Author: darelasisi@gmail.com

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.-Winston Churchill, A Former Prime Minister of Britain. In the interest of participatory democracy, monitoring unelected officials, implementing public policies should be the chief concern of leaders in every democratic government. By overseeing this process, Kenneth Lowande, Professor at the University of Michigan argued that elected officials aim to prevent shirking, corruption, performance failures and policy drift in bureaucracy. Clear enough; yet, despite the widening of strides by pro-democracy advocates to advertise the virtues and attributes of democracy, the balance of power within the last decades…

When we juxtapose the imperatival idealism of the legislative arm of government in Nigeria, vis-à-vis the preponderances of unenforceable pieces of Acts of Parliament, and the needless ambiguity in the literary interpretation of certain provisions of myriads of bills passed into law, one cannot but wonder whether we have not missed the underpinning philosophy behind the concept of state, government, good governance, public accountability and transparency.As it is at the Federal level, so it is with most of the federating states of the Federal Republic. Rather than a serious attempt at critically examining the pros and cons of the legislative…

A Lagos based film production company, HowBoutAKiss (HBK) Motion Pictures, is set to premiere a science-fiction series, titled, “S0.CI3.TY”, on his Shortz video streaming platform. HBK Founder, who is a West Indian filmmaker and director, Khris Burton, made this known in a statement signed by the company’s Managing Director, Mr Folorunso Oladele, on Monday in Lagos. “The first season of S0.CI3.TY tells the unseen story of a regulated citizen of the “THE CITY” who awakens on a deserted island of strange events and has to embrace his own humanity to survive. “It has five episodes, each less than nine minutes,…

The Marlian fans are set to enjoy his performance as the organizers of the Remo Ultra-Marathon has said that the musician, Afeez Fashola, a.k.a. “Naira Marley” with others will rock the 50km race in Sagamu, Ogun. The Project Director, Seyi Johnson, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that Naira Marley would perform alongside the winner of “City People Music Award” Slimcase for Best Collabo of the Year. NAN reports that the organizers of Nigeria’s biggest Marathon race, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Nilayo Sports Management Ltd., will hold the Value Jet IAU African Championships 2019…

The Defence Headquarters has dismissed the alleged recruitment of de-radicalised Boko Haram ex-fighters into the Nigerians military. The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Nwachukwu described the information being peddled on social media as false and misleading, urging Nigerians to disregard it in its entirety. According to him, DHQ wishes to state that the claims are not only bereft of the truth, but laced with mediocrity emanating from poorly researched and uninformed position. “Contrary to his claims, no Boko Haram ex-fighter has been recruited into the Nigerian military and…

Engaging the family and religious leaders by government, security agencies and other stakeholders has been identified as a key factor in ending the scourge of violent extremism like Boko Haram as being experienced in Nigeria. The fresh perspective on finding solutions to the seemingly intractable challenge of violent religious extremism is being propounded by a Deputy Director and researcher at the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, Dr. Yusuf Abubakar Mamud. According to Mamud, a softer approach to preventing and countering extremism and terrorism can be implemented successfully using the family and religious leaders, without forgoing the military offensive and counter-attacks.…

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, says Mohammed Adamu, Inspector-General (I-G) of Police, has the power to recruit 10, 000 police officers contrary to the Police Service Commission (PSC)’s stand. Justice Inyang Ekwo, who delivered the judgment, held that the PSC’s suit lacked merit. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PSC had taken the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to court over the ongoing recruitment exercise of 10,000 constables as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. In the motion on notice filed on Sept. 24, with suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1124/2019, the commission prayed the court for an order of interlocutory…

A Niger Delta youth leader, Mr Kenedy Tonjo-West, on Monday urged the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, to intervene in the lingering leadership crisis in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Tonjo-West said the call to Kyari to intervene in the impasse between the legislators and Sen.Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, over the inauguration of the board members of NDDC was based on Kyari’s competence as an astute administrator. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that newly appointed board of the commission is awaiting inauguration, while Akpabio has appointed an Interim Management Committee to probe…

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday adjourned until Dec. 5, judgment in a N7.2 billion fraud case against former Gov. Orji Kalu of Abia. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted Kalu and a former Commissioner for Finance in the state, Ude Udeogo. Also charged along with Kalu is a company, Slok Nig. Ltd. The judgement could not be delivered on Monday (Dec. 2) as earlier slated, as Justice Mohammed Idris was not available. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that EFCC had on Oct. 31, 2016, preferred a 34-count charge against the defendants. The charge…

A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos state on Monday ordered for interim forfeiture of the Ilorin residence of the immediate past Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. This was contained in a statement by Mr Wilson Uwujaren, Head of media and publicity of the Commission and made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Monday. “The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had approached the court, presided over by Justice Ridwan Aikawa for an order of interim forfeiture of Saraki’s house “The house is worth about N1 billion and it is…