No one in Nigerian history has run for president more times than Atiku Abubakar. The top prize has eluded him on each occasion. In February, the former vice-president will make his sixth attempt as Nigerians choose a replacement for outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari. This time, political aides and analysts say, the complicated electoral maths of Africa’s largest economy may count in his favour. “It is a life-long ambition and as long as I’m alive and strong and healthy, I will continue pursuing it,” Abubakar told the Financial Times at his suite in one of Lagos’s most luxurious hotels after a…

Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said millions of northerners who have obtained their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are selling them to politicians for less than N2,000. A statement yesterday by the Director Publicity and Advocacy of NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said the electorate and especially women, were being deceived to sell their PVCs for less than N2,000, an action he described as a ploy to disenfranchise some Nigerians in the North. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had said politicians were buying PVCs from registered voters to harvest their Voter Identification Numbers (VIN) ahead of the elections NEF said irrespective of which…

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has explained why he would never contest election to the Senate to become a lawmaker like some of his colleagues in the country. He said he does not have the patience to function in that capacity, adding that a lawmaker requires hard work, unlike the executive where decisions could be taken with the right to hire and fire. El-Rufai spoke at the Distinguished Parliamentarians Lecture 2022 organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja on Monday. He was the Chairman of the event. “The legislature is one I know…

PRESS RELEASE South West Development Stakeholders Forum, comprising civil society organisations, professionals, and religious leaders met on Thursday, 8th December 2022. The Forum called for a parley with presidential candidates of major political parties as soon as possible, in Ibadan, Oyo State. The Southwest is the industrial and commercial engine room of Nigeria. All indexes clearly show that the Nigerian economy is driven by economic activities in the Southwest of Nigeria. Given its growing population of more than 50 million residents, its historical trajectory as the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, its strategic political importance, and huge potential in driving…