ROTIMI DUROJAIYE writes on 12 top defining political personalities, issues and events made the rounds in Nigeria’s polity in 2022 and those that will inform conversations in the coming year.
Buhari signs bills on electoral act, money laundering, terrorism, others
On August 16, President Muhammadu Buhari gave assent to some major bills. The bills are: Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, repealing the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended; Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 as amended in 2013; Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, 1993 (Amendment) Act, 2019, for increased revenue; Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Amendment Acts of 2019 and 2021; Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill, 2022, which approves the seizure, confiscation and forfeiture of properties derived from unlawful activity; Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) Bill, the first legislation focused on curbing anti-competition practices, establishing the FCCPC; Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Establishment Act, 2018; The Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Act 2021; Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2019. The Bill facilitates the identification, tracing, freezing, restraining, recovery, forfeiture and confiscation of proceeds, property, and other instrumentalities of crime as well as the prosecution of offenders in criminal cases regardless of where in the world they might be.
The President also signed an Act establishing the Police Trust Fund, which will improve funding for the Nigeria Police Force (2019). − Nigeria Police Act, 2020 – the first comprehensive reform of Police legislation since the Police Act of 1943; Repeal and Re-Enactment of the Companies & Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020, the first comprehensive reform since 1990; Not Too Young to Run Bill (2018), a Constitution Amendment Bill to reduce the age of eligibility for running for elective office in Nigeria; Nigerian Correctional Services Bill, 2019, the first comprehensive reform of prison legislation in close to five decades; Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Bill, 2019 – the first anti-piracy legislation in West Africa.
Abdullahi Adamu emerges as APC’s new chairman
Senator Abdullahi Adamu took over from the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni as the All Progressive Congress’s new chairman. This particular event was greeted with mixed reactions by Nigerians from opposition parties and political analysts who were against the Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, serving as the interim chairman of the party.
After weeks of a long battle and debate in the polity, Adamu took over from Buni at the party’s convention and all issues were laid to rest.
APC N100m presidential nomination forms
The All Progressives Congress presidential nomination form shaped political discourse considering the harsh economic realities Nigeria was faced with.
The ruling party’s presidential expression of interest and nomination forms at N100 million stirred massive reactions in the polity yet, the contenders purchased the forms to contest for the nation’s most exalted seat of power, the office of the presidency.
APC’s special convention, emergence of Bola Tinubu as its flag bearer
After weeks of political intrigues and horse-trading, the presidential primaries of the APC were held on Saturday, June 9. It was an eventful one that was characterised by top contenders who brought in their A-game. The highlight of the APC primaries was when Bola Tinubu emerged as the party’s flag bearer after contesting keenly with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi and Senate President Ahmad Lawan. This particular event rocked the news media for a long time as it generated massive reactions over Osinbajo’s loss in the primaries despite his closeness with the President, Muhammadu Buhari whom many thought would hand over the baton in 2023.
Atiku emerges as PDP flag bearer
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s primary was another event that has not left the lips of most Nigerians in the polity. This is because the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the party’s flag bearer and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate has led to its internal crisis.
Peter Obi dumps PDP, joins Labour Party
On March 24, 2022, Peter Obi declared his intention to run for the position of President of Nigeria under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, but later pulled out and announced he would be running under the Labour Party platform instead.
According to reports, Obi wrote to the leadership of the PDP on May 24 to resign his membership. He reportedly complained of massive bribing of delegates and vote buying at the party’s presidential primary, citing the existence of a party clique collaborating against him.
This move sparked the wave of controversies for him in 2022. The real controversies Obi faced this year were due to the aggressive support he has enjoyed from young Nigerians.
Commentators have argued that Obi’s candidacy appeals to young voters dissatisfied with the two major parties, which has resulted in the “biggest political movement in recent Nigerian history.” With his core message of prudence and accountability, Obi has managed to gain the backing of voters for his previously largely unknown Labour Party into a strong third force against two political heavyweights.
Rabiu Kwankwaso forms NNPP
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former chieftain of the PDP, forming a new party was another major highlight of 2022 political intrigues. Kwankwaso formed the New Nigeria’s Peoples Party and he is the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 general elections. Another highlight of this development is that Kwankwaso picked Lagos Archbishop Isaac Idahosa as his running mate.
Oyebanji takes over power from Fayemi in Ekiti
The governorship election in Ekiti State did not really surprise many because it was a case of handing over power to the successor and a case of the state’s ruling party, APC retaining power. Biodun Oyebanji, Kayode Fayemi’s preferred successor and APC governorship candidate defeated Segun Oni of the Socialist Democratic Party to clinch the party’s seat of power in the state, the office of the governor of Ekiti State.
“The Ekweremadus are facing charges of conspiring to traffic a person for organ harvesting in violation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015”
Adeleke defeats Oyetola, emerges Osun new governor
The emergence of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the new governor of Osun State was lauded in the polity. The residents expressed joy as Adeleke defeated Gboyega Oyetola, the immediate past governor of the state. Their major high point was that Imole ti de (that is light has finally come into the state of Osun State) as the PDP candidate took over power from Oyetola, APC candidate and incumbent governor.
Nyesom Wike versus Atiku Abubakar
Year in, year out, Nyesom Wike is hardly in the news for something controversial. However, this year, Wike single-handedly threw the PDP into a crisis. Wike has been up in arms against the party since the presidential primary that produced Atiku Abubakar as the candidate of the party and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate. Wike, who emerged as the runner-up in the primary, was passed over in the search for the party’s vice presidential candidate.
The governor and his Benue, Enugu, Abia and Oyo State counterparts, Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu and Seyi Makinde, respectively, started calling for the resignation of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu.
Wike and the aggrieved governors had vowed that until Ayu quits his position as National Chairman of the party, they would withhold their support for the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in 2023.
Basically, the five southern governors hold the ground that both the party’s presidential candidate and the national chairman should not be from the same region. Atiku and Iyorchia are from the North.
Chris Ngige dares ASUU
On Friday, October 14, 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities announced the suspension of its eight-month strike; historically, the longest ASUU strike in a stretch.
The strike, which commenced on Monday, February 14, 2022, led to a suspension of academic activities in Federal and State Universities across the nation.
The ASUU strike was necessary to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
Although Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, is not the Minister of Education, but the minister was at the centre of the crisis as ASUU and the Federal Government locked horns for months.
Ngige took the matter to the National Industrial Court, where he registered and presented the certificates of registration to two unions, all in an attempt to de-rank ASUU.
The Federal government formally registered two new university unions, the Congress of Nigerian University Academics and National Association of Medical and Dental Academics.
With the granting of registration to the two unions, Nigerian Universities now have three academic unions, ASUU, CONUA, and NAMDA. However, Ngige said they will exist alongside ASUU.
Ike Ekweremadu’s albatross
Former Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife were arrested by the London Metropolitan Police, in June, for allegedly trafficking a young Nigerian, David Nwamini, to the UK, with intention of harvesting his kidney.
The Ekweremadus are facing charges of conspiring to traffic a person for organ harvesting in violation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Ekweremadu argued in court that the young man was old enough to give consent, and did just that.
Ekweremadu’s 25-year-old daughter has been laying sick, in need of an urgent Kidney transplant.
Many have given the politician support as he still sleeps in a cell, while others have called it a lesson to other politicians in positions to better the health sector of Nigeria.
The Central Criminal Court in London has adjourned his trial from May 2023 to January 31, 2023.
