Point One

 Nothing in Nigeria’s recent history was as controversial as Clause 52 of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 presently being perfected by the National Assembly ahead of transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent. Both chambers of the national legislature passed different versions of the controversial clause pertaining to electronic transmission of poll results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before going on vacation penultimate weekend. Those different versions are now to be harmonised before being passed on for presidential assent. The Senate approved a version of the clause that conditioned e-transmission of results by INEC on the electoral body first getting clearance from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and obtaining formal approval from NASS before proceeding. The clause as signed off by the red chamber reads: “The commission may consider electronic transmission provided the national network coverage is adjudged to be ad...

Ghana’s First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has just shown the world how to call the bluff against accusations of venally preening off public commonwealth. Last week, she turned down a parliamentary decision to make her position a salaried one and announced she would refund all allowances paid her office from public coffers since she’s been there. The refund would go as far back as 2017 when her husband, President Nana Akufo-Addo, assumed office for his first term; he won a second term in December, last year, which took effect in January. First ladies of the West African neighbour of Nigeria had over the years received regular allowances as part of executive privileges. But the country’s members of parliament raised the stakes recently by approving salaries for wives of the President and Vice-President for the supportive roles they play. The executive spouses were slated to receive 21,000 Ghanaian cedis (some $3,500) a month, backdated to 2017 – same salary as cabinet ministers – in line wit...

If anyone had doubted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was on to a concerted crackdown on separatists, they had the express word of government last week confirming it. The presidency celebrated “enhanced collaboration of the Nigerian law enforcement agencies as they executed, with great synchronisation, arrests of individuals who had inflicted pain and hardships on fellow citizens.” Fugitive leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was tackled down and dragged back in the dock at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, 29th June, for his trial over a sleuth of charges including terrorism, treasonable felony and arms running. He had been ‘intercepted’ somewhere abroad penultimate Sunday and repatriated back to Nigeria through what Justice Minister Abubakar Malami termed “collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services.” The minister did not disclose the country where and how the IPOB leader was apprehended, but many...