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The Cambridge English dictionary defines ‘Wizkid’ as “a young person who is very clever and successful.” Collins Dictionary defines it as “a person who is outstandingly successful for his or her age.” Wisdom Library says “’Wiz’ is a shortened form of ‘wizard,’ connoting skill, talent, and expertise, while ‘kid’ implies youthfulness or being junior. When […]
Continue ReadingWhen President Bola Tinubu sent an extravagant message to Mr Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi state, on his 50th birthday last year, I shook my head in disbelief and despair. My mind went straight to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had spent enormous time and energy investigating Bello. It is also […]
Continue Reading**”Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country’s ruin?” —Joseph Addison** For years, a thick fog shrouded Nigeria’s efforts to identify and prosecute those enabling banditry and terrorism. That haze finally began to lift […]
Continue ReadingAfter three decades of military interventions and dominance, a convergence of anti-military forces, pro-democracy civil society organizations, determined Nigerian citizens and international pressure groups, would ensure that the dream of a democratic Nigeria was actualized to great hope and expectations of new found freedoms and all the celebrated gains of self-rule. This achievement was probably […]
Continue ReadingWhen the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, recently averred that implementing comprehensive tax reforms in Nigeria is a pain Nigerians must endure, what struck me was how he seemed to think he had said something truly original. How many times in the past have we not […]
Continue ReadingThere is a potentially disruptive speculation, a kite being flown in political conversations, which could affect the fortunes of the ruling party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the relationship between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima as Nigerians begin the dress rehearsal towards the 2027 general elections. It […]
Continue ReadingThere are no visible electoral reforms. 2027 will be worse than 2023 on every negative scale. Because the ills of 2023 went unpunished, they have been reinforced. The perpetrators will double their efforts. 2023 and its aftermath have bestowed brazen impunity on the immediate political future. The opposition is endangered. The trajectory is predictable. Consequently, Tinubu has […]
Continue ReadingA high court in Oyigbo on Friday ordered the Rivers State Chief Judge and the House of Assembly to stop the attempted impeachment of Governor Siminalayi Fubara until further notice. This decision follows the House of Assembly’s third threat to impeach the governor, a pattern many observers are calling an abuse of legislative power and procedure. […]
Continue ReadingChief Richard Osuolale Akinjide, Minister of Education in the First Republic, under Tafawa Balewa, and Minister of Justice under Alhaji Shehu Shagari, and one of the most brilliant lawyers ever in Nigeria, stood before Justice Olujide Somolu. Somolu was Chief Justice of the Western State. Akinjide was a known Samuel Ladoke Akintola sympathizer and a staunch member of the NNDP in the […]
Continue ReadingScratching Their Brows: Were we in climes where critical leadership positions are earned, President Bola Tinubu would not contemplate a second term in office. After almost three years as the president of Nigeria, he has convinced everyone – even his supporters – that he’s not cut out for the job. In such climes, his party […]
Continue ReadingI was wondering why his 304-page biography carries the title, ‘Eye of Fire.’ Then I saw a reviewer answering the question any reader would have in mind: In Igbo language, ‘Anya’ means ‘Eye’, ‘Oku’ means ‘Fire’. His surname, ‘Anyaoku’, therefore, means the title of that book – or the title of the book means ‘Anyaoku’. […]
Continue ReadingThe defining feature of Christian Nationalism is of an ideology steeped in the quest for unquenchable power and influence by which many Christians perceive, view and adapt their puritanical roles in society. This pattern of behaviour is not new, and has assumed a global dimension that is as frightening as it has become dangerous. This […]
Continue ReadingAhead of the 2027 presidential election, it appears the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may not be slowing down on the expansion of its sphere of influence into hitherto hostile parts of Nigeria in its journey to possible one party dominance of the country. In addition to making successful inroad into the South South geo-political […]
Continue ReadingI visited Kano in May 2012 at the instance of my friend, Mohammed Jamu, a long-standing disciple of then Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. On arrival, I went straight for an audience with Kwankwaso whom I had known since the aborted Third Republic in the early nineties when he served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. […]
Continue ReadingSixty years ago, in the early hours of the morning of January 15th 1966, a coup d’etat took place in Nigeria which resulted in the murder of a number of leading political figures and senior army officers. This was the first coup in the history of our country and 98 per cent of the officers […]
Continue ReadingThose of us who love competitive democracy can only take a positive view of the defection of Mr Peter Obi to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the platform adopted by key opposition figures for the 2027 elections after the cannibalisation and factionalisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party by a blend […]
Continue ReadingIn Nigeria, and in many countries with underdeveloped economies, the most important periods are the year right before a general election, the year of that election (when the winners emerge), and two years after that election (all the time the losers need to seethe over their losses as they await another opportunity). Elections are, of […]
Continue ReadingAs Nigeria transitions into full election mode for the 2027 general elections, the political temperature is heating up at a scale that puts the country’s democracy under intense pressure. Democratic institutions are struggling to respond to pressures emanating from the actions of political actors. The political landscape has been marked by heightened elite bargaining, strategic […]
Continue ReadingPrince Adekunle, the Yoruba Juju music maestro of the 1970s, once sang that a tree which falls in the forest cannot kill someone right inside their home; nor could a fallen rafter kill a bystander in the forest (Igi kìí dá l’óko kó pa ará ilé; àjà kìí jìn k’ó pa èrò ònà). We have […]
Continue Reading“The knee on his neck” reminds us of the case of the American citizen, George Floyd, who was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May, 2020 by a policeman, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd’s last words were: “I can’t breathe.” He […]
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