Point One

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai is never one to be fazed by controversy and has never cowered before even the fiercest gale. Besides, he has over the years built some reputation for brutal rhetoric in putting his views across. And he apparently enjoys the heat that gets generated. Only last month, he said some 67 percent of Southern Kaduna indigenes had already determined not to vote for him in the impending general election, adding that would not change were he to name the very Pontiff of Rome as his running mate in the poll. He was speaking in defence of his choice of Hadiza Balarabe, a fellow Moslem, for that office in a state so sensitive to ethno-religious fault line as Kaduna. Among other controversies, the Kaduna governor ignited a row way back in April 2017 over public office financials when he confronted the National Assembly with the popular notion that its funding procedures lack transparency. The row that resulted from his comment at that time snowballe...

Early on Thursday, last week, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) presidential flagbearer, Oby Ezekwesili, pulled out from the crowded field of an election that is slated to hold barely three weeks hence. She said she was quitting the race to devote her time to building a strong coalition that could overawe ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming poll. The activist-politician, who had all the while positioned her candidature as a viable alternative to the two dominant parties, appeared to have finally come to terms with the legendary futility of fragmented opposition challenge in political contestation. Bear in mind that the conclusive list of contenders recently unveiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed there are in excess of 70 candidates cleared to take a shot at the presidency. And that is out of a motley crowd of 91 registered parties the electoral body has on ...