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My February 2013 column, ‘Public Service in Private Interest’, related how our public service has proven incapable of mobilizing scarce resources for the advancement of the common good. “While the world is tending towards smaller and more efficient government, what we have in our country today is a behemoth that largely serves its own interest”, […]
Continue ReadingLast Sunday, ‘Premium Times’ reported that President Bola Tinubu had decided to appoint Olanipekun Olukoyede as the substantive chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). A legal practitioner, Olukoyede served as secretary of the commission for two years before he was suspended along with Ibrahim Magu (then acting chair) and a few other […]
Continue ReadingLast Friday in Las Vegas, United States, Duane Keith Davis, popularly known as ‘Keffe D,’ was arrested after a grand jury indictment for murder with use of a deadly weapon. Although Davis was brought to court yesterday, his arraignment was deferred till 19 October while he remains in custody. He will be tried for allegedly killing Tupac Shakur, the legendary American […]
Continue ReadingIt says so much about our country that the government as well as our citizens appear oblivious to the monumental human misery in Morocco and Libya. Given the magnitude of the catastrophe in the two North African countries, the federal government should have offered relief measures aside coordinating efforts at the level of individual citizens […]
Continue ReadingFifteen of our 36 governors and three deputy governors travelled to Kigali, Rwanda last month for a three-day executive leadership retreat. We were told the trip was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). The retreat was reportedly designed to enable our governors to “re-imagine Nigeria’s leadership to achieve transformation and nationwide sustainable development.” Remarkably, governors from all […]
Continue ReadingFor the past eight years, the joke among Abuja residents was, “When will President Buhari appoint a Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)?”. The once pristine city has gradually been reduced to a vast slum as mountains of garbage dot many areas. Even maintaining streetlights, including on the airport expressroad, has proved difficult for […]
Continue ReadingThe viral video of female law students protesting alleged sexual harassment against Professor Cyril Ndifon at the University of Calabar was disturbing. Carrying placards with inscriptions that are too obscene to be repeated here, the protesters (led by the Law Students Association of Nigeria, Unical branch president, Benedict Out) made serious allegations against the Dean of the […]
Continue ReadingAccording to impeccable sources, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Monday switched off the grid that supplies electricity to Niger Republic in response to a directive from President Bola Tinubu. It was the first of several measures to force out the military junta that seized power in the country last week Wednesday. Also on Monday, the […]
Continue ReadingTomorrow, 28th July, will mark exactly five months since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was elected. Yet he still does not have his cabinet in place. This says a great deal about his preparedness for office as well as the nature of ministerial appointments in our country. If the basis for appointment was about service to the people […]
Continue ReadingFormer Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, took a very big gamble last year by seeking the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while still in office. He raised the stakes even higher with a Naira redesign policy that was either not well thought-out or done with malicious intent. Incidentally, a […]
Continue ReadingIn a desperate call that can only exacerbate the security challenge in Plateau State, a member of the House of Representatives urged his traumatised constituents to defend themselves. On Monday, Hon. Dachung Bagos said that 19 people were killed within 24 hours last weekend in Jos South and Mangu local government areas of the state. […]
Continue ReadingI was listening to a radio phone-in programme last week when a final year student of a state-owned tertiary institution called to say there was no way he would be able to complete his degree programme going by the tuition fees just announced by his university. Other callers soon joined the programme to paint scary […]
Continue ReadingWhether you voted for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) in the recent presidential election. Or have spent your political life fighting Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If you are Yoruba by ethnic affiliation, you are likely to be made to bear vicarious responsibility for any failings of government for as long […]
Continue ReadingAt the valedictory session of the 9th Senate last Saturday, a ‘Most distinguished’ (as they address themselves) told his colleagues that many owe their stay in the green chambers to the ‘benevolence’ of his wife, a retired judicial officer. Despite the best efforts of the (now former) Senate President Ahmad Lawan to apply the ‘off the mic’ principle to gag […]
Continue ReadingA young Lagosian friend was in Abuja last week and decided to pay me a visit. I had not seen her for a long time so when welcoming her, I joked, “Eyinlokan” (meaning it’s your turn, in reference to the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which she had earlier told me brought her to town). But she interjected, […]
Continue ReadingIn a show of desperation (some would say cowardice) at the polling station in Daura on 25th February, former President Muhammadu Buhari displayed his ballot paper after exercising his franchise. The unusual gesture – which goes against the spirit of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines – was a not-so-subtle signal to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that he (Buhari) had kept his side of the bargain. […]
Continue ReadingSince he who asserts must prove, the onus is now on the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle to provide evidence that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, demanded a bribe of $2 million from him. “It is not just to always blame governors. It is not only governors who have treasury, the federal government also has. What […]
Continue ReadingOn 29th August 2015, just three months after he was sworn-in, President Muhammadu Buhari disowned two ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign documents containing promises of the achievements he would make during his first 100 days in office. A statement from Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu said Buhari had no knowledge […]
Continue Reading‘One life taken in cold blood is as gruesome as a million that may go down in a pogrom’—Dele Giwa (1947-1986) Having read the 2010 book, ‘Sudan: Darfur and the Failure of an African State’ I am not surprised that the power struggle between the two most senior military leaders in Sudan has exploded into a shooting war in which Khartoum is now effectively another killing field. “Nothing […]
Continue ReadingResidents of Yola woke up last Sunday morning to the announcement of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Binani as ‘winner’ of the Adamawa State gubernatorial election. It didn’t matter to the errant Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Hudu Yunusa Ari, that the results were still being collated as of the time he made […]
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