The controversy hanging around the newly signed electoral law seems not going to end any time soon. The s. 84(12) which has been the centre point of the controversy is still lingering around. 

Previously, the president advised the lawmakers to expunge the section completely from the new law but the lawmakers refused to heed the presidential advice, the Attorney General of the Federation has also approached the parliament and requested the removal of that section but the parliaments refused to remove this notorious section from the law.

What is the impeccable provision of this section that is making everyone to be running helter-skelter, especially public office holders who have an interest in contesting for political offices come 2023?. 

This section stipulates that anyone holding a political office – ministers, commissioners, special advisers, and others – must first relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate in the electoral process either as a candidate or as a delegate.

To this effect, every appointed political office holder under this present political dispensation who has an eye on any elective political post in the upcoming election must first resign before that individual can participate in any electoral process even if as a delegate or as a candidate. 

This section directly affects individuals like Malami, Amechi, Festus Keyamo, and others who are currently in the executive cabinet but rumored to be making plans of contesting in different elective positions. This means that Amechi and the likes must first resign as a minister of the federation before he can openly declare to contest or participate in any political process be it as a political candidate or as a political delegate.

The lawmakers are of the opinion that political appointees should not involve themselves in partisan politics, if they must do, they will first have to relinquish their offices and appointments. This is to ensure that those appointed to occupy different positions discharge their duties without any political affiliation. 

The struggle for the extinguishment of this notorious section 84(12) of the 2022 electoral act got a break yesterday as the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State in a judgment has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation to immediately delete Section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act.

Her Lordship, Justice Evelyn Anyadike on Friday held that the section was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void, and of no effect whatsoever and cannot stand, as it violates the clear provisions of the Constitution and since it is inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution it is to the extent of its inconsistency null and void.

In the suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, Justice Anyadike further stated that Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f), and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections were only to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election and that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.

We patiently await how this political game of thrones will turn out in the coming days, will this judgment be appealed? Will the lawmakers protest for the ridicule the high court judge of Abia state has subjected them to, what will be the reaction of the general public? 

Answers to these questions will surely unfold in the coming days, till then, we will sit tight to enjoy the drama.

African mobility fintech company, Moove has raised $105 million in an oversubscribed Series A2 round consisting of equity and debt, to expand its services to new markets.

The round is led by existing investors, Speedinvest, Left Lane Capital and the latest.ventures, with participation from new investors including AfricInvest, MUFG Innovation Partners, Latitude and Kreos Capital.

Launched in 2020 by Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove is democratizing vehicle ownership across Africa by providing mobility entrepreneurs access to revenue-based financing in markets with low access to credit. Using its alternative credit scoring technology, Moove provides vehicle financing to its customers to purchase brand new vehicles using a percentage of their weekly revenue.

The startup has experienced overwhelming demand and exponential growth across Africa, with its Moove-financed vehicles having completed over 3 million rides covering more than 25 million kilometers. Now, Moove is expanding its model globally to meet the needs of mobility entrepreneurs in other emerging markets.

With this new $105m Series A2 round, which brings the total raised by the mobility fintech pioneer to $174.5m, Moove will rapidly scale its revenue-based vehicle financing model to seven new markets across Asia, MENA, and Europe over the next six months.

“Less than two years ago we discovered this whitespace of mobility fintech and launched Moove. Having now surpassed over 3 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles across Africa, launched in six new cities and connected thousands of ambitious mobility entrepreneurs to ride-hailing, e-logistics and instant delivery marketplaces, we’re now leading this growing category within fintech,” Ladi Delano, co-CEO at Moove, said.

“But there are still millions of budding mobility entrepreneurs in emerging markets across the world who have limited or no access to vehicle financing and marketplaces that are facing critical supply issues. With this new fundraise, we are well-positioned and well funded to help solve this global problem. We’re delighted to have the support of leading investors across the globe who will be integral in enabling us to take our Nigerian-born model to the world.”

Moove is part of a new generation of Nigerian-born startups that are upending financial services across Africa. After raising $23 million in an oversubscribed Series A round in August 2021 and securing seed-stage funding from Future Africa in 2019, Moove is now leading the charge in the “mobility fintech” sector. This is a white space where Moove has emerged as the leader across Africa, helping to solve the continent’s acute problem of limited access to vehicle financing for millions of Africans.

Over the next six months, Moove will scale its revenue-based vehicle financing model to mobility entrepreneurs across Asia, MENA and Europe, and plans to expand its partnerships and vehicle classes to include cars, trucks, bikes, three-wheelers, and buses.

“At Moove, we are working hard to create disruptive and impactful tech solutions to solve real-world problems. The Moove model that we’ve pioneered in Africa providing revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs can be applied anywhere in the world, which is why we’re excited to be expanding to new emerging markets in Asia and the MENA region,” Jide Odunsi, co-CEO at Moove, said.

Moove’s model has proven transformative in other ways. Its commitment to ensure that at least 60% of the vehicles it finances are electric or hybrid in line with targets set at COP26, means the company is replacing the old-polluting vehicles that are exported from the rest of the world to the continent with new fuel-efficient vehicles. This commitment to tackling the climate crisis saw Moove recently awarded the IFC’s Annual Corporate Award as one of the top 20 most impactful and transformational projects, applying an innovative and scalable solution towards a global problem.

Moove is driving forward new areas of emerging economies with a platform that is disrupting traditional financial services and providing the means to empower a new generation of mobility entrepreneurs. The mobility space in emerging markets is often highly fragmented and informal, Moove is helping to formalize how millions of people can participate in this economy to earn a living and own their own vehicle. Moove has a commitment to ensure that at least 50% of its customers are women, its product design enables more women to access vehicle financing and flexible employment.

“As we scale, we remain committed to empowering women, leading the electrification of the mobility space and driving financial inclusion. These ideals are at the core of what we do as we continue to build a sustainable and impact-driven global business,” Odunsi added.

Nigeria in her entirety is apparently synonymous with murder. The ubiquitous bad omen, usually occasioned by the activity of the so-called herdsmen and/or bandits or what have you, has made virtually every rational Nigerian resort to sleeping with one eye open.

The ugly scenario has lingered unabated that many have begun to insinuate that the Nigerian State is now a ‘Banana Republic’. In some quarters, most dwellers are endlessly of the notion that Nigerians as a people are facing a nemesis owing to the perceived mistake made in the recent past.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement if one opines that we have lost statistics of cases pertaining to massacre or homicide that transpired in recent times. The worst of all remains that no locality across the federation is exempted while discussing those that have suffered from such dastardly acts.

Little wonder, even a kid could with ease take to the social media just to write all sorts of trash against the President Muhammadu Buhari – led government.

The purported farmers, rather than acting as guests while breeding their livestock, end up constituting evitable nuisance in their various host communities. This domineering and nonchalant idiosyncrasy of the armed herders who parade themselves with unspeakable ammunition and weapons has overtime been arguably overlooked by the government and other concerned authorities.

Five years ago, precisely on Monday, 25th April 2016, a certain group of herdsmen unleashed an astonishing and untold terror on the people of Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area (LGA) of Enugu State.

The above attack resulted in a massacre that could only be imagined. In the crisis, reportedly scores were feared dead, countless persons maimed, about a hundred residents injured, several houses and worship places razed, thereby rendering over two thousand dwellers homeless.

Though the above incident may have come and gone, it’s pertinent to acknowledge that the peril it inflicted on the living victims is unarguably an experience they will live to recall.

Each time I personally recollect that a certain community in Enugu in the history of this country woke one morning only to be brutally taken unawares by a group of total strangers who had supposedly been their beneficiaries, I only take solace in the perceived notion that it could be a mere dream. Yet till date, no one has been convicted in regard to the mayhem.

Subsequently, as if that wasn’t enough, such an ordeal transcended to other states. Currently, it seems states like Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Plateau and Kaduna have abruptly become the headquarters of the cruel herders. At the moment, no day that comes on board, we wouldn’t hear that a certain part of any of the said provinces had been attacked by the ‘herdsmen’.

On Tuesday, 24th April 2018, the same set of individuals unleashed terror on the people of Ayar-Mbalom village of Gwer East LGA in Benue State during a requiem service in a Catholic Church identified as St. Ignatius. The incident, which claimed the lives of two priests – Reverend Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha – and seventeen worshippers, commenced at about 5:30am (WAT) when gunmen who had been lurking in the bushes swooped on the villagers who had sorrowfully gathered to bury their dead.

It was gathered that the attackers first started the attack in a neighbouring community in the evening of the previous day being Monday, but were repelled by the locals. They subsequently made effort all through the night in some villages within the surroundings and further met with stiff resistance. The invaders, who were with both machetes and firearms, reportedly numbered about thirty.

It was further reported that aside the Catholic Church, the supposed herders burnt down various homes, destroying thousands of food items and properties. Some residents who tried to flee the scene were stopped dead in their tracks by a hail of bullets.

President Buhari described the incident as vile, evil and satanic. As at then, I strongly wished someone could tell Mr. President that it wasn’t about issuing a condolence message from the State House but swinging into action without much ado towards averting reprisal, which I had long foreseen.

It’s noteworthy that barely twenty-four hours after the aforementioned ordeal being Wednesday, 25th April 2018, a different set of attackers, or perhaps the same people, descended on another locality identified as the outskirts of Daudu still at about 5:00am.

A cross-section of the villagers confirmed the attack and disclosed that people were killed, though the police couldn’t give the exact picture of what transpired. According to the report, the residents were awoken by gunshots and the cries of agony from victims.

The ugly unabated incidence of bloodshed has remained unchanged on a daily basis across the shores of the country. Worse still, in some cases, the security agents end up causing more harm than good.

It’s indeed mind-boggling to realize that while Nigerians are continually being eaten up by gunshots from these terrorists, most politicians are busy canvassing for their gains ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Isn’t it so disturbing to note that at a time when every sane mind in Nigeria is expected to be sober, we’re rather preoccupied with frivolities all in the name of 2023 elections?

Going forward, the various security agencies must be mandated to sit up in their respective jurisdictions towards combating the prevalence of this monster called murder and allied cases.

In view of the above suggestion, the Presidency must be willing and determined to relieve any security personnel of his/her job or duty post if found wanting at any time or anywhere.

These security outfits ought to equally be prepared at all times to prosecute any individual or entity being arrested as a suspect in a bid to ensure that verdict is duly served without much ado.

The judiciary is also expected to fasten its seatbelt. It’s not anymore news that most court proceedings have lasted for many years, yet no one could predict when the final judgment would be made.

This arm of the government, known as the last hope of a common man, must ensure that justice is aptly served no matter whose ox is gored for posterity’s sake.