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Given how a serious national economic planning instrument has been cynically subverted over the years, there cannot be a more apt summation of the futility of budgets in Nigeria than a 2019 Twitter thread by ‘Laolu Samuel-Biyi. I have twice referenced his conclusion on this page: “If you want to keep hope alive in Nigeria, don’t look at […]
Continue ReadingThe late Dele Giwa once wrote that Nigerians ‘have been shocked to the state of unshockability.’ He was right. But every once in a while reports about our country are so shocking that you continue to doubt them until their veracity is confirmed. I was in such a situation on Monday when I read a report credited to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General, Bashir […]
Continue ReadingA thought-provoking piece is going round on WhatsApp. Credited to Professor Hamman Tukur Sa’ad, it concerns the current Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and the tertiary education crisis in Nigeria. The author not only accuses ASUU leadership and those who manage education in Nigeria of lacking critical thinking, but also indicts them for […]
Continue ReadingThe slap on the wrist given a notorious kidnap kingpin has exposed the underbelly of the criminal justice administration in Nigeria. It also underscores the seeming hopelessness of the national security situation. Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, according to reports, last month sentenced Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, to seven years imprisonment for unlawfully dealing in prohibited firearms and […]
Continue ReadingWhen you live in a glass house, as they say on the street, you don’t walk naked. But that conventional wisdom must have been lost on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, despite his considerable experience in politics spanning decades. In a viral video a day after the party’s primaries that nominated former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate […]
Continue ReadingI watched the video clip of Davido in tears of joy as he prostrated for top politicians he believed helped his uncle, Ademola Adeleke, over the line in Saturday’s Osun State gubernatorial election. The video says a lot about what the family has had to endure these past eight years and the hubris of political titans who […]
Continue ReadingLast Saturday, thousands of protesters in Sri Lanka stormed the presidential residence in Colombo. It was a scene reminiscent of Bamako exactly one decade ago when Malian protesters invaded the presidential palace to give the then Interim President Dioncounda Traore the beating of his life. Only God knows what the angry protesters would have done to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had he not escaped […]
Continue Reading“The committee invited editors of THISDAY newspaper because of the prominence which they have given to the publication of the allegations. The editors of THISDAY visited us informally, refusing to oblige our invitation and informing us that they would rely on their publications.” The excerpted quote is from the ‘Report of the ad-hoc committee set up on […]
Continue ReadingJustice Tanko Ibrahim Muhammad, who resigned as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on Monday, is a living proof that it’s always difficult for anybody in the public space to get a second chance to make a first impression. Right from the unfortunate spectacle of his Senate confirmation hearing on 17th July 2019, many Nigerians had […]
Continue ReadingYoruba people warn that one should be wary of planting guinea corn with rainfall that comes from certain individuals. The message is that a promise made by that person can never be relied upon. This is the lesson many of those who aspired for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket failed to heed. At the end, each of them wasted not only the […]
Continue ReadingI cannot remember how many times former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has contested to be president of Nigeria. Or the number of party platforms he has crisscrossed over a period of three decades in pursuit of his ambition. But I do remember his first attempt in 1993 when I witnessed the high drama in Jos as a young reporter covering the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) […]
Continue ReadingI have a friend who is forever seeking trending jobs. He once wanted to be a petrol attendant. None of us (his friends) understood why someone with a master’s degree could set his sights so low until he told the story of how a petrol attendant had ‘oppressed’ him by snatching his girlfriend during a fuel scarcity in the country. Last week, our guy scaled up by […]
Continue ReadingExpectedly, condemnation has trailed last Thursday’s lynching of Miss Deborah Samuel by her College of Education, Sokoto colleagues for alleged blasphemous post on WhatsApp. As I commiserate with her traumatized family, I hope this unfortunate killing does not degenerate into another Christian versus Muslim crisis, because it is not about religion. The issue is also not […]
Continue Reading“…In nearly every one of these gatherings across the length and breadth of this vast, impossible country, active open dissections, and excoriations of the government of the day is on rowdy display, capped often by all manner of hare-brained solutions and scenarios on how best to govern and impose order on one of the world’s […]
Continue ReadingI was among friends who hail from the southeast when the Anambra State gubernatorial election result was officially declared on November 7th last year. Not surprisingly, the outcome provoked considerable excitement in the room. One said, “I can bet that Segun’s next column will be on Soludo”, and turning to me, he added, “I know you like Soludo a lot.” […]
Continue ReadingPresident Goodluck Jonathan rode to power in 2011 on the strength of popular national support, particularly from younger voters. But barely eight months in office, then presidential spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati had concluded that Jonathan was being unfairly harangued by the media and certain stakeholders. He located these harsh criticisms in “the circumstances of President Jonathan’s emergence: how […]
Continue ReadingIt took a young lady to narrate how she was almost raped while on holiday at Warere Beach hotel in Zanzibar in April last year for many Nigerians to begin to share their own experiences within our country. And the picture being painted is rather ugly. From room keys being duplicated by rogue staff so […]
Continue ReadingMemoirs can help negotiate the complex and sometimes tricky relationship between individuals and their communities. Students of politics also find these recollections useful for interpreting events in their country. The memoir of Dr Ifeanyichukwu Oluwasegun Opeyemi Ogunbiyi being presented today in Lagos to mark his 75th birthday not only speaks eloquently to the Nigeria that […]
Continue ReadingThe Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have issued statements mourning the death of their members. But it may take a while for Nigerians to get the complete picture of Monday’s horrific attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train. My heart goes out to families of the victims who will find it difficult coming to terms with their loss, especially given the tragic circumstance. This attack […]
Continue ReadingMy sister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili could not have been more apt when she said Nigerians like to major in minors. Ever since the inauguration of Prof Chukwuma Soludo as the Governor of Anambra State ended on a slapping note, there has been no bigger storyline in Nigeria than the humiliation of an errant (now former) […]
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