Point One

A group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives recently initiated a bill to revert Nigeria back to parliamentary model of governance from the presidential system presently being operated. The 60 representatives, who tagged themselves the Parliamentary Group, introduced a constitution alteration bill for transition to parliamentary system of government at House plenary penultimate Wednesday. They thereby stoked a national debate on the desirability or otherwise of the proposed model, which was what the country started with in its nationhood experience but discarded upon the collapse of the First Republic in 1966. Led by Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Rivers), the group comprises lawmakers cutting across party lines including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). At a briefing of journalists following presentation of the bill, a spokesman for the group, Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), voiced frustration of group members with huge costs ...

 Chilly winds are blowing against democracy in Senegal, a country perceived as a bastion of that political culture in Africa. The country’s parliament, last Monday, voted to push back its presidential election till 15th December – marking a ten-month delay in the initial poll schedule, and effectively an unconstitutional extension of the tenure of President Macky Sall. A controversial bill to delay the poll passed in the legislative assembly following a chaotic voting process that saw security forces breaking up an attempt by some opposition lawmakers and concerned citizens to block the vote. Civil protests occasioned by the poll shift persisted till weekend. President Sall had penultimate Saturday announced an indefinite postponement of the presidential poll that was originally slated to hold on 25th February. The delay came just hours before official electioneering by participating candidates was due to commence. Sall premised his decision to pull the vote on a row between the co...

It was a foreseen bend in the road that wasn’t long in dawning. Tensions between the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and three junta-led member-states boiled over as the countries lately announced their exit from the regional bloc. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, in a joint act, said they were making a “sovereign decision” to leave Ecowas because the bloc allegedly had “drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of pan-Africanism.” They also accused the body of not having assisted them in their struggle against jihadist violence, saying the regional bloc “under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to member-states and peoples.”  The grounds adduced by the trio for their exit were effectively an excuse for respective junta’s resolve to hold onto power in defiance of pressure by Ecowas to restore civil rule. Military power grabs occurred in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Nig...