ISGPP Book Reader’s Club hosts Ayisha Osori as members interrogate her book, Love Does Not Win Elections
Nigerian politics has been described as not for the lily-livered nor for those who are not familiar with its dynamics and intrigues. However the reality of our times shows that active citizen participation in the political process has become a sine qua non for the realization of better governance in the country. With a first-hand experience of how electoral politics is played in Nigeria; Ayisha Osori, a young female intellectual from northern Nigeria chronicles her experience as a political newbie in a book titled Love Does Not Win Elections.
The book details the build up to her conceiving and kick-starting grassroots mobilisation for her party’s electoral ticket; her experience with political patrons, the question of her place of origin vis-à-vis her political aspiration; her efforts as an aspirant, the politics of party delegates, the gender dimension of her campaign; and the intrigues that took place before during and after her party’s primary elections. The author’s classic style of narrative which easily connects the reader to the realities of party politics and the electoral process in Nigeria, as well as her uncommon survival tips for any regular political neophyte at the end of the book; confirms its relevance to the current political discourse in the country.
The above is the basis upon which the ISGPP Book Readers Club has decided to host Ms Osori and engage her book at the club’s second Book Reading Event for the year. With Professor Akinjide Osuntokun (Emeritus Professor of History and International Relations, University of Lagos) as the Chairman of the day; and resource persons such as: Prof. M.K. Yahaya (Department of Agricultural Extension and Development, University of Ibadan); Mrs Adefemi Bucknor-Arigbede (Director, American Corner, Ibadan) and Mr Nwachukwu Egbunike (Community Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Global Voices) acting as panelists at the event; it is expected that conversations from the programme which will also bring together authors, scholars, academics and lay readers; will lead to cogent ideas that could be deployed into policy suggestions and engender better political participation and good governance in Nigeria.
The event presents a unique opportunity for the public to not only engage institutional challenges such as weak and predatory political party systems and how they affect governance in Nigeria; but also to x-ray the challenges faced by young people in navigating the political space particularly in the face of lack of internal party democracy and pecuniary driven electioneering process in the country. The relevance of such conversations to ongoing advocacy movements for youth participation in governance in Nigeria exemplified through legislative bills such as the Not too Young to Run Bill, cannot be over emphasised.
Other details of the event are as follows:
Date: 27th April, 2018
Time: 4pm
Venue: ISGPP premises, No 24, Awolowo Road, Bodija, Ibadan. Oyo State, Nigeria
The Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy is therefore glad to invite the public to this book reading event with the hope that significant policy imperatives aimed at an improvement of the political status quo, will emerge from the day’s conversations.
