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Nov 19, 2024 | 
csis.org | Idayat Hassan
While democratic backsliding has not been a rare occurrence in Africa, with 160 successful coup d’etats having taken place since 1950, in recent years the trend has spiked, particularly in West Africa.
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
htsyndication.com | Idayat Hassan
Nigeria, Sept. 18 -- Halilu, commonly referred to as Halilu of Sububu, Kachalla Halilu, Halilu Buzu or Halilu Tubali, is a figure deeply rooted in the criminal underworld of Northwest Nigeria. At around 40 years old, Halilu's life story was one marked by the harsh realities of banditry, violence, and survival.
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
premiumtimesng.com | Idayat Hassan
Halilu, commonly referred to as Halilu of Sububu, Kachalla Halilu, Halilu Buzu or Halilu Tubali, is a figure deeply rooted in the criminal underworld of Northwest Nigeria. At around 40 years old, Halilu’s life story was one marked by the harsh realities of banditry, violence, and survival.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
cigionline.org | Idayat Hassan
In northern Nigeria, groups of terrorists and bandits are increasingly using social media to weaponize disinformation to further their agendas, coordinate activities and recruit new members. In this piece, I outline how some of these armed, non-state actors — including Boko Haram and its offshoots — have leveraged the power of online platforms as part of their broader efforts to achieve their objectives.
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Mar 21, 2024 | 
journalofdemocracy.org | Nic Cheeseman |Jonathan Fisher |Idayat Hassan |Jamie Hitchen
The popular social media app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and used by 170 million Americans, is raising national security questions about data privacy and malign foreign influence. The Chinese Communist Party is deploying such digital technologies for surveillance, propaganda, and repression — and to strengthen their autocratic regime. The following Journal of Democracy essays explore the connections between social media, digital technology, and dictatorship.
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Apr 20, 2023 | 
odi.org | Samuel L. Sharp |Sara Pantuliano |Idayat Hassan |Sandra Pepera
On the face of it, the global outlook for democracy looks pretty bleak. Democratic norms are eroding all over the world. According to International IDEA, ‘half of the world’s democracies are in retreat’. In Tunisia we have seen President Saied dismiss parliament and re-write the constitution. In Hungry, President Orbán has packed the courts and attacked the press. And in the US, Trump refuses to accept the results of an election he lost, inciting an insurrection to overturn them.
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Apr 3, 2023 | 
almendron.com | Alex Vines |Idayat Hassan
In Nigeria’s previous elections, votes were largely split between two parties – the APC of outgoing President Buhari and the PDP that held power from 1999 to 2015. This time, the 25 February vote saw four different presidential candidates win majorities at state level. President-elect Bola Tinubu received the least number of votes, and lowest winning percentage, of any victor in the Fourth Republic (1999 to date), taking just 36.6 per cent of the total votes cast.
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Feb 28, 2023 | 
foreignaffairs.com | Idayat Hassan |Jamie Hitchen |Joshua Kurlantzick
In This Review In This Review WhatsApp and Everyday Life in West Africa: Beyond Fake News How is social media changing West Africa? This first-rate collection of essays focuses on the end-to-end encryption messaging software WhatsApp, taking on such disparate topics as its adoption by political parties in Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria; WhatsApp usage among elderly Nigerians; and the fashion industry’s use of the software for marketing.
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Feb 23, 2023 | 
csis.org | Idayat Hassan
In February and March 2023, Nigeria will conduct elections for 1,491 positions, including the president and 28 of the country’s 36 governorship roles. While 18 registered parties will contest these positions, 4 can be considered likely to secure the vast majority of votes: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
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Feb 5, 2023 | 
dispatchist.com | Idayat Hassan
The mock accreditation exercise, which INEC conducted across 436 polling units, was organised to test the functionality and reliability of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the February 25 and March 11, 2023 elections.But a statement issued by the CDD director, Idayat Hassan, said INEC conducted the exercise in one out of every 405 polling units.As it stands, only 436 of 176,846 polling units were covered, which is less than one percent of the area to be covered.“Based on...
