The Nation

Aisha Yesufu, Okey Ndibe to speak at Carleton university’s webinar on Nigeria’s elections

February 19, 2023 8:30 am

Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies (IAS), Ottawa, Canada, is set to hold a webinar to discuss Nigeria’s forthcoming elections.

The webinar, in collaboration with the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, will take place on February 22 at 5 pm.

In a statement on Sunday, Carleton University said speakers will discuss Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: A ray of hope or a dead-end?

It said the webinar will bring together scholars, members of civil society, the media, and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s democratic project at home and in the diaspora.

“The 2023 elections in Nigeria have regional and continental implications. In a continent where democratic reversals are on the rise through a new wave of military coups as have recently happened in Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Mali, and Sudan, among others, a successful conduct of highly contested elections in Africa’s largest democracy could provide legitimacy for Nigeria to continue to lead the process of promoting the norms of democracy in accordance with the African Union’s Charter on Democracy, Election and Governance as well as the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance,” the statement reads.

“The speakers are: Prof. Okey Ndibe (Writer and political commentator); Aisha Yesufu (activist and businesswoman); Wumi Asubiaro-Dada (Human rights activist and Doctoral candidate at the Centre for Criminology Socielegal Studies, University of Toronto); Comr Abdul Mahmud (Lawyer and Human rights and pro-democracy activist); Mr. Chima Christian (Journalist and public affairs analyst), and Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan (Journalist and former spokesperson for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP).

“The roundtable will be co-moderated by Prof. Nduka Otiono, writer and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University and Prof. Samuel Oloruntoba, adjunct research professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University.

“Technical support for the event will be provided by Chike Nwoke, Vanier Doctoral Candidate and Ugochukwu Okoye, PhD student (both of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Sociology and Anthropology), as well as Dr. Gabriel Habiyaremye, the Administrative Assistant of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies.”