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APC’s Defections: A Chance to Seize Opportunity from Crisis

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The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. The APC’s defection crisis is also an opportunity waiting to be seized. APC campaign billboard. Photo Credit: Reuters Soon after coming to power in the historic 2015 elections, the All Progressive Congress' (APC) political compass was already pointing to a gathering storm. In an April 2016 article titled ‘Nigeria’s ruling party at war with itself’, Premium Times painted a portrait of an APC that was paralysed by multiple internal crises: tensions arising from Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara’s emergence as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, against the wishes of party leaders; divisions over top party positions; and a fracturing of the party, stemming from power struggles and personality clashes, in various states.  In December 2016, then-National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun publicly acknowledged for the first time that the party’s internal divisions were affecting “the mo...
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President Bio’s Governmenance Transition Report: An Opportunity for Real Change

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Originally published in the Sierra Leone Telegraph on 18 July 2018. Sierra Leone's Chief Minister and Chairman of the Governance Transition Team Professor David Francis formally hands the GTT report over to President Maada Bio on the 4 th of July. Pic: State House Media and Communications Unit. By Muktar Usman Muktari-Janguza Email: janguza.arewa@gmail.com Twitter: @JanguzaArewa On April 6, 2018, just two days after his swearing in, President Julius Maada Bio followed in the footsteps of his predecessor and established a Governance Transition Team (GTT) with a four-pronged mandate to “serve as focal point for the interface with the out-going APC government”; “conduct an immediate stock-taking exercise”; “submit an overview of the current state of affairs”; and “submit a comprehensive report” on the GTT’s findings. On Wednesday, July 4, the Bio administration released its eagerly awaited GTT report. The explosive catalogue of corr...
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Nigeria’s Stake in the Iran Nuclear Deal

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Abuja sees the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, as an abstract issue. However, there are at least two reasons why the debate over its survival matters. US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and their respective advisers sit across from one another on January 16, 2015, at the Palais Coburg Hotel in Vienna, Austria, at their last meeting about the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action outlining the shape of Iran's nuclear program. Image: State Department. US President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) – better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal – and reimpose full sanctions on Tehran has been widely condemned by countries around the world. Most surprising has been the unusually strident criticisms from the EU’s high officials. President of the European Council Donald Tusk condemned what he described as the US’ “capr...
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Maada Bio’s China Dilemma

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Sierra Leone’s President Siaka Stevens meets China’s Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, November 1973. During his presidential campaign, Maada Bio spoke out strongly against China’s influence in Sierra Leone. Now that he is President, economic realities will force him to make nice with Beijing. China loomed large in Sierra Leone’s just concluded presidential elections. Then-ruling party, APC, fully wrapped itself in Beijing’s embrace in the run-up to the presidential elections. The contending party, SLPP, for its part, criticized what it said was China’s malign influence in Sierra Leone.  While Samura Kamara, the APC’s flag-bearer, touted his role in deepening China’s economic engagement with Sierra Leone during his five-year stint as foreign minister from 2012-2017, Julius Maada Bio, the SLPP’s candidate, denounced China’s infrastructure projects as “a sham with no economic and development benefits to the people”. At an APC campaign rally on the eve of the electio...
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Buhari In Washington: Five Things to Watch

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By Muktar Usman Muktari-Janguza | Geopolitical Analyst | Email: janguza.arewa@gmail.com | Twitter: @JanguzaArewa Buhari, at Joint Andrews Base, on his way to Blair House which will be his official accommodation during his 3-day working visit. Photo: Bayo Omoboriowo. 
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The Fall of the First Republic

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In popular discourse, Nigeria’s First Republic is often portrayed as an untarnished Eden; the archetype of an ethical, developmental, democratic and stable polity. How accurate is this picture? Nigeria's founding fathers, and the leading personlities of the First Republic. From Left to Right: Obafemi Awolowo (Leader of the opposition); Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Federal Prime Minister); Ahmadu Bello (Premier of the Northern Region); Nnamdi Azikiwe (President of the Federation). Other leading personalities that dominated the politics of the First Republic. Left: Samuel Ladoke Akintola (Premier of the Western Region and the political rival of Awolowo); Michael Okpara (Premier of the Eastern Region); Alhaji Dauda Adegbenro (Became leader of Awolowo's party in 1963 after Awolowo went to jail). 2016 invited reflections on a seminal moment in Nigerian history. The year marked 50 years since the violent collapse of the ‘First Republic’ – Nigeria’s first democratic polity [1...
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