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Whether real or imagined, none of the metonyms for “Lagos boy” is complimentary. The “Lagos boy” moniker once came up in the late 1980s. Commodore Olabode George, then military governor of Ondo State, had just been removed from office after spending two years. The African Concord magazine then did a post-mortem of his turbulent rule. Newly purchased […]
Continue ReadingThe audience at the 1903 (third year) lecture of the Royal African Society in London listened with rapt attention as African nationalist, Dr. Edward Blyden, took them back to antiquity when “the most enlightened nations of Greece, Asia, and Egypt” held the opinion that “God revealed himself only in Africa.” Great men of that period, […]
Continue ReadingThere’s a new trend in our land which many are complaining about but which I doubt they are doing much to address. It is the use of the Cybercrimes Act to file criminal charges for alleged defamation where the civil laws should ordinarily suffice. First, what is defamation of character? I will adopt this definition […]
Continue ReadingWithin the diverse pantheon of African rulership, something curious is emerging. In many ways, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is fast emerging as a model of the transformation of democracy into authoritarianism in Africa. While Museveni has retained his nationalist streak in the fight against the global LGBTQ epidemic as well as his isolated battles against […]
Continue ReadingIn this day and age of social media, journalism, one of the few fearless professions, treats soft news with almost the same attention it treats hard news. According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, hard news refers to stories that are usually timely, important and consequential, such as politics, international affairs and […]
Continue ReadingLife is a peaceful war. It’s a funny dirge. Life is the mystery of the eyeball and the proverbial pointed stick the Yoruba call ‘igi ganganran’. Igi ganganran, the pointed stick, aims to rupture the pupil, but a blink and the eye is saved from eternal darkness by the eyelids. Life could be a close shave, […]
Continue ReadingOne ridiculous point some Nigerians raise any time they want to prove their supremacy over Ghana is that Ghana is the size of one state in Nigeria. And many people who don’t bother to investigate things lap it up and repeat it during discussions and debates. Many people say it is mere social media banter […]
Continue ReadingI had planned for another discussion but the influx of text messages to me on erectile dysfunction and prostate enlargement made me change my mind. I must confess that it is getting me seriously worried and sad. It is like it has become a pandemic! This week, I will revisit erectile dysfunction and prostate enlargement […]
Continue ReadingMichael Jackson hit song, “they don’t care about us” was what came to my mind as I read the ordeal of Debola Daniel at Kentucky Fried Chicken at the international wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport of all places. Debola is a son of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the former governor of Ogun State and senator representing Ogun East Senatorial […]
Continue ReadingWhen sometime in 2008, the late Yinka Odumakin invited me to his 23, Sylvia Crescent, Anthony Village-office in Lagos, little did I know that a big surprise was waiting for me. A fine gentleman with a consistent commitment to the progressive bent, Odumakin had offered to pay me a visit but since it was unYoruba […]
Continue ReadingIn January 2014, a coalition of advocates, including Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN); Jiti Ogunye and Tokunbo Mumuni, both senior lawyers; and I wrote to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), inviting it to “to investigate the allegations of fraud detailed by the two committees set up by President Goodluck Jonathan in the […]
Continue ReadingPhilip Shaibu, the Edo state politician who was Deputy Governor in that state until yesterday afternoon, would seem to have failed woefully to learn certain basic lessons of power. He has said that he is a victim of an act of injustice and that he would fight to the very end. He may have been […]
Continue ReadingIn May, 1891, James Richard Jewett of Brown University, Providence, United States, presented a paper on ‘Arabic Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases’ to the American Oriental Society. The paper was eventually published as an article in that society’s journal in 1893. One striking line I picked in that paper last week is the author’s entry of […]
Continue ReadingPresident Bola Ahmed Tinubu is so inordinately inebriated by his IMF-motivated decision to remove subsidies on petrol that at every opportunity he has he brags about it in giddily superlative terms. For example, during a meeting with the Nigerian community in France on June 24, 2023, he couched his decision to impose the Tinubu fuel […]
Continue ReadingThe debate over which system of government is most appropriate for a multi-ethnic and geographically diverse Nigeria has suddenly resurfaced. This time, it is pushing the fundamental issues of good governance, bread and butter, security, and inclusiveness that Nigeria is grappling with to the back burner. At the centre of the debate is the agitation […]
Continue ReadingFirst, I commend Mr. Bola Tinubu for his official recognition of the 17 soldiers who were murdered this month in Okuama, Delta State, while reportedly on official duty. In addition to giving them national honours, he gave homes to their families and scholarships to their children. We await a proper investigation of the tragic incident, the president’s […]
Continue ReadingMonday, the 2nd of April was marked globally as World Autism Awareness Day. Despite the millions of families who grapple with the challenge in our country, the day passed us by without much awareness. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about one in 88 Nigerian children is on the autism spectrum. That means we have more than two million autistic children […]
Continue ReadingThere were many of them, but the most interesting suggestion to come out of Nigeria in the past week was one by President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina to change this country’s name from Federal Republic of Nigeria [FRN] to United States of Nigeria, USN. Speaking when he received the 2024 Obafemi Awolowo […]
Continue Reading“I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back… Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; they did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought,” President Bola Tinubu declared […]
Continue ReadingFrom Lagos, one Ayinde Salihu wrote to the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, on 19 January, 1964, describing the premier as the “Prophet of Nigeria.” The man wanted the Sardauna to take him to Mecca for Hajj. Buliyaminu Oladiti Fadairo wrote from Ibadan on 21 January, 1964, saluting […]
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