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“We don’t believe in cheating or rigging elections but also we don’t want other parties to cheat us, and that was why we encouraged the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to come up with a fool-proof voting process.” – Nasir el-Rufai The prefatory statement above belongs to Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna, one of […]
Continue ReadingSomehow, we’ve all, individually, managed to get by and get better but the country gets progressively worse every new day. I thought of how much I paid to get university education – my first degree. The first year, I paid N20 caution fee; I also paid N90 for accommodation. The second year, there was no […]
Continue ReadingAt the centre of separatist campaigns in Nigeria, and possibly around the world, is the desire to have “homogenous” nations, or nations where an ethnic group is overwhelmingly in the majority, thereby leaving little room for rivalry, conflict and instability. When an ethnic group is overwhelmingly dominant in a country, the tendency for ethnic conflicts […]
Continue ReadingThose paid to protect the guardrails of democracy hardly look in the direction of the courts for enemies. Nor do most people suspect that judges could become facilitators of authoritarianism and subtle promoters of anarchy. As custodians of the rule of law, judges and the courts over which they preside are the insurance for democracy’s […]
Continue ReadingIf there is a tribute that gave me so much pleasure to write, this would be one in a very few ever written. And I can tell in advance how much pride that generations of political science graduates of the University of Ibadan would have, reading a befitting celebration of an iconic teacher who impacted […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, I was supposed to give the speech, largely reproduced below, two days ago in Ibadan, but I was in Accra, Ghana, so opted to speak via Zoom. The occasion was the seminar on Broadcast Media and National Security organised by the Foundation for Ibadan Television Anniversary celebration at the Press Centre in Iyaganku. […]
Continue ReadingAn early morning inferno broke out in Circus Maximus, Rome on June 19, 64 A.D. It spread like bushfire through the ancient city. Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar’s reaction was immediate: he scapegoated Roman Christians of the time and inflicted a persecution scarcely heard of in Roman history on them. Highly chagrined by the nauseating no-holds-barred […]
Continue ReadingLast Thursday, the Department of State Services issued a press statement to deny they dispersed doctors attending a recruitment for Nigerian doctors intending to migrate to Saudi Arabia. The denial was typical of the inelegant press releases the DSS churns out -a rambling word salad, full of feigned indignation, and signifying the characteristic ruse of […]
Continue ReadingThe revelation by the National Law Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Chairman, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd) that close to two million Kano residents abuse tramadol, codeine, and other cough syrups, should concern not only state authorities but all stakeholders in the Nigeria project. While the figure may not be as high in other places, it is […]
Continue ReadingThe People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party, is currently in the throes of a commotion that threatens to destroy the party’s capability to put up any strong showing in the 2023 general elections. Party stakeholders argue that there are enough strong internal mechanisms that would rescue the party and restore it to good […]
Continue Reading“Without the opinion of an expert there’s no such thing as certainty.” –Joanna Ruocco We opened a debate here on July 5, 2021, on the loss of value of the Naira. Subsequently on August 5, we published one of the feedbacks we got from Mr. Eustace Odunze an economist, banker and lawyer. Since then, we […]
Continue ReadingFor a long time, I was of the view that Nigerians, especially their rulers, were responsible for Nigeria’s woes. Last Sunday, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan identified for us the idiot who has held us down for over 50 years: The devil. The President of Nigeria was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Garki, Abuja, to […]
Continue ReadingThe attack on and abduction of military officers at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) are at once unprecedented, humiliating, and dispiriting, but they are not in the least shocking because they merely represent a predictable pattern of Nigeria’s tragically progressive declination into the low-water marks of extreme precariousness in the last six years. I perfectly […]
Continue ReadingScary! One spring night, the pilot of a small plane experienced a complete engine failure. On top of that, he lost his electrical system, and with it, the use of his radio and navigation instruments. Mist filled the sky. The moon had not yet risen. The plane went down helplessly and blindly in the darkness….. I did […]
Continue ReadingSeparated by great distance but proximal in influence and geostrategic thinking, Nigeria and Afghanistan are drifting closer. For most Nigerians, Afghanistan is not exactly their next favorite tourist destination. But aspects of Afghanistan’s undulating history of trouble making and theocratic fixations are beginning to resonate more with Nigeria and indeed the rest of the world […]
Continue ReadingPlateau state is back in the news again — and for the usual tragic reasons: maiming and killing in the name of God. In the last eight weeks, over 100 lives have been wasted in the state. Not by bandits or kidnappers, but by ethnic and religious warlords. On July 1, attacks left 34 people […]
Continue ReadingA man elected President of the whole country persists as a sectional leader. This is the situation this country has found itself with President Muhammadu Buhari. The standard is that he should, in conformity with his oath, be president to all. Buhari is not interested in this. He is always struggling to rise above primordial […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, I do not know what you think individually but I’m sure many Nigerians are now collectively worried that the Taliban style capture and overthrow of the Afghanistan Government and people may eventually happen in Nigeria, in not too distant future, but sooner rather than later. The .interesting and sad state of our own […]
Continue ReadingPresident Muhammadu Buhari made one of the most down-to-earth statements of his presidency last Thursday, though by proxy. After meeting Nigerian security chiefs at the Aso Rock Villa, the National Security Adviser, (NSA) Babagana Monguno, claimed Buhari said that he dreaded failure in office, so much; and I dare literalize it, like leprosy. “And (President […]
Continue ReadingWhen the Taliban took over Kabul, the mountainous capital city of Afghanistan last week effortlessly within two weeks of the exit of American troops, many Nigerians felt flabbergasted. They were afraid of what the fate of Afghans would be under the rule of the Taliban. They painted gory pictures of what the Taliban would do […]
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