Opinion

Last week, in this column, we looked at the scientific, social, economic, and environmental challenges of soot in Rivers State, as representative of what is happening in the whole country. We further posited that all levels of government, security and regulatory agencies have disastrously failed to rise to the occasion …

The clue to the subject of this part of the essay is the oddity of Row No. 6 on the Table above. Rather than South-East, one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, the sixth zone of the table is “Igboland”, which is defined as “the South-East and some parts …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Practically everyone makes New Year’s resolutions at this period of the season – that is, towards the end of a closing year and the beginning of a new one. I made my own New Year resolutions for the “Triple T” year of Twenty Twenty-Two (2022) a …

This essay is in two parts. Part I is an excerpt from my inaugural lecture. Entitled “Of Restructuring and Related Matters: The Historian as Moderator.” It was delivered at the Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, on September 4, 2019. The excerpt is taken from pages 80 to 91 of …

  December 31, 2021 Not a few relationships will end today. I’m aware of some troubled homes and stressed relationships that those involved have given up on themselves. Every effort to salvage the situation seems to be coming rather too late. I’m not happy each time I hear that couples …

There’s a City of David, not in Jerusalem, but in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. If the biblical City of David was magnificent, this one is no less so. If the earlier was a sight for sore eyes, the latter equally pulls its weight in grandeur. Governor …

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has theorized that the oil and gas found in the Niger Delta region belong to the federal government, and not to the oil-bearing communities. Legally speaking, Obasanjo can be said to be correct, because he was part and parcel of successive military juntas that cleverly and …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 We are hours away from the year Twenty-Twenty-Two, the year before the apocalyptic year Twenty Twenty-Three; an Election year which many fear will make or mar Nigeria as a country. Incidentally, both are Triple T years. Just as the biblical John the Baptist was very important …

The arrest, Sunday, December 26 of the former governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Mr. Uche Nwosu, a son in-law to former Governor Rochas Okorocha, by security operatives has thrown up familiar issues in Imo State polity – lies, propaganda, abuses, insults and blackmail. When the news broke that …

There are many useful, politically relevant, strategic lessons, dripping down from the November 6, 2021, Anambra State guber polls won by Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). From the perspectives of strategic considerations, some, amongst these vital lessons, are weightier, more important, more impactful, and …

As you read this column, there is a high probability that there is at least a 500 percent increase in the number of persons who are suffering from respiratory- related ailments in Rivers and Bayelsa states compared to 2014-2016 rates. An estimated 500,000 persons have their immune system compromised and …

Monday, 27 December, 2021) Proverbs are not just the palm oil with which yam is eaten; they are the yam. Where I come from, there are a million proverbs for every experience of life. Some people are contagiously sick but they hate being told so. They suffer self-deception, the refusal …

There are some people, no matter how hard you beat them across the back of the head to make them understand something, they will never get it. Even if you literally break open their heads and pour the stuff inside, they will still convolute the narrative with their warped and …

AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, CHIEF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, GCFR, FORMER PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA By Chief (Dr.) E. K. Clark, OFR, CON Your Excellency, MY DISAPPOINTMENT OVER YOUR UNPROVOKED OUTBURST AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE NIGER DELTA REGION Let me begin by thanking you for finding …

December 24, 2021 From time immemorial, Yuletide is a season of fun for children, affection for loved ones and the time for caring, sharing and ample demonstration of love both in cash and in kind to the needy, neighbours, family and friends. It is the most celebrated festival the world …

They were born just like any other person. They have fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, wives, children, just like the next man or woman. They pound their beats, in thunder, lightning or rain. The sun beats them till their eyes almost pop out of the sockets. But we accord them no …

Once again, another bombshell dropped from the stable of Ilana Omo Oodua, written by columnist Bola Bolawole and quoting copiously from a rejoinder by the homeland chairman of Ilana Omo Oodua, Dr. Wale Adeniran, to an earlier article written by Bola Bolawole himself. In the said article, Bola Bolawole wrote, …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 Penultimate week I returned to my hometown, Owo; specifically for the 14th Foundation Day and 11th convocation ceremony of Achievers University, a private university founded and nurtured by Dr. Bode Ayorinde (Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council) and an erstwhile member of the House of …

Few weeks ago, alarm was raised by friends of one Abdulgafar Ahmad popularly known as Cute Abiola that he was missing after reporting for work at his office in Navy Town, Lagos. Nigerians were shocked to learn after two days of being declared missing that it was his employers, the …

Monday, 20 December, 2021) ‘The Man who looks history in the face’ is the title Professor Wole Soyinka put on the Foreword. Of course, “the man” here is Bisi Akande, the author of ‘My Participations‘, an autobiography that is roiling calm across Nigeria. Soyinka endorses the book and the content …

Globally, citizens of countries with democratic profiles are beginning to question the efficacy of democracy—especially democracy’s capacity to deliver the development agenda. A survey conducted by Pew Research shows that across 34 countries, a median of 52 per cent of those interviewed is dissatisfied with democracy. The dissatisfaction cuts across …

As Libya goes to the polls December 24, 2021, African countries under the aegis of the African union, AU are expected to play a major and important brotherly role to ensure a smooth, free and fair first democratic elections to hold in the history of Libya. It is very disappointing …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Last week’s “Akintoye: A response to critics” quoting Prof. Wale Adeniran, National Chairman of Ilana Omo Oduduwa (Oodua), IOO, on behalf of himself, the worldwide leader of Ilana, Prof. Banji Akintoye (the Alana), and other top-shot IOO executives, has drawn the ire of Mr. George Akinola, …

This Christmas is the last that Governor Kayode Fayemi will spend as the helmsman of Ekiti State. He happens to be term-limited and cannot seek further re-election as governor. Some of the other outgoing governors have had recourse to retire to the Senate. The leadership recruitment process in Nigeria has …

When he popped out of his mother’s womb 79 years ago in rustic Daura, now in Katsina State, nobody could have predicted that he would bestride the country, nay the world, like a colossus. Who could have predicted that a honest man, Mai Gaskiya, had come forth? Who could have …