June 16, 2024 President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day broadcast of June 12, 2024, did Ibadan incalculable dishonour. The speech celebrated the heroes of Nigeria’s 25 years of civil rule with a very scant mention of Ibadan’s fight against the tyranny of military rule. Was it an institutional slight on the …
Read More »Kennedy Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophical musings
Guerrilla Editorial Board unrecognized by June 12 inheritors
By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu Going to work could mean your death. It was indeed a bad time. The June 12, 1993 election won by Bashorun MKO Abiola had just been annulled by the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Nigeria was in deep crisis and journalism was under severe …
Read More »A reckoning in June By Azu Ishiekwene
It’s been 31 years since a seismic event triggered by the June 12, 1993 election nearly brought Nigeria to its knees. The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), M.K.O Abiola, was on the cusp of a resounding victory when the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida interrupted and …
Read More »Okonjo-Iweala at 70: The Technocrat and Humane Human By Paul Nwabuikwu
Circa 2005. Early evening in London. After initial commitments, some Western nations seemed to be reconsidering the debt deal with Nigeria. Italy was one such nation. After agreeing to an appointment to discuss the next steps, the country’s finance minister became unreachable. His assistants who had arranged the meeting claimed …
Read More »Who is afraid of Fidelity Bank?
A lot of mischief is going on in the banking sub-sector of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on June 3, 2024, revoked the banking licence of Heritage Bank Plc. The not-so-subtle campaign by some faceless groups to demarket an otherwise solid financial institution like the …
Read More »Workers’ lingering strike: Matters arising By Bola BOLAWOLE (Justice Andrew Alaba Omowaye-Ajileye)
[email protected] 0807 552 5533 Last week, I published here the first part of “One year later, what value has Tinubu added to our lives?” with a promise to publish part two here today. In the midst of that came a critical dimension to the lingering strike by Labour. With Labour …
Read More »Conflicts and Gender Based Violence By Prof. Joy Ezeilo
Public Presentation of 2023 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) Supported Research in Nigeria held on 5th June 2024 at Rock View Hotel Wuse 2 Abuja A Keynote Speech by Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (SAN, OON) Introduction and Context on Gender Based Violence (GBV)/Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Global Overview of …
Read More »Democracy Day: Electricity bill is larger than my salary By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
Today has been declared a public holiday by the Nigerian Government to mark Democracy Day. May 29 used to be the Democracy Day until the then President Muhammadu Buhari put forward June 12 as the real McCoy. The greatest piece of fiction written in Nigeria since the publication of Chinua …
Read More »Lost but not found: Where is Yaya Bello? By Dr. Promise Adiele
I nostalgically remember a popular refrain in my secondary school days “Lost but found”. Back then, an item of less value never went missing because nobody needed it. Usually, a good Samaritan would pick it up and proudly announce, “lost but found” across the classes, seeking the owner of the …
Read More »Finding long-lasting solutions to Nigeria’s woes By Bolanle BOLAWOLE
[email protected] 0705 263 1058 Scripture says “Where no counsel is, the people fall: But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” Nigeria is in such dire straits that its affairs can no longer be left solely to those in the corridors of power. Either they are short of ideas …
Read More »Homeless kids invade South West By Lasisi Olagunju
Monday, 10 June, 2024 “A large percentage of them are from Niger Republic, Mali, and Chad.” The six South-West states are being overrun by an army of homeless young men of unknown address and of mystery background. Some snakes have beauty; their nimbleness their strength. But these ones in every …
Read More »American democracy’s Trump test By Dakuku Peterside
There is currently no evidence to support the claim that democracy is a perfect system of governance. However, humans still need to figure out a better means to guarantee the freedom and consent of the governed. Democracy remains the most practical choice available. We must keep working on it until …
Read More »An indolent labour union and matters arising By Hassan Gimba
For the past four years, I have been insisting that our problem and even need now is not about salary increment but about being a productive nation that produces what it needs and uses what it produces. This would galvanise our economy and strengthen the naira. With a strong currency, …
Read More »El-Rufai, June 12 and Abacha woken from the dead By Festus Adedayo
June 8, 2024 Yesterday, General Sani Abacha clocked 28 years in the grave. Abacha’s sudden expiration at the thick of his maximal and maniacal rule reminds Nigerians, especially those who were old enough in 1998 when he died, of how human beings should never play god. Abacha ruled with iron …
Read More »Elechi Amadi comes alive in iconic new book By Anaele Ihuoma
One of Africa’s foremost literary icons, Elechi Amadi, has got a taste of his own sweet medicine, as he is the subject of a fine collection of critical articles in a new book, Elechi Amadi, Literature and the Nigerian Socio-political Environment. The 22-piece collection is the brainchild of a literary …
Read More »One year later, what value has Tinubu added to our lives? – 1 By Bola BOLAWOLE
[email protected] 0807 552 5533 It made a lot of sense that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose to mark, not celebrate, his first year in office. Celebration would have been termed insensitive by many, and the president would have been charged for profligacy and extravagance. Which serious or sane leader celebrates when …
Read More »Why minimum wage is a bad idea By Azu Ishiekwene
I’m opposed to minimum wage. And I know I’m saying this at the risk of losing readers. The minimum wage hurts the poor and vulnerable in whose name and interest Labour claims to strike. Sounds foolish, right? How can more naira in the pocket of the Nigerian worker currently on …
Read More »‘The reign of our Emperor’ By Lasisi Olagunju
Monday, 3 June, 2024 The Japanese national anthem is a one-stanza song known as Kimigayo; its English translation approximates ‘The Reign of Our Emperor’. The worth of the anthem is in its adulation of limitless power: “May thy reign last long! May it last for tens of thousands of years …
Read More »Aliko Dangote’s noble quest for Africa’s self-sufficiency and prosperity By Abiodun Alade
Africa is a resource-rich continent but relatively poor in terms of manufacturing goods. According to the 2023 African Trade Report by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the 54 countries of Africa combined accounted for only about 2.9 per cent of global trade in 2022, slightly up from 2.7 per cent …
Read More »South Africa: Economics above politics By Dakuku Peterside
South Africans voted in national and local elections on May 29, exactly one year after Nigeria inaugurated its current president. Since 1994, this election has been the most significant post-apartheid election and the most unpredictable in the country’s 30 years of democratic rule. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost …
Read More »Aso Rock inside Kudeti River By Festus Adedayo
Sunday, June 2, 2024 The poor governance of the last one year is apparently getting at President Bola Tinubu. He needs our collective pity. It is making him depressed, enough to enter into what lawyers call forum-shopping. Today, Aso Rock is clutching at straws. Its case is akin to that …
Read More »Nigeria: Federalism, unitarism, hybrid or what? By Bolanle BOLAWOLE
0705 263 1058 [email protected] It is a puzzle that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has dragged the 36 state governments to court to compel them to respect the autonomy of the 774 local governments, often touted, though erroneously, as the third tier of government and the government that is …
Read More »Tinubu’s bragging right and his 200 needles By Festus Adedayo
Sunday, June 2, 2024 In Africa, when a man loses his virility, he is subject of scorn, ridicule and disdain. Male impotence or infertility is not only disdained but tabooed. In a continent where child-making is almost an obsession, Africa couched a number of hurtful epithets for one who loses …
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