be two kinds of voters — those who are veterans on the polling grounds and first-timers who get to the polling unit and are confused.

If the latter is you, then thank us. As your fairy godparents, we decided to put together the various processes for Election Day.

What are the election processes?

Generally, elections are in four stages. Each of these stages happens in a sequence.

They are:
- Voter accreditation
- Voting
- Sorting of ballots and counting
- Collection and declaration of ballots
Voter accreditation

Here, voters present at the polling unit will queue up in an orderly manner. They would then present their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) to presiding officers.

These officers then use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine to accredit voters.

To ensure that your details are correct, voters will also place their fingers on the card reader. This ensures that their biometrics match what the PVC presented on the BVAS.

Voting

After officials have made sure that you’re a genuine voter, then you can be allowed to cast your vote. (The voting and accreditation processes are simultaneous).

To vote, you’d be issued a ballot paper. Then you’d be required to head into a voting booth where you thumbprint on the ballot paper in the box of your preferred party.

When thumbprinting, make sure the mark appears within your preferred party’s box and doesn’t cross any lines.

If it does, rest assured that your vote has gone to voicemail, as it will be declared null and void.

Counting and sorting of ballots

Now, as a voter, you have a choice after the second stage — go home and pray that your candidate wins, or stay back and secure your vote by sorting out the ballots.

Here, the ballots are then arranged according to party eg all Labour Party (LP) votes are neatly counted and arranged. This way, you get to ensure that your vote is intact and hasn’t been bought from another party.

The ballots are also counted in full view in this phase and sent to the state’s Independent National Electoral Office (INEC) office for further collation.

Collation and declaration of votes

Here, there are different levels of collation — from the one at the wards, to the state and then to the federal.

For every level, the sum of results from across the components of each level is recorded.

At the federal level, whoever has the highest number of votes then will be declared as the winner of the election.

We hope you’ve been able to get full clarity on what you need to know about election processes. Make sure to come out to the voting polls and make your decision come February 25!

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens, by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.

Starting next week (January 31st, 2023)
Now’s not a good time for Davido, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and supporters of Ademola Adeleke. An election tribunal sitting in Osun state on January 27, 2023, annulled the governorship election result of July 16, 2022, in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) subsequently declared Adeleke winner.

The initial victory, which came over the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) governor, Gboyega Oyetola, saw Adeleke win with 403,371 votes to defeat Oyetola, who got 375,027 votes — a 3.5% margin of victory.

However, the three-person tribunal led by Justice Tetsea Kume voted 2-1 to overturn the result.

What was the ruling?

The tribunal declared that INEC did not comply substantially with the Constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act. The tribunal ruled that there was “overvoting” and declared that Oyetola won the election, polling 314,931 votes, while Adeleke got 290,266.

Justice Kume ordered INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issued another to Oyetola, who he declared the lawful winner.

How did things play out in court?

Emmanuel Ujiadughele, a source in court when the ruling was read said:

“The tribunal ended its proceedings today after the petition was filed on August 5, 2022. There were five parties to that petition. The first and second petitioners were the APC and Gboyega Oyetola. The first, second and third respondents respectively were INEC, Ademola Adeleke and the PDP.

“There were three grounds on which the APC challenged the election. The first was that Adeleke wasn’t qualified and that he forged the certificates he submitted to INEC when he contested in 2018. The tribunal ruled that although forgery was proven especially with his secondary school certificate issued by Muslim High School in Osun state — at a time when the state hadn’t been created— his other accompanying certificates exonerated him from the issue of forgery. The tribunal ruled in favour of the respondent.

“The second however, was on grounds of overvoting. The third was on grounds that INEC didn’t conduct elections in compliance with the Electoral Act. The tribunal ruled that overvoting occurred as stated by the petitioner. It also said that both parties benefited from overvoting. The tribunal ruled that INEC’s actions amounted to tampering with official records by producing multiple results and manipulation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation (BVAS) machines.

“According to the tribunal, INEC’s defense was erroneous. This was in respect to the terms of the sections of relevant laws they quoted. APC had challenged the results in 749 polling units in 10 local governments of Osun state.

“After deliberations, the tribunal deducted from places where there was overvoting. Former governor Oyetola scored 314, 931 votes while Adeleke scored 290,266 votes. The tribunal ruled that Adeleke didn’t score enough votes to be declared the lawful winner of the election. It ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke.

“There was a minority judgment which noted that the petitioners failed woefully to prove their case and ruled in favour of the respondent.”

What does this mean?

History appears to be repeating itself, and it’s two times unlucky for Adeleke against a familiar foe. In March 2019, a three-person tribunal declared Adeleke winner over Oyetola after a September 2018 governorship contest that Oyetola narrowly won. However, the victory was nullified by a court of appeal, and Oyetola was reinstated.

The silver lining for Adeleke is that he can challenge this ruling in court and hope for Oyetola’s good fortune. Still, this spells even bigger worries for INEC, who initially basked in the success of BVAS in conducting the election. A claim that overvoting still occurred is a reality check for INEC, with presidential elections less than a month away.

Adeleke has called for calm. All’s not lost yet. Perhaps they could get a favourable ruling at a higher court and hopefully, look forward to a better time.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.

Starting next week (January 31st, 2023)
In the past seven and a half years, Nigerians have seen things go from bad to beyond worse. It’s unbelievable that a few years back, we could buy spaghetti for ₦120 or sliced bread for ₦250.

This situation is motivating voter turnout for the 2023 elections. There have been many sensitisation efforts encouraging people to pick up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) because they won’t be able to vote without them.

“No PVC, no voting.” @inecnigeria chairman Prof Mahmoud Yakubu declares.

This is coming after several reports claim those without permanent voters cards can vote in the forthcoming elections.#inec #pvc #voting #NigeriaDecides2023 #zikokocitizen #zitizensdecide pic.twitter.com/j33WFD0b2b
— Citizen by Zikoko (@ZikokoCitizen) January 25, 2023

Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the final dates for PVC collection to be from January 25-29, 2023. This announcement motivated people sounding the alarm for PVC collection. However, some of the methods employed recently to encourage people to collect their PVCs infringe on their fundamental human rights.

What’s happened now?

On January 26, 2023, a video surfaced on the internet where people – traders and customers without their PVCs were denied entry into the electrical section of the Alaba International Market, Lagos.

This is Alaba international market. No PVC no enter. And if you're coming to buy, show your PVC or go elsewhere 🤓🤓
Vid: Ezima pic.twitter.com/U3FXL2pQU2
— Frank👀💯 (@DiamondEase) January 26, 2023

An eyewitness explained that the market leaders planned it to ensure everyone went out to vote in the forthcoming elections. Although their enthusiasm can be applauded, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re in a democracy, and people have the choice of whether or not to vote. They can’t and shouldn’t be coerced into it.

Here are some fundamental rights being violated:

Rights to freedom of movement

According to the 1999 constitution (as amended), except for people suspected of or have committed a criminal offence, every Nigerian is free to move freely throughout the country. And barring them from entering anywhere because they don’t have a PVC directly infringes on this right.

Freedom of opinion and expression

Although the best thing for the country would be voter participation,, some Nigerian citizens do not believe in voting for personal or religious reasons. And they are 100% entitled to their beliefs and opinions. Everyone has the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information as long as it doesn’t amount to treason.

While trying to protect our democracy, we should respect other people’s opinions and not turn into the monsters we’re fighting. Additionally, you can be sentenced to imprisonment or made to pay heavy fines if prosecuted for these infringements.

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Starting next week (January 31st, 2023)
The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.

This week’s subject on #TheAbroadLife received a trip to London as a birthday gift when she turned ten. Since then, she’s been to 34 countries, from Namibia to Eswatini. At the moment, the US is her home. But will it be her last stop?

Where are you now?

I’m currently living in Washington D.C. in the US.

What’s your travelling history?

Interesting question. The first time I travelled was when I was ten years old. It was the first birthday I was celebrating without my brother having a party too. Our birthdays are really close, so we usually had our birthday parties together. When I learned we’d be having separate birthdays, I was really excited about it. I was expecting a party, but my mum came up to me one day and asked if I’d like to go to London for my birthday. I was like, “Of course”.

It was my first time out of Nigeria, but only one of many.

What was the experience like?

The memory is somewhat faint right now, but I remember going to a toy store with an entire floor dedicated to Harry Potter. My mum wouldn’t let me touch anything because, in her words, Harry Potter was witchcraft. I hated not being allowed to even look, not to talk of buying a book. It sucked more because I really loved books. But the fun part came when I found out that my cousin with whom we were staying had a library card. I could use it to visit the public library and read as many books as I wanted. I also remember being fascinated by the buses and trains, how chill they seemed. Growing up in Lawanson, Lagos, I wasn’t used to that.

We stayed the whole summer and I came back to Nigeria with enough clothes and “stuff” for me to be hip in school the following week, and it wasn’t until five years later that I was able to leave Nigeria again. This time, to the US.

Your family must really love travelling

Yes. Everyone is very well-travelled and it’s actually encouraged to travel as much as we could. The London trip wasn’t something we could afford on a whim, but my mum squeezed out resources, and it was worthwhile.

Tell me about the trip to the US

My mum wanted us to have the Disneyland experience, so she planned it out. The park experience was golden. I think I threw up at a point because I had motion sickness sha. But it was a lot more “outside” than the trip to London.

Where did you go next?

My mum got a job in Namibia, and because my siblings and I were in boarding school in Nigeria, we had to travel every holiday to see her. We did that for about a year and a half, till I graduated from secondary school.

After that, I went for an international baccalaureate at a boarding school in Swaziland — now Eswatini — and I was there for about two years.

Eswatini? What’s it like?

It’s one of the last two Kingdoms left in Africa, and it opened my eyes to just how diverse Africa really is. The school is quite international, so I was able to meet people from different countries in the same place. I became popular very quickly for being a “loud” Nigerian, as I was tagged. It’s because everyone else was so chill. The only people who had my energy were the Mozambicans. I’d say they’re the Nigerians of Southern Africa. My stay at the school helped me learn how to identify different African countries based on their accents.

There was also a sharp contrast between the food in Namibia and Eswatini. Namibia has a lot of wildlife, so they tend to eat a lot of meat, while Eswatini is more lush and green, so their food is heavy on vegetables. After graduating, I went to America for college.

What did you expect from America, and what did you find?

I wasn’t expecting anything I hadn’t already seen in some form. But this time was still different. My school was in a small town in Indiana, so it was very Midwestern. I’d been to New York before then, and the contrast is huge. The town was a lot more country-like, and the population was older and much more white.

Because it was a small town, there was really no public transportation. Unless you had a car, it was hard to go anywhere far for the things you wanted to enjoy. It wasn’t until much later that this student couple started a delivery service that really saved our lives. A while after, someone opened an Indian restaurant, so things got a bit better.

I got pretty cooped up very fast, so I started taking any chance I could get to catch a break. I did everything from exchange programmes to internships and volunteering. Eventually, my degree programme ended, and I moved to Washington.

Why Washington?

Because of my travel history, I’ve always wanted to work in international policy affairs. So, I got a job in that area, and it required me to move to Washington. Also, my mum had moved to the US by this time. She was staying in Maryland, less than an hour from D.C. by train.

Tell me about D.C.

Coming here was a breath of fresh air, to say the least. First, it was a lot more culturally diverse for my travelling spirit. There were a lot more black people. In fact, Washington D.C. used to be called “Chocolate City” back in the 70s by many black people because it had a predominantly African-American population. But the black population is not as high as it used to be because of the high price of houses.

I have a lot more food options here than I did in Indiana. There’s Thai, Mexican and Indian food, so I no longer need to carry pepper around. I also love that even though it’s metropolitan, it’s not as bustling and crazy as New York. The roads are bigger and cleaner, there’s a lot more greenery, and the people are a bit laid back.

Tell me more about the people of D.C.

Washington is a transit city for most people because of its political nature. There are many diplomats or people who work in important government positions here. In fact, you could meet someone who works for the president in a park and have a chat with them without realising who they are. Their stay often changes with the political seasons, though. But for me, D.C. is home now.

What’s your favourite thing about the place?

I’d say the greenery. Maybe it’s just the part of D.C. I live in, but it’s just so beautiful. You need to see it for yourself to appreciate it.

Will this be your last stop?

Even though D.C. really feels like home, I can’t say for sure because that travelling spirit hasn’t left me yet. I’ve been to 34 countries, and I still want to visit many more. I actually have a list to track my travel. I haven’t been anywhere in South America and some parts of Southeast Asia, so they’re definitely in my travel plans.

Hey there! My name is Sheriff and I’m the writer of Abroad Life. If you’re a Nigerian and you live or have lived abroad, I would love to talk to you about what that experience feels like and feature you on Abroad Life. All you need to do is fill out this short form, and I’ll be in contact.

Fill the form

Starting next week (January 31st, 2021)
People with disabilities in Nigeria have especially tough lives. Many of them find it difficult to get good jobs, they suffer from discrimination and stigma and can’t access many public places or facilities like banks, transport buses, hospitals or supermarkets.

Unfortunately, this exclusion spreads into civic activities like voting as many visually impaired Nigerians are unable to effectively exercise their civic rights.

What guidelines has the law made for blind and visually impaired voters?

According to Section 56 of the Electoral Amendment Act 2015: “ (1) A voter who is blind or is otherwise unable to distinguish symbols or who suffers from any other physical disability may be accompanied into the polling unit by a person chosen by him and that person shall, after informing the Presiding Officer of the disability, be permitted to accompany the voter into the voting compartment and assist the voter to make his mark in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Commission.”

Simply put, visually challenged people are allowed to bring someone to help them. But, this undermines the entire voting process because they could be cheated or influenced into voting for candidates they do not support.

However, there is another provision of Section 56 of the Electoral Amendment Act 2015 which states: “The Commission may take reasonable steps to ensure voters with disabilities are assisted at the polling place by provision of suitable means of communication, such as Braille, large embossed print or electronic devices or sign language interpretation, or off-site voting in appropriate cases”.

So, has INEC taken any steps to make the voting process more inclusive?

On May 3, 2018, during a campus outreach at the University of Abuja, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, announced that measures had been taken to ensure visually impaired people could vote unaided. These measures were:
- Braille Ballot Guide: This envelope-like leaflet, would help voters identify the names of all the political parties immediately a ballot paper is inserted into it.
- Magnifying glasses for persons with albinism.
Was this effective in the 2019 elections?

When these measures were put in place for the 2019 elections, many visually impaired people were happy at the long-awaited inclusiveness and at the chance to have 100 percent confidence in their votes.

Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as many of them reported that the INEC officials themselves were confused when they asked for a ballot guide. Some officials said they didn’t know what a ballot guide was while others said it wasn’t available in the polling unit.

It’s almost like the talk of inclusiveness had been a fool’s dream. So, once again, voters with visual impairment may rely on the help of others to cast their vote.

Consequences of the lack of inclusivity

Voter apathy

One of the issues facing our electoral system today is voter apathy and this time, INEC might be the one encouraging this. Many visually impaired voters are getting tired of a system that isn’t considerate of their situation. As a result, many of them have sworn to not vote again till a lasting solution is found.

Political candidates are at a disadvantage

Statistics show that there are about 7 million visually impaired people in Nigeria today with a significant fraction being adults of voting age whose votes can be the determining factor to push a candidate to victory. However, if the right medium isn’t provided for them to carry out their civic duty, we shouldn’t really call the elections a free and fair one.

Although INEC has promised again that people with disabilities would be able to vote in the upcoming general elections without issues it’s difficult to take their word for it after the 2019 disappointment.

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Just as Judas betrayed Jesus, so would political supporters tend to betray their parties for rivals during the buildup to every election.

This has been evident in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) camp with the rise of the G5 governors and the transfer of key guber aspirants into rival parties such as the Labour Party (LP).

Although the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has received its fair share of defections over the past year, this woman’s case might be the juiciest because of the drama attached.

Naja’atu Muhammad

Her comments on operations inside APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu’s campaign have sparked conversation and further disgust for the APC.

But who is she, what happened between her and the APC and what are some of the claims she has made about Tinubu and the APC?

Who is Naja’atu Muhammad?

Naja’atu’s political career was boosted as a senate nominee for Kano Central District under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007 before they merged with other parties and became APC.

Naja’atu was one of President Buhari’s biggest fans during his early days as president from 2015-2016.

Until her resignation on January 22, 2023, she was the Director of Civil Society in Tinubu’s campaign team.

What went wrong between her and the APC, causing this drama?

The Naja’atu-APC fallout

The first sign of ‘love gone bad’ between Naja’atu and the APC was when she filed her resignation letter to the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.

According to Naja’atu, she could no longer participate in party politics due to “recent developments in the political and democratic space.”

However, Naja’atu didn’t waste time sharing the developments, as she had an exclusive interview with Whistlers the day after her resignation.

In the interview, she gave more context into her leaving the APC due to Tinubu’s ‘ill health’ and ‘dementia’.

The day after the interview, Naja’atu must have decided that party politics were still ‘her thing’ after all. She pledged allegiance to her former boss’s rival — Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.

According to her, she chose Atiku because she didn’t have the “luxury of time” and thus had to pick between “the devil and the deep blue sea.”

At this point, the disloyalty was too much for Tinubu’s presidential team. On January 24, 2023, they fired back by saying that Naja’atu didn’t actually resign, but was sacked.

According to Tinubu’s Adviser on Public Affairs, Mahmud Jega, Naja’atu was fired for incompetence and leaking vital information to rival parties.

He also said that she resigned when she found out that they knew about her disloyalty.

Are you for real?

Since then, it’s been nothing but disses from Naja’atu concerning the inner workings of the APC. Let’s outline four of them:

Tinubu’s illnesses

During her interview with Whistlers, Naja’atu revealed that Tinubu has Alzheimer’s because “he couldn’t even hold a cup of tea.”

She also hinted that he sleeps almost all the time and may have dementia, as he could no longer decipher simple terms and meanings.

“Tinubu bribed APC governors for the presidential ticket”

Naja’atu also sat down with THISDAY Newspapers to give them more exclusive gist.

According to her, the APC presidential primaries were rigged, as ballot papers were already marked with Tinubu’s name on it. She also claimed that there are clips of APC governors sharing money given by Tinubu after the primaries.

“Northerners are plotting for Shettima to take over”

During the THISDAY interview, she also released another bombshell on why some Northerners are running for Tinubu. This is so that Tinubu’s running mate, Kasim Shettima, can become president if his health fails.

According to Naja’atu, “Some people from Maiduguri called me asking, ‘Hajia, why did you do this? You have now punctured our interest. Our son is going to be president, and you’re talking like that? After all, look at Tinubu; he cannot do it. We’re all for Kashim.”

“Terrorist Kabiru was arrested in Shettima’s house”

Naja’atu in an interview with AriseTV also accused Shettima of being in cahoots with terrorists.

According to Naja’atu, “Kasim Shettima has been associated several times with the funding of terrorism. We should not forget Kabiru Sokoto, who was one of the most wanted terrorists in 2016. He was found and arrested in Shettima’s house.”
For Navigating Nigeria this week, Citizen spoke to Ose Anenih, son of former minister and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Anthony Anenih. He’s a member of the PDP presidential campaign council and deputy director for polling. He spoke on various issues including his party’s chances, the breakaway G5, PDP fumbling the bag, and why he thinks Peter Obi’s campaign would’ve never taken off without EndSARS.

Editorial Note: Navigating Nigeria is a platform for Nigerians to passionately discuss policies and politics with little interference to individual opinions. While our editorial standards emphasise the truth and we endeavour to fact-check claims and allegations, we do not bear any responsibility for allegations made about other people that are founded in half-truths.

Icebreaker. Have you ever seen any of Citizen’s work?

I have. I feel like I’m Daniel walking into the lion’s den because of your work and because of your audience. Most of your readers might see politicians as the antithesis of everything they stand for. I’m hoping you guys will be gentle.

Haha. Off the bat, could you answer whether you have any relations to the late Chief Tony Anenih, a legend of Nigerian politics?

He’s my dad, yes.

Wonderful. Your dad was a former minister under President Obasanjo yes?

Former minister of works. My dad and Anthony Enahoro — who moved the motion for independence — come from the same community. There must be something in the water.

Lol. Tell us, what was growing up like?

We always grew up around politics. My mum is a politician and a former minister of women affairs as well. One of my earliest childhood memories was during a meeting held in our living room in Benin. I peeked out the door and saw Shehu Shagari, the then president. He had come to Benin for a visit and we hosted him.

Bragging rights

I’m from a polygamous home and we grew up politicking. Politics is in my blood. I’m, however, more than just a politician. I’m a hotelier and businessman. My brother and I run a property development company which pays the bills while we go about trying to convince people to vote for us.

Before your dad passed, he was chairman board of trustees (BOT) of the PDP, correct?

He was chairman in 2015. After we lost that election, he stepped down and adopted an elder statesman role.

Did your dad influence your journey into politics under the PDP?

Yes and no. I say yes and no because on one hand you have to join a political party. It could have been NNPP, LP or APC. On the other hand I know a lot of these people because I interact with them across divides. I feel a sense of fellowship with them and know what they believe in. So in deciding what party to belong to I asked myself which community I’d like to work out of and I picked the PDP.

I like the PDP’s ideology. We’re progressive and pro-business. I’m a firm advocate of free speech which is something my party also believes in so it was natural for me to work with the PDP.

We made some mistakes in the past but looking forward, our party’s Nigeria’s best choice for prosperity, security and growth.

Supporters of other parties won’t agree with this assertion. Why should Nigerians give your party, not just your candidate, another chance at leadership?

I’m a fan of Kingsley Moghalu and I read his books. He’s one of the best presidential candidates I’ve ever seen. I’ve interacted with him and interrogated his ideas and he’s solid. But, he always seems to pick parties that don’t appreciate what he brings to the table or stand no chance of winning. I say this to highlight that you can’t separate a candidate from its party.

When we took over from the military in 1999, we had an almost negative GDP growth. We grew it to 15 per cent in 2002. I can point to that to say we’ve been in a similar situation as we are now where we’re bankrupt, there’s insecurity and skyrocketing inflation. The PDP fixed that then and did it within three years. One of the stewards of that success, Atiku, is vying for the top office today.

We did some stuff that was great, but we also made mistakes. The beauty of Nigerian democracy is that in 2015 Nigerians clearly showed they can punish bad behaviour. However, they were only able to do that because the PDP produced a candidate that allowed free and fair elections.

Jonathan signed a presidential amendment to the Electoral Act a few weeks before the election and it was that same amendment that kicked him out of office.

My worry going into the 2023 election is, on one hand we have a ruling party that doesn’t have a democratic bone in it and on the other hand a divided opposition who if they don’t band together, will find it difficult to unseat a ruling party desperate to hold on to power.

But Buhari signed the Electoral Act into law which has benefited your party. For example, governor Adeleke’s emergence in Osun. What do you say to that?

If Buhari had signed it in 2018, my applause for him would’ve been more enthusiastic. Right now he has no skin in the game as he’s not contesting. He did it in pursuit of a legacy. He wants to be remembered as the president that advanced our democratic process. If he was sincere he’d have signed it in 2018. All he’ll get from me is a one-handed clap.

You spoke of mistakes your party made. One which many people have talked about is the emergence of Atiku who’s of Fulani ethnicity to replace Buhari who’s also Fulani. How do you respond to those who say it’s unfair?

I ran for the PDP primaries to contest for the House of Representatives (HOR). Bro, if you see my manifesto ehn? I had a beautiful manifesto. I had a campaign team which was structured off of Obama’s when he ran in 2008. We were everywhere on social media including Twitter and WhatsApp. My constituency has 21 wards and we covered everywhere. Went to the markets and broke kola with everyone.

Omo, on the day of the primaries hahahaha. That day the conversation wasn’t about manifestoes. It was about what was in the best interest of my community. I was running for HOR and my community also had someone running for Senate. My delegates, people for whom I hired a bus to take to the venue, decided that they were better off having someone in the Senate than in the HOR.

Chai, that must have hurt

That’s the dark underbelly of politics. In the end these things come down to negotiations. You may not like it but as a democrat you should accept it. I wasn’t rigged out.

I say this to answer your question. Democracy isn’t perfect. The PDP presidential primaries had Wike, Atiku, Saraki and a host of others. There was a lot of horse-trading and in the end the delegates said Atiku was the best choice. The primaries weren’t rigged. Delegates across the nation came together to form a consensus on Atiku.

I hear people talk about fairness a lot and it makes me cringe. When you begin to have these ethnic arguments under the guise of equity and fairness it becomes problematic. Because you’re setting a precedent that we’d put ethnicity and religion over character, competence and a track record. The threats we face today from insecurity, displaced people, out-of-school children are markers of state failure. Ethnicity or religion won’t solve this.

So to answer the question of if it’s fair my Twitter bio reads, “It’s not fair, it’s politics.”

That’s interesting, because Atiku himself has slammed the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket and called for a “balanced” ticket. Doesn’t this contradict your previous point?

Speaking for myself now, let’s not deceive ourselves. Tinubu is a Yoruba Muslim. How can he pick a northern Christian if he’s serious about winning an election? Elections have historically been determined by bloc votes from the northeast and northwest. When Tinubu is looking for a running mate will he aim for competence or for the person most likely to deliver him the most votes?

So you’re saying Tinubu sacrificed competence for the sake of winning elections?

What I’m trying to say is, Tinubu was hamstrung from the get-go. Nigeria still has these conversations about where you’re from and who you pray to and Tinubu knows this. If it was a smaller party you could get away with a Christian-Christian or Muslim-Muslim ticket and no one would bat an eye about it. I’m deputy director of polling for the PDP and what shows up in our polls is that people tend to vote along ethnic and tribal lines. So I understand Tinubu’s decision. It was a cold and calculated move although I don’t think he’ll get far with it but I wish him well.

In 2019 you wrote that the next Nigerian president should be Igbo and you even mentioned Obi. So what changed? Why aren’t you supporting him?

The arguments I made in that piece are still valid, which was about recognising Nigeria’s diversity. I penned it around calls for secession at the time by Nnamdi Kanu. The thrust of it was that a certain section of the country felt they were still being punished for events from the Civil War which made them feel like they didn’t belong and couldn’t aspire to the highest office.

These issues aren’t anecdotal, they’re systemic. For instance, the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) was established because of the Boko Haram devastation as well as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to deal with the issues in the south-south. You don’t have anything similar in the southeast. This is a region which was the theatre of the Civil War and you don’t have anything set up to fix the infrastructural and physical damage they suffered. That was the background in which that article was written.

If you’re from the region — my mum is from the southeast — you’ll see how the state pushes back at you or doing tokenistic projects like the Second Niger Bridge. If after eight years the only thing you can give back to an entire region is a bridge, then it’s tokenistic.

But the PDP ruled for 16 years, how come they didn’t at least deliver on what you say is a tokenistic project?

That’s a brilliant question. We talk about bubbles of national sentiment and during Jonathan’s time the South-East didn’t feel they were being persecuted. Even though there was Nnamdi Kanu he was more like an irritant. There wasn’t a full blown agitation to leave the country. That only began to rear its head when Buhari got to office and made the “97 per cent, five per cent” remark.

Fast forward to 2023. Nigeria’s problems have gone beyond giving a certain section of the country a sense of belonging. Yes that too is important, but there has to be a Nigeria before anyone can hope to get a sense of belonging or anything like that. I mentioned earlier that to my mind, Nigeria’s at the edge of state failure. We need to fix that before addressing subnational agitations that are ongoing.

This brings us back to Obi

The good thing about the Peter Obi candidacy is it addresses part of that agitation and I absolutely love it. I’m up and about in Abuja and I see people in their isi agu outfits and you can feel the general sense of pride in being Igbo because they’ve put someone who for me is a great candidate. His candidacy has also, to a large extent, doused tensions in the South-East. Agitations have shifted from ”we want to leave” to “this is our guy” which is amazing.

So I don’t think overall my position has changed. I just think there’s a list of priorities now brought about by the APC’s bad governance. As a result other more pressing issues have overtaken the sentiments expressed in that article.

Given the growing support Obi has gathered in the race, do you think the PDP fumbled the bag by not fielding him?

I think it’s a disservice to your audience to ascribe what’s happening to just Obi, instead of being the result of a protest movement of young, energised, organised and mobilised Nigerians.

Even you could’ve picked up a ticket and if that movement had gotten behind you, we’d be talking about you the way we’re talking about Obi. It’s not about the LP either, which literally doesn’t exist.

In my village, Uromi, people who contested under the PDP platform and failed to get a ticket were the ones that took up the LP ticket.

I don’t think it’s quite the same thing comparing me with Obi, a former governor with experience running a national campaign under the PDP

I’m saying that between 2019 and 2023, several people have been posturing for president. Wike, Seyi Makinde and even people like Tony Elumelu, Atedo Peterside and Pat Utomi were making the right noises. So it’s not just Obi. Without EndSARS there’d be no Peter Obi.

Please explain

We’ve seen youth involvement in politics before. Young people were involved in Buhari’s presidential campaign. What we hadn’t seen before was organised young people working together on a large scale and with efficiency. The first time we saw young people band together to push a political agenda — even though they say it wasn’t politics — was during #EndSARS.

Young people across the nation said they were tired of police brutality and were demanding police reform to the point where the president thought there was a plot to overthrow him.

I was out of the country on October 20, 2020 and I saw the evil this government did. My heart broke and I worried they’d crushed the spirit of Nigerian youths. So to see that spirit re-emerge now is a brilliant thing to watch even though I’m with the PDP. Although I think they’re backing the wrong horse, the engagement they’ve promoted in our political space has made it worth the while — whether Obi wins or not.

So I’m saying that if young people hadn’t led campaigns outside of the LP structure, Obi’s movement wouldn’t have gained any traction at all because the LP is struggling to even hold rallies. I’d rather give credit to young people instead of Obi who only left us in May. Obi’s one of us, he’s an old breed politician and not new.

He just happens to be the tip of the spear of a rebellious movement that wants to transform the country for the better. And I envy him for that. I wish we’d been able to draw that attention to our campaign, we haven’t been able to.

So is this you admitting the PDP fumbled the bag?

If the PDP fumbled the bag it’s not about Obi, it’s that we didn’t appeal enough to the youth demographic. Even the young people say that this isn’t about Obi but about them and their future and I 100% agree.

You’re part of the PDP presidential campaign council. Give us the amebo, how’s the PDP dealing with the agitations of the breakaway governors of the party, the G5?

As e dey pain them, e go dey sweet us. Let’s talk real politics. I think they made a tactical error in showing their hand too early. Because it allowed us to ask ourselves how we’d manage if we lost any of the five PDP states. Can we chart a path to the presidency without these states? We spent the last four months developing that pathway to victory.

That’s why you still see confidence in our campaigns. Even if we don’t get those states back, we stand a good chance of competing and winning the election. If they’d waited a bit longer and caught us unawares then things would have been different.

Can you speak more on the grievances of the G5?

The G5 are saying they aren’t happy because the party appears to be top-heavy. They’re saying the presidential candidate is from the North, national chairman from the North, campaign DG from the North which lacks equity and justice.They want the chairman to step down so a southerner can take over.

The problem with that is it’s a disingenuous argument. Governor Wike is a lawyer and he knows the PDP constitution. Because of past issues regarding replacing chairmen who step down, we inserted a clause in the constitution. If I, Ose, from Edo state, steps down, someone from my zone will have to replace me.

We have a national chairman, Ayu, a deputy chairman one from the North and a deputy chairman two from the South.

Here’s the point to understand, Ayu is a middlebelt Christian. Forget the fact that he’s called a northerner. Wike is saying Ayu should step down so that a northerner, a Muslim from the northeast would take over as chairman. How does that address Wike’s agitation?

Or will Wike also lead another campaign for the deputy chairman one to step down so the next person becomes chairman? It doesn’t work. The proposal made to him was a simple one. We recognise your grievances and we’ll address them as soon as the candidate emerges as president. The chairman will step down.

There are six principal offices that parties share that are mapped out to the six geopolitical zones. The president, vice president, senate president, speaker of the house, secretary general of the federation and the national chairman. Okowa is already VP and from the south-south. Any imbalances that exist will be addressed when Atiku wins the presidency.

If…

Like I explained, our constitution makes it impossible to give him what he wants. Unless he’s asking us to hold another national convention. The irony is, Wike was among those who conducted the last national convention and financed Ayu’s campaign. He was also among those who moved against the former chairman, Secondus, his kinsman.

Governor Ortom was a part of the committee that insisted the contest be thrown open without zoning. So it’s all, for want of a nicer word, somehow.

Hmm

I’m a politician and I’ve been blessed enough to have personal security when I travel. How many Nigerians can afford that? How many can travel without being kidnapped? I get a huge amount of DMs soliciting help. However, you can’t crowdfund governance or healthcare. So when I see my leader like Wike acting in a manner that allows the APC to continue in office, it concerns me. I also ran for office and lost. The pertinent question is why? I ran to help my people and was willing to set aside my ego and act in a manner that yields positive outcomes. Can you honestly tell me the way Wike is acting is going to help Nigeria? It’s not.

That’s your opinion

Well, Wike came to Lagos and endorsed Sanwo-Olu. Let’s be serious. I keep saying that you shouldn’t be involved in a democratic conversation if you’re involved in what happened at Lekki Toll Gate. So how do you come to Lagos and say someone anointed by a godfather and imposed on Lagosians deserves a second term? I don’t get it.

How do you go and meet with Tinubu? After the last eight years how are they still an option? You asked if we made mistakes, I said yes. 2015 was a referendum on PDP’s 16 years in power. Nigerians said they wanted more and voted us out.

As a PDP member do you consider this unforgivable?

Forget my partisanship. I think as a Nigerian it’s a bitter pill to swallow. Beyond the theatrics a lot of us loved Governor Wike because he’s very hardworking. When you have someone you hold in such high regard acting in an emotional, scorched-earth way, it’s a dangerous game to play. It’s the politics of attrition with the lives of 200 million Nigerians.

What’s the PDP’s plan to woo back young Nigerians disillusioned with the party’s conduct of in-house elections? Case in point, the Banky W experience

Banky’s an example of how you should take part in politics. His candidacy was initially disputed but he fought for it. He took his case to every single member of the party leadership. Fresh primaries were conducted and he won.

A lot of people think because they have good plans or went to Harvard they’re entitled to power. Nobody gives you power, you have to take it. That’s why this election is different. Young people are no longer sitting on the fence or waiting for the PDP or APC to cede power to them. They’re going for it.

On our internal primaries, I think we should adopt direct primaries. Once you have delegates you’re creating a captured structure. Independent candidacy has to become a thing too. If we get into office that’s one of the reforms we’d try to push.

Is this a promise?

Yes it is, hold me to that. And not just independent candidacy, diaspora voting as well. We’ve committed to it in our manifesto. It makes no sense that you work abroad, send money here but can’t vote because you’re geographically displaced.

I want to say because of the youthful audience, that I appreciate their involvement in this conversation. I’m on this platform because I recognise the importance of speaking to that demographic. This isn’t necessarily an appeal to vote for our candidate, I think by this time lots of minds have been made up.

This is just to encourage young people to say they’re doing an amazing job. We have lots of youths in our campaign as well. Regardless of the outcome, an Atiku-Okowa presidency will prioritise young people.

Are you confident in INEC’s ability to conduct free and fair elections this time around?

Real talk, there’ll be violence. I believe the ruling party will deploy violence in areas they aren’t strong. There’ll also be lots of vote-buying. But, the new Electoral Act and BVAS means this election will be the most transparent and most reflective of public opinion we’ve ever had. On that score I’m confident that regardless of the outcome, it’ll be representative of the will of the people.

So kudos to Buhari right?

Kudos to the INEC chairman. Because BVAS isn’t in the Electoral Act, it’s in INEC’s guidelines. So let’s keep praying for him. As long as BVAS stays in place, I’m confident that we’ll have a free and fair election.

Does this mean if the outcome doesn’t favour the PDP it won’t seek redress in court?

You saw what happened in 2015. We lost the election and there were issues with it. But you always have to look at the greater good. I think it was important for us to reinforce not just confidence in INEC but confidence in the electoral process.

We could’ve challenged it but the president decided not to and I belong in that school of thought. But I’m speaking for myself, not my candidate. And we don’t know what might happen between now and February 25. But fingers crossed, it all comes good.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
This is Zikoko Citizen’s Game of Votes weekly dispatch that helps you dig into all the good, bad, and extremely bizarre stuff happening in Nigeria and why they’re important to you.

Subscribe now to get the newsletter in your email inbox at 8 am every Friday instead of three days later. Don’t be LASTMA

There seems to be trouble after trouble for CBN governor, Godwin “Meffy” Emefiele as he is in the news again.

Over the years, Meffy has introduced many controversial policies; however, what takes the cake is the recent naira redesign and cash withdrawal limit policies. Since the CBN announced these policies, Meffy has been under fire from Nigerians and has received summons from the House of Representatives which he did not honour.

However, things began to take a different turn on December 20, 2022, when the Department of State Security Services (DSS) joined the list of those looking for Meffy. They went even further to file for his arrest on the charges of financing terrorism. Although the court refused to grant their request due to lack of evidence, it doesn’t look like they have plans to give up anytime soon, as they recently took the Deputy CBN Governor and other top officials in for questioning.

After weeks of playing hide and seek, Meffy finally decided to come back home, and while still trying to shake the DSS off his back, he seems to have landed in fresh trouble.

A federal High Court in Abuja has summoned the CBN Governor over a $53 million judgement debt owed due to the Paris Club refund. We can see that Meffy’s village people have decided to carry his matter on their heads this year.

Village people to Meffy

What Else Happened This Week?

Oshodi/Apapa Gridlock: Policemen Abandon All Hope

Over the past few months, Nigeria has shown us that no matter how bad we think a situation is, it can always get worse. Unfortunately, the traffic situation along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway has taken a turn for the worse despite promises of a solution. To give you an idea of just how bad the problem is, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Mile-2/Apapa axis declared on January 17, 2023, that they need ideas on how to solve the problem.

However, he didn’t miss the opportunity to point accusing fingers at the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) officials as being responsible for the traffic. And the NUPENG workers, in turn, passed the blame onto the government. With the blame game going on, a solution to this problem won’t be coming anytime soon.

Video of the week

This is the first election in recent times where the possibility of a runoff happening seems very, very likely with each passing day. But what exactly does it mean?#zkkcitizen #politics #NigeriaDecides2023 #election2023🇳🇬 #presidentialcandidates pic.twitter.com/lp3ROUP5fe
— Citizen by Zikoko (@ZikokoCitizen) January 18, 2023

Question of the week

This week, INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, during his speech at Chatham House, about the possibility of using body odour for voters’ identification in the future. What other “interesting” ideas do you think INEC should consider?

Ehen, one more thing…

Big Brother Titans launched this last Sunday. Do you think it can distract people from voting in the upcoming elections? Here’s what other Nigerians think.
Last week, Afrobeats artist, Paul Okoye of PSquare shared his concerns about Nigerian students still in school when they were supposed to be collecting their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC)s.

Out of the 74million youths eligible voters , 26million of them are students and they are all back in school, most of them registered during the Asuu strike .. it’s 10days remaining for collection 🤷🏾‍♂️ @inecnigeria why are students still in school by now ? 🤷🏾‍♂️
— Rudeboy (@rudeboypsquare) January 19, 2023

This caused a flurry of advice for students. Some said that parents could help them collect their PVCs using the INEC printout, while some students didn’t even see the point of leaving school for a PVC.

Despite the varying opinions, one thing is for sure — 3.2 million Nigerian students stand a significant chance of being left out of the polls come February. Let’s break down the problem, why it matters and who needs to take action.

The problem

There are less than four days to the deadline for PVC collection, and so far, 79% of registered voters have collected their PVCs. But what about the remaining 21%?

Well, here’s your answer — the majority of that 21% are in school doing anything BUT collecting their PVCs.

But how did this happen? To understand this, you’d need to recall the prolonged industrial strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for eight months in 2022. It also doesn’t help when the ‘members’ going on strike are your lecturers.

During that period, the students weren’t just sitting at home and washing plates. Over 3.8 million students out of 7.2 million youths went to their Local Government Area (LGA) wards to register for their PVC ahead of the 2023 elections.

However, no one thought about how the students would collect their PVCs after the strike. This is now the bone of contention. Since they resumed in October, there have been tons of lectures and assessments to make up for lost time, which makes them too busy to travel for PVC collection. But that’s not all.

There are reports that some universities are scheduling exams during the election period. So not only can they NOT collect their PVCs, but there is also a likelihood that they will be excluded from voting.

Why does this matter?

There are two answers to this. The first is that students are youths. Youths make up the largest number of voters for the 2023 elections, with 37 million people. Students are the largest in terms of occupational distribution, with 26 million people.

Now, who will be left to vote if you take away the people who make up the numbers? This will cause low voter turnout, ultimately affecting who could become our next leaders in February.

Let’s not forget that this happened before in the 2019 elections. There were 84.2 million registered voters, but only 28.6 million voters showed up at the polls.

The second is the hindrance of the law. According to the 2022 Electoral Act, no individual can vote outside where they registered for the PVC. Many students already attend universities that are miles away from their local government areas, and are significantly affected.

What has been done to address this?

Non-governmental organisations such as Yiaga Africa have called out the National Universities Commission (NUC) to refrain from scheduling examinations during elections.

But what about collecting their PVCs? Time is ticking fast. The NUC also needs to give these students a pass to go home and pick this up. They deserve to be decision-makers during an election that will determine the next phase of their lives.
In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flooding crisis in a decade. More than 30 states were affected, with states like Kogi and Bayelsa, bearing the worst brunt.

The federal government was criticised for its late and lacklustre response, which led to substantial physical and economic losses.

The jury’s still out on whether lessons have been learned going forward. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), which is responsible for tracking rainfall, on January 24, 2023, released its 2023 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) with serious warnings on unusual rainfall and floods.

What did the report say?

The report warned Nigerians to prepare for an earlier-than-expected onset of rainfall in most parts of Nigeria. Starting on or around March 2, the coastal areas of the south-south comprising Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa-Ibom will see heavy rainfall. Southern inland cities should see precipitation in April, while central states will see rain in May.

An extended rainfall season is predicted to occur in Gombe, Kaduna, Kwara, Enugu, Anambra, western Ogun, and Lagos states.

The northern states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno will have an onset of rain between June and July. Peak rainfall would be between July and September.

NIMET’s Director-General, Prof. Mansur Matazu, said there’d be flash floods in cities, while people living in flood-prone areas would experience worse situations.

[A flooded Nigerian community. Source EPA/GEORGE ESIRI]

What else should you know?

NiMet is working in partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), which provides expert analysis on disaster risk implications and produces disaster early warnings. NEMA has said it’s taking proactive measures like capacity development to manage future emergencies better.

#DGNEMA Mustapha Habib Ahmed has advised stakeholders in disaster management to take advantage of capacity development opportunities facilitated by the Agency to prepare for emerging disaster challenges in the country for proactive risk management and efficient disaster response pic.twitter.com/XVSuCr9p6F
— NEMA Nigeria (@nemanigeria) January 23, 2023

Despite this, it’s in your interest to look out for yourself, mainly if you live close to areas at risk of flooding. Especially with the elections taking priority over other matters.

[Image source: NEMA]

How can you protect yourself?

As much as the government may promise to protect you from imminent flooding, you should still take practical steps to avoid being a victim. The government can do more by way of improving drainage systems. It can also partner with local authorities to create barriers to stem flooding in communities that are at risk. Structures that obstruct the flow of water should be demolished.

However, the devastating effects of climate change mean that riparian areas will suffer heavily when the rainy season commences.

If you live around these flood-prone areas, it’s time to start considering relocation far away from there. You can also try moving further inland.

Based on NiMet’s forecast, you have a head start of about a month.

For those who are resigned to staying put, we already did an explainer on how to protect your health in the event of a flooding emergency. We’ll keep you updated with any other information needed to keep you and your loved ones safe.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
We’re weeks away from the 2023 general elections, and the country is buzzing with anticipation. Politicians are running helter-skelter trying to convince voters they are the best thing since sliced bread, and people are burning bridges with friends who aren’t supporting their choice of candidates.

Given the importance of the upcoming elections, the electorate, like never before, is keeping an eye out for anything that smells or looks like electoral fraud, also known as rigging.

Unfortunately, rigging has always been an ugly characteristic of our elections. Some of the ways politicians rigged elections in the past are:

Threaten electoral officials

One of the easiest ways elections were rigged in the past was by threatening the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials. This would mainly happen if the candidate is a strong political figure or belongs to a prominent party.

Presence of the military

Elections shouldn’t be a do-or-die affair, and very rarely, if not never, would the help of the military be needed during the voting process. So, once a polling unit is militarised, it makes voters afraid and discourages them from voting.

Vote buying

This is the most common method of election rigging. Many people need money, and unfortunately, politicians take advantage of this. People in need of food or money happily sell their votes in favour of these politicians.

Thuggery

This is another popular method of rigging elections. Thugs are recruited to disrupt the voting process or steal and destroy electoral materials.

This, consequently, leads to a low turnout of voters or the polling unit is altogether cancelled.

Bribery

In 2017, an INEC official, Christian Nwosu, pleaded guilty to receiving a ₦30 million bribe from former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke to compromise the election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Electoral officials are often promised appointments, money and properties if they agree to compromise the election’s integrity.

Fortunately, these things may soon become a thing of the past as the government has recently taken steps to clamp down on electoral fraud.

Introduction of BVAS

For the 2023 general elections, INEC will use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voters’ authentication. Unlike the smart card reader, BVAS authenticates not only a voter’s fingerprints but also has a facial recognition sensor.

It would also help INEC officials electronically upload results from the polling units. This has automatically created a problem for politicians who clone or buy Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). No wonder some have opposed INEC’s plan to use it in the elections.

The new electoral act

On February 25, 2022, President Buhari signed a new electoral act which might make electoral fraud even more difficult. Some key points of the act are:
- Political parties cannot receive anonymous donations.
- Political parties cannot create, recruit or train an “army” to carry out their objectives.
- Ballot papers with any marks or stains will be rejected.
Hopefully, this election will go as seamlessly as possible, and people will be able to vote for the candidate of their choice without having to face intimidation or be victims of electoral violence.

You can read more about the regulations in the electoral act guiding the upcoming regulations here.

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The Nigerian Voter is a series that seeks to understand the motivations that drive the voting decisions of Nigerians — why they vote, how they choose their candidates, why some have never voted, and their wildest stories around elections.

In today’s edition, Citizen discusses the various factors that could affect the choice of a Nigerian Voter as they prepare to come to the polls in February 2023.

With Nigerian voters being only 31 days shy from casting their votes in February 2023, a lot of activity has been going on from key players in the political scene.

This ranges from party defections to allegations against candidates and so much more. And these activities have a very high chance of determining who a voter would support during an election.

However, some of these factors play a key role in voter decisions. These are:

Ethnicity

There are 18 candidates vying for the presidency, and three of them are from the major ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from the North, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-West, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) from the East.

Despite the provision given by law which allows individuals of all tribes to contest for elections, there has been controversy since 1999 that presidential power should rotate every eight years between the northern and southern parts of the country.

This is why many individuals and groups from the north and the south agree that President Muhammadu Buhari must be succeeded by someone from the south.

It's time for the South to produce the next President of Nigeria.The conversation should be between Bola Tinubu & Peter Obi.Atiku & Kwankwaso is a NO-NO because the last 8yrs had PMB,a fellow Northerner at the helm of affairs.Southern Nigeria must ensure power comes to the South.
— BLAKI (@SABIBLAKI) January 19, 2023

However, a South-Eastern presidency (which could be made likely with Obi winning the elections) has been a source of controversy amongst ethnic tribes.

This is largely because the zone is clamouring to produce its first-ever president in Nigeria.

Religion

Religion, like ethnicity, has always been a very key factor in voter participation. Islam and Christianity are the two biggest religions in Nigeria, with 53.5% of Nigerians being Muslim and 45.9% being Christian respectively.

Since 1999 there has also been an unwritten law to ensure that the president and the vice president do not share the same religion. While the north is predominantly Muslim, the south is predominantly Christian.

But that may change if this man comes along.

The BAT

In July 2022, Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba Muslim, chose Kashim Shettima, a Kanuri Muslim and former governor of Borno State, as his running mate.

As expected, many Nigerians and groups, including the Christian Association of Nigeria, strongly condemned the ticket.

But that didn’t stop the BAT, as he is still proudly campaigning on a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

The rise of a ‘third force’

Until 2015, the only strong contenders for the presidency were the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Their winning streak ended when their candidate (Goodluck Jonathan) lost the 2015 elections to President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.

In 2023, things are looking to change with the rise of a third-party force from the Labour Party (LP). This is all due to its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Already he has managed to create a strong Obidient movement across the country, as well as become a favourite for the elections with more than four opinion polls in his favour.

Vote-buying

In a country with over 63% of its population being multidimensionally poor, anyone is looking for a means to hustle and make money. Even if it means selling their votes to do it.

However, there are promises of reduction in the act.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu, promised Nigerians that party agents caught buying votes during the 2023 elections would be rightfully punished in accordance with the Electoral Act.
It’s one month until the presidential election. Almost everyone’s giddy about the prospect of choosing Nigeria’s next President.

So it’s fascinating to learn that the two leading parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have commenced court proceedings seeking the disqualification of their opposing principals.

This led us to ask, what needs to happen for a candidate to be disqualified from contesting for president? But, before we answer that, let’s see if something like this has happened.

Is this the first time this is happening?

No. In the lead-up to the 2015 presidential election, the current president Muhammadu Buhari was at the centre of a certificate scandal.

Section 131 of the Nigerian Constitution covers the qualifications for becoming President.

Subsection (d) reads, “A person shall be qualified to the office of President if he has been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent.” The problem was, despite Buhari’s claim at the time that his school leaving certificate (WAEC) was with the military, they initially denied having it. After much back and forth, Buhari’s academic records were released to the public. However, their authenticity remains an open question.

What are eligibility requirements to become president?

The essential requirement needed to be President, not stated in the Constitution or the Electoral Act is money. Lots of it.

Beyond being a joyful spender, section 131 of the Constitution provides four personal requirements, namely;
1. You must be a Nigerian citizen by birth
2. You must be at least 40 years old
3. You must belong in a political party and sponsored to the office of the President
4. You must be educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent
So what needs to happen to be disqualified from becoming president?

Section 137 of the Constitution provides grounds for disqualification to the office of President. Unlike the qualification requirements, this one’s a longer list. A person shall not be qualified for office of the president if they;
1. Have dual citizenship, although this is subject to the provisions of Section 28 of the Constitution.
2. Served two terms as President already which excludes Buhari and former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
3. Have been declared to be a lunatic or of unsound mind by any law in Nigeria. Sounds fair. Nigeria’s hard enough as it is and we don’t want to worsen things by electing a mentally unfit person.
4. Are under a death sentence, or sentenced to prison for fraud.
5. Are convicted of fraud or dishonesty less than ten years before the election date.
6. Have been declared bankrupt. Because someone who can’t manage their own affairs shouldn’t be trusted to manage that of a country.
7. Haven’t resigned from any public office at least 30 days before the election.
8. Belong in a secret society. Because why?
9. Have been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a judicial commission or tribunal.
10. Present a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
How likely is it for anyone to be disqualified at this point?

There have been allegations of corruption and forgery levelled against the top two parties both within and outside. Aspirants have the right to challenge the results of primaries as provided in Section 29 of the Electoral Act.

However, INEC, as an umpire, has limits on how it can intervene. For example, in 2019, a federal high court in Abuja in a case between the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State and INEC, ruled against INEC saying it had no power to disqualify a candidate that its party has cleared.

There’s good reason to believe that despite court cases springing up this late, the presidential candidates may still have to slug it out at the polls on February 25.

Ultimately, the people will pass judgment with their ballots.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
There’s a saying that truth is stranger than fiction, and Nigeria — more than any other country — epitomises this.

This week, the Nigerian government will be on trial in London over a deal that has dragged on since 2010. If the court rules against us, we’d have to cough up an eye-popping $11 billion. That’s almost one-third of our foreign exchange (forex) reserves.

Nigeria’s already crumbling under a staggering ₦77 trillion debt. Another $11 billion (or over ₦5 trillion using a conservative exchange rate) would make a bad situation worse. What’s more annoying? The payment’s being enforced for doing literally nothing. Here’s the gist.

The gas flaring problem

According to Stears, Nigeria, up until 2008, flared its gas. That means we just burnt the gas that was given off during oil extraction. This practice made the Niger Delta an environmental mess.

[Environmental degradation from gas flaring. Source: Behind the Logos]

Eventually, someone asked, “why can’t we use this flared gas to power gas plants to provide electricity?” So that’s what the government tried to do. Unfortunately, not many high-profile oil companies were interested. One of the companies that agreed to take this up was an unknown company called Process and Industrial Development (P&ID). In 2010, Nigeria agreed with P&ID. This turned out to be a grave error.

The deal

Here’s what both parties agreed to. First, P&ID would refine — for free — the flared gas known as wet gas into lean gas, which is suitable for electricity production. Nigeria pledged to provide infrastructure to move the gas to P&ID’s gas processing facility (GPF). P&ID would then make their money from selling byproducts of the refining process while Nigeria gets electricity. This agreement was supposed to be binding for 20 years.

Here’s what happened. Nigeria didn’t lift a finger to build the infrastructure, and the P&ID guys didn’t do anything either because they couldn’t act until the FG did. As it turned out, P&ID was a shell company, and one of its founders, the late Michael Quinn, had a dubious history of running procurement scams.

So how have things played out?

Long and short, P&ID in 2012 took the FG to an arbitration panel in the UK on the grounds that it had invested $40 million for some groundwork and that the profit it would’ve expected from the deal hadn’t materialised.

The arbitration panel ordered the Nigerian government to pay $6.6 billion in damages. This was in January 2017. If you’re wondering how that number swelled to $11 billion, that’s because of interest which stands at 7 per cent. Nigeria claims the whole deal was a sham led by “vulture funds” that offered bribes before the contract was signed. The FG is looking forward to fighting this case in a UK court.

How does it affect you?

In 2019 when a court ruled that Nigeria must repay over $9 billion, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said “This award is unreasonable, an assault on every Nigerian and unfair.”

Notice how she subtly dragged “every Nigerian” into it? When the deal was signed, nobody invited us to the table. Now that all the pipes have burst, they want us to join hands in cleaning the mess.

To be fair, the deal wasn’t signed during the Buhari administration. Yet, Buhari’s posture on the matter suggests he has no interest in paying such hefty fees, not when he’s at the tail end of his tenure. P&ID, too, have no interest in backing down as they smell a huge payday ahead. Meanwhile, the damages keep rising.

If Nigeria loses the case and continues to default, they could seize our assets overseas which would be another embarrassment. As a citizen, you should ask whoever you plan to vote for how they plan to resolve this wahala. Because, like it or not, this debt has to be cleared, and you may have to chip in to do so, one way or another.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
Early on January 23, 2023, many Nigerians arrived at various airports across the country, hoping to catch flights to their destinations. However, they soon discovered that the only thing they’ll be catching is feelings of anger, frustration and disappointment.

What happened?

Around 12 am on January 23, 2023, the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) workers embarked on an indefinite strike due to some grievances with their management over their wages.

They had been undergoing the process of salary review, but due to the promotions recently given to about 2000 people, the management decided to put a hold on the reviews till February 2023. However, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) weren’t happy with this decision, so they decided to strike against NAHCO’s management.

This left many passengers stranded as airlines have no choice but to reschedule or cancel their flights. But what exactly is NAHCO, and why are they important?

What is NAHCO?

The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), established in 1979, is in charge of the service sector of the aviation industry. They provide aviation training, crew transportation, cargo and passenger handling, aircraft handling and refuelling. They offer these services to about 35 domestic and international airlines including Dana, Air Peace, Qatar Airways and United Airlines.

How would this strike affect the country?

Loss of revenue

This isn’t Nigeria’s first rodeo when it comes to strikes in the aviation industry. However, it consequently always leads to losses running into millions of naira. A spokesperson from Air Peace reported that the recent strike would result in a ₦500 million loss for them.

Our reputation continues to suffer internationally

A plane under Qatar Airways had to return to Doha empty because no one could load or check passengers’ luggage. Also, many local and foreign travellers are stranded in airports around the country because of this strike action. Nigeria is no stranger to international disgrace. However, situations like this don’t send the right message, especially less than a month before the general elections.

It’s almost like we intentionally wave red flags to foreign investors.

What is NAHCO’s management saying?

The Group Director, Dr. Olusola Obabori, has come out to say that conversations are already being held with the unions and stakeholders. He also said that a solution would most likely be found within hours.

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There are less than eight days left for Nigerians to ‘grab their copy’ of the new naira notes.

After January 31, the old naira notes would officially go out of style as a ‘legal tender’, and our new ~~ugly~~ notes would officially be in use.

The new ₦1000 note

Except there’s a slight problem — Nigerians can hardly find new notes in circulation.

After several days of back and forth between CBN and local banks over the new naira note distribution, CBN governor ‘Meffy’ Emefiele has come to us with a new solution. This is the cash swap programme which starts today.

Here’s what it is, how it works, and how it benefits YOU.

What is the cash swap programme?

In the programme, any Nigerian can either go to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Mobile Money Operators (MMO) (aka your “POS” plugs), and super agents (companies licensed by CBN for the purpose of agency banking) to exchange the old notes for the new. These old notes are in the denominations of ₦1000, ₦500, and ₦200 notes.

How will the programme work?

News flash — this isn’t a means to dump your entire cash savings to be changed. Each person only gets to deposit a maximum of ₦10,000 with an agent to be changed.

However, if you are an ‘Odogwu’ with more than ₦10,000 at home, the cash will be deposited in your online wallet or bank account. In that case, the Bank Verification Number (BVN), National Identification Number (NIN), or Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) details of the customers will be captured as much as possible.

But don’t expect this programme to be done for free. CBN has permitted agents to add their profit in the form of “cash out fees” to all cash swap transactions.

How will this benefit you?

As much as it may suck to have to pay additional fees to collect new notes, it also has some benefits. The new notes are not only at the mercy of your legacy banks alone. It can also be collected via accredited POS operators, which is an easier channel for money distribution. It will also help people living in rural areas where banks are not as accessible.

If you don’t have a bank account or wallet, then this is the perfect time to acquire one too. Agents would set up bank accounts using CBN Tiered Know Your Customer (KYC) Framework. This will ensure that you are able to exchange or deposit your cash seamlessly without taking unnecessary risks or incurring undue costs.

After all this, what are you waiting for? Check out these CBN-accredited DMBs and MMOs today and get your new naira notes! Remember, time is ticking.
On January 17, 2023, Open Doors, an organisation that monitors Christian persecution across the globe released its World Watch List for 2023. The jarring report notes that Nigeria accounted for 89 per cent of Christians that were martyred worldwide. To put it another way, 89 out of every 100 Christians that were killed for their faith across the world came from Nigeria.

[Ruins of a church destroyed by terrorists in Garkida, Adamawa state. Source: ICIR]

What’s in the report?

The report covered the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022. Out of a total of 5,621 Christians killed for their faith during this reporting period, Nigeria alone recorded 5,014 deaths.

The report also noted that Nigeria ranked joint second highest behind China where churches were attacked or closed the most.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2022 report recommended that Nigeria be added to the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list. This list is a designation by the United States Secretary of State of a nation guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

Nigeria currently ranks as the sixth worst country for Christians to live in on the World Watch list, with a score of 87.93/100. Its persecution level is classified as “extreme persecution”. The worst five are North Korea (97.7), Somalia (91.62), Yemen (89.26), Eritrea (88.78) and Libya (88.46).

Out of the top 50, 19 are in Africa, 27 are in Asia, and four are in Latin America. Nigeria’s the only one with a roughly 50-50 split of Christian and Muslim populations.

What were the reasons for persecution?

The report highlighted reasons why Christians were persecuted in these countries. They include:

‘Islamist’ oppression

The main source of oppression in 31 of the 50 most persecuted countries is Islamic oppression.

Dictatorial paranoia

Nine countries suffered persecution chiefly by being under dictatorial governments.

Communist and post-communist oppression

Four countries suffered persecution mainly due to communist ideologies.

Religious nationalism

Three countries suffered persecution primarily because of religious nationalism.

Organised crime and corruption

The chief source of persecution for two countries on the watchlist came from organized crime and corruption.

Christian denominational protectionism

One country, Ethiopia, suffered Christian persecution due to denominational strife.

What can be done?

Nigeria suffered persecution from several sources. The primary one being Islamic oppression (very strong). Others were ethno-religious hostility (very strong), dictatorial paranoia (very strong) and organised  corruption and crime (very strong).

Reversing this worrying trend requires that we become more tolerant of our religious faiths especially in hotbeds across the country where religious violence is rampant. This is work that requires cooperation across all quarters including the government, security agencies, clerics, local community leaders and individuals. Increasing awareness campaigns and programs designed to encourage interfaith interactions could also help.

Ultimately, no one’s truly safe until everyone’s safe.

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For Nigerians, fuel scarcity is not new, which is ironic, as Nigeria is the third-largest producer of crude oil in Africa. We go into every year expecting to experience at least 2-4 weeks of fuel scarcity, but 2022 shocked most of us and taught us to bury what was left of our expectations into the ground.

Reasons for fuel scarcity in 2022

Adulterated fuel

In February 2022, many Nigerians complained about their cars being damaged due to the poor fuel quality sold by filling stations. This was due to the high amount of methanol in recently imported fuel.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stopped distributing to tackle the problem, which kick-started our fuel woes.

Flooding

Nigeria experienced devastating floods in 2022, which displaced millions of people. It also submerged many cities, including Lokoja, which affected the distribution of petroleum products, primarily to Abuja and other northern states.

Hoarding by independent marketers

In 2022, NNPC reduced its supply of petrol from 103 million litres to 60 million. Their reason was that independent marketers were illegally selling fuel to neighbouring countries. However, this decision by the NNPC resulted in hoarding as many marketers claimed the petrol they got wasn’t sufficient.

Although we said goodbye to 2022, our long battle with fuel scarcity followed us into 2023. The queues at filling stations are getting longer, and the official pump price is starting to look like a suggestion, as fuel is now sold between ₦250 – ₦300. But it seems like things will begin to look up soon.

What’s happened now?

On January 19, 2023, the federal government officially decided to increase fuel prices from ₦167 to ₦185, sending out a memo to all marketers, including the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN).

Some marketers have already begun changing their pumps to reflect this price, and hopefully, this will mitigate the problem.

But that’s not all; to also help with the traffic situation the fuel scarcity created, the Lagos state government has put out a timetable for filling stations.

The Commissioner for Transportation Frederic Oladeinde stated that filling stations along major highways will now only be allowed to operate between 9 am to 4 pm daily.

Still, the “solutions” put forward by the government aren’t exactly impressive as Nigerians again have to go through another increase in fuel price despite past campaign promises.

We’re more than three weeks into a new year, but we have the same old problems.

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The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.

This week’s Abroad Life subject is a Nigerian couple who’ve lived in America for over 20 years. The husband was born and bred there while the wife relocated from Nigeria in 2001. They share the ups and downs of living in America and being catalysts for change in Nigeria, despite not being able to vote.

How did you migrate to America?

H: I was born in the state of Delaware and automatically became a citizen. My dad moved to America in 1976, but he travelled back to Nigeria often for visits. During one of his travels, he met my mum, and they entered a long-distance relationship until they got married. My mum moved here ten years later, in 1986, because they had to wait five years for a visa, and another five years to get her permanent residency. I was born three years later, in 1989.

W: I moved to America with my family in 2001, when I was in my early teens. We were in Florida for a year before we moved to Atlanta in 2002. My family moved here because my father got a H1-B visa, which allows skilled workers to migrate to the U.S. It took five years to get it, but we eventually moved with him in 2001.

What would you say are the ups and downs of living in America?

H: I’d start with the ups. It’s the land of opportunity. I believe America gives opportunities to all immigrants as long as they work hard. One has access to basic amenities like power, good roads, and so on. However, I’d admit it’s become more difficult to get jobs due to the rise of polarised politics and —

Wait, what do you mean by “polarised politics”?

H: This is when the two major political parties no longer have the same fundamental ideas, which is not supposed to be the case in a democracy. The polarised politics was caused by the rise of social media — people sharing their own news through their pages — and independent media — the rich spend billions of dollars to establish media agencies that report their own version of the news. I believe that’s what has caused the U.S. legislation to change, especially towards immigrants and visas. The immigrant votes have been known to be discounted during elections in the U.S. That’s the only thing I don’t like about America.

How does this affect immigrant jobs? Well, the quality of jobs largely depend on the ruling party. If a Republican was President, then you would be less likely to find good immigrant jobs (as they are biased towards non-Americans).

W: I’d say the same thing. Yes, America is where most of your dreams come true. For instance, I’d never earn up to $1k per week as a medical doctor if I lived in Nigeria. However, in terms of election and governance, immigrants are treated as second-class citizens. We could stay in polling booths for hours and not have officials attend to us. Even if they do, it’s with disdain, like only Americans by blood should be allowed to vote. I don’t mind taking part in the upcoming 2023 elections for Nigeria. But too bad I’m in America, and I can’t.

Why not?

H: Because by law, Nigerians that reside outside the country are not eligible to vote. Also, it’s hard for me to relate to Nigerian politics because I have very few memories of the place from my childhood visits. However, I can say diaspora voting should become a thing for people who want to vote. I see Kenyans, Mexicans and so many other immigrants vote with their passports in their various embassies. It should become a rule of law for Nigeria too.

W: I’m definitely not like my husband in this regard, LOL. I have so many childhood memories of Nigeria, and it sucks that I can’t vote here due to “some law.” I attended Peter Obi’s diaspora rally at Howard University, Washington D.C., and he had clear visions of how to govern the country. If I could vote for whoever I wanted here, best believe Obi would get my ticket come February 25. I hate that Nigeria is in turmoil and there’s absolutely nothing Nigerians here can do about it. We’re more than cash cows for diaspora remittance; we’re Nigerian citizens. Our location shouldn’t dictate our right to vote as Nigerians.

But what about the other candidates?

H: Both Atiku and Tinubu have past records of corruption. Tinubu is even worse, with his allegations of drug trafficking. And I don’t see why I should vote for a candidate who lies about the smallest things, like his age. They’ll just maintain the usual style of governance.

W: About Tinubu, he was the governor of Lagos when me and my immediate family at the time were living there. I can remember passing through Ojuelegba to and from school every day, and seeing agberos, many of whom I later learnt were under his command. For his dirty past record and much more, I don’t think Tinubu is up to the job at all. Neither is Atiku. They’re not forward thinkers. They’re only thinking about enriching their coffers while in office, just like this current president and the president before him.

Did you attend their rallies?

H: I wasn’t aware of any rallies for Obi’s rivals close to the Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia axis, so, no.

W: Same here. Tinubu and Atiku, to the best of my knowledge, did not campaign in our area. Peter Obi took his time, visited and campaigned for the presidency in about ten or so different cities in North America. He cares deeply about getting Nigerians in diaspora involved in the next election, especially through donations.

How do you plan to show support ahead of February 2023?

H: Well, largely because of my wife, I’ve been researching the political candidates for the National Assembly (NASS) and governorship elections. I’ve also donated money to Obi campaign groups here in Washington.

W: My friends and family know me as the loudest voice for Peter Obi. I’ve been encouraging my relatives back home (Nigeria) to vote for him. He’s never taken a dime from government funds and has an economist background that could fix up the nation’s economy. All the good roads in Anambra were made so because of Obi. I can go on and on.

I may not be able to vote here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a catalyst for change.
When God said, “Let there be light”, Nigeria blinked. The little electricity we get is for seeing shege non-stop, and that is not about to end this year.

Despite the fact that some petrol stations are selling fuel between ₦250-300 per litre, and electricity poles are trying to kill us; Nigeria is about to show us that our situation can and will get worse.

Many people have complained about the country’s electricity state for many weeks. 24-hour electricity isn’t regular for many of us, but in the last couple of weeks, there’s been little to no power supply. Those lucky enough to get blessed by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have electricity for a few minutes, at best hours, once or twice a week.

What are the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) saying?

Although there has been no official statement from the DisCos, Ikeja Electric and Eko Distribution company gave the following reasons on their Twitter pages when asked for information on what was going on:
- Low power generation
- Some areas have ongoing maintenance work by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Unfortunately, many Nigerians are in the dark about what’s happening, which shouldn’t be, and there’s a law to back this up.

What is this legislation?

According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) are mandated by law to notify their customers in writing before Nigeria’s electricity service disconnection. In simple terms, if there isn’t going to be light for a couple of days, it is within our rights to be informed beforehand in writing.

It’s not shocking that this regulation isn’t being followed, as many of us had no idea it even existed in the first place. However, this isn’t the only right we are entitled to as electricity consumers.

We have the right to contest an electricity bill

It’s not uncommon to hear complaints of being overcharged for electricity that was barely even available in the first place. And although we’d usually pay irrespective of the fact that it seems unfair, it is within our rights to contest the bill brought. If more Nigerians start paying attention to this, it won’t be long before we start seeing changes in the power sector in this regard.

It isn’t our responsibility to repair, replace or buy transformers or electric poles

This seems like common knowledge, but citizens often take this burden on themselves as the government either takes years to meet these demands or shies away from the responsibility altogether.

With elections less than a month away, the ruling party is giving Nigerians reasons not to vote them in again. Can they pull a miracle before February 25th, or should we accept this difficult lifestyle as the new norm?

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On today’s episode of “Keeping up With the Chatham House Speeches”, the New Nigeria People’s Party presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, made his debut on January 18, 2023.

Kwankwaso is known to have most of his supporters as grassroots Nigerians in the North. Like Peter Obi’s Obidients, Kwankwaso’s followers have also cultivated the Kwankwasiyya movement — a movement based on his ideologies for the common Nigerian.

Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP

Although his speech was being aired for over an hour on Chatham’s Twitter live stream, the social media streets didn’t even realise that he had a conference until he started roasting ~~Obi~~ the Labour Party (LP).

If not that Kwankwaso mentioned Peter Obi and Labour Party nobody would have known he went to Chatham House yesterday.
Nothing else is trending out of all he said in the interview… pic.twitter.com/uEbpKF6560
— ArseObi🇨🇦🇳🇬 (@arseobi) January 19, 2023

But what were these roasts exactly? Did he have anything else to say? Let’s take a look:

The Disses

“Labour Party is based on religion and ethnicity.”

As of June 2022, the NNPP and Labour Party felt that the combination of Obi’s Southern “Obidient” force and Kwankwaso’s Northern “Kwankwasiyya” movement would make for a great alliance. But this fell apart in August 2022 due to the LP’s insistence that the NNPP give up their presidential goals and support them, which the NNPP refused.

In his Chatham House speech, Kwankwaso gave more context to the failed merger. According to him, the Labour Party isn’t a “national party” (like the NNPP) but one based on ethnicity and religion. He also blamed the Labour Party’s “serious media hype” back then as part of the reasons why he couldn’t see these major flaws.

But for someone whose party members only truly exist in Northern Kano, can he say that the NNPP is a national party?

“To us, [Labour Party] is like Andrew Liver Salt.”

Kwankwaso also took the chance to boast of his 30 years of civil service experience. According to Kwankwaso, NNPP is the “only growing party in Nigeria today”, with all other parties reaching their “maximum”. Most especially his archenemy, the Labour Party.

For the NNPP presidential candidate, the Labour Party’s popularity can be compared to “Andrews Liver Salt ” — a fast rise that is rapidly slowing down.

Even though the Labour Party achieved fame due to Peter Obi’s presidential ambitions, it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, as the Labour Party star has been known to lead over four opinion polls — and counting.

Now that we know the disses let’s look at the promises he made to Nigerians.

The Promises

Provision of free healthcare services

Kwankwaso promised that if he were elected president, all families in Nigeria would have free natal and maternal healthcare services. He also promised “mobile clinics” in underserved communities.

This would prove quite helpful, as the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) announced in March 2022 that over 40,000 women often die from pregnancy-related issues in Nigeria. Part of the cause is due to the lack of affordable healthcare.

Eradication of illiteracy and introduction of four-year validity for JAMB

Kwankwaso believes that all Nigerians deserve quality education no matter their gender or social status. He plans to achieve this by doing the following:
- Addition of incentives to encourage enrollment of girls and all other children from underserved communities.
- Eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria by giving adults the opportunity to engage in lifelong learning.
- Enroll Nigeria’s 20 million out-of-school children in quality institutions of learning within the next four years.
- Provision of one meal per day for children in primary schools.
- Application forms for tertiary institutions (WAEC, NECO, JAMB) and job enrollment would be free of charge (due to the success of a similar experiment in Kano state).
- Introduction of a four-year validity period for JAMB results instead of one year.
Two million job opportunities in armed forces, police and other security agencies

Kwankwaso believes that one of the best ways to tackle unemployment is by creating two million job vacancies in security agencies, particularly the armed forces and police.

There’s a possibility he might have gotten this idea from his time as Defence Minister. Still, statistics show that Nigeria’s armed forces have only 190,000 personnel in the Army, Navy, and Air Forces combined and his promise might be a long stretch.

More taxes for companies and citizens

Kwankwaso wants to boost Nigeria’s non-oil revenue through reforms and increments in taxes. Company Income Tax (CIT), Value-Added Tax (VAT), and other revenue-generating agencies were mentioned.

This is certainly one promise that’s jarring, as Nigeria’s current CIT rate of 30% is one of the highest in the world, even more than ‘developing countries’.

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With about five weeks left until the 2023 presidential election, Citizen went through the Electoral Act and found some interesting things. The Act was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 25, 2022 — exactly one year before D-day. For Navigating Nigeria this week, we present some key things to know.

A party’s logo on the ballot paper can’t bear the portrait of a person, living or dead

For many voters, next month would be the first time they’d lay their eyes on a ballot paper. This sensitive election material contains a list of all the parties participating in the elections and their logos. In 2019, 73 parties participated, which of course made the ballot papers unusually long.

Dear voter, this is the SAMPLE ballot paper for the Presidential elections. As you prepare to vote, take note of the logo of your choice party; use the roll & flatten method in folding your ballot and ensure you deposit your marked ballot paper in the right box #WatchingTheVote pic.twitter.com/3anksXLWwo
— Yiaga Africa (@YIAGA) January 23, 2019

An interesting point to note is that the logos never bear the portraits of individuals, living or dead. The Electoral Act 2022 provides dos and don’ts on how parties should go about selecting their logos. See section 79, subsection 4c(vi).

Political parties are banned from receiving anonymous donations

As a way to audit and monitor campaign financing, political parties are banned from receiving anonymous donations. It’s not clear how enforceable this has been despite the Electoral Act’s provision.

Political parties aren’t allowed to use masquerades for their campaigns

Section 92 subsection 4 prohibits the use of masquerades during campaigns. Even though it can be said the law isn’t always followed, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has it clearly stated.

It’s illegal to operate an army in support of any political candidate

INEC may need to step up to curb the excesses of political parties that flout its rules. Having an “army” — no matter the intention — goes against the Electoral Act, as can very clearly be seen in Section 92, subsection 5.

The penalties for taking part in any of the two acts above are a maximum fine of ₦1,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months for candidates. For a political party, a fine of ₦2,000,000 in the first instance and ₦1,000,000 for any subsequent offence.

Party agents can have original copies of ballot papers for inspection on election day

Election materials like the ballot paper and smart card reader are sensitive. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t be able to touch them until you’re about to vote. However, a particular class of people (outside electoral officers) are exempted. These include accredited election observers and party agents. These agents are those selected by the respective parties and approved by INEC to monitor proceedings at various wards. This can only happen before polls officially begin.

If you mark your ballot paper, it’ll be rejected

Your finger will be marked with indelible ink before you cast your vote. The ballot paper isn’t classwork that you’re marking. Only a fingerprint is recognised. Anything else will be rejected when votes are counted.

Polling agents can challenge your right to vote

As mentioned earlier, polling agents will be at polling units to monitor how elections are conducted. Polling agents can flag you as suspicious if they have any reason to believe you’re ineligible, maybe because you’re underage or impersonating someone.

If that happens, that’s wahala for you, and you could get arrested.

At the close of ballot, votes can be recounted but only once

After polls have closed, the presiding officer counts the ballot. If there are any objections, a party agent could ask for a recount but only once.

There are other interesting provisions covered in the Electoral Act. If you want to know more about the regulations guiding the conduct of Nigerian elections, click here to download the Electoral Act.

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It’s 38 days to the start of Nigeria’s 2023 elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been involved in a lot of recent troubles. This includes the attack on seven INEC offices in the last four months, the near removal of Mahmood Yakubu as INEC chairman, amongst others.

This is why Yakubu decided to use his Chatham House outing on January 17, 2023, to reassure citizens of the commission’s credibility. He also gave some updates regarding the 2023 elections and future laws. Here are some of them:

The 2023 elections are for the youth

Yakubu has confirmed that the winner of the 2023 elections would be determined by the youth. This is simply because they have something going for them this year — their high numbers.

According to Yakubu, “the 2023 election is the election of young people because they have the numbers. Even the majority of PVCs collected are by young people. Out of the 93.4 million, 70.4 million registered voters are between the ages of 18 and 49.”

This is a solid increase from the last four years. The total number of registered voters in 2019 was 84 million, with 51.1% of these voters as youths aged 18-35.

The 2023 elections will hold despite reports of insecurity

It is no longer news that Nigeria’s insecurity numbers keep rising at a worrisome level.

This is especially felt in regions such as the North-East with Boko Haram, North-West/North-Central with the onset of banditry, and in South eastern Nigeria with violence from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

However, Yakubu has assured Nigerians that the elections will hold no matter what. He also said that the commission would take the insecurity bull by the horns through the use of two tools:
- Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT), is a research and diagnostic tool for predicting and reducing the risk of election violence before elections.
- The Election Risk Management Tool (ERM) tracks and reports general risks to elections.
People who have been displaced by these conflicts are not left out. The INEC boss has plans to make registered Internally Displaced Person camps (IDP) camps into polling units.

INEC supports diaspora voting, but lawmakers are against it

With several questions from the audience about diaspora voting, Yakubu reiterated that the commission is in full support of Nigerians in foreign countries being able to vote from wherever they are.

However, the bill to include diaspora voting as part of Nigerian law was refused by lawmakers in the National House of Assembly (NASS) in March 2022. Therefore, Nigerians should continue to beg the NASS lawmakers to make a diaspora voting law.

INEC may introduce body odour as a means of voter accreditation in future

Yes, you read it right, body odour. The INEC boss is open to having machines that can detect individual body scents/aromas to verify genuine voters in polling units in future elections. It’s very similar to how dogs can identify house residents by smelling their scent.

The use of cell phones and cameras would be banned to avoid vote buying

Dirty party agents will have a tough time with vote-buying this year, as Yakubu has mentioned that voters will be prohibited from using cell phones and cameras in voting cubicles.

This is because of the recent “mark, snap, and show” tactic. Here, a voter will go into the voter cubicles, mark the ballot and snap it with their phones for later payment by the party agent.

Every voter in the queue before 2:30 pm will vote

Previous experiences in past elections show that there are instances where voting closed for the day in the evenings. This is to the dismay of voters who had not yet cast their votes.

Yakubu assured Nigerians that as long as a voter shows up at the polling unit between 8:30 am and 2:30 pm and is in the queue, they’d be allowed to cast their vote. Even if it takes all night to do it.

He also mentioned that this usually happened due to the separation of voter accreditation and the casting of votes.

To counter this, there will be simultaneous voter accreditation and ballot casting. This is so that you, the voter, can attend to any other business at hand.

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This is Zikoko Citizen’s Game of Votes weekly dispatch that helps you dig into all the good, bad, and extremely bizarre stuff happening in Nigeria and why they’re important to you.

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In the popular Game of Thrones series, power was obtained and kept through alliances. And regardless of the lies, betrayals and deaths, people did everything to maintain these alliances because of the benefits attached to them. We can easily say Nigeria’s political sphere is a game of thrones.

For 16 years, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) dominated the political scene; until, in 2013 the major opposition parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), assembled to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) –the Presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections– was one of the brains behind this merger. To ensure his victory at the 2023 polls, he is again rumoured to be seeking an alliance with other parties. Tinubu’s presidential campaign can be described as “interesting”.

Although he has repeatedly proclaimed himself as Nigeria’s long-awaited saviour, some team members aren’t turning a blind eye to the many holes in his campaign. For instance, the absence of some APC members from his campaign and lack of endorsement from APC chieftains. So, to boost his chances, they plan to form alliances with smaller parties.

Some political parties, such as the African Action Alliance (AAA) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), have said a big God forbid to the possibility of such an alliance.

However, a faction of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is more than ready to accept Bola Tinubu with open arms.

I wonder how their presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, feels about this.

What Else Happened This Week?

The Cancel Train Is Here For Brymo

The election season is known to bring out the absolute worst in people, and sadly, the Nigerian singer Brymo finally let his intrusive thoughts win.

Brymo, over the years, has made himself known for more than just the music. From showing us how well he can rock a g-string to self-proclaiming himself “Nigeria’s artiste of the decade”. Unfortunately, over the past few days, his actions have left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths.

Brymo kicked off this year by claiming Igbo people aren’t ripe for the presidency, and against better judgement, he is yet to refute this statement. Instead, he has continued what seems to be an endless rant justifying his views, even going as far as cussing the entire tribe out.

Many people, including celebrities like Paul Okoye, have called him out on his comments, but we’re in the cancel era and just talking isn’t enough. A petition has been filed to ensure he doesn’t win any award in the 2023 All Africa Award Music Award (AFRIMA), and so far, it has over 12,000 signatures.

Everyone is entitled to their choice of candidate, but we should draw the lines on bigotry.

Video of the week

$100million or $200million, how much would it cost to revamp the National Theatre? Meffy has questions to answer. pic.twitter.com/zQGv9tMoSH
— Citizen by Zikoko (@ZikokoCitizen) January 8, 2023

Question of the week

With less than three weeks till the old naira notes become illegal, have you gotten a hold of the new banknotes yet?

Ehen, one more thing…

On January 10, 2023, the federal government dispelled all doubts and reassured us that the 2023 general elections would definitely be held. But here are some of the issues INEC’s been facing so far.
On January 16, 2023, a high court in Osun State sentenced six people to death on murder and armed robbery charges. These people would join other inmates awaiting death penalty sentencing.

The death penalty in Nigeria has been under debate for years, as some call it inhumane and archaic. In contrast, others see it as ineffective since these executions are rarely carried out. The last death sentence executed was in 2016, making Nigeria one of the ten African countries to have carried out executions in the past decade.

What does the constitution say?

According to section 30 (1) of the Nigerian constitution: “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.” Simply put, unless found guilty of a capital offence, you have full rights to your life. So what crimes can earn you a visit from the grim reaper?

According to the Criminal and Penal codes, the following offences attract capital punishment:

Murder

In 2018, a Danish man, Peter Nielson, was arrested in Abuja for the murder of his Nigerian wife and daughter. Following several protests and calls for justice, on May 20, 2022, he was sentenced to death by hanging by the Lagos state High Court.

Armed robbery

On February 22, 2022, a 36-year-old man was also sentenced to death by hanging after being found guilty of robbing a warehouse in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, in December 2015. He was convicted on the charges of armed robbery, conspiracy and possession of firearms.

Armed robbery does not have to be guns; if there is a possibility of harm to life due to the presence of a weapon, then a person armed with a knife is likely to be treated similarly to one armed with a gun.

Blasphemy

According to the penal code operating in Northern Nigeria, blasphemy is a serious offence punishable by death – blasphemy in southern Nigeria can earn you up to two years imprisonment. On December 15, 2022, a prominent Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara, was sentenced to death for his teachings which were believed to misinterpret religious texts and spread lies about the Prophet. Although the cleric maintained his innocence, the judge ruled against him and ordered that his two mosques be closed down.

Kidnapping

On September 28, 2017, the senate approved the death sentence bill for kidnappers and a 30-year jail term for people conspiring with them. The bill states: “ Whoever is guilty of the offence and then results in the death of the victim shall be liable on conviction to be sentenced to death.” The senate unanimously passed the bill to combat kidnapping at the time. It is, however, unfortunate that this problem has only gotten worse over the years.

Homosexuality

On July 2, 2022, a Sharia court in Bauchi state sentenced three men to death by stoning for homosexuality. And although in 2014, former president Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill convicting people guilty of same-sex marriage to 14 years imprisonment, under the Penal Code, the punishment for homosexuality or sodomy is death.

How effective is the death penalty?

So far, the death penalty has done little to nothing to deter people from a life of crime. Instead, it has exposed the gaps in our justice system, as some of those on death row were tortured into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit. Also, many end up never executed, which results in prison congestion.

So maybe the government should spend more time improving the security and justice system, preventing crimes from occurring. And also put more funding into rehabilitating these convicts and putting them to good use for society rather than wasting them in prison for a death that may never come.

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The Nigerian Voter is a series that seeks to understand the motivations that drive the voting decisions of Nigerians — why they vote, how they choose their candidates, why some have never voted, and their wildest stories around elections.

This week’s subject of The Nigerian Voter is Ade*, a young social media manager in his early twenties who was once a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness — a Christian denomination known to view voting as a sin. He tells us why the church sees political participation in that light and his views on voter participation.

Why do the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) not believe in voting?

We remain politically neutral for religious reasons based on the Bible. We don’t lobby or vote for political candidates or run for power. We would not partake in anything concerning politics or ruling over others using manmade regulations.

We do not participate in governance.

Are there scriptures in the Christian Bible that pertain to this?

Jesus refused to accept political office. In John 6:15, he taught his disciples to be no part of the world.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are loyal to God’s kingdom, as in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

God’s role as the ruler is ultimate; taking sides with any other government is like compromising. We believe that we should follow God’s rule or God’s government because the government of man cannot save us. At the moment, Satan is the one who rules the world. If we were to take part in the politics of the world, we’d be siding with the devil ruling the world.

Would you vote if given a chance?

Personally, I won’t vote. I feel that every government is the same. I believe that we live at the end of days. Hence, it is only expected that things will get worse from here, especially for Nigeria. I am not saying that no man can’t make the lives of Nigerians easier, but I also believe that every man is for himself here. If a Nigerian feels like a candidate would make his or her life easier, I support that. But personally, I’m not a big fan of voting for the above reasons.

Do you have views independent of your church when it comes to voting?

Even though I left the church two years ago (for undisclosed reasons) and I’m now a Pentecostal, I can say to a large extent that I agree with what the Jehovah’s Witnesses say about the government. I see sense in not voting for candidates in any way, and I do not even plan to vote for anyone come 2023. Our final destination is heaven, and we need to focus on that instead of earthly politics.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.
In October 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), led by Godwin “Meffy” Emefiele, announced it’d launch a domestic card scheme in January 2023. If the last few months are a pointer, you’d know the CBN doesn’t play with its announcements.

On January 16, the CBN officially launched the scheme. If it all sounds odd to you that the CBN is distributing ATM cards, that’s because it is. Let’s get into the gist of it, along with other exciting policies Meffy has introduced since his appointment in 2014.

Debit cards and why the CBN wants to issue them

The CBN is now distributing debit cards, that much is obvious. But why? In October, when it was first announced, the apex bank identified a couple of reasons for this move.

One, it wants to boost financial inclusion and transition to a cashless economy by operating a credit card scheme that is significantly cheaper than what traditional banks offer.

All interbank payments done in Nigeria use an infrastructure known as the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS). NIBSS is a shared-service e-payment infrastructure company owned by both the CBN and all licensed deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The new cards will be issued through NIBSS.

Two, it wants to enhance what it calls “data sovereignty.” Common cards in use in Nigeria include Visa and Mastercard, both foreign-owned. The CBN hopes to compete with those and become the card of choice for Nigerians.

A scheme like this isn’t new and is already in place in India. However, there are worries that this might create unfair competition with the CBN being a player and regulator. We’ll see how that plays out.

Anchor Borrowers’ Programme

In November 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, in conjunction with the CBN, launched the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP). Essentially, it’s a scheme that allows smallholder farmers to receive loans at low interest from the CBN through banks, to help them boost production.

Much money has gone into this scheme, as much as ₦2.1 trillion. And while there have been some benefits, like improved local rice production, it’s hard not to wonder whether it was worth it.

One of the objectives of the programme is to ensure food price stability. However, food inflation currently constitutes half of Nigeria’s overall inflation. It hasn’t met that objective.

There’s also the fact that most of these loans have turned out to be awoof. Many farmers who got the loans were discovered to be “ghost farmers.” Sometimes, people just opened accounts to collect their share of the national cake, never to be seen again.

Moreover, only 50 per cent of the loans disbursed have been repaid due to poor monitoring and implementation. When expectations are weighed against reality, the ABP could be described as disappointing.

E-naira

While we won’t dare accuse Meffy of having the anti-Midas touch, the CBN governor has a knack for experimentation which often has weird consequences — to put it mildly.

Take your pick from asking banks only to include 200 notes in ATMs, placing limits on withdrawals and, of course, the ugly naira redesign. Yet, we can’t forget the e-Naira launched in 2021.

E-Naira is a Central Bank Digital Currency, a digital form of money widely available to the public, made using blockchain technology — the same tech that powers bitcoin.

The CBN launched it following a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, which declared them illegal. The problem is e-Naira is pegged to the naira, which is notorious for its wild fluctuations. Who wants semo when there’s pounded yam?

In November, Meffy announced that after a year of its launch, e-Naira was a “success” having recorded 700,000 transactions worth ₦8 billion. “Success” is doing heavy lifting in that sentence. That’s less than 2,000 transactions a day for a banking population of at least 68 million people.

The jury’s out on whether the CBN debit cards will gain wide acceptance. But given Meffy’s mixed record with policy implementation, we wouldn’t hold our breaths.

We write the news and track the 2023 elections for citizens by citizens in our weekly newsletter, Game of Votes. Make the subscription of a lifetime here.

What motivated you to move to the UK?

What was the migration process like?

What was school like?

How did you transition from mechanical engineer to business entrepreneur?

How are the living expenses in Derby compared to London?

WOW

How did you build a Nigerian community with over 9,000 members in the UK?

What are the benefits of being in this community?

Why Obi?

So you make sure your members remember their Nigerian roots?

Peter Obi has trended on Twitter and gathered huge online support. Do you think this will convert to votes on election day?

We understand your candidate has support in the South East, but Tinubu also had a following when he campaigned in Enugu

But the South East has two APC governors and even Soludo has said he won’t support Obi

He did say he was taken out of context

Well, all of that’s hearsay

If they could come out to publicly say these things then that would confirm what you’re saying

The Labour Party and the Nigerian Labour Congress have sat on different sides of the subsidy issue. How does your party hope to reconcile this?

You’ve said the LP would win the South-South. Aren’t you worried that the region is led by elected officials from the PDP?

You were once with the PDP, the same with your principal. What led you to make a switch? And how do you respond to those who say it’s hypocritical?

You once made a run for office in Kaduna. What was your biggest takeaway from that experience?

There have been videos online about Labour Party supporters complaining about not being paid mobilisation fees for rallies. Could you confirm if your party pays for these things?

That’s your answer?

Does the Labour Party have full confidence in INEC’s ability to conduct the elections?

You don’t sound confident

What’s your advice for young people looking to get involved in politics?

If the election doesn’t go the Labour Party’s way, is there any chance it would take it up in court?

Do you plan to run for office in the future?

The deadline has been extended to February 10

But there is STILL a scarcity of new naira notes in banks

But even mobile banking apps are having issues

POS operators and money changers are cashing out

What else happened this week?

Woman wins ₦1.5 million for being called a witch

Have you seen this video?

Question of the week

Ehen one more thing…

What’s going on?

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen trouble in the APC camp

Naja’atu Muhammad

Babachir Lawal

President Buhari

Current leadership

Interesting facts about Abia state

What do Abia residents think of the coming governorship election?

Amarachi

Kingsley**

Adaku

Fuel will become ₦100 per litre

Relocation to the Sambisa forest

Creation of 30 million jobs

No more generators or foreign education

No punishment for failed promises

Lack of funding

Need for restructuring

When did you first enter university, and how many strikes have you experienced?

Wow. How would you say the strikes have affected you?

Who do you think is the cause of the strikes?

Since the recent strike was called off in October 2022, how have you coped with your academics?

Is the schedule by any chance clashing with the elections?

How does this affect you?

Why do you have so much passion for voting?

What are your plans going forward with the elections? Have you accepted your fate?

Who would you vote for if you were able to, and why?

What about the other candidates?

In terms of education, what do you think Peter Obi would do for you if he became president?

Even though you might not be able to vote, are you mobilising others to exercise their rights?

Nigeria has the highest number of missing persons in Africa

What is government action towards solving this issue?

What else has been done about missing persons?

What can you do?

The Osun state elections

What is over-voting and what does BVAS have to do with it?

The Anambra state elections

The Abuja council elections

How can INEC restore trust in the BVAS?

How it happened

November 2014

September 2015

June 2016

July 2017