Clay Richie

Women have used a variety of garments/devices to cover, restrain or modify the appearance of their breasts over time. They include corsets, camisoles and brassieres. Brassieres popularly known as “Bras” replaced Corsets in the 19th Century and since then much attention has been paid to the fashion aspect of bras.

I’m writing this piece first thing on Sunday morning, so I don’t know yet which candidate and party won – by fair or foul means – the governorship election in my home state of Anambra. But here’s what I can say with confidence: the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lost.

By imposing fines which any right-thinking person can tell the average car-owner cannot pay, the car-owner is forced to succumb to police extortion. If you asked the man in the street what the Nigerian police do, he is not likely to tell you their job is to protect and serve the public. In Nigeria, the police are known for one primary assignment: harassment of the public for the purposes of extorting money. It does not make sense to ask a thief to catch a thief. If he does catch the thief, you will soon realize that he has more in common with thief than with you; the property-owner. In Nigeria, the police and thieves speak the same language.

The FIRS said Mr. Ibrahim was not arrested. The Chairman of Global Fleet Group, Jimoh Ibrahim, was on Monday quizzed for several hours by the Special Enforcement Unit of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, over alleged N6.8 billion tax evasion.‬

Pieces of the puzzle seem to be falling into place. The opposition party is now running after the G7 to woo them into their party resulting to waste of precious time needed to consolidate its agenda. The opposition has now abandoned their plans running up and down thinking they will woo the G7 and other AWOL PDP members. Thus, by the time the opposition realises it, a lot of water has gone down the bridge. By that time, there will be too little time to start strategising against the PDP. And then, the old plugs will win again!

The question the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, was asked to respond to by the House Committee on Police Affairs was simple: who ordered the Asokoro Divisional Police Officer, Nnana Amah, to invade and disrupt the G7 governors’ meeting at the Kano governor’s lodge some two weeks ago? The answer was equally simple though downright disturbing. No one sent Mr Amah, the IGP replied. The DPO was simply doing his job, he deadpanned.

Dr. Chris Ngige proved to be the cat with many lives when as governor of the state between 2003 and 2006 he fought within the PDP against the establishment as dictated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Anambra State governorship election was greeted with much anticipation and hope because both INEC and citizens see it as a litmus test for 2015 general elections. While we must commend the people of Anambra for having conducted themselves in a peaceful manner so far, reports from our observers deployed across the state shows critical areas the election has fallen short of people’s expectations. Some of the irregularities observed in some local governments include ballot snatching, massive thump printing,

Images of leaders of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) smiling sheepishly and fawning at the feet of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) last week, should be seen for what they were: A Public Relations gaffe and a Branding mis-step.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the recently held governorship elections in Anambra State “inconclusive”, with supplementary elections scheduled to hold in certain areas owing to glaring irregularities and logistic difficulties.

The senate has accused the government of failing to account for N500 billion SURE-P money The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) has set aside N15 billion to pay allowances of unemployed graduates participating in its Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS).

The Anambra State election which result is yet to be released we gathered has already had a winner before the registered voters went out to cast their votes. According to an impeccable source, a plan was hatched by the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop every observer who will be ruthless in capturing details of the election.

As leaders of their respective states, within the Nigerian states, within the federal structure of Nigeria, governors could make or mar the system by their personal conduct and relationship with the central government, 2011 presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has said.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who is also Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has alleged that the sum of $5b was withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account without governors knowing what the money was used for.

Irked by the rousing reception recently given to the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during a visit to Port Harcour, a South South Governor and two Federal Ministers in the Jonathan cabinet have hatched a fresh plot to violently, illegally and unconstitutionally remove Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, a group Rivers’ People Forum (RPF alleges.

You would be forgiven for thinking there are no concrete issues, bordering on policies and programmes, to discuss ahead of the 2015 elections. All we have been hearing is how power must return to the North or how “our son” must continue in office. I did lament last week that regional sentiments appear to be the key factor in our elections.

There is no doubt that all the political parties, particularly the front contenders in the Anambra Governorship election employed various means to woo voters for their votes.

Interim Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state as a clown who believes that Nigerians cannot be in his own state on Election Day.

Sokoto state Governor, Aliyu Wamakko, Imo state Governors, Rochas Okorocha and his Bauchi state counterpart, Alhaji Isa Yuguda yesterday showered cash donations to a number of Igbo natives who converted to Islam at the Abuja’s National Mosque.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned that it will not accept the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra state if voting does not take place in all local governments, especially in the party’s strongholds of Idemili North and South as well as Akwa South.

Most Nigerians will not remember this period, in fact, about 77% of Nigerians (that is Nigerians under the age of 35) were not born or were too young to understand what was happening at the time the term ‘Ghana must go’ was coined, but it was not in the very distant past.

Reports from Nigeria’s South Eastern State of Anambra has it that the State Security Service has held down one of the main opposition leaders Nasir ERufai who is of the All Progressives Congress. El-Rufai has always been critical of the government and has had a history of arrests with the SSS. While elections are currently on-going in the said Anambra, the reason behind this particular arrest are unclear but there are indications the order is from the Nigerian Presidency. The arrest has since been confirmed by the country’s biggest newspaper platform, The Punch. Nasir El-Rufai is a registered observer of the elections on behalf of his party the All Progressives Congress (APC). He is currently held at his hotel.

Uncut: Nigeria’s oil minister said in London, October, that the theft of oil revenue needed for national building, amounted to terror. British Prime Minister, David Cameron said at this year’s World economic forum meeting at Davos on January 24th, 2013, that Nigeria earned 100 billion dollars in oil revenue for the year 2012—which is more than all the aid given to the entire Sub-Saharan Africa—but corruption and lack of transparency of the civilian administration denied growth and causes suffering to continue in the nation, with a huge amount of Nigeria’s earned revenue being looted ever before it reaches the nation. One such “hole” or “massive gap” Cameron referenced that had been uncovered, accounted for the looting over 800 million dollars from oil revenue paid to Nigeria.

Fellow Nigerians, what you are about to read is the story of man’s inhumanity to man. But before we go into the meat of this extraordinary tale, kindly permit me to paint a little description of the principal actor in the middle of this melodrama. He is no less a personage than the flamboyant businessman cum politician, and showbiz impresario, Chief Harry Ayoade Akande, the famous Agbaoye of Ibadanland. In a nation where history is not very popular as a subject in the school curriculum, it is pertinent to take some of our young readers, in particular, down this memory lane.

Barring any last minute change, the group of seven governors in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will meet in Sokoto to decide on their next line of action on whether to remain in the PDP or decamp to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).

The suspension of the Appeal Court reinstated National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) was said to have been received by the Presidency with a shock because it was at variance with the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan.

We have noted with much regret, the grossly irresponsible, false and mischievous claim by the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido that President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to act on information that a serving minister recently collected a bribe of $250 million from an oil company.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the police of acting out the script of the PDP for Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra state by arresting election monitors from Osun State and labelling them as thugs.

The interim deputy publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that the need for an ”incremental change” made it inevitable for the opposition party to seek alliance with strong and willing politicians across the country.

The acclaimed arrested observers who had been released ahead of Anambra elections are bonafide and accredited observers for the upcoming 2013 gubernatorial election coming up in Anambra State.

You might have heard that it was the same political personality namely Chief Bola Ige , that authored the outline of the constitution of the three political parties that contested the 1999 general elections. It is true and this is how it came to be. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, originated as a pan Nigerian anti-military dictatorship nationalist movement. Farther into the past it started as a Northern regional initiative, when a group of eminent opinion leaders from across the Northern half of the country constituted themselves into a pressure group called the G 18. It comprised people like Dangiwa Umar, Abubakar Rimi, Solomon Lar, Adamu Ciroma, Sule Lamido, Jerry Gana and others numbering up to eighteen who rose against the General Sani Abacha military dictatorship. The emergence of this group represented a strategic boost to the largely South West based coalition of forces actively opposed to the annulment of the outcome of the 1993 Presidential elections.

Your Excellencies, Pardon my inability to salute you individually. I assure you that I mean no disrespect. I am aware of the enormous power, which each of you wield in your states and the fact that you are arguably the most powerful bloc in this country.

Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 saw the coming on board of three political parties (PDP, APP, AD). These three parties held sway in various zones of the country, (depending on the ideologies that lead to their formation) until 2003 when a political tsunami masterminded by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo swept through some states and handed them over to the PDP (giving the PDP a seeming semblance of a national party).

The Government of the United States has labelled Boko Haram, as well as its offshoot Ansaru, a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Since the news reached Nigeria, many Nigerians have voiced their approval… and concerns that the development may do more harm than good.

When it comes to expertise in economic management and gender equality, many nations envy Nigeria. Aside the political and economic powerhouses of the world, there is hardly any aspiring country today that can boast of two world acclaimed gladiators in the field of economic expertise. People that other countries would gladly see in higher global positions if powerful political manipulations allow them! I am talking precisely of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Oby Ezekwesili. These are not just internationally acclaimed experts in their fields, they also belong to the weaker gender that are characteristically sidelined and oppressed in developing countries. Yet they are the banners of Nigeria’s pride on the international stage today. Before addressing this issue in detail, let us talk about Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS). SLS is one admirable but yet despicable personality depending on the angle of perception. There is hardly anyone I have met in the corridor of Nigerian elites, who wou...

The minister of aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has again been summoned by the House of Representatives to throw more light on the N342 billion aerotropolis project proposed by the Federal Government.

The nationwide consultations embarked upon by the leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is billed continue today with a possible visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo today at his Hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Forbes today released the 2013 list of the 50 richest people in Africa. Remarkably, the number of billionaires has surged up to 27, up two-thirds from 2012 and from just 2 people in 2003.

Crisis is brewing in the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, as members from the Niger Delta, under the aegis of Global Peace Relief Initiative, led by Prophet Jones Erue, yesterday, faulted President of the association, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, over what they described as the unacceptable comments made against them, following their attempts to reconcile the G-7 governors with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In my earlier article on this same subject of the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial poll titled, “Anambra Gubernatorial Madness”, I had lucidly brought before the eyes of readers of this column, the madness mistaken for political permutations that has become the norm in the buildup to the widely reported Anambra election which takes off few days from today.

Two profoundly significant episodes which speak to how other societies deal with issues bordering on abuse of public trust happened last week in the United Kingdom and Ghana. In the former, a Royal Marine was put on trial and convicted for extra-judicial killing in Afghanistan. In the latter, a minister was sacked for committing a crime of intention. Before we go further, let us take the stories one after the other.

For some time now, the Nigerian media have been  inundated with stories of corruption allegation levelled against the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, concerning an unverified claim that the Minister masterminded the procurement of two bulletproof cars through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, one of the agencies she supervises.

Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, has declared that Nigeria is greater than the ruling Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}.

Barely five days after the Bamamga Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suspended four principal officers of the break-away faction of the party, the party appears set to wield the big stick with plots to expel of the leadership of the faction.

Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada (retd.), was Tuesday chased away from the emergency ward of the  Lokoja General Hospital by angry leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities were some of their colleagues who sustained injuries in the accident involving the convoy of the governor where receiving treatment.

The US has designated Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Ansaru militant groups as foreign terrorist organisations, reports the BBC.

The weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting did not hold on Wednesday.  Though no official reason was given for the ‘no show’, President Goodluck Jonathan, who chairs the Council, spent the better part of working hours in Anambra State for the grand finale of the PDP gubernatorial campaign in the state. 

A statement to the press issued today by lawyer and activist, Bamidele Aturu, insists the former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Festus Iyayi was “murdered”.