In the light of the celebration of the 2022 National Diaspora Day under the leadership of Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), this Diaspora psychologist decided to address human rights concerns regarding foreign affairs relating to Nigerian Diaspora communities and gender equality, as relating to females who still face institutional barriers and discrimination in employment and other settings in Nigeria. In the incoming presidency of Tinubu, Atiku, or Obi, and the next legislature, the work of Dabiri-Erewa in the area of foreign affairs as it relates to diaspora voting and women’s rights,…
Author: John Egbeazien Oshodi
Buhari Heed To Demand From The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group On Arbitrary Detention Of Kanu. So, Kanu Can Return To His Adopted Home In The UK Mazi Nnamdi Kanu The message here from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is for Nigeria to end its arbitrary arrest, punitive detention, and illegal trial of Kanu, which could lead to the Nigerian government being held accountable by reporting Nigeria to the Human Rights Council. President Muhammadu Buhari do not be carried away or influenced by the usual editorial twisting by some Nigerian newspapers that a particular piece of information did…
What about shifting mass anger towards so-called leaders and their circles responsible for the systemic failures in Nigeria? Why are Nigerians not channeling their fury towards leaders sabotaging democracy? What about Nigerians’ shifting negative emotions and rage towards corrupt political, institutional, and corporate leadership, causing, and inflaming the nation’s rotating problems? Nigerians in recent times, generally see the country as one of the world’s most hopeless, damaged, and insecure environments, and the pervasive and continued failure of governance in Nigeria victimizes the average police officer and his or her safety. No one denies the fact that many police officers struggle…
Should the nation be concerned about the age and health of Atiku and Tinubu in particular? What if they die or become severely incapacitated as presidential candidates, even though Peter Obi of the Labour Party, appears slightly healthier as evidenced by his apparent youthfulness, energy, and outlook compared to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)? Even America, whose presidential and constitutional system Nigeria practices, although in a defective and chaotic manner, the U.S. Constitution generally has clear rules in the case of the death or incapacity of the President…
When the world speaks of the revolutionary musical giants who once walked among us, Fela Kuti and Bob Marley come to mind, two men who influenced and intervened distinctively while raising black consciousness against cruelty and abuse. Marley, Fela, among others, had a great influence on the worldwide music artist, Bukola Elemide, popularly known as Asa. Asa, psychologically, used her protest voice in her progressive songs that called on the people, inspiring them to join themselves into a cohesive body to revitalize their weary spirit, turn their pain around, warn of injustice, and send a message of righteous anger to…
An unidentified American citizen, apparently of Nigerian Yoruba ancestry, spotted the Nigerian Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in a restaurant in America, personally carrying a plate of food and began recording, as now seen in a trending video. As Aregbesola openly walked back to his seat with his food, where his female partner was patiently seated and waiting for him, suddenly the Nigerian-born American, in a targeted manner, greeted the Minister and the former governor of Osun State, then brought out his phone and began recording the Minister inside the restaurant. Sometimes I wonder about technology; it is good and…
A really bad day in Nigeria is when violent injury, death, and destruction of government properties occur from terrorism. The urgency of this moment in Nigeria is that there is going to be a break as no one is safe. Within 24 hours or so, terrorists, or as some may call them, bandits, attacked a federal prison in the nation’s capital, Abuja. The Navy officer in Lokoja, Kogi State, was abducted by suspected terrorists and the Nigerian Navy said that efforts are ongoing to rescue the personnel. In Kastina State, a presidential convoy was attacked by terrorists in the President…
It has been four years now since Vice President Yemi Osinbajo called for the creation of a state police force, because he knows better but has no independent power to push it. Along with the progressive reasoning of Osinbajo are many Nigeria governors, including but not limited to Nyesom Wike, Douye Diri, Godwin Obaseki, Bello Matawalle, Rotimi Akeredolu, Nasir El-Rufai, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Kayode Fayemi, who recently and strongly called for decentralized police systems. Four years ago, Ahmad Lawan, then the Majority Leader of the Senate, welcomed the idea. Three years ago, Lawan still welcomed the idea of state police…
No one in the world can deny the reality that religious polarization is a real problem in Nigeria. As such, All Progressives Congress (APC) and even labour party Christians across the country are opposed to Muslim-Muslim presidential types of candidacies, and Tinubu especially is caught in this dilemma. Psychologically, one must be sympathetic to the Christian community as they call for a religious and ethnic balance, and to do otherwise is a grand mark of insensitivity. But here is a bitter reality that Nigerian Christians cannot ignore, in Nigeria’s political affairs, the north is indispensable—and it has always been because…
Why Wike Can’t Afford to Lose, Okowa Caught Between God And Politics Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State told Nigerians only God could stop him from being the running mate to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Well, God has answered his prayers. There is a saying that says, “God Doesn’t Like Ugly.” Well, it is very true here because the same God, according to his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, would tell Okowa, God does not like anyone who acts in an ugly manner and treats others in an ugly manner. The Peoples…
The corruption of the Senate was in view some hours ago as Nigerians witnessed an unusual form of senatorial conduct during the screening of ministerial nominees. I don’t mean the kind of corruption that regularly sends public officials like legislators and executive officers to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) due to charges of bribery, embezzlement, and misappropriation of public funds. I’m referring to corruption as procedures that involve the explicit or implicit violation of norms of conduct by supposed entrusted lawmakers who should be impartial in their…
Some days ago, media reports about the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), especially regarding the leadership and officers of the Gombe State Command, who used a peculiar modus operandi at a dancing facility in Gombe State, particularly on issues of arrests, search warrants, and the parade of suspects. The Nigerian media reported that the Gombe State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested and paraded 20 girls and 14 boys, including minors, over alleged illicit dancing in a dancing facility. Was there a search warrant order that was issued by a magistrate or judge…
Nigerians need timely executive and administrative directives from President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Bashir Machina’s right to potentially work in his rightful place in the Nigeria senate or the United Nations should step in to protect Machina. On humanitarian grounds, he is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set out in the United Nations Declaration. Like all human beings, Machina has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Machina recently won a major senatorial primary race in Nigeria. Nigerians are saying that Machina has a life of dignity, respect, and equality. President Buhari…
I need to point out that I know none of these men, nor have I dealt with them in any capacity now or in the past. I am only here to give a psychological picture of what I call the Buharian image of the Nigerian space; “Nigerians are the problem.” A mass problem that is further complicated by the media, where the influence of money and power has taken charge of journalism at the behest of media ethics. In the last few hours, the Nigerian media has been filled with what appears to be bombshell election news surrounding Bola Ahmed…
In an online written response to questions from Bloomberg News as posted by William Clowes and Michael Cohen on June 21, 2022, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said hundreds of millions in stolen funds have been returned from outside and within Nigeria, and he is not giving up as his time in office is almost ending. In the face of mass insecurity and a hopeless economy, Buhari, the leader of Africa’s most populous country, largest economy, and a drained democracy, stated that in 2021, through the whistleblowing policy, around $386 million was recovered from looted funds that came back into the…
America celebrated Juneteenth on Sunday, June 19 and Monday, June 20 as public holidays, Nigeria, as other parts of Africa, should be reminded of the poisonous ideologies of inferiority and inter-conflict that came into the various surroundings of the place named Nigeria by a British journalist, Flora Shaw, who later married Baron Frederick Lugard. Juneteenth is a portion of emancipation and freedom celebrations by people of African descent throughout the Americas, especially now that it is a federal holiday. A combination of the words “June” and “Nineteenth” led to the word Juneteenth. President Abraham Lincoln officially signed the Emancipation Proclamation…
Like previous administrations, the Buhari administration’s approach to democracy cannot be defined as vigorously people-oriented, responsive, responsible, pro rule of law, for human rights, and civic participation. Under these types of negative elements, the common people find themselves under expanding poverty, limping development efforts, and problematic democracy. People who are dissatisfied, who are hungry for justice and fairness, resort to various acts of lawlessness and extremism. In a place where people wish and hope to gain from various types and levels of corruption and where people feel helpless and pained, such an environment provides a clear opportunity for terrorists to…
A national police force like the Nigeria police force came into existence when Nigeria was just a few million in population, but times have changed, with Nigeria now occupied by at least 200 million people. The coming presidency and the national assembly should engage in reimaging the Nigeria police force (NPF), change the format of the current police force to what I call the Nigeria Capital Police (NCP), a specified federal law enforcement branch in line with other federal police force branches with primary and focused functions: the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Corrections Service, Nigerian Custom Service, Nigeria Immigration…
To gain citizens’ confidence, law enforcement acts and approaches should be guided by public safety and an officers show of integrity. More and more Nigerians continue to protest across the country against law enforcement misconduct and brutality. As to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Executive Director Abdulrasheed Ahmed Bawa’s ascension was welcomed by the people as he promised rule of law and professionalism in the EFCC. With what reportedly happened at the hotel some days ago by EFCC officials, the lawless, violent, and insensitive image of officials of the so-called and now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) comes…
Atiku And Tinubu Do The Right Thing In Nigeria Through Effective Interfaith Type Presidency: Simeon Lalong Of APC, Nyesom Wike Of PDP Nigerians are deeply divided by religion on all major issues in the country, almost by nature, history, and psychological relationships. In 2019, Gallup, Inc. conducted a poll on some critical issues in Nigeria, like religion. R. J Reinhart, the assessor, found that in 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a Muslim from northern Nigeria, overwhelmingly earned almost all the points from Muslims. Muslims were almost three times as likely to approve of Buhari (73%) as were Christians…
In an autocratic manner, Senator Abdullah Adamu the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) told members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party that in consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari, a fellow Northerner, Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President, had been chosen as a consensus candidate. The 13 APC governors, most of them Muslims in support of the power shift to the South, refused to join in Adamu’s autocratic move. The northern governors with prominent voices like Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Aminu Masari of Katsina, Abdullahi Sule of…
Nigerians are worried about the unusual manners of public servants regarding running their political campaigns for the presidency, and at the same time running their public and government institutions, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, headed by Godwin Emefiele. Emefiele sent this message to Nigerians: “Let them have a heart attack. It’s good to have a heart attack. I am having a lot of fun.” For an Economist and principal custodian of the people’s Treasury, I wonder if it was part of God’s direction, for Emefiele to wish Nigerians heart attack, and when did he receive divine counsel to wish…
Since its founding in the 1970s, protecting the interests of the academic staff in all public universities in the country has been its goal, and fighting to continuously obtain fair earnings and standards and gaining university autonomy remains its mission. ASUU has actively struggled with various military and non-military administrations while bettering the standards of human and academic entities, and the most common way it fights with the government is through a periodic line of warning strikes that usually proceeds on an indefinite strike, sometimes for very long months or years. Its disagreements with the federal government, which are generally…
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has enough funds to buy anything, whether it is a social platform or a place like Nigeria. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is currently worth about $260 billion. Elon Musk, who is a U.S. citizen, was born in South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father. The billionaire financier Elon Musk is said to have offered to take Twitter Inc. in a deal valued at $43 billion. The Tesla and SpaceX billionaire said he is trying to buy Twitter as it is not doing well in expanding freedom of speech,…
In Nigeria, Sharia or Islamic law has long been instituted as part of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, allowing twelve out of thirty-six states to have Islam as the dominant religion and Sharia courts as well as customary courts. One of the twelve states is Yobe, the home of Usman Alkali-Baba, the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Baba’s current implementation of the Islamic dress code for female police officers in the country follows logically from the observance of the dress code as required by Islam. Some months ago, Hajia Hajara Usman Baba, the wife of the Inspector-General of Police, Baba, announced…
Nigerians, for a very long time, saw a new approach among lawmakers on questionable acts from the president and the judiciary around the recently signed Electoral Act 2022. The Nigerian Constitution, whether one views it as weak or vulnerable, does not answer every question, but it remains clear on separation of powers. No court or judge in Nigeria has the power to stop legislators from doing their legislative duties, revisiting, or amending legislation. In a ruling delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the court restrained the legislature from deleting or taking any further steps on the new law, but the role…
In recent times, there has been this perception that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja could be engaging in the misuse of judicial power. Judges are known to be in positions of extraordinary power and prestige, but they must not be allowed to escape public accountability as an overly activist judge, which Ekwo is apparently becoming, which could threaten the public foundation of the Nigerian constitutional system. From the point of legal psychology, which refers to psychologically related actions that are directly pertinent to the law and legal issues, Justice Ekwo has gone too far. For example,…
The American people and the world have been asking if there is a method to Putin’s madness. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced his “special military operation” to “de-Nazify” a democratic nation of 44 million people. Putin’s “denazification” claim of the war is a big lie. No wonder Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is a Jewish man, asks Putin, “How can I be a Nazi?” Thereafter, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began in a way that appears to show the mindset of an apparently weird and unstable man. Putin has placed the Ukrainian people and environment under bombardment with missile strikes…
Psychological conditioning from Russia is in the process of teaching, influencing, and affecting leaders in Africa who will then respond in a manner like the ways of Russia. Observational learning is occurring through some African countries who are observing the behaviors of Putin’s Russian leadership and imitating his ways even if there is no full-scale reinforcement at the time, as western values continue to slowly show in African settings. Psychologically, learning is the process by which new knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and ideas are acquired by individuals, institutions, and even society. In. On October 24, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted…
The world and the people of Nigeria will never know what was inside Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd), the Executive Head of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), that pushed him to do what was right, as he did not want to undermine the public’s trust in his agency, something that is fully nil in the Nigeria police force (NPF). In many ways, the Nigeria police force and its leadership are now a threat to Nigerian democracy because of a series of problematic institutional behaviors and actions. From an apparent distant psychological lens, as I do not know…
