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After the leadership elections of the ninth national assembly in June, one fact stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb — not a single Igbo man or woman would be counted among the top seven citizens of Nigeria: president, vice-president, senate president, speaker, chief justice of Nigeria, deputy senate president and deputy speaker. Senator Ike […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians permit me to say, it is no longer a secret that the former Governor of Lagos State and easily one of the most influential politicians in Africa, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has his gaze firmly fixed on the Nigerian Presidential seat in Abuja. Let me put it more frontally, Tinubu will love to […]
Continue ReadingAs no nation on earth is truly endowed with an abundance of human and natural resources, the need to look beyond national boundaries to make up for these essential economic wants becomes inevitable. Throughout the history of mankind, nations have struggled among themselves to shore up their internal resources from external sources through military […]
Continue ReadingYesterday in Ilorin, Kwara State, I performed one of the most difficult tasks that life can deal anyone: Burying a younger sibling. I come from a close-knit family of five children comprised of four males: Adeoye, myself, Olaniyi and Agboola (now of blessed memory) and Mrs Abosede Adebimpe Okuneye, the last and only female. We […]
Continue ReadingOn Monday, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, the judge presiding over the “treasonable felony” case of Omoyele Sowore, convener of #RevolutionNow, expressed concern that Sowore and his co-accused person had not perfected their bail conditions of October 4. Justice Ojukwu, who had initially set Sowore’s bond at an unattainable N100m, slashed it to N50m. Olawale Bakare (aka […]
Continue ReadingBí ekòló bá júbà ilè, ilè á la’nu. Bí omodé bá mo’wó wè á bá àgbà jeun. Ìbà Olorun, ìbà ènìyàn. Ìbà eyín tí Elédùmarè gbé ilé ayé lé lówó, ìbà okùnrin, ìbà obìnrin, ìbà omodé, ìbà àgbà. E jé kí ó jú mií se o. Introduction In pre-colonial and colonial times, it was always […]
Continue ReadingFor 48 hours, last August, President Muhammadu Buhari was locked in a marathon session with his newly-appointed ministers, presidential aides and top government functionaries, including key officials of the legislature, to articulate clear directions for his second term in office. There was no mistaking the seriousness in the president’s determination to make a more lasting […]
Continue ReadingI have always assumed that ‘’the cabal’’ or the kitchen cabinet in any administration exists at the pleasure of the president or the leadership; hence members of this clique owe him and everything that comes with him, unsoiled loyalty. My assumption was underpinned by some classic examples. In 2010, the kitchen cabinet was Turai Yar’Adua’s […]
Continue ReadingGeneral Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1966 -1975, turned 85 on Saturday, October 19, 2019. In a congratulatory message, President Muhammadu Buhari described him as a living legend and a symbol of national unity. The statement from the Presidency gushed with phrases such as “visionary leadership style, wisdom, disciplined outlook…elder statesman, simplicity […]
Continue ReadingThis story makes me grin all the time. After our wedding in 2001, my wife and I decided to pay “thank you” visits to family members, friends and well-wishers. We visited my mother-in-law’s boss at the time. As we chatted on various topics, we noticed he was sweating inside his well air-conditioned office. My wife, […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, I have never hidden my admiration for our First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari. Although we met only once in London during those days of frenetic campaigning for Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in 2014, I have followed her closely and therefore almost been in a position as if I know her well. Our […]
Continue ReadingI was having a quiet time on the internet researching an unrelated subject when I stumbled on the then presidential standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari’s Chatham House speech delivered in February, 2015. Glancing through it, so many amazing statements jumped out at me. Just go back and read Buhari’s Chatham […]
Continue ReadingThe new wave of democracy sweeping across Africa was meant to usher in a new kind of freedom – freedom to elect leaders of choice, freedom of religion and most important of all freedom of free speech. Sadly these so-called ‘freedoms’ are being repressed across Africa. In recent times we’ve seen President George Weah closing […]
Continue ReadingPresident Muhammadu Buhari built his brand on three myths: self-discipline, fiscal discipline, and military discipline. These myths became the national millstone when fate dealt Nigeria a diseased hand during the night of December 31, 1983 and ushered in Buhari into the presidency until August 1985. His quicksand morality has been an ever-present conundrum. From his […]
Continue ReadingSub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest developing regions in the world. Population growth, expanding economic performance and a wealth of natural resources sit alongside dynamic political developments and an increasingly vocal civil society. However, diverse parts of the continent still struggle with dictatorial regimes, omnipresent corruption, and assertive malign foreign influences, sometimes bringing back […]
Continue ReadingA Nigerian footballer signed a lucrative contract to join Monaco Football Club. Flush with his newfound wealth, he bought a ticket from Monaco to Istanbul, to get a haircut from a famous barber. Thereafter, he flew back to Monaco. When I read this, I became concerned for the poor man. My concern is because the […]
Continue ReadingIf anyone is looking for a valid illustration and the most scandalous evidence of fake news, fake speech, and hate speech, such a researcher needs not look farther than the comedy of errors and the misanthropic drama that overtook Aso Villa, the seat of Nigeria’s Presidency, during the weekend that just passed. We all woke […]
Continue ReadingThis piece was originally serialized for eight weeks in my weekly column called “Notes from Atlanta” in the Abuja-based Weekly Trust newspaper. I am making it available to a wider audience because of the enthusiastic responses I received from Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike who followed the series in both the print and online editions of Weekly Trust. The […]
Continue Reading“No man is rich, whose expenditure exceeds his means; and no one is poor whose Incomings exceed his outgoings” Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865) “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” Charles Dickens For several years […]
Continue ReadingOver breakfast and the obligatory cups of coffee somewhere in New York late September, a bright and enterprising Nigerian lady was, as it were, preaching to the converted on the urgency and benefits of private sector investment in infrastructure in Africa. The previous day at the Africa Investment Forum road show held at the Four […]
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