WHAT WE LEARNT LAST WEEK IN NIGERIA (30-6TH December 2015)

Another 7days gone by, it was almost a week filled with controversy, elections matters, as parties struggled to stay on top of each other, as Kogi got a new governor while Bayelsa awaits. The senate was not left out
of the action too with its controversial social media bill. We also saw Samson Siasia at his best.

FocusNaijaa runs down the major talking points and what we learnt from them.

APC ARE IN CRISIS

The APC may have won the last elections thanks to its strong campaign promises and also on the goodwill of its presidential candidate, but one major advantage it had over its fierce rival the PDP was the strong unity that exsited within its member prior to the elections. They spoke with one voice, and seemed to want the same thing ‘Change’.

But fast forward to 7months into its live as the ruling party, the party has lost all that unity and cohesion and the members of the APC seem to want what is beneficial to their interest and not necessarily that of Nigerians.

We have seen it play out time and again at the National Assembly and last week, we saw it play out again, first it was a prominent member of the party Senator Shehu Sani condemning the Anti- corruption war of the president simply because one of his own is at the receiving end, and it was obvious he wasn’t speaking for himself but a group within the party. These kind of speeches only goes to show the deep division that exist in the APC.

Over to Kogi State, a mini crisis going on there, Bello Yahaya is the choice of the party but Mr. Faleke insist he should be candidate going into the re- run election in the state.

It is just a state but point is some big wigs outside of the state are fueling this crisis. Why does the APC now find it hard to make simple decisions? Selfishness I think.

Mr. Bello may have won the election and now the governor elect of Kogi but the number of disgruntled members in the party are increasing by the day. You want to know how that might end? Take a glimpse at the PDP!

SIASIA REMAINS NIGERIA’S BEST COACH

Amunike may have wowed us all with his swashbuckling eaglets while Sunday Oliseh is right now the bride of the NFF but Samson Siasia remains Nigeria’s best coach at the moment.

Samson Siasia has led the flying Eagles in 2005 and the Olympic team to silver finishes in 2005 and 2008 respectively with the only blemishes to his glittering coaching career coming when he failed to qualify Nigeria for the Nation Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012.

The Bayesian state born coach is known for bringing out the best from his players in crunch matches and we witnessed that again last weekend when he led his team to qualify for the semi- final of the ongoing U23 AFCON in Senegal against a very good Algerian team.

He may not have won a major trophy for Nigeria as a coach but with his ability to negotiate games like this, Samson Siasia remains Nigeria’s best coach.

CARD READERS WON’S SOLVE OUR ELECTION WOES, OUR ATTITUDE WILL

What makes a free and fair election? An election that is based on one man, one vote, where the majority carries the vote? If that was the full definition of a free and fair election then thumbs up to the card reader.

But if an elction is deemed free and fair when everyone is allowed to cast his/her vote without fear or intimidation, violence and bribery, then we still have a long way to go as we witnessed in the Bayelsa state elections last week where violence and intimidation was reported in so many centers leading to the death of 5 people.

Whoever come out victorious, such person cannot boast of winning a free and fair election.

Based on what transpired at the elections in Bayelsa over the weekend, until our attitude towards elections and leadership begins to change for the better, where people are given the freedom to choose their leaders, when the politicians no longer see elections as do-or-die and when we the voters see our voting as our weapon and right and not a commodity to be traded then not even the almighty card can guarantee free and fair elections in Nigeria.

PRO-BIAFRA PROTEST TURNING INTO A CRISIS

It was supposed to be a peaceful protest or agitation like always, at least that has been the case with the pro-Biafra protesters but last week signaled the shift from peaceful to deadly as the protesters stormed Onitsha the capital of Anambra leaving about 9 people dead and many others injured while properties worth N50m was destroyed.

With the pro-Biafra protesters rumored to be coming over to the South West and the OPC giving a stern warning against it, it looks like huge battlefield is being drawn and this agitation may end up being something else altogether.

While the carrot and stick approach of the government is commendable, it needs to step in quickly and devise a methodology of how to stop this from becoming a full blown crisis like we have seen in the past with the militancy and now the Boko Haram menace.

NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES TRULY BELIEVE IN PROGRESS

Members of the APC call themselves progressives, something I for one seem bemused about. But last week something was trending for days. #NoToSocialMediaBill and you may just be forgiven for thinking I talking about Turkey or Saudi Arabia or even North Korea. That’s because in those countries freedom is limited.

But when such topic is trending in Nigeria, a country that calls itself the giant of Africa and rightly so too, then something is definitely wrong somewhere.

Last week, an APC senator, a so called progressive, Bala Ibn Na’allah proposed a bill, an anti-media bill on the floor of the senate chambers and backed by three of his progressives colleagues. The bill he said is aimed at prohibiting frivolous petitions and accusation and also preventing the spread of falsehood, with an offender facing terms in jail.

But in truth this bill looks strange because the APC rode onto power on the back of free press and at times even took part in the spread of falsehood. The social media played an important part in their victory and they acknowledged that too.

The Nigerian constitution already dealt with issues relating to treason, defamation and libel, so why criminalize it any further? Or is it simply an act of trying to intimidate some targeted few? What are these senators trying to hide? We voted Progressives into power, it’s high time they started acting it!

Let’s all join hands and KILL this bill. Let’s all say