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Were you as disgusted as I was on Monday when the Cross River house of assembly voted against confirming Justice Akon Ikpeme as the substantive chief judge of the state for purely ethnic reasons? In the wisdom of the state lawmakers, Ikpeme had to be rejected because — and I am not joking! — she […]
Continue ReadingIn eight weeks — between January and February 2020, to be specific — a disease killed 118 Nigerians. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), there were 2,633 “suspected” cases, 609 “confirmed” and nine “probable” during the period. The NCDC disclosed that as at February 23, the disease had spread to 27 of […]
Continue ReadingIs it a sign of the times that Nigerians have, generally, appeared not bothered any longer by certain anomalies in the polity, such as President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to fill vacancies in several agencies? As I write this, many agencies have been in the hands of acting chief executive for years without any sign that […]
Continue ReadingThe Supreme Court has been adding a lot of spice to our politics in recent times, but I did not see the Bayelsa bombshell coming. Less than 24 hours to the swearing-in of APC’s David Lyon as the governor, the court nullified his election because of the credentials of Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, the deputy governor-elect. […]
Continue ReadingMajekodunmi Fasheke, the Nigerian reggae music legend and firebrand rasta who sang protest songs, spoke against police brutality, fought for the downtrodden, promoted ethnic and religious harmony, and brought down the rain, clocked 58 on February 7, 2020 far away from the public eye. He was recently treated at a London hospital for a life-threatening […]
Continue ReadingMr Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, gave one of the most sensible responses to criticism by an official of the Muhammadu Buhari administration on Friday. Reacting to calls for the president to resign over growing insecurity in the country, Keyamo said: “The hullabaloo over the call by the opposition for the […]
Continue ReadingAt the risk of exaggeration, I would say that the Supreme Court, on January 14, 2020, delivered its most controversial verdict yet in this democratic dispensation. By ordering the sack of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo state and the installation of Senator Hope Uzodinma in his place, the apex court set […]
Continue ReadingSince the introduction of Shari’a law in Zamfara state in January 2000, nothing else has tested the sanctity of Nigeria’s practice of federalism like the launch of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), better known as Operation Amotekun (the Yoruba word for leopard), by the south-western states on January 9, 2020. The stated aim of […]
Continue ReadingWhich came first — the chicken or the egg? This is one of the most fascinating debates around. All chickens hatch from eggs and all the chicken eggs are laid by chickens. How then do you determine the cause and the effect? That is the “causality dilemma” we always have to deal with in certain […]
Continue ReadingWhen I got a call from a concerned Nigerian lamenting that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara state had pulled down the house of Senator Bukola Saraki, I knew truth had become a casualty in the demolition drama. For the record, the house of Bukola Saraki was not pulled down. What is in contention is the […]
Continue ReadingOne of the most chilling claims I have ever heard in my life was allegedly made by the chief security officer to a Nigerian military ruler years ago. Nicely confronted by journalists over his suffocating influence on the head of state as well as the spate of bombings and state-sponsored assassinations in the country, he […]
Continue ReadingIf you felt intimidated by the public notice on “national enforcement on tax defaulters” issued last week by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), let’s say that is just the introduction. By the time President Muhammadu Buhari signs the Nigeria Financial Bill 2019 into law — possibly before January 1, 2020 — your life will […]
Continue ReadingThe first time I heard the name, “Major General Muhammadu Buhari”, it was a compliment — as it were. That was on the evening of December 31, 1983. Early in the morning, we had woken up to martial music, followed by words that stuck to my head: “Fellow countrymen and women, I, Brigadier Sani Abacha […]
Continue ReadingTo be very, very, very clear, I will say this upfront: I am 100 percent against the move by the national assembly to regulate social media and legislate against hate speech. Mind you, I do not subscribe to anarchy. I believe in law and order. I believe in regulated public conduct. I believe in civilised […]
Continue ReadingHow about this? By 2030 — that’s a little over 10 years from now — no Nigerian child will die from preventable diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition; all children will receive quality basic education, and their parents will not have to be politicians or bankers; and discrimination against the girl-child will end. These […]
Continue ReadingI don’t know about you, but I would say one of the most iconic images of the Buhari administration so far is the one released to the media on Monday, November 4. President Muhammadu Buhari — with a Hausa cap sitting comfortably on his head, a green pen in his right hand and a grin […]
Continue ReadingAfter the leadership elections of the ninth national assembly in June, one fact stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb — not a single Igbo man or woman would be counted among the top seven citizens of Nigeria: president, vice-president, senate president, speaker, chief justice of Nigeria, deputy senate president and deputy speaker. Senator Ike […]
Continue ReadingThis story makes me grin all the time. After our wedding in 2001, my wife and I decided to pay “thank you” visits to family members, friends and well-wishers. We visited my mother-in-law’s boss at the time. As we chatted on various topics, we noticed he was sweating inside his well air-conditioned office. My wife, […]
Continue ReadingOver breakfast and the obligatory cups of coffee somewhere in New York late September, a bright and enterprising Nigerian lady was, as it were, preaching to the converted on the urgency and benefits of private sector investment in infrastructure in Africa. The previous day at the Africa Investment Forum road show held at the Four […]
Continue ReadingHere we go again. Nigeria is set for a crisis over the implementation, or the non-implementation, of the new minimum wage. The federal government, empowered by the constitution to set the national minimum wage, had approved N30,000 after consultations with state governors, who meet regularly under the aegis of the National Economic Council (NEC), followed […]
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