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To run for a governorship position in any state in the US in 2022, your political party’s primary filing and nomination fee can range from as low as $0 (yes, zero) to $3,750 (or N1.8m). The average fee is thus circa $2,000 (or N980,000). These charges cover what is labeled in Nigeria as nomination and expression […]
Continue ReadingThose paid to protect the guardrails of democracy hardly look in the direction of the courts for enemies. Nor do most people suspect that judges could become facilitators of authoritarianism and subtle promoters of anarchy. As custodians of the rule of law, judges and the courts over which they preside are the insurance for democracy’s […]
Continue ReadingDays have characters of their own. Some are lively, cheery and sunny; others are dull and desultory. Saturday, June 12, was Democracy Day in Nigeria. It had this rather mournful and dreary feel about it. Rumours were rife that sleeping cells of well-armed Janjaweed mercenaries would be unleashed on an unarmed and defenceless populace. Mercifully, […]
Continue ReadingLet us begin by quickly recalling two bits of Nigeria’s recent history. First, at the close of 1983, a military junta overthrew and supplanted the elected civilian government of Shehu Shagari, the first and only president of Nigeria’s Second Republic (1979-1983). Then, early in 1985, in the second year of the new military regime, which […]
Continue ReadingAs Nigerian politicians jostle for winning pedestals, an outlandish reality has sneaked into town. The country is sliding from an opportunity to build liberal democracy towards an Illiberal democracy and, I am afraid, even an outright populist autocracy. The signs are now abundant: the personalization of security institutions, an assault on the legislative branch, a […]
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