Wednesday,Jun 30,2010
Jonathan, Babangida and the Sword of Damocles
In the Sword of Damocles, the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero tells the story of Dionysius II, a king who r.... By Jideofor Adibe
Wednesday,Jun 23,2010
Attahiru Jega and the Search for a Nigerian Hero
Nigerians seem to be in constant search for public heroes - competent little messiahs who will not hesitate to put .... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 17,2010
The Return of Mallam Ribadu
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the one time strongman of the financial crime buster EFCC, who sneaked out of Nigeria into self.... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 17,2010
Too Many Captains…
Two major attributes that have been quite easy to discern about President Goodluck Jonathan are: one, he seems to l.... By Ijeoma Nwogwugwu
Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Should Suspects Be Paraded?
The above question is generating increasing furore among our intellectuals, and ‘beer parlour’ politica.... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Nigeria: A Two Party System By Legislation?
Perhaps enamoured by the seeming ease with which two dominant political parties trod the political landscape of, at.... By Joel Nwokeoma
Since the publication of our opinion poll on the 2010 Anambra State Governorship election on 30 December 2009, controversy appears to have dogged the effort. We were of course aware that a novel initiative like that, especially in an election period, and in a society where scepticism is pervasive, is unlikely to win consensual approbation. Witness a similar controversy that has dogged the BBC’s reported interview with Umaru Yaradua in Saudi Aarabia. So pervasive is cynicism in our country that even if Yaradua is televised tomorrow, there will still be a strong argument that it was only his look-alike that spoke. In low trust societies such as ours, there are sometimes justifiable grounds for such scepticisms.
We thank all who have commented on the poll – whether commendation or condemnation. Despite the criticisms, we believe that the wide publicity given to the poll by the media shows that those media houses that publicised the findings saw something that at least appears credible in the effort.
There are four broad criticisms of the poll – that (a) it was bogus, and never happened; (b) that it was designed to boost one of the gubernatorial candidates; and (c) that there were methodological lapses that rendered the findings invalid. Let me try and reply to each of these criticisms:
A) Was It A Bogus Poll?
To answer this, it will perhaps be germane to give a brief background of the company that is behind the poll.
Contrary to the claims by some candidates that Holler Africa! (www.hollerafrica.com) was set up to promote any candidate, it was actually set up in 2005. There is nothing on the website that remotely suggests support to any candidate in the Anambra state governorship election. The company is a subsidiary of Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd (www.adonis-abbey.com
We also remain, to the best of our knowledge, the only African-owned publishing house to publish and sustain the publication of journals without any form of donor funding. Currently the company publishes four journals (print and online):
African Renaissance, a quarterly, multidisciplinary journal published consistently since 2004, without missing a deadline
Articles published on this website are reviewed before publication, which means there may be a delay between the time you sent your article and its appearance on the website. Holler Africa! reserves the right to edit articles for style and length.
