Opinion

I read Camara Laye’s ‘A Dream of Africa‘ in secondary school. I still see the sky-high gate of his walled Africa; the murderous giants and guards; the cowering captives, terrorized and traumatized in their condemned prisoners cells. I remember the homicidal, militant ‘nationalists’ and the ‘revolutionary’ tyrants. I see homelands …

Recently Prof Attahiru Jega, former INEC chairman, shared his thoughts on the amended electoral Act that is yet to be signed into law. His views are important because he is considered an insider and has midwifed an electoral process reasonably regarded as credible by Nigerian standard. Prof Jega’s central thesis …

Email:alex.otti@thisdaylive.com “It is not enough to be up to date; you have to be up to tomorrow” David Ben-Gurion, Israeli Statesman On October 7, 2021, the President presented the 2022 budget, to the joint session of the National Assembly. It was christened “Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability”. For the …

Issues surrounding the poor state,  abject neglect and dilapidation of students hostels at the nation’s premier indigenous university, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka  (UNN), is not new. But the ripple effect of the expose by Arise Television, more especially, the comments by Dr. Reuben Abati, have continued to resonate writes …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Last week I published Prof. Omotoye Olorode’s somewhat of a rejoinder to two of my columns (“As OAU prepares for its 60th Anniversary – 1” published in my “Treasures” column on the back page of the New Telegraph newspaper of Wednesday, April 14, 2021), which he …

In October 2020, young people across Nigeria took to the streets calling for disbanding an abusive police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and for ending brutality in a movement tagged #EndSARS. As part of the protest, rampaging ENDSARAS youths besieged the palace of the Oba of Lagos …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” – Aristotle. Those who profess to favour freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; …

Exposing secrets in the public interest is gradually gaining public acceptance and appreciation. It is also a testament to how technology has further reduced the world to a global village. The men and women who do such exposé are “whistle blowers “, “information insurgents” and, in a more civil language …

Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu By Tatalo Alamu on October 17, 2021 To the iconic Lagos Airport Hotel’s Banquet Hall this past Tuesday to bear historic witness as a gale of tributes showered on a great naval hero and a worthy associate of almost fifty years: Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu, former military governor of Imo …

Monday, 18 October, 2021) Today’s party politics and adultery have same rule of engagement: there is no commitment to fidelity and conjugal permanence. We are in this thing for a reason and it is for a season. It is not till-death-do-us-part. We respect political seminaries abroad thinking they are homes …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 The “rejoinder” you are about to read, titled “Deepening neglect of public-funded education in Nigeria: OAU students’ protests as a metaphor”, was written by Prof. Omotoye Olorode, one of my mentors at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in response to the latest …

At Independence in 1960, the country Nigeria rested on a tripod of East, West and North. By 1963, the tripod was further adjusted to rest on a more stable four legs of East, West, Midwest and North. So, while the North remained just one Region, the South had three Regions …

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is an honest man. Whatever he tells you, please take it serious. You can even take it to the bank, as it’s a cheque that will never bounce. Last weekend in London, while speaking with top officials of the Nigerian High Commission, VP Osinbajo said of …

Now let me be clear. The reason for this piece is two-fold. Firstly, to call out Udom Emmanuel for the blatant and malicious lie that he met the Uyo-Ikot Ekpene Road at 20 percent completion; secondly, Udom Emmanuel’s ingratitude and continued disdain for a man whom God used to bring …

Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Tanzanian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature last week has a very interesting definition of honour. He says it means “respect yourself (so that) others will come to respect you.” That is from his ‘Paradise’ – a ‘narrative reversal’ of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness.’ Every …

The public sector in Nigeria is not a hopeless case, as we are sometimes all made to believe. It may not be effective and efficient. And this reflects on the quality of services – whether you need a permit to operate your business, taking a jab for Covid 19, going …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 The Presidency or, better still, the Attorney-General of the Federal Government and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has reportedly threatened Anambra state with a state of emergency; his ostensible reason being the killing spree ongoing in the entire South-east region, Anambra inclusive. Some have attributed the …

The recent statement credited to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami revealing the possibility of the Federal Government (FG) to invoke a state of emergency in Anambra State is a political gambit that should be roundly rejected by all lovers of genuine democracy. It is …

October 8, 2021 A 44-year-old woman is at the verge of quitting her marriage because her husband is tired of continuously “wasting his time, energy and body fluids” without any child to show for it. Getting him to sleep with his wife who is desperately and anxiously waiting on God …

Series of reactions have typically attended the October 1 broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari to mark the 61st anniversary of our Independence Day. These include the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. That’s democracy in action, with its propensity and predilections for freedom of speech. My motive in this …

The Attorney General of the Federation flew a kite today to the effect that the Federal Government may declare a state of emergency, “to ensure necessary security is provided, and in terms of ensuring protection is accorded to lives and properties”. This is towards the forthcoming governorship election, especially “if …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 For the umpteenth time, peace at the Obafemi Awolowo University (formerly the University of Ife), Ile-Ife was shattered last week as the students trooped into the streets to protest the very sad, very unfortunate, and very untimely death of one of their colleagues, 24-year-old Omowumi Aishat …

Introduction Elaborate funerals are the kind of funerals that we are familiar with in southern and central Nigeria. They are more commonly called expensive funerals. The term elaborate is preferred here because it better depicts the process of burying the dead in these places. The funerals are elaborate because they …

Igboland is the new home of Hades, lord of death and king of the underworld. The land writhes in pains as rough men roast it for supper. Vultures have descended on its forests; hawks feed on its cities. Every dove there is in fearful flight. There is no sacred bird …

Sixty-one years ago ,there were celebrations across the length and breadth of Nigeria. In every hue and corner of this developing nation, people were brimming with happiness at the prospect of this new nation – a nation born with heavy birth pangs and the struggles of leaders of the time …