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On Monday, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo might have made his boldest pitch yet for his expected presidential bid in 2023. Speaking at the administration’s midterm retreat — with President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in the room — Osinbajo appeared to have broken ranks with the […]
Continue Reading“Credible intelligence at the disposal of the Command has revealed clandestine plans by some youths, individuals or groups to embark on a protest today in commemoration of one-year anniversary of ENDSARS… In view of the volatility of the situation in the country, and the breakdown of law and order which the planned protest might cause, […]
Continue Reading“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” – Corinthians 15:56. The grim reaper has again struck nearby, the third time in a space of two months, taking away not only my own immediate junior brother, but also a dear friend, and classmate, at the University of Ife, Ile – Ife, […]
Continue ReadingParty politics and adultery have same rule of engagement: there is no commitment to fidelity and conjugal permanence. We are in this thing for a reason and it is for a season. It is not till-death-do-us-part. We respect political seminaries abroad thinking they are homes of decency; but they are also suspects in perverse acts. […]
Continue ReadingIt is the season for all the common symptoms of end of term political ailments. Politicians in prime positions are of course the most prone. At the apex of power, a vice president in our kind of system can show more pronounced symptoms than other political animals. In function, he is expected to be neither […]
Continue ReadingVice President Yemi Osinbajo’s call was for a market-reflective exchange rate for the Naira. It was a simple and forthright position on Day One of the two-day Mid-term Ministerial Performance Review retreat, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja, early this week. In other words, he wants an exchange rate, determined by the forces […]
Continue ReadingBy Nigerian standards, Northern Nigerian in particular, they don’t come more credible and enlightened as the 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. He exemplifies the elite self-preservation obligation of enlightened self interest. I admit that this is a problematic endorsement given the controversy he engendered by the less than candid role he played in […]
Continue ReadingThe most significant defence former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, put up on why his name featured on the Pandora Papers —another round of private financial dealings expose that confirms how the rich and powerful people worldwide take care of themselves— is that the transitional process that brought him to office was a hurried one. […]
Continue Reading“Sometime in 2008, my late boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua commissioned a study on ‘subsidies and tariffs in Nigeria’ in five critical sectors: Electricity, Petroleum, Education, Health and Agriculture. The main objectives were to determine the effectiveness of subsidies in these sectors, examine the need or otherwise for continuity and finally, suggest the framework for […]
Continue ReadingRevelations after revelations from the “Pandora Papers” unearthed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, (a consortium of some 300 journalists around the world), have been splashed through print and broadcast media, nonstop, throughout last week. The revelations are extracts from the financial details of some very prominent and wealthy individuals around the world, and […]
Continue ReadingSunday, September 19, like past Sundays in the Canary Islands, promised to be a quiet, restful day. It was also a day of Christian worship. But beneath the earth of La Palma on the islands, rocks had been pulverised and turned into molten. That afternoon, the lava sprouted into the air, triggering off volcanic eruptions, […]
Continue ReadingLast Sunday, I commented on what I called “fear of responsibility”: the tendency of powerful Nigerian institutions and officials to starve the public of required information. I led with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), drawing attention to its annual failure to meet its reporting obligation. The commission reacted the same day, denouncing me in a press […]
Continue ReadingThis past week, I spent time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Joseph Nantomah and Michael McDermott, investigating how they create an astounding amount of wealth by flipping houses. Flipping houses means buying houses that are in bad conditions or in peril, maybe due to abandonment, lack of care by the owners, or for any number of […]
Continue ReadingIt is a measure of the importance and relevance of the man known as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that since the return to civilian rule in 1999, he has managed to remain a major reference in the politics of Lagos State, the South West of Nigeria, and parts of the West African sub-region. He could […]
Continue ReadingLast Wednesday, Muhammadu Buhari and his newfound friend, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, locked each other inside the sacristy of the Nigerian presidential Villa, christened Aso Rock. When they came out afterwards, both wore the visage of 3-year old Syrian girl, Salwa and Cuckold, a 1997 book written by Indian, Kiran Nagarkar. Originally derived from the bird […]
Continue ReadingAbdulrazak Gurnah, the Tanzanian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature last week has a very interesting definition of honour. He says it means “respect yourself (so that) others will come to respect you.” That is from his ‘Paradise’ – a ‘narrative reversal’ of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’ Every piece of writing – or speech – […]
Continue ReadingGod is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and End of all things. (Revelation 1:8). Accordingly, He not only brings trouble to men, but He also redeems men from trouble. The psalmist says: “God turns man to destruction.” (Psalm 90:3). But he also acknowledges that it is God who redeems our life from destruction. (Psalm 103:4). Here is the […]
Continue ReadingAs we speak, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) — set up in 1989 to, among other functions, “review, from time to time, the revenue allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities” — is consulting round the country to do a tough job: review the revenue allocation formula. […]
Continue ReadingThe past few months have ignited impassioned and frenzied political brickbats between the elites of the South and those of the Muslim North. Plus, over the years, the differences between the people of the regions are often magnified and their similarities papered over. In today’s column, I show how this is all elite manipulation. Centuries […]
Continue ReadingFrom the Niger Bridge looking East, a canvass of desperate unhappiness spreads out before you. Crossing the ancient creaky Niger bridge into Onitsha and beyond is like a great crossing into a crowded wilderness, another country. At first, it is the specter of neglect and decayed infrastructure. But on every face of every man, woman […]
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