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There is no doubt that Olusegun Adeniyi is a popular columnist. That is why one will expect that a writer of his caliber will not rush to join a mob in giving an opinion on an issue without proper investigation and full understanding of both the under-currents and the obvious points. Neither should he engage […]
Continue ReadingShortly after the first set of results in the presidential election emerged and it turned out that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had received a shellacking at his polling unit at the Victoria Garden City, a prime neigbourhood in Lagos, I saw a rash of messages circulated on social media that quickly attributed his loss to […]
Continue ReadingIn the 2015 presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was awarded 15,424,921 votes by Attahiru Jega’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was awarded 12,853,162 votes. In that election, Buhari presided over the North like a colossus, which was stoked up to insist […]
Continue ReadingOnly lunacy can explain how with the two leading presidential candidates being from the north, all the violence and brigandage occurred in the south. To make matters worse, there are several Yoruba and Igbo people in Lagos and in the social media who are tearing at one another because of the manner in which they […]
Continue ReadingMy initial instinct was to title this article, ‘Different Strokes for Different Folks.’ It was supposed to lay bare the double standards that have characterised governance under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The administration had found a leader of the ruling party and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, free from sin just because […]
Continue ReadingPower, they say, belongs to the people! This may, indeed, be true where there is respect for the rule of law, and where equity and justice underpin in the free association of people and communities. These are inalienable characteristics, which positively impact human capacity development and social welfare, in enduring democracies. Indeed, in such a […]
Continue ReadingSome good things happened in the presidential and National Assembly elections of last weekend. There was the resounding defeat of Bukola Saraki, the ruthless Kwara State politician and Senate President who last year defected from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party he had abandoned for the APC four years ago. Also soundly […]
Continue ReadingThe conduct of the 2019 general election has, expectedly, become the subject of heated discussions and debates everywhere — offices, schools, homes, newspaper vendor stands and social media. Predictably, supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari are satisfied with the outcome which favoured their candidate, while those in the corner of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the flag bearer […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, let me say congratulations to both President Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for different reasons, even as Atiku claims that it was as if he has been robbed in broad daylight. For me, what we witnessed last week was one of the worst elections ever in Nigeria, in many ways. It […]
Continue Reading“The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything” – Joseph Stalin I am angry, very angry. Indeed many are angry, disappointed, dispirited about what just happened to our democracy. The only people celebrating are not different from armed robbers who broke into a bank’s vault and made […]
Continue ReadingOne of the indelible memories of the period of Nigeria’s return to democracy firmly etched in my mind was the 1999 Peoples Democratic Party primary election in Jos, Plateau State. I still recall, distinctly, how the votes were counted and broadcast on live TV. Everyone who stayed awake through the night endured the voice of […]
Continue ReadingBy the time I left Ilorin, capital of my beloved Kwara State on the 6pm Arik flight last Friday to vote in Abuja the next day, the sense of excitement was palpable. Men and women who hitherto believed they had no power were buoyant. ‘O to Ge’ (enough is enough), the slogan of the main […]
Continue ReadingWith the declaration that President Muhammadu Buhari is the winner of the 2019 presidential election, there is the urgent need to plead with the main protagonists in this critical situation to make Nigeria the real winner and not the tragic loser. Declaring Buhari as the winner of the election may be the easier part; but […]
Continue ReadingDr. Beko Ransome-Kuti passed on 13 years ago. He was a leader of the consistent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). In the course of the struggle for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria, Beko was arrested many times, detained many times, charged many times until he was illegally convicted and sentenced to […]
Continue ReadingApart from court jesters, palace comedians and lick-spittle fake intellectuals mouthing anti-corruption nonsense, serious-minded Nigerians know that what we have witnessed in the county in almost four years is mere anti-corruption propaganda nicknamed anti-corruption war. When General Muhammadu Buhari appeared in Chatham House London in February 2015, he harped so strongly on fighting corruption if […]
Continue ReadingIf you ask me, I would say there are three critical stages of elections in Nigeria — and each is potentially explosive. The first is pre-election, where campaign rhetoric is usually a major trigger for tension. There could be episodes of violence, although they are not usually widespread. The second is the election day. It […]
Continue ReadingThere is tension everywhere. Those who are not angry at the location of a certain bullion van are cursing those who burnt their votes. Those who voted in peace are wondering how military-kind-of-arms surfaced on the streets on Election Day. I felt it would not be savoury or nice to burden you with any violent conversation […]
Continue ReadingFellow Nigerians, finally, hopefully, the appointed time has come for the most anticipated Presidential election in Nigeria. It is not that the other elections are not important but the stakes are much higher because the President of Nigeria is probably the most powerful man on earth. He can do and virtually get away with any atrocity. […]
Continue ReadingIn the attempt to prepare the ground for the unraveling of the ulterior agenda of the present administration, the cat was appropriately let out of the bag by the Minister of information, Lai Mohammed about a month ago. He surpassed himself in a characteristic belaboured insincerity and infantile affectation. For readers to get a full […]
Continue ReadingIt seems that for President Muhammadu Buhari, there appears to be one solution to national problem: more of it. Is Nigeria facing the challenge of financial corruption? The approach is not to understand corruption as a primal behaviour that will be inevitably unleashed on any society whose social and political mechanisms operate with loose nuts […]
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