The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) has described the November 8 Anambra governorship election as a litmus test for the new INEC chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, and a crucial test of Nigeria’s democratic resilience and institutional credibility.

CDD Africa made this remarks in Akwa on Friday at its pre-election briefing and opening of its Election Analysis Centre (CDD-EAC).

CDD-West Africa, while calling on INEC “to maintain neutrality and ensure seamless electoral processes, in the November 8 election,” noted that while INEC has taken commendable steps to improve logistics and planning, “confidence remains fragile.”

It urged the electoral umpire to deploy voting materials timely, and ensure BVAS/IReV function smoothly .

It also urged security agencies to protect citizens “without intimidation or selective enforcement,” and appealed to political parties to “shun vote buying and commit to peaceful conduct.”

CDD West Africa further called on civil society and the media to amplify factual information and promote inclusive participation, while encouraging citizens to come out and exercise their democratic right to vote.

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“With the CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC) now fully operational, our disinformation experts will be working throughout the period to monitor, fact-check, and respond to emerging narratives,” the organisation said.

“The 2025 Anambra Governorship election is more than a sub-national election,” CDD-West Africa declared.

“We call on all actors to prioritise national interest, protect democratic integrity, and ensure a peaceful, credible and inclusive election,” it said.

Pre-election Observation

The CDD West Africa raised concerns over low electoral competitiveness, predictable voter apathy, and the fragility of key institutions ahead of the governorship election.

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The CSO criticised political parties for their inability to mobilise and sensitise voters, saying that internal crises within major parties have weakened electoral competitiveness in the state.

On Security, CDD West Africa warned that weak oversight of vigilante groups and a history of violence particularly in Ihiala, Nnewi South, Orumba South, and border communities such as Lilu, Azia, and Amorka, could lead to low voter turnout, urging security agencies to “act professionally and protect voters without bias.”

On incumbency and federal influence, the organisation observed that the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the incumbent governor benefit from visibility advantages, new political alignments, and control over state influence channels.

It referenced the Anambra State Signage and Advertisement Agency’s (ANSAA) June 11, 2025 announcement imposing a N50 million permit fee for political parties’ billboard and outdoor campaigns, saying the policy “limits access for different political parties and increases campaign costs,” despite the N1 billion campaign spending cap under Section 88(2) of the 2022 Electoral Act.

On misinformation, CDD-West Africa raised the alarm over the state’s information environment, identifying widespread misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech as major threats to the election’s integrity.

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The organisation’s assessment found “unequal access to information, gender-specific vulnerabilities, inadequate stakeholder preparedness, and persistent electoral risks.”

The CDD identified seven dominant patterns of information manipulation viz: targeting of security institutions with partisan bias claims, exploitation of religious divides, manipulation of political endorsement narratives, weaponisation of insecurity and “unknown gunmen” narratives, distortion of Igbo campaign statements, narratives questioning INEC’s competence, and gendered hate speech aimed at discouraging women’s participation.

According to the CDD, “This is another opportunity for the two million, eight hundred and two thousand, seven hundred and ninety (2,802,790) registered voters in the state to make their voices heard in electing the next state governor.”

It noted that despite INEC’s report of a 98.8 percent Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection rate, the group expressed concern that this might not translate into high voter turnout.

The group, while lamenting continued exclusion of women, youth, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) from the political space, noted that “only two women are contesting, both from minor parties,” while there are “no PWD candidates” and polling accessibility remains poor.

The Ijaw Publishers’ Forum (IPF) has openly expressed its support for the leadership of Dr. Dennis Burutu Otuaro (Ph.D.) as Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

The body, made up of Ijaw media owners across the Niger Delta region, said Otuaro administration has revived confidence, restored focus, and repositioned the programme for the genuine empowerment of Niger Deltans.

Addressing a press conference in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday, the President of IPF, Comrade Austin Ozobo, said since his appointment in March 2024, Chief Otuaro has demonstrated clarity of purpose, measurable achievements, and dedication to service.

Ozobo, flanked by other executives of the body, said “as journalists of conscience, we commend and defend good leadership wherever it is found, especially among Ijaw sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves in service,” stressing that “our allegiance is to the truth, the people, and the progress of the Niger Delta.”

READ ALSO:IPF Commends Tompolo’s Commitment To Security In Delta, Nigeria

The IPF President, while noting that lending “our voice in support of any public office holder is not out of sentiment, politics, or personal gain, but out of an objective recognition of results, integrity, and purposeful leadership,” said under Otuaro leadership, “PAP has moved beyond mere stipend payments to ex-agitators and launched broader human capital development interventions.”

Ozobo said Otuaro is concerned in “giving the programme a human face… developed for the people of the Niger Delta for a better future,” adding that “he has consistently called for stakeholder inclusion, including women’s participation in the peace process for the Niger Delta.”

“He has reaffirmed the programme’s mandate of promoting sustainable peace, security, and development in the Niger Delta region. Strategic Repositioning of PAP:

“These are not symbolic gestures alone — they reflect a strategic repositioning of PAP to deliver tangible value, particularly through education, vocational training, and stakeholder engagement for communities long impacted by militancy, environmental degradation, and underdevelopment,” he said.

READ ALSO:IPF Wants NDDC MD Ogbuku, Others Probed

Ozobo, who called on all and sundry to support Otuaro in his bid to actualising the aims and objectives of the PAP in the region, urged critics to see the good things the current PAP administration is doing, and if they want to criticize to be constructive rather than “destructive opposition.”

He added: “Genuine criticism and oversight are welcomed — but what we are witnessing in certain quarters are attempts to undermine a capable, reform-minded leader through misdirection, misinformation, and vested-interest campaigns.”

He, therefore, called on “all arms of government — federal, state, and local — to give PAP the institutional backing it needs to fulfil its mandate. The region deserves no less.”

By Israel Adebiyi

When a man stays too long where he passes excreta, different kinds of flies will visit him. This Yoruba adage carries deep metaphorical meaning about the dangers of overstaying or remaining in an undesirable, corrupt, or degrading situation. It teaches that there is wisdom in knowing when to leave a place, position, or situation. Staying too long in an unpleasant or unproductive environment can bring unnecessary troubles, shame, or ridicule. Just as flies gather where filth remains, prolonged presence in one spot, especially one associated with decay or negativity, can attract unwanted attention, gossip, or enemies. Donal Trump, the “gun blazing” U.S President has hit this home, setting the Nigerian public sphere on fire.

Nigeria’s long, unending bromance with insecurity and the reign of non-state actors breathing down the necks of innocent citizens has finally caught global attention, and not in a flattering way. For years, the most populous black nation sat comfortably amid filth – moral, economic, and political. We normalized insecurity, institutional decay, and leadership failure, as though chaos were a national identity. Now, the flies have arrived, from within and without, and this time, the buzzing comes from the White House.

For those who may have forgotten, back in 2018 in his first term in office, Trump had branded African countries a “shithole”. A subsequent meeting with late President Muhammadu Buhari that same year dwelled largely on the compelling reasons that earn Nigeria that label – killing of Christians in the Middle Belt.
These were his exact words about seven years ago: “We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria. We are going to be working on that problem very, very hard because we cannot allow that to happen.”

Seven years down the line, the same allegations have resurfaced. In a statement that shocked the global diplomatic community, Trump, in his usual unfiltered bravado branded Nigeria “that shameful country” and threatened possible military invasion over what he called “the ongoing Christian genocide in Nigeria.” His words have sparked outrage, debate, and even admiration among some Nigerians. But behind the drama lies a hard truth: a nation that refuses to manage its rot will one day become a playground for the flies of ridicule.

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Let’s not deceive ourselves, Trump’s language was offensive, reckless, and imperialistic. Yet, what moral high ground does Nigeria currently occupy to push back convincingly? Since Boko Haram’s rise in 2009, the country has spiraled from insurgency to banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and armed robbery. From Chibok to Dapchi, from Southern Kaduna to Benue, and from the Northwest to the Middle Belt, blood has flowed too freely.

Almost two decades later, the question is no longer whether the government can protect its people, it is whether it even knows how to try.

Billions of dollars have vanished into so-called counter-terrorism operations, yet terrorists still move with ease, sometimes better armed than the troops sent to confront them. Villages are erased overnight. Farmlands are deserted. IDP camps have become permanent homes for millions. And in the midst of all this, politicians trade blames, hold thanksgiving services, and prepare for the next election cycle, while Nigerians bury their dead in silence.

It is this silence that the world now interprets as complicity.
And when a nation appears complicit in its own tragedy, it loses the moral right to indignation.

Trump’s threat should offend every Nigerian, but it should not surprise anyone. Nations that fail to fix themselves invite pity, and sometimes, predation. We have built a global reputation as a land of endless potential and endless failure. The “Giant of Africa” now stands on the frail legs of corruption, insecurity, and poverty.

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It is this contradiction that emboldens the likes of Trump to hurl insults and contemplate intervention.

For a country so rich in natural resources, human capital, and spiritual fervor, Nigeria’s misery index is a paradox too glaring to ignore. Inflation sits above 30 percent, the naira gasps at ₦1,600 to a dollar, and youth unemployment continues to rise. When leadership turns failure into culture, ridicule becomes inevitable.

The greater tragedy, however, is not Trump’s words but Nigeria’s weakness that made them plausible. For years, our leaders have slept through crises. The insurgency grew under their watch. Banditry expanded under their silence. Farmers abandoned their fields. Schools became abduction zones. The economy bled, and they responded with propaganda and prayer breakfasts.

We have been a country at war without admitting it. And because we have refused to confront our internal decay, our tragedy has become global gossip.

The #EndSARS protest of 2020 was a warning shot, a generation’s cry against oppression and bad governance. Yet, five years later, nothing has changed. The same impunity that dehumanized young protesters at Lekki Tollgate now governs our security architecture. The same arrogance that dismissed public outrage then, dismisses international concern now.

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What is perhaps more disturbing than Trump’s arrogance is the chorus of applause from some Nigerians, Christians and non-Christians alike, who celebrated his threat as divine justice. They cheer an outsider’s insult as though humiliation were a cure.

But as the Yoruba proverb warns: “Omo ale lo n fi owo osi juwe ile baba re.” Only a bastard points to his father’s house with the left hand.

Criticizing one’s country is noble when done in the spirit of correction, but applauding its shaming is folly. A foreign bomb will not discriminate between the guilty and the innocent. Trump’s rhetoric is not motivated by love for Nigeria’s Christians, it is driven by the old Western savior complex, where Africa is the backdrop for another man’s ego and another nation’s geopolitical theater.

If history has taught us anything, it is that America does not invade to save, it invades to reshape. Ask Iraq. Ask Libya. Ask Afghanistan. They all began with the language of “liberation” and ended in ruins.

We are a people living dangerously on the brink, between pride and paralysis.

Trump’s verbal assault should not drive us to defensive anger; it should drive us to national introspection. This moment calls for leadership that listens, acts, and reforms with courage.

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Nigeria must rebuild faith in governance, starting with security sector reforms. We need intelligence-driven operations, proper welfare for troops, and an end to political interference in military command. Every attack on a community should prompt accountability, not recycled condolences.

Equally vital is rebuilding trust between the government and citizens. We must stop treating civic outrage as rebellion. Democracy thrives on the people’s voice, not their silence. When government disconnects from public pain, even sympathy from abroad becomes weaponized.

Finally, leadership must abandon propaganda and embrace truth. Nigerians are not asking for miracles; they are asking for sincerity.

America’s saber-rattling may fade, but the insult will linger if we fail to change. The way out is not to fight Washington’s words, it is to fix Abuja’s reality. A nation that works will not need to plead for respect. The flies will leave when we clean our house.

Nigeria remains a great country, wounded, weary, yet still standing. But greatness is not measured by slogans or population; it is measured by justice, accountability, and the value we place on human life.

If our leaders will finally lead, if our citizens will rise above apathy, and if our institutions will choose integrity over indulgence, then maybe, just maybe, the story will change.

And at that time, when the world looks our way again, it will not be with contempt or pity, but with admiration. Until then, we must keep asking:
When will Nigeria stop attracting flies and start commanding respect?