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On his 66th birthday in February this year, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai walked into the Abuja headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in response to an invitation. He remains in captivity as Nigeria marks its own 66th independence anniversary today. But his travails are with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences […]
Continue ReadingPerhaps accepting that, at 80, the 2027 general election may be his last bid for Aso Rock, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is throwing everything—including the kitchen sink—at the incumbent President Bola Tinubu. The expression is familiar in football: a team, desperate for an equaliser or winning goal, commits every available player to the attack. […]
Continue ReadingIn October 2002, when it became obvious that then Vice President Atiku Abubakar was moving towards running against his principal, President Olusegun Obasanjo for the People Democratic Party (PDP) ticket, I wrote a column titled, ‘Before Atiku Takes a Dangerous Gamble’. It was both a warning and a counsel that has turned out to be prescient. For […]
Continue ReadingIn the build-up to 2003 when the then incumbent Governor Olusegun Osoba was seeking re-election on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and then incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo was also seeking re-election on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, the political slogan in Ogun State was ‘Segun L’oke, Segun Ni’sale’. The idea was for voters in […]
Continue ReadingThe Ambassador of Sweden to Nigeria, Her Excellency Anna Westerholm, was the special guest of honour at the graduation ceremony (Kindergarten 2 and Primary 5 pupils) of my wife’s Not Forgotten Initiative (NFI) School last Thursday in Abuja. “When I visited this school (last December), what stayed with me was not just the privilege of […]
Continue ReadingAccording to investigation by Nigerian Presidency, this man (with photo of Prince Adeniyi Matthew) created a fake government agency called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, appointed himself as Director General, secured office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, opened multiple Central Bank accounts, got N1,302,978,784 (that’s almost a million dollar) allocation in the 2026 budget, summoned […]
Continue ReadingA new report, ‘The Shadow Owners,’ published by the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics Limited (AERE) has confirmed how the worsening insecurity in our country is being fuelled by powerful forces that are linked to illegal mining that is now effectively a multi-billion dollars organised crime. Last November, ‘Daily Trust’ published a similar report of […]
Continue ReadingThere is a detail buried in a press briefing in Kaduna last Thursday that I found rather troubling. It was offered by the former National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director General, Brigadier General Maharazu Tsiga (rtd). He was in the state to honour the memory of his late colleague, Major General Rabe Abubakar (rtd), who […]
Continue ReadingIn my column of 17 March 2021, ‘Kidnappings Incorporated!’, I shared the story of Nuhu Tanko, a gardener at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, whose two brothers were abducted on New Year’s Eve 2020 while on the road from Dakunu village in Chukum Local Government of Kaduna State. The masked abductors were more than 50 in […]
Continue ReadingTwelve days ago, at a private residence in Abuja, a faction of what remains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gathered to affirm former President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the 2027 presidential election. Even when Jonathan was nowhere near the bizarre proceedings, his name has since been sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and lavishly published as their […]
Continue ReadingBorn on 29 May 1926, former Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade turned 100 last Friday, making him the first West African leader in history to become a centenarian. But the remarkable story of Wade is not just about age. A long-time opposition leader, Wade ran for president four times in a period spanning 22 years, beginning in 1978, before […]
Continue ReadingThe eight men in the conference room of the Government House glanced at one another as they waited for the Governor to join the meeting. Seeking the same ticket to the House of Representatives for Wahala federal constituency, they had been invited for a final meeting before the party primaries scheduled for the next day. Seated on […]
Continue ReadingFollowing his capitulation, (Major Chukwuma) Nzeogwu was brought to Lagos and admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) where I went to see him. I asked why they killed all senior officers in Lagos and Kaduna, and further asked, ‘do you realise the damage this has done to the esprit de corps of the […]
Continue ReadingDespite Standing Rules practically exempting him from serving as a principal officer in the 8th Senate, the name of a certain Godswill Akpabio was announced in plenary as Minority Leader on 28th July 2015. Having left office as Akwa Ibom State Governor just a few weeks before, Akpabio had been nominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the […]
Continue ReadingI am not much into movies but there are some I can watch numerous times without being bored. Two stand out: ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Titanic’. In the latter, the scene I consider most memorable is where the captain informs the ship owner that they had hit an iceberg. “From this moment, no matter what we do, the Titanic will founder,” […]
Continue ReadingWith Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State invoking ‘Operation Wet ẹ’ at the Ibadan gathering of the ‘Participating Opposition Parties in Nigeria’ (we can also help them by adding the acronym, POPN), Nigerians do not need anyone to tell them that another desperate season is already upon us. Makinde warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) not to play pranks with […]
Continue ReadingThe Owode Onirin saga is one that should trouble every Nigerian who still believes in the possibility of justice, especially for the ordinary citizens. On 27th August 2025, a day the traders of that sprawling motor spare parts market now call ‘Black Wednesday’, six men were shot dead in broad daylight during the enforcement of […]
Continue ReadingFor weeks now, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been embroiled in a leadership crisis that, on the surface, appears to be a routine internal dispute. With a (former) Deputy National Chairman, Nafiu Bala Gombe as agent provocateur, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has unwittingly entered the fray in a manner that has put […]
Continue ReadingAt the 2016 edition of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) annual ‘Telecom World’ held in Bangkok, Thailand, then Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai shared the story of the difficulty encountered in selling Nigeria’s liberalised telecommunications industry to international investors. According to El-Rufai, who was the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) Director-General between 1999 and 2003, Nigeria was so […]
Continue ReadingDriving through Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) streets during the recent Federal Capital Territory (FCT) elections, I witnessed what members of the political class seem uninterested in hearing. Polling units that should have buzzed with civic energy were attended by more party agents and security personnel than actual voters. With 65,676 votes recorded for all the […]
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