Some tips for #MyObi organizers focusing on the north:

1. The north is not monolithic, try to suspend stereotypes - not speaking English does not mean uneducated.
Don’t make divisions worse by acting on tropes 2. Audience mapping & segmentation is key: speak to needs, fears & aspirations e.g., 2 of 7 states with highest number of female led business are Bauchi & Gombe @FATEFoundation what will Obi do to improve business environment?

Executive Orders are not law: FAITH OKAFOR V. GOV LAGOS STATE & ANOR. (2016) LPELR-41066 (CA). Governor issued a directive restricting the movement of citizens & residents during monthly environmental sanitation. Court of Appeal unanimously held that Faith Okafor could not be arrested or prosecuted for disobeying or flouting the Executive Order or Directive of the Governor because the Appellant could only be arrested & prosecuted for an offence that is prescribed in a written law.

Quality Education is key. A short thread

The British felt education in the South had made Nigerians impatient of any control & gave them ‘an unjustified assumption of self importance’ & did not want that for the North. So in addition to restricting christian missionaries (who typically came w/Edu) to Middle Belt, when the colonial admin finally introduced an edu system of its own into the North, that system was aimed at sons of pre-colonial aristocracy & its main objective was social control.

We need to organize! Especially in West Africa where closing civic spaces, oppression, weak economies, toxic politics, high inequality & trade policies impact on our lives & reduce the enjoyment of our rights - we need to organize & successful organizing takes time & skills What is organizing?

From the Marshall Ganz Model:

1. Organizing is working with people to interpret why they should act to change their world (motivation) and how they can act to change it (strategy)

The EU report (88 pages) on Nigeria’s general elections was released June 15 2019 Conclusion: systemic failings, severe operational & transparency shortcomings, electoral security problems show the need for fundamental #ElectoralReform
bit.ly/2XeqzrW #ElectoralReform 30 recommendations w/7 priority areas

Priority areas
1. INEC must improve logistics, operations, planning & tracking
2. Result sheets & SCR were not packed in tamper-evident envelopes as required - Amend EA /INEC procedures for transparent collation process

No. of Nigerian women in elected positions 2019-2023 vs 2015-2019

2019-2023
7 Senate
11 HoR
31 (of 991) SHAs
3 Deputy Govs

2015- 2019
7 Senate
22 HoR
59 (of 991) SHAs
5 Deputy Govs Of 7 female senators in the class of 2019-2023, 5 are PDP from SS & SE with 2 APC from Adamawa & Lagos.

APC has 8 women in HoR: 2 NC, 3 NE & 3 SW while PDP has 2 from SE & NC with 1 APGA member from Benue

3 new female deputy govs are in Kaduna (APC); Enugu (PDP) & Ogun (APC)

We need a national conversation about what type of elections we want, what type of EMB & the standards that EMB will be held to. This postponement cost political parties & INEC (tax payers) at least N49.B
No ifs or buts, postponement by @inecnigeria should have been earlier. After elections, political parties & CSOs should consider suing INEC for costs & maybe citizens will file a class action suit. INEC must be more deliberate about its planning. Last minutes postponements are not acceptable.

A thread:
1 For those who aren't for personalities but for institutions & principles, public records matter. White washing history is not a Nigerian invention but refusing to connect dots & see matters in context is 1 of our failings in disrupting decades of exploitive politics 2. Bolaji Abdullahi & Segun Adeniyi talk about Tinubu’s ambition to be president in On a Platter of Gold & Against the Run of Play. Presidential ambition is perfectly legal (even though since 1960 only 1 ex general turned civilian has had open ambition & won the presidency)