Opinion

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 The philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it – Karl Marx. Last Friday as I engaged in my usual house chores of washing my dirty clothes to exercise my limbs, I heard a sermon. By His …

Ahead of the February 25, 2023 critical presidential election and subsequent elections in March 2023, Nigeria’s President and Commander-in-Chief, Muhammadu Buhari, addressed the country he has been in-charge of since 2015. First, as a legacy note and transition speech, retired General Buhari’s efforts on Thursday, February 16, 2023 were inadequate. …

It is most likely the last Council of State meeting to be chaired by Muhammadu Buhari as President, and it held on February 10, 2023, at State House, Abuja. It was a hybrid meeting, with some attendees physically present, and others online. Former Presidents/Heads of State on parade included Gen …

Monday, 13 February, 2023 Ancient Oyo people found it very convenient to follow the Alaafin to Koso (where kings are made); they balked at following the Alaafin to Bara (the king’s burial place): Kòso ló se é b’óba rè; Barà ò se é b’óba lo. Nigeria’s politicians do not lick …

How does one measure success in life, career, business, or politics? There are different yardsticks for different folks. Some measure success based on the material quantity one accumulates, while others measure it based on the quality of life one gets. Some assume it is both and, to a considerable degree, …

They say the apple does not fall too far from the tree. While that aphorism may be as trite as they come it contains a large and discomfiting grain of truth. When the APC presidential flag-bearer Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that he was throwing his hat into the ring for …

The greatest surprise of the political season in Nigeria today is without question the almost overwhelming presence of Peter Obi. The man has teeming admirers and unappeasable antagonists, but either-or, he can hardly ever be ignored. A journalist’s duty is to almost always to wade into every subject in popular …

Monday, 6 February, 2023 The naira exchange affliction of 1984 rose up a second time in 2022 and spilled into 2023 because it has always been the choice of Nigeria to submit to vultures. Don’t fail to listen to Chief Bola Tinubu who philosophised in Osogbo last week that despite …

Nigerians are facing the reality of scarcity of cash literarily. Banks are overwhelmed by angry customers demanding money, the ATMs are flooded with furious Nigerians struggling to withdraw cash, and some spend the whole day hoping to get a few Naira notes to pay bills. POS operators complain of a …

Everyday men abuse women. Until in recent years, such abuses went unreported. Nowadays, due to advocacies by gender activists, violence against women and girls now feature more prominently in the media. Even with the level of publicity that it receives, gender activists insist that gender-based violence remain largely under-reported. In …

  Nine unbroken days of work and travel came to a slight pause on Tuesday with a final hurray at Jigawa State, where President Muhammadu Buhari and his team commissioned legacy projects at Hadejia, Birnin Kudu, and Dutse, the State capital. The peregrination had started in Bauchi, to Lagos, Dakar …

At first, he appeared to be the most unlikely candidate for the task. After his fifth attempt at running for Kenya’s presidency, surely Raila Odinga is finished, done. The only thing left perhaps was how to update his memoirs. But who needs nuggets from a loser who couldn’t put them …

Football tacticians and lay statisticians will tell you that when a player is sent off the pitch, the probability of the team losing widens by over 60% and it makes no difference whether they are playing at home or away. This is the situation facing Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC’s …

Monday, 30 January, 2023 Listen to Senator Bola Tinubu Wednesday last week in Abeokuta: “If you want to eat palm kernel, put a stone on the ground; put a palm nut on it, take another stone and smash it on the palm nut. The nut will be cracked and the …

Nigeria’s general election, the largest democratic exercise in Africa, begins on 25 February. All the parties and candidates are jostling to get the voters’ attention and convince them to vote for them in the elections. The wait is palpitating, and the electioneering campaign drama is thus far exhilarating. Everything but …

January 29, 2023 In a piece I wrote entitled A O M’erin J’oba At Tinubu’s Colloquium (April 1, 2018) I warned that the man who has now become the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was making a strategic mistake in assuming that Buhari loved …

As Nigerians file out to elect a new President on February 25, it is imperative to remind the electorate that a country’s future and destiny are shaped by the choice of personality they elect as President.  Entrusting a country’s leadership and resources to someone with impaired vision and dubious national …

The Origins of Imperialism. The origins of imperialism must be traced to Western Europe since the ancient times Before Christ. The territorial exploits of Alexander the Great, “The King of Macedonia” and “Conqueror of Persia” are well known in history, includingthe acquisition of Egypt. The city of “Alexandria” is today …

Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, has made the case for the release from custody of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as a crucial means of stemming the pervasive insecurity of the Southeast geo-political zone. Soludo has stressed that if the …

Remark by Ambassador Lot Egopija, Consul General of Nigeria in New York, USA, at the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial program at Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey, USA on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.  Protocol I consider it a great honour to be invited to this auspicious occasion, …

Excerpts from the Remarks by Ambassador (Dr) Motumisi Tawana, Consul General of South Africa in New York and Chairman, African Consuls General Group (ACGG) at the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Event held at Essex County College in collaboration with the ACGG on 24 January 2023.  Protocols Let me …

    A leader like Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand doesn’t come in tens. Not even in twos. And so, it was such a bright day on October 26, 2017, when she took office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister. She was 37-years-old and also the youngest head of government at …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 I must have read a story with the same or similar heading above sometime in the past but reading it or something similar again this week, I took more interest in it in view of the ongoing “japa” phenomenon that is emptying Nigeria not only of …

I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across this post from @ChifeDr real name Dr. Aloy Chife. “I have a Ph.D. And I’m very proud to be called “Igbo trader.” I will clean toilets if the money is good. Has decades of elevating work-shy little men into positions of …

Monday, 23 January, 2023 General Ibrahim Babangida’s Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) had just finished its weekly meeting. What ministers do with the present occupant of Aso Rock, Abuja –praise and worship – was the lot of IBB then at the Dodan Barracks, Lagos. Toady appointees in abject servitude fawned …