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Preparing for a one-party state
posted Monday, 23 April 2007
The numbers are dangerous
We can safely say that the numbers peddled as results of the Nigerian Election in 2007 would be the basis for a lot more than we reckoned.
Already, people are looking forward to 4 years time and I really think that is being naively optimistic.
The ruling party has just swept about 70% of the vote for both the Executive and Legislature which gives them the ability to enact incumbency laws, gerrymandering commissions and change the constitution probably without the help of any member of the opposition.
You only have to look at the type of person who is going to the Nigerian Senate, the son, the assistant to the son and the son-in-law of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the stark illiterate and celebrated hoodlum from Oyo State.
It only takes one idiot to look at the might of the PDP to start advocating a one-party state and that would go through the House and Senate in a breeze; just like the incoming President was able to spearhead the institution of Sharia Law in his state and the follow-ons in other Northern States.
Our Mark of the Beast
If we do not sort out this charade that is masquerading as democracy now, be prepared to be a card-carrying member of PDP to get anything done in Nigeria. We would have signed up for the proverbial "Mark of the Beast" and there would be no April 2011 for multi-party elections.
Four years is a long time in politics and plenty of time for a overwhelmingly powerful party to subscribe to the cult of eternal incumbency.
The examples of lame oppositions are rife in Africa and Nigeria is about to join that list. Africa used to have the most one-party states most of which went into decline in the 1990s giving birth to pluralism and multi-party politics, but if the state apparatus is so engrained in the ruling party it would be impossible to effect change except through revolutionary means.
We might all read this in denial, but just as sure as night follows day, we are already on that slippery slope to a one-party state, it would take a seriously disciplined executive and legislature to prevent that, if the Judiciary does not rise to claim our democracy from the tyranny of megalomania.
If I am just being a Prophet of Doom, please forgive me.
tags: inec election results mark of the beast legislature senate judiciary 2011 democracy one party state
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Tag Related Posts
Ghana: No antibodies for this virus - Obama's speech
Sunday, 12 July 2009
What we should not lose sight of from President Obama's speech to the Ghanaian parliament is that it is the first time a Western leader has been able to speak the truth to African leaders and not have blow-back. Against Obama they have no antibodies.
Nigeria: Ekiti elections, a case of conscience before responsibility
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
The Resident Electoral Commissioner of Ekiti State resigns before she has fully despatched her duties, I think she has failed in her responsibility on the basis of her Christian conscience.
Nigeria: No new states precursor to abolishing them
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
An ex-vice President suggests that states abolished in Nigera, there is a case for for this in the wider case of federal character and resource allocation.
Nigeria: Electoral reform starts with Iwu pensioned off
Monday, 16 March 2009
The first step to electoral reform in Nigeria is sacking the current chairman of INEC - Professor Maurice Iwu.
Nigeria: Courts give Diaspora the vote
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
The force of Diaspora is getting the vote and the right to participate in the political process from abroad.
In the last 2 weeks Nigerians & South Africans may and the South Koreans assuredly can.
Nigeria: The false debates on same sex marriage
Monday, 26 January 2009
The debate on same sex marriage is really about criminalising defenceless people using false information that does not address the real issues that affect the life expectancy and health of Nigerians. We are being short-changed with hypocrisy.
Nigeria: Women's democratic rights curtailed by Sharia
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
The failure of Islam to address the rights of divorced Muslim women lead to the call for a protest by the women.
Protest has been banned by the Sharia police that feels it is an embarrassment to islam - is Nigeria not a democracy?
Guinea: African leaders are indeed mortal
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
The death of President Lansana Conté of Guinea brings us back to an analysis of the problems of leadership in Africa.
The Nero of Siam
Monday, 1 December 2008
The events in Siam give great cause for concern not so much for democracy but for the monarchy that migh well begin to make itself irrelevant to its subjects.
Nigeria: Ribadu and kids get bundled out of NIPSS graduation
Sunday, 23 November 2008
The erstwhile EFCC chairman gets bundled out of the NIPSS graduation cermony after the government fails by all other means to stop his graduation. His wife, 6 children and his guests all get pulled out of the event too.
Nigeria: What a bunch of smarmy idiots
Monday, 7 July 2008
We hear today that the governor of Ogun State was poisoned three weeks ago that he had to seek treatment abroad.
Meanwhile, all we have to work on are wild allegations with no facts, this really pisses me off big time.
Nigeria: Dragging Iwu to the court of the Twelfth of June
Monday, 16 June 2008
When the tenure of Professor Maurice is placed in juxtaposition to that of Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the former is found wanting.
That is the start difference between the National Electoral Commissions of 1993 and 2007.
Nigeria: June the Twelfth
Thursday, 12 June 2008
15 years since the promise of representative democracy was destroyed by the machinations of a malevolent military junta.
We are yet to achieve that standard of democratic resolve which makes this day still so relevant and significant to Nigeria's fu
Nigeria: A desire for equality before the law
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is remanded in police custody but turns the police station into her little fiefdom.
Along with the respect for the rule of law we need to know that everyone is equal before the law regardless of status and means.
Nigeria: Splitting hairs on Senate funding
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
The clear intent of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in his directive to the ministries was to ban the funding of National Assembly activities by organs of the executive.
The Senate should abide by that intention.
Nigeria: Ministries banned from funding National Assembly
Monday, 19 May 2008
There are positive developments emanating from the Ministry of Health embezzlement of funds and inducement to the National Assembly.
Those activities are banned forthwith - a good development for democracy.
Nigeria: A National Assembly fudge
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Ex-President refused to appear before the House Committee on Power and Steel yesterday, so the committee withdrew its invitation and have arranged alternatives that are worrisome.
Who is an ex-President answerable to?
Nigeria: Leaving the objective for the subjective
Monday, 12 May 2008
I highlight a case of where people allow the subjective to obfuscate the objective and in doing so lose sight of the main issue being discussed.
Cyclone Nargis: The death knell of the military junta
Saturday, 10 May 2008
The attitude of the military junta in Burma to the major disaster caused by cyclone Nargis might well be the death knell of that regime regardless of the referendum on democracy they are holding today.
Nigeria: Beyond Due Process
Thursday, 1 May 2008
We should get off the the issue of due process and view the matters that makes any deal above board, transparent and devoid of any conflicts of interest.
This is about the character of people not the letter of law.
Nigeria: Senator frogjumps her back wall
Friday, 18 April 2008
The more Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello garners newsprint inches the more embarrassing her case becomes, it is an utter disgrace to say the least.
Nigeria: Senate safety from blame not guns
Monday, 14 April 2008
The Senate clears a senator from blame about receiving money for a junket but that did not stop a policemen from blowing his head off where the Senate President was partying for being made the custodian of guns.
Zimbabwe: Mugabe is a coward
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Robert Mugabe is coward, he cannot bear to see he has lost and he cannot accept the fact that he has lost - he is afraid of the truth of democracy in Zimbabwe and he must not be allowed to change the truth.
Zimbabwe: Mugabe's epitaph by a little girl
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
With bated breath and great anticipation we wait for a new dawn in Zimbabwe.
After every vote is counted, the man must know that his time is up and time has now passed him by.
Zimbabwe: Thanks Mugabe, Now Give Way
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Keeping faith with Zimbabwe that today they shall be freed from the clutches of the Grand Despot of Africa.
Inside China: Hatchlings of Democracy get nasty
Sunday, 23 March 2008
The election for class monitor of 8-year olds in China reveals a lot more about the machinations and manipulation of democracy and the dangers that might be ahead.
Nigeria: We must make the case at the Supreme Court
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
With the dismissal of the election petitions yesterday, we have the opportunity to review the judgement and make a better case before the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Nigeria: Cut the cake society
Monday, 25 February 2008
Just another snapshot of what I would term a Nigerian malaise or maybe I am just reading too much into a Nigerian norm.
They damned the consequences
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Murders and vote-rigging by people who damned the consequences of their actions in Pakistan and Kenya. We need to have ways of getting justice for these unjust actions.
Benazir Bhutto, 1953 - 2007
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in the garrison city of Rawalpindi today.
Putin and Chavez - Great Leader or Dear Leader?
Monday, 3 December 2007
Elections in oil-rich states belie the use of democratic process to entrench a benign authoritarianism or a virulent socialism.
The Grand Old Duke of Pakistan
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Did the English make up this nursery rhyme for the Pervez Musharrafs of this world? I think so.
Musharraf cannot fool us again
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Emergency rule in Pakistan is bad enough but to be lectured by General Musharraf on his failed democratic credentials is an insult we should not take lying low.
The lion is the jewel - Wole Soyinka
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Wole Soyinka's HardTalk interview comes within 48 hours of the interview with Ojo Maduekwe - The lion is definitely better than the thug.
The seriously unfunny Kiwi parliament
Sunday, 5 August 2007
The New Zealand parliament have banned using footage of parliament for satirical purposes. Me thinks we need a radical lobotomy to force in a humour gene.
Religion saves cow for consumption
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Two ways in in which religion can try to skew civil society.
Obasanjo does Pírìgìdì in Christian Theology
Friday, 8 June 2007
The ex-President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has returned to school for a post graduate diploma in Christian Theology - how contrite.
Democracy Day in the eyes of the fair-minded
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Democracy Day in Nigeria and the swearing-in of the new President after 8 years of very little achievement for the ordinary Nigerian people.
The Nigerian Proclamation
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
On Nigeria's "Democracy" Day and the handover of reins of government to the President Select, I join other Nigerian bloggers in this proclamation. Slight correction for English rather than American spelling.
Turkey belongs outside Europe for now
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
The current developments in Turkey are ample proof that the country does not belong in Europe if secularism has more weight that the results of democracy.
My final thought on the Nigerian Elections
Tuesday, 24 April 2007
How happenings in the fatherland reflect on us in Diaspora, especially after the elections in Nigeria.
Responding to a generation of low expectations
Monday, 23 April 2007
An angry response to a blog asking the election monitors to shut up.
Preparing for a one-party state
Monday, 23 April 2007
The numbers released as results of the elections in Nigeria are the kind of numbers that gave birth to one-party states and ineffectual opposition parties in Africa. I doubt if there would multi-party elections in 2011
Before we lose the Nigerian elections gracefully
Monday, 23 April 2007
The fundamental democratic human rights of Nigerians has been abused and infringed, but until some leader rises up to defend this right the verdict of the election observers would just be a vacuous exercise.
Commending the civic Nigerian
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Just a view about the preparations, the vote and the counting in Nigeria.
Nigerian ballots probably in the air
Friday, 20 April 2007
The President admits there were flaws and the INEC Chairman confesses there are no ballots - This election is truly sewn up, we would not be counting ballots, rather counting on judges.
INEC & OBJ might just get away with it
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
If INEC's job is to merely conduct elections, why are they now in an electoral mess? These are professional confidence tricksters hired to fix the elections and now pretending to be incompetent.
Atiku can, INEC cannot
Monday, 16 April 2007
The Nigerian Supreme Court has ruled that INEC cannot disqualify candidates - so they must present the Vice-President as a candidate of his party to the voters on Saturday. I also see a reckless INEC chairman oblivious of his responsibilities.
INEC frustrates Nigerians with incompetence
Sunday, 15 April 2007
INEC's preparedness comes apart when the reality of voting dawns. Some polling stations opened very late and others not at all. Irregularities abound and what else?
e-Petition pillow fights at 10 Downing St
Friday, 13 April 2007
Petitions to 10 Downing Street are making things happen even though indirectly.
I see
Friday, 6 April 2007
The judgements are being viewed from all angles, now it is the bar against the Federal Government. Methinks, the FG is running scared here.
INEC can, Atiku can
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Two rulings and confusion comes from where we expect clarity.
Four years of shock and awe
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
The story of Iraq tells itself without the need for analysis or excessive commentary.
The Yar'Adua website - not impressed
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
A visit to the Yar'Adua website leaves me seriously unimpressed.
24 self-serving presidential aspirants
Friday, 16 March 2007
None of the remaining presidential aspirants is speaking up for what they intend to do for Nigeria - Raise our health service from the dead and protect the constitution without favour.
The Impudent Notional Electoral Complicitors in Nigeria
Thursday, 15 March 2007
The INEC acts beyond its remit by not listing a candidate, creating opportunities for serious unrest come the elections in Nigeria. We probably have a case for Nigerian English, but till then it is unrecognised.
Listing to the insignificance of the EFCC
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
The EFCC produced a list of some 135 politicians in letters to political parties about their unsuitability for election. I think the EFCC is short-circuiting due process and failing in its essential purpose.
Who pays the price? Boxer versus Rice
Sunday, 14 January 2007
The exchange between Barbara Boxer and Condoleezza Rice last week in the Senate has the conservative wires in apoplectic rage. The real question however has not been answered, who really pays the price for the continuing debacle in Iraq?
The Iraqi Travesty - Saddam escapes justice
Monday, 8 January 2007
All charges against Saddam Hussein have now been dropped and rightly so. However, I do remember that we were assured that all the charges would be tried even if he was killed, smart people knew the rush to kill him was behind that false promise.
Spare and pardon the Saddam video guard
Thursday, 4 January 2007
As the net closes in on the person who recorded the execution of Saddam, the fact of the matter is that the government lied to us when something different was happening. They should face up to their mistakes and learn to speak the truth.
A straight flush - Democrats win all
Thursday, 9 November 2006
Such glee I have at seeing the predictions I heard on the Fox News Channel come to naught - The Democrats now have both the Senate and the House of Representative - that poker hand would win on any table.
Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin - Rumsfeld gone!
Wednesday, 8 November 2006
Found wanting and forced to change. Rumsfeld is out.
No voting advice for our Dear Dutch Leader
Sunday, 29 October 2006
StemWijzer is a voters' advisory, the Dutch Prime Minister answered 30 questions and StemWijzer could offer him no advice. That is seriously worrisome.
Democracy - Counting the votes or Counting on judges?
Thursday, 21 September 2006
After the military coup in Thailand, one wonders about America's commitment to and support of democracies around the world.
The American-Israeli tinderbox that Hezbollah lit up
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
If America was already privy to Israeli plans to attack Lebanon long before the kidnap of the 2 soldiers in Israel on July the 12th, the whole truth of this matter does not augur well for the new world order at all.
Keeping moral convictions out of the US Constitution
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
Yesterday, the Senate voted to allow stem cell research with human embryos and the House voted to reject a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Karl Rove must be in overdrive on how to rescue this situation for the November 2006 Election.
Forked-tongues fuelling the Middle-Eastern fires
Saturday, 15 July 2006
Where would we find a seriously honest broker to look at the facts of the Middle-East Conflict and get the protagonists to face their responsibilities to global peace squarely and act accordingly? America is not in the frame for honest brokerage.
No to Balkenende III
Tuesday, 4 July 2006
There is no reason to allow a second reincarnation of the lack-lustre Dutch government. Their inability to accept responsibility and consequence shows they are both unfit for government or electoral success.
The Mark of the Beast
Monday, 5 June 2006
My conclusion, there would be a Global Patriot Act and all that is needed to make it work would be sold on convenience and efficiency that it would be irrestibly popular. Your chip is your access to the globe - The Mark of the Beast.
Galvanising by gay-bashing
Sunday, 4 June 2006
It is another election year in America and the gays would have it in the neck because that is the only way to bring out his support.
No nice words for Mrs Verdonk
Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Mrs Verdonk has seriously miscalculated the consequences of her decision to revoke Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Dutch citizenship. She has been called to other and her support have dived in the quest for party leadership. That is the hole that dug for herself.
Desiring a Palestinian Passover
Thursday, 11 May 2006
The Israelis celebrate in the peace of their borders and the desperation just beyond their walls as Passover arrives with the angel of death hovering over Palestine - all because the West is being unduly sanctimonious about Hamas.
Abort this preschool finger-painting politics immediately
Wednesday, 19 April 2006
Having heard the party political broadcasts of both the Labour and Conservative parties in the UK, we cannot seriously be hoping that the message is anything but condescending. My third installment on democracy.
In danger of becoming endangered species
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
Two episodes in 16 months in which I have had the good fortune to walk away. This time being run into by a drunken scooter rider. My bicycle gets damaged and the mention of police has one victim of a hit-and-run.
The unjust condemnation of Palestinian choice
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
This is my second analysis of democracy where party ideology on which elections are won suffer an onslaught for change. It is like asking Republican conservative ideology to go liberal or communist.
Iraq is far away from a Gettysburg Address
Monday, 17 April 2006
I begin a series of examining what democracy means and why the ideals of the Gettysburg Address are beginning to look impossible to attain.
This Ugandan Moses leads to the Demised land
Tuesday, 28 February 2006
It is a crazy world if we have to take lessons in understanding democracy from Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Once again the blight of eternal incumbency damages the good prospects of Uganda. 20 years in power with the people brow beaten.
Living with the results of true democracy
Thursday, 26 January 2006
When people go to vote, their purpose is to choose a leader, when the votes are tallied, the result reveals a leader. That is the result and dilemma we have to live with be it Bush, Chavez or Hamas.
Setting democracy ablaze with gas
Tuesday, 3 January 2006
This little Ukraine problem of gas supplies has more far-reaching consequences that could affect the whole basis of our democracy
Gubernator in Terminator IV
Wednesday, 14 December 2005
The Californian governor refuses to commute a death sentence and a circus witnesses the event - wherefore civilisation?
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