Opinion

A diasporan commentator and friend of the house, who keeps regular tab on happenings at home from his UK base shared the following thoughts regarding the conversation on this page last week. He is passionately Nigerian and that prompted this follow-up. He wrote: “On the question of an alternative political …

Too many unusual events in politics point to the fact that democracy is under threat. A few events, some recent and others very current, will demonstrate this point. The first is Donald Trump, possibly the most controversial US president, who set democracy back when he refused to concede to President …

Monday, 9 October, 2023 The Charleston Gazette was an American newspaper that was born in 1907 but stopped bearing that name in 2015. One of the newspaper’s 1952 editions contained a piece with a clause that may have been written for Tinubu’s Nigeria: “Chicago, that’s an old Indian word meaning …

Ma’mi, Omo-Oba Adenuwesi, Omo Daniel Openibo, Omo Laura Adekunbi Kester,  Iyà mi ówòn, na so u take waka go?!… Just like that?!! What a long walk in life into eternity?! What a long walk with you Ma’mi!?! So so long Ma’mi!!!.. Watching you pass away slowly in your last 7 …

  Those who follow History know that George Agbazika Innih, the first Afenmai man who occupied Osadebay House following the exit of a governor from today’s Edo South Senatorial Zone, spent less than 12 months in office before he was redeployed. This should be of interest to the embattled deputy …

Introduction: Africa, with its burgeoning young population, stands at a critical juncture in history. As the continent experiences an unprecedented demographic transition, it possesses a unique opportunity to invest in its teeming youth and leverage their potential as drivers of technological solutions. By doing so, Africa can address the multifaceted …

BIOGRAPHY   Our mother, Omo-Oba, Ezinne Okwukwe, Madam Motolani Adenuwesi Mercy Onyebeadi [nee OPENIBO], was a wonderful and very exceptional woman. Having crossed the various boundaries and diverse stations in life with all its trepidations, tribulations, trials, challenges, and triumphs; and, having survived them all till her last breath on earth, …

  Barrister Bello Muhammad Goronyo, as he would later come to be known, hailed from a family tree that reached back to the very foundations of the Sokoto Caliphate. Born in Goronyo, Sokoto State, his lineage traces its ancestry to the great Sheik Usmanu Bin Fodio, the visionary founder of …

In a country of 133 million multidimensional poor, with youth unemployment at 53.40 percent, it would be a pity if anyone looking for an opportunity to earn a living missed the chance to hear the Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma recently. In a campaign speech for his second term, Uzodimma …

There is a Chinua Achebe International Airport in Anambra State. It was a spectacular masterstroke from Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo when he renamed the Anambra Airport at Umueri after Chinua Achebe. The ovation that Soludo got when he made the announcement in his speech at the 63rd Nigerian Independence Anniversary …

The 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78) may have come and gone but the debates and the representations by the global leaders continue to shape the path to commitments and development. In his opening remark, the UN Secretary-General said, “action is what the world needs”. That, indeed, …

The enemy is constantly at work in the mind, manifesting as fears, anxieties, sadness, and worries. One must learn to refuse to accept the deceptive claims of the adversary that someone is holding your fate. The opponent may tell you that someone is to blame for your shortcomings, but do …

02 October 2023  Kayode Fayemi Politicians and scholars are calling for a review of the variant of democracy that is in vogue in Africa, where citizens don’t get rewarded with a better life and the electoral process becomes something like magic, such that it becomes easier to take a voyage …

Monday, 2 October, 2023 Where witches contend and exchange punches, mere men do not stand by to watch. But part of the job of a journalist is to see and report; sometimes he runs commentaries on bouts – not minding if the pugilists are gods or principalities. There is an …

The Economist Intelligence Unit 2009 ranked Nigeria in the world’s top five most diverse countries. It simultaneously ranked the country as the 45th of 47 countries sustaining national diversity. Diversity management and inclusiveness are essential and contentious issues in Nigeria today as it was in 1960. As acknowledged by President Tinubu in a recent foreign …

October 1, 2023hhhhy;gt Humour and laughter often serve as a powerful tool in driving home words that may otherwise be difficult to communicate. An example is Nigeria celebrating her 63rd anniversary and yet enmeshed in several dysfunctions that cannot be explained. One of the many popular jokes about the Nigerian …

In the Bible, Keren-happuch was the youngest of the three beautiful daughters of Job, who against the norms of a patriarchal society, inherited her father’s vast latter-day wealth along with her two other sisters. But in the sometimes inexplicable twist of fate, this is the story of another Keren-happuch whose …

Federal Republic of Fiction @ 63 The country’s Constitution has been transferred to a new shelf in the library: the shelf containing fictional works. The latter-day patriots of Nigeria can cry all they want against me, but in this instance I only choose to stand solidly in solidarity with the …

A discourse was held in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, last week, to enrich perspectives on the growing notion of a shrinking civic space and how citizens have duties and responsibilities to make the space inclusive and liveable. The parley was at the instance of Niger Delta Budget …

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, formerly called Anambra State University, has come of age. Metamorphosing from a polytechnic in 1995, and transiting to a university in the year 2000, there is no doubt it has played great roles in churning out great men and women who are already impacting positively on …

President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, in their first 100 days in office, hold the record of the most travelled presidency since 1999. The President’s first trip abroad was to France to participate in the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact. Next was attending the ECOWAS summit …

Monday, 25 September, 2023 President Bola Tinubu gave our country’s Minister of Defence and Minister of State, Defence to the North; he gave the North Minister of Police Affairs and Minister of State, Police Affairs; he gave the North Minister of Education and Minister of State, Education; he gave the …

September 24, 2023 When Chief Obafemi Awolowo died in 1987, amid a deluge of musical tributes in his honour, a line among those offerings stood out, evergreen. Sang by Fuji music lord, Kollington Ayinla, while extolling Awolowo’s panegyrics, he sang: “ookan ile l’osa gbe, Baba Yinka//eyin t’o funfun kii gbe …

Back in time Nigeria owned the world record in coup-plotting by the khaki boys of the military. Now coups happen in other lands like Niger, Gabon, Burkina Faso etc., and Nigeria has taken up the duty of flushing out the coup makers in other lands. Let me here recall the …

This is a freedom manifesto for the captured people of Nigeria offered in autobiographical form… I invoke the Spirit of Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jnr, and Nelson Mandela in calling for isolation of the captured State in Nigeria with sanctions as we called for under Abacha… I shall commit …