Opinion

Handle: @Irochesonny Our nonchalant attitude to governance and preemptive action against avoidable calamities as a country, to say the least, are unimaginable and legendary. For quite sometime now, Lagosians, especially those who reside in Apapa and its environs or have the unfortunate experience of going in and out of Apapa …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 Some think it is foolhardy for the North not to want to relinquish power in 2023. They think it implausible for the North, after eight unbroken years in the saddle, to still want to cling unto power. Some think it should be obvious to the North …

There’s a wise saying in Yoruba land, which goes thus: “If you like, feed the entire city with pounded yam, egusi soup and stockfish on a daily basis, there’ll still be people who won’t like you.” Let’s be honest and frank with ourselves. There are some people with primordial antipathy …

As it is today there is no duly elected National Chairman and Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as required by the Electoral Law to submit the name of the governorship candidate in Edo State, to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as a result of the dissolution of …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Today is the concluding part of the series on the Ondo governorship election which we started a few weeks ago. Last week we ended on the note of the allegations of nepotism against Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu. The allegations in that regard are four-fold. One: That …

Several comments, interpretations, narratives and theories have greeted the recent letter written by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State to President Muhammadu Buhari, expressing the sincere appreciation of the Rivers State Government and people to Mr. President, for approving the sum of N78.9 billion to the state, as refund …

It came like a bolt out of the blue. Early this week, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, issued an advertisement, which went in a completely different direction compared to what he had always said of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Wike we knew was either usually crying wolf where there was …

turnpot@gmail.com  0807 552 5533 Political chicanery did not just start yesterday. Deceit and tomfoolery are as old as society itself. Former President Goodluck Jonathan once described himself as the most criticised or the most vilified Nigerian leader ever. He might have been right as at that time but it is …

Nigerians forget all too quickly. Many of my countrymen and women have of course forgotten the bomb of a letter that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo sent to then President Goodluck Jonathan. Given the volatile political situation in the country today it is crucial to recall that Obasanjo letter and its aftermath. …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 For good reasons, South-westerners are nostalgic about the tenure of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the first premier of the Western Region – what with the ‘first this’ and ‘first that’, and the free education policy especially! While that age remains golden, it is usually eulogised to …

It is in the DNA of every Nigerian government to talk tough on fighting corruption. This useable tactic of mass deceit did not start today. Let it be known that the much-abused General Sani Abacha was in his time a very ferocious fighter of corruption. From available records, the list of …

Something good is already happening. Something marvelous is in store, as Federal Government kickstarts the $2.8 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) National Gas Pipeline Project next Tuesday. It’s another humongous signature milestone by President Muhammadu Buhari, which will leave his footprints inexorably on the sands of time. Roads. Bridges. Rail. Airports. Social …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 As the parties step up preparations for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states coming up in a few months, the clouds are gathering and the signs are ominous. Storms lie in wait and history is about to repeat itself – except for those …

Never An After Thought by Afolabi Sokpehi Imoukhuede HCS; Narrative Landscape Press (Prima), Lagos, Nigeria; 220; 357pp The power of the printed word is the greatest asset of every inspirational leader. Once the works are written down as words, it is then left for History and Father Time to bear …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 The first conclusion to be drawn from these series is that in a presidential system of government such as the one that we have copied from the United States of America, a sitting president or governor should, as of right, be given the right of …

  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a fixation with 60 years. At the height of its heady days in power, it challenged its Chi (personal god) to a wrestling contest, vowing that it would rule Nigeria for minimum of 60 years. We know how the story ended. The Chi …

  The iconic publisher of Vanguard newspapers, Sam Amuka-Pemu, remains as ever a self-effacing Nigerian patriot of uncommon class and carriage. Call him “Sad Sam” or “Uncle Sam”, he is a role model to scores of journalists. It’s one of my regrets that I have never really had to work …

  turnpot.gmail.com 0807 552 5533 Last Friday, governments, civil society and labour groups, private organisations and individuals rolled out the drums purportedly to celebrate Democracy Day – they deluded themselves! Nigeria is not a democracy and democratic norms, nuances, practices and dividends are still very far away from these shores. …

The full import of the recent appointment of Senator Magnus Abe into the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to represent the South South geo- political zone of the country may be lost on most people, but the fact is that it has far-reaching implications, especially for the …

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails. Those who bring sunshine cannot keep it from themselves.” – Thor The first Sunday in June every year (Sunday, June 7 in 2020) is known as the International Cancer Survivors Day (ICSD). It is a day set aside to celebrate cancer survivors; …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 One of the unwritten rules of the presidential system that this country has operated since 1999 is that an incumbent (Executive) is usually given the right of first refusal; if he seeks re-election, then, his party concedes and allows him to fly the party flag …

Let’s begin with this story a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army told me recently about the man Muhammadu Buhari, who was assuming duty as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Mechanized Infantry Division, in January 1981. “I was a Captain then,” the retired Colonel said. “General Buhari had just been …

NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ON DEMOCRACY DAY, JUNE 12TH 2020 Fellow Nigerians, 1. The 2020 celebration of Democracy Day marks 21 years of uninterrupted civil administration in our dear country. This day provides us an opportunity to reflect on our journey as a nation, our achievements and struggles. …

Football is the greatest instrument that unites Nigeria. Whenever the national team, the Super Eagles, is on song all Nigerians become united in an astonishing togetherness. There was the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-70 that could have divided the country forever. At the end of the war in 1970, then Head …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 Max Romeo sang “The more you look the less you see/The less you look the more you see.” That appears to be a very apt description of COVID-19 and the shenanigans surrounding it. There have been more questions than answers and it has been controversial …