Buhari and The New Service Chiefs, By Reuben Abati

Many Nigerians were understandably shocked, surprised, if not alarmed last week, when they suddenly heard the news that the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari had finally decided to relieve the service chiefs appointed in 2015 of their appointments. The popular response was couched in such phrases as “oh… at last… finally”, “better late than never” […]

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Trump and Wole Soyinka’s Green Card, By Reuben Abati

On November 2, 2016, a week before the US Presidential elections of Nov. 8, 2016, Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature told a group of students at Oxford University’s Eretgun House that if Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, he would leave the United States and cut his green card […]

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2020: The Year That Was, By Reuben Abati

My favourite end-of-the-year quote, which I have shared with many others, is the following passage from Chapter 3 of the inimitable Chinua Achebe’s Things Falls Apart, a novel of monumental, evergreen relevance, translated into over 50 languages, a product of pure genius, a milestone in world literature. Achebe wrote: “…The year that Okonkwo took eight […]

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Missing Kankara Boys and A Tear-Gassed Nation, By Reuben Abati

“What is going on?” “Where?” “Where else? Nigeria of course.” “What has happened again?” “What has not happened? The other week, we were all lamenting that 43 farmers were slaughtered in Zabarmari, in Borno State, and now the whole world is being told that hundreds of school boys have been kidnapped from their school – […]

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The Global Race for COVID Vaccine, By Reuben Abati

If there is anything that the COVID-19 pandemic has proven beyond doubt, it is how humanity depends on science for its survival. Every confounding development that has been thrown up by nature or biology since the days of the pre-historic man has been resolved, and humanity has advanced on the back of scientific discoveries, from […]

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#EndSARS: The State Of The “Revolution”, By Reuben Abati

Things went out of hand very quickly with the emerging Nigerian “revolution” when on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, soldiers stormed the Lekki Toll Gate Plaza in Lagos, and started shooting. We were told they shot in the air. But the reports have been conflicting and troubling. The protesters insist that persons died, and that the […]

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#EndSARS: The Generation That Said “Enough”, By Reuben Abati

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The Falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity Surely some […]

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How Organised Labour Deceived Nigerians, By Reuben Abati

I was very skeptical when the current leadership of Organized Labour in Nigeria objected to the decision of the Federal Government to withdraw fuel subsidy and hand over the pump price of petrol to the forces of demand and supply, also known as market forces. Labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the […]

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Edo, Ondo, The Frozen Daddy and Petrol Tales, By Reuben Abati

“So this is how we will just adjust to the new fuel price at the petrol stations, and government will get away with the imposition of greater hardship on the people?” “No. Government is very clear. The fuel subsidy regime is not sustainable. The PPMC, NNPC and the PPPRA made that clear in April. What […]

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