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By   Simbo Olorunfemi   The characteristic vice of the utopian is naivety; of the realist, sterility – E.H. Carr   The reality of the 2019 elections battle is finally dawning upon us. The contestation for power is becoming heightened. Alignments and re-alignments are taking place.  Some of the early birds who took the assurance of a ticket on some platforms for granted are beginning to realise their mistakes. The party that was in power yesterday has now become a receiver of presidential aspirants of all shapes and sizes, who have come to the realisation of the folly in nursing such ambition within the fold of the governing party, with the incumbent favoured to pick the ticket.  Port Harcourt has become the de facto headquarters of the party. There is a new godfather in town, and people are trooping in to pay obeisance and genuflect before him in the name of condolence visits. It is the way of our politics. The contestation for power is usually high-stakes....

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) said outcome of research it conducted across states in Nigeria revealed that most Nigerians believe that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has failed to meet their expectations since coming to power on May 29, 2015. *Presidents Buhari and Trump The report also predicted an upsurge in electoral violence and voter apathy during the 2019 general elections. The report entitled, ‘ Nigeria ’s 2019 Elections: Change, Continuity and the Risk to Peace’ , is a presentation of USIP’s electoral violence risk assessment research which was arrived at after interviews conducted in some selected states across the country. Based on interviews conducted in Adamawa, Anambra, Ekiti, Kano , Lagos , Plateau and Rivers states and in the FCT, the report said that the approach to confronting electoral violence in Nigeria has changed a little since 2015, despite significant shifts in the political and security contexts. “These shifts include changing na...

By  Atiku Abubakar In a recent interaction in the United States , Vice President Yemi Osinbajo asserted that the “problem with our country is not a matter of restructuring…and we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into the argument that our problems stem from some geographic re-structuring”. *Atiku It is a surprise that the Vice President would take such a position and, in particular, fail to appreciate the connection between Nigeria ’s defective structure and its underperformance.  It is unhelpful to reduce the construct of “Restructuring” to a geographical concept as VP Osinbajo does, which in itself demonstrates a lack of appreciation of the core tenets of the concept.  For the avoidance of doubt, re-structuring is not about the re-drawing of state or regional boundaries. The restructured Nigeria that a large number of Nigerians talk about, is a Nigeria that not only provides opportunities for everyone to work but even more specifically challenges every layer of g...