Nigerian Times

Captain Idris Wada, the newly elected Governor Kogi State, Nigeria. Kogi: The People Have Spoken! ~ By Ibrahim Usman. ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God’, that adage is from the Greek; the civilization which gave us democracy as we know it today, and the statement was speaking in defense of the principle which accords absolute respect to the decision of the people of a nation in choosing their own leaders for themselves. No more the time of imposition of emperors and kings upon a hapless citizenry, no more the passage of the mantle of leadership from one son to th~ e other within a royal dynasty, with absolute disregard to the will of the people. In this era, it is what the people want that matters and nothing more! That is why it is called democracy: government of the people, for the people and by the people. Where the will of the man on the street is not represented, it becomes an aberration! The people of the Kogi state have gone to the polls to demonstrate their absolute ...

An Igbo member of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic terrorist group was arrested Tuesday by the State Security Services (SSS) in Nigeria. The Guardian of Nigeria reported that the 31-year-old Igbo man was suspected to be part of the terrorists who carried out the April 8, 2011 bombing of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Suleja, Niger State. The SSS, which declined to disclose the name of the suspect until it completes ongoing investigation, said the man, whose mother is a Nigerien, is an indigene of Imo State and got converted to Islam in 2003. Click here to read the details on The Guardian of Wednesday, 07 September 201 Sharia in Nigeria Militancy in Nigeria Niger Delta Conflicts Nigerian Sharia conflict Poverty in Nigeria Tweet

The Real Heroes of the 2011 Elections in Nigeria The incumbent and reelected President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)) have been receiving accolades for the overall conduct of the 2011 elections in spite of the terrifying and horrifying post election violence caused by the allegations of electoral malpractices and recurrent acts of terrorism propelled by Islamic fundamentalism. But those who truly deserve the accolades are not Mr. Jonathan or Prof. Jega, but the patriotic Nigerian voters who thronged the polling booths to cast their votes regardless of the weather, risks of being attacked by unpatriotic political opportunists and their hired thugs. These millions of patriotic Nigerian voters in every state of the federation are the real heroes of the 2011 elections and the standard bearers of democracy and governance in Nigeria. “ Ultimately, it was the judgment on the fairness of the e...

My people must be jubilating in the village square. But I do not join in the celebration of hypocrites, sycophants, opportunists and tribal bigots. I have already congratulated Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the excellent conduct of the presidential election in Nigeria held on Saturday April 16, 2011. It is the freest and fairest and most credible presidential election in the political history of Nigeria since 1960 to date. And Jega is totally innocent of the outcome of the presidential election. But that does not mean the winner President Goodluck Jonathan is innocent. The corrupt People's Democratic Party (PDP) has won again and I am not surprised, because the majority of the members and voters are corrupt and narrow minded, and have voted for the perpetuation of corruption, nepotism and tribalism. They are afraid of being prosecuted for their cri...

A voter casting his vote. Photo Credit. Capacity4Development Vote to end 12 years of Corruption and Maladministration in Nigeria Twelve years of the corruption and maladministration of the ruling party have left the majority of the citizens poorer and powerless with the nightmares of incessant political assassinations, extrajudicial killings, ethnic and religious riots, terrorist attacks and systemic collapse of government administration jeopardizing public health care, public education and economic security of the poor majority in Nigeria. We had botched National Assembly Elections on Saturday April 2, and there were glaring electoral lapses. Then the elections were rescheduled and the first round of the elections was held last Saturday April 9, 2011. There were critical issues of violence and many cases of malpractices. But before we could read the reports of the total results, the incumbent President of Nigeria, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) rus...

INEC Polling Centre in Nigeria From field reports all over Nigeria, the National Assembly Elections of last Saturday April 9, 2011, have not been really free and fair. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega has shown that he has been overwhelmed by the herculean task of conducting free and fair elections in a nation that is ruled by corruption at all levels of public administration and the unscrupulous citizens prefer ignominious ways of life to honourable and noble values and virtues of a civilized society and they would rather practice kleptocracy instead of democracy. One of the shocking cases of corruption is the current political drama in Anambra State over the polls in the Anambra Central Senatorial District where Mr. Alex Anene, the returning officer/collation officer of INEC alleged that his life has been threatened by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the state government, because he refused the offer of N10mi...

Prof Attahiru Jega Prof Attahiru Jega, Show Your Best Crisis Management Skills in the Next 24 Hours As Nigerians, we must face the reality that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega has spoken and it matters not whether his reasons for postponing the April 2nd parliamentary election to Monday are realistic or not. Why, because we are in a crisis now. What is clear is that we need an environment where this crisis could be managed effectively. There is no doubt that on a psychological and spiritual level, this sudden occurrence is a major event that threatens to harm the faith we have in the system. INEC, on behalf of the general public should effectively manage the threatposed by this huge matter as it relates to the element of surprise, and we all expect a short decision time for this to be done. Jega has told us that he saw what was happening in the last few hours as a crisiswhich needed to be quenched, that is a process of transformation...