I have witnessed many elections since 1979 and I can say without any equivocation that the 2023 election was the best, the most free and fair, the most transparent.
Those who are pillorying the election and INEC, the electoral umpire are simply saying so because the outcome of the election, especially the presidential election did not match their expectation.
May God forgive them, especially the men in cassocks, who in their hallucination, had prophesied victory for their favourite candidate, claiming it was a message from God.
It must be clear to Nigerians that those clerics were not in any conclave with the Almighty God. Their prediction was their personal desires, which went unfulfilled by God.
God surely has other plans for our country and instead chose a man, who has the best leadership pedigree and espouses the best vision to pilot our affairs from 29 May.
Man indeed proposes, God disposes. Our clergymen, not satisfied with the divine and INEC verdict have been all out disparaging the election. The latest of them was Cardinal John Onaiyekan of the Catholic Church.
News reports said the Octogenarian claimed that the election was rigged. He accused some unidentified people of masterminding the rigging and claimed that God knows those riggers.
To Onaiyekan, the alleged machination of ‘those riggers’ made impossible the manifestation of the ‘people’s will’ in the outcome announced by INEC. This lie, nay a malicious propaganda, has been told repeatedly by the opposition parties and their supporters since 1 March when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was declared as President-elect.
The lie has been sold abroad to people who do not have a first-hand information on how INEC conducted the poll.
The lie is simply vicious. It must stop. It is a lie for which the purveyors, no matter their status, ought to earn the wrath of God on earth and in heaven. It is not true.
Without holding brief for INEC, which has filed its defence at the Tribunal, which begins sitting on 8 May, I repeat again that the 2023 election was the best since the return to democracy in 1999. It was miles ahead of the heavily compromised 2007 election conducted by President Olusegun Obasanjo, wherein the beneficiary of the electoral heist, Umaru Yar’Adua apologised for the embarrassment.
Yar’Adua atoned for Obasanjo’s sin by setting up the Justice Uwais Commission to sanitise our election process.
Since then, our elections have gotten better, election cycle after election cycle.
The introduction of BVAS made a significant difference and made the 2023 election, the most technologically driven poll ever conducted in our country. And the best. BVAS made it impossible for parties to record outlandish numbers in their strongholds. It ensured that only the accredited voters voted. INEC deserves praise not ridicule.
All the critics of INEC, on account of the non-transmission of the results recorded at the 176,000 polling units are purely doing so for mischief.
The criticism is most misplaced as the so-called result transmission was additional to what happened at the polling unit. It is superfluous.
In the presidential and National Assembly elections, all polling units tallied votes cast and each party polling agent was given a copy of Form EC8. Collation of polling unit results was done at the ward level and from there to the council level and then the state level. Political parties usually know how they fared in the election by the time votes are tallied at ward or council level.
Parties do not need to wait for INEC upload of polling unit results on its portal to know the entire result of the election. They do not also need to wait for the results announced at the Abuja Collation Centre. In 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan conceded to President Muhammad Buhari before INEC’s announcement, because he and his agents had the figures from all the states. He conceded because he knew the election was already lost to Buhari.
In a development that is extremely strange to our politics, the Labour Party and the PDP initially sponsored calls for an interim government. When that did not get traction, they mounted vicious attacks on INEC for not uploading the results on time, using this lapse to vilify an election that was the best in our country. It’s like condemning your bank for not printing a receipt for a credit payment, when the money is already sitting pretty in your account and you have received the alert.
The Labour Party and the PDP and their surrogates, some of them lawyers, clerics and some ethnic groups have also mounted desperate campaign for the postponement of the inauguration of the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 29 May. Some other groups, including the leading labour and partisan unions, the NLC and TUC, in league with some equally partisan civil society organisations are blackmailing the judges that will handle the petitions against Tinubu’e election.
We have never had such post-poll desperation, except this time that we have a Peter Obi on the ballot and an Atiku that is cocksure he has lost his last chance to gun for the nation’s No. 1 seat. Since 1999, every election held has always been disputed by losers.
The winners are allowed to be sworn in, while litigation goes on. This was the case in all elections. This is also the trend in the states. This has been the convention. It was the convention when Labour Party Vice presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed became a senator, representing Kaduna North in 2011 under the platform of Congress for Progressive Change. His challenger went to court. Baba-Ahmed’s victory was upturned, after some months, when he had been sworn in as senator.
We cannot change the convention now because some people believe that the men who came second and third in the poll, are pursuing cases in court. They should exercise patience for the judiciary to decide whether they have any strong case to invalidate Tinubu’s victory. The judiciary has always supported litigants when they have ‘substantial’ proof that they were rigged out of an election. As the tribunal begins sitting today, let Labour and its senior partner, the PDP stop further blackmail of the judiciary.
Nigeria Must Prioritize Local Defense Contractors for National Security and Economic Growth
While Nigeria strives for self-reliance and national security, its defense procurement landscape remains heavily tilted in favour of foreign contractors.
Despite the growing capacity among Indigenous defense firms, Nigeria continues to favor foreign contractors.
This pattern threatens long-term national security, economic independence, and local innovation.
While Nigeria strives for self-reliance and national security, its defense procurement landscape remains heavily tilted in favour of foreign contractors.
Despite significant strides in capacity development, manufacturing, design, and operational capability, Nigerian-owned defense companies face systemic bias and limited access to government contracts.
This preference for foreign contractors and solutions incurs costs: economically, strategically, and technologically.
If Nigeria is committed to developing a robust, sovereign, and exportable defense industry, it must start by prioritizing local contractors.
FOREIGN FIRMS STILL GET THE FIRST CALL
Today, many Nigerian companies have developed capacity.
They offer reliable, innovative, and scalable solutions, including the production of sensitive equipment/systems, tactical vehicles, protective gear, and training facilities.
Yet, when the time comes for procurement, tenders and negotiations disproportionately favour foreign companies and suppliers.
These foreign firms are not only awarded high-value contracts but are often given easier access to key decision-makers.
Local companies, by contrast, face endless social and political hurdles: excessive scrutiny, limited engagement from end-users, and a lack of pilot opportunities to prove their systems in the field.
THE COST OF MARGINALISING OUR LOCAL INDUSTRY
The consequences of this procurement imbalance are far-reaching:
Capital Flight:
Nigeria loses billions annually by supporting foreign companies instead of helping Nigerian-owned businesses.
This practice enriches foreigners economically and denies local firms the opportunity to collaborate with international partners, which could enhance technology transfer, experience, and knowledge-sharing.
Job Loss:
Neglecting local defense companies negatively impacts the Nigerian economy and leads to job losses.
Manufacturing opportunities that could employ thousands of Nigerian youth are instead given to foreign factories, resulting in the creation and maintenance of valuable jobs overseas that could have been retained in Nigeria.
Technology Dependence:
Relying on foreign suppliers undermines Nigeria’s ability to develop, control, or modify critical defence platforms.
When Nigerian companies receive support, they are encouraged to strengthen partnerships with foreign technology partners, who can provide training and opportunities for technology transfer.
This strategy is essential for helping Nigerian companies develop the necessary technology more quickly.
Export Inhibition:
Without domestic validation, Nigerian-made defense products face challenges in entering foreign markets.
Nigeria aims to promote exports across all sectors.
For exportation to be successful, our products and solutions must meet international standards.
The export of Nigerian defense products will struggle unless these items are first given a chance to succeed in Nigeria.
We need to develop our local industry, validate our products, and then actively launch them into regional and continental markets.
BRAZIL AND INDIA: CASE STUDIES IN STRATEGIC PATRONAGE
Countries such as Brazil and India have demonstrated how intentional local patronage can foster globally competitive defense industries.
In Brazil, companies like Embraer and IMBEL grew under government-backed contracts and patronage.
The Brazilian Armed Forces committed to buying local, even when products were still under development and maturing.
Today, Brazil exports military aircraft and arms globally and has become a respected defense manufacturer.
Nigerian companies require more than just praise; they need patronage. Securing contracts, creating opportunities, and engaging in long-term planning are essential for our local defense firms to thrive.
India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative transformed its defense sector by mandating local sourcing.
Companies like Bharat Forge, TATA Advanced Systems, and Larsen & Toubro received long-term government backing, which allowed them to scale and improve.
India now produces high-quality drones, tanks, and artillery systems with export potential.
The lesson is clear: Nations that support local firms boost their economies, strengthen national defense, and enhance global influence.
A CALL FOR REORIENTATION IN NIGERIA
Nigerian companies require more than just praise; they need patronage. Securing contracts, creating opportunities, and engaging in long-term planning are essential for our local defense firms to thrive.
We call on the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence, the Police, and all relevant government agencies to:
Adopt a Local-First Procurement Policy: Allocate a specific percentage of all defense procurement contracts to Nigerian companies.
Award Contracts for Capability and Growth:
Support local businesses by placing genuine orders instead of merely making promises or running pilot tests.
Various procurement models can be utilized to encourage the growth of local companies while minimizing risks for buyers.
We urge the Armed Forces and relevant purchasers to explore these models in the interest of our collective growth.
Foster Strategic Partnerships with Local Leadership:
The federal government, the armed forces, the police, and all other buyers should require foreign companies to partner with Nigerian companies to secure contracts.
Similar to the laws in places like Dubai, foreign companies should not be eligible to secure defense contracts in Nigeria directly.
They must partner with Nigerian defense companies to facilitate knowledge transfer and equity sharing with Nigerian firms.
Create End-User Incentives:
Encourage military and police leaders to implement solutions made in Nigeria and provide rewards for successful adoption.
Establish a Nigerian Defence Development Fund:
The government should create a Nigerian Defence Development Fund to provide long-term capital to local firms for research and development, infrastructure, and certifications.
THE TIME IS NOW
Nigeria’s future security needs to be developed within the country. This requires us to trust our own companies and local initiatives to provide the solutions we need.
Like Brazil and India, we must be willing to support homegrown solutions and products through their early challenges, understanding that true mastery comes with experienced local companies cannot thrive on encouragement alone—they require contracts, partnerships, and a long-term belief from their own country.
We possess the talent, ambition, and drive. What we need now is opportunity.
If Nigeria aims to become a true continental power in defense and technology, the change must begin with a simple decision:
Buy Nigerian, trust Nigerian, and defend Nigerian.
• This article was written by Bem Ibrahim Garba, a defense industry professional and advocate for indigenous industrial growth in Nigeria.
The Backlash Against Enioluwa’s Tears Shows Why Nigerian Men Are Dying in Silence , by Halima Layeni
The recent attack on 25 Year-old Nigerian influencer, Enioluwa Adeoluwa, for crying at his best friend, Priscilla’s wedding is more than an internet scandal. It is an indictment of our collective failure to raise emotionally healthy men.
A nation that once took pride in raising “strong men” is now reaping the consequences of generations of emotional suppression and it’s breaking our men.
The recent attack on 25 Year-old Nigerian influencer, Enioluwa Adeoluwa, for crying at his best friend, Priscilla’s wedding is more than an internet scandal. It is an indictment of our collective failure to raise emotionally healthy men.
Enioluwa, in a raw, beautiful, and deeply human moment, shed tears as he celebrated a life milestone with someone he loves platonically.
But instead of compassion, he was met with venom.
The internet erupted with disturbing comments from Nigerian men, the very people who should understand the weight of unspoken emotions.
“Men used to fight lions and tigers but little boys have to watch Enioluwa shed tears like a woman on her period.”
“Enioluwa is such a terrible role model for younger men.”
“When I have a male child, when he turns 10 years old I go first break five bottles for his head make he know say men mount.”
“I go wear crown of thorns make he know say life no be bed of roses.”“See simp behavior. You dey cry because woman marry? Na wa for you.”
A man who cannot cry is often a man who cannot connect, cannot heal, and cannot love fully.
“He must have been sleeping with her. Why else would a man cry that much?
”These cruel commentary is not just about Enioluwa. It is about every boy who has been told that his tears are unacceptable.
It is about every man who has been shamed for showing emotion. It is about a culture that would rather raise broken, hardened men than whole, healthy ones.
There is nothing wrong with a man crying. There is nothing wrong with a man expressing deep affection for a friend.
There is nothing wrong with a man being emotionally present in a moment of transition, joy, or loss.
What is wrong is the fact that our society punishes softness, ridicules empathy, and weaponizes masculinity.
Boys in Nigeria and many parts of the world are taught from an early age that masculinity means stoicism, dominance, and emotional detachment.
“Be a man” often means: suppress your feelings, deny your pain, and never under any circumstances show vulnerability.
Over time, this has created men who are emotionally constipated, unable to process grief, incapable of expressing love, and ill-equipped to build emotionally safe relationships.
This recent incident also brings to light another disturbing facet of toxic masculinity, the idea that men and women cannot be friends without sex.
Enioluwa was accused of being a “simp,” “emotional,” and “pathetic,” simply for valuing his platonic friendship.
Some even went as far as suggesting that he must have been sleeping with his best friend because, to them, no man could possibly show that kind of love unless there was sexual benefit involved.
This thinking is not only immature, it is harmful. It denies men the full range of human connection.
It teaches them that friendship is only valuable if it comes with physical reward. And it strips them of the beautiful, non-sexual intimacy that makes life meaningful.
The idea that a man cannot cry over the marriage of his female best friend without ridicule is a sign of deep emotional poverty.
We are grooming our sons to become emotionally unavailable men and it is showing up in our homes, our relationships, and our society.
Men who cannot express emotions also struggle to be present partners, affectionate fathers, and loyal friends.
They retreat from vulnerability, and in doing so, they retreat from the very thing that makes them human.
The emotional repression we’ve normalized is killing our men literally and figuratively. Suicide, substance abuse, domestic violence, absentee fatherhood all have roots in unresolved pain and emotional illiteracy.
A man who cannot cry is often a man who cannot connect, cannot heal, and cannot love fully.
There is nothing weak about a man who cries. There is nothing shameful about being soft and compassionate.
There is nothing unmanly about being vulnerable. In fact, it takes immense courage to feel deeply in a world that tells men to shut it down.
Healthy masculinity is not born from emotional numbness, it is nurtured through compassion, empathy, and self-awareness.We must raise men who are free to feel.
Men who understand that crying is not a sign of weakness, but a release of strength.
Boys who will grow into men who can be tender with their spouses, emotionally present for their children, supportive of their friends, and kind to themselves.
The backlash Enioluwa faced is painful, but it has started a conversation that we cannot afford to ignore.
If we truly care about our men, their mental health, their emotional well-being, their future we must rewire the way we raise them.
No more broken bottles. No more crowns of thorns.
No more silent suffering. Let us raise men who cry, who feel, who love, and who heal.
Let us raise whole men.
• Halima Layeni, Founder Men’s Mental Health Advocate / Life After Abuse Foundation, wrote this piece
Once a humble N50 snack in the 2000s, Gala has now evolved with a premium N500 offering — igniting a heated cost-of-living debate. N500 Gala.
Social media and public discourse reflect Nigerians’ deep attachment to Gala as a cultural icon tied to its former N50 price.
BusinessDay reports that since February, the snack has been at the center of widespread discussions after UAC Foods introduced a new variation at a retail price of N500.
“How can I buy a Gala of N50 for N500?” Tolani, a final-year student at the University of Lagos said. This same sentiment was shared by Ann, a fresh graduate from the University of Port Harcourt.
She said “It feels weird buying Gala for N500, even though it’s a bigger size.”
Many Nigerians argue they would never pay N500 for a product they still associate with its N50 legacy.
However, what many fail to recognize is that the new product is almost double the size compared to what is now called the “old Gala”.
While the former product was 65 grams, the N500 Gala was 120 grams.
Crime3 days ago
Business2 days ago
News3 days ago
Crime3 days ago
Crime2 days ago
Business16 hours ago
Business17 hours ago
Business18 hours ago