Opinion

  [email protected] 0705 263 1058 Great editors make great newspapers – Alhaji Nojeem Jimoh, the editor who recruited me into THE PUNCH, while congratulating me on the Supreme Court verdict of Friday, 14th June, 2019. Penultimate Friday, the Supreme Court, which is the apex court of the land, drove the …

[email protected] 0705 263 1058 Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State, has responded to this column’s “Eventually, Fayemi wins the argument…” of 9th June. In so doing, His Excellency, or his media handlers more appropriately, played clever by half, abandoning professionalism to the bargain. They sent their reply straight …

  [email protected] 0705 263 1058 With the late Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi 111’s rites of passage completed, the race for the selection and enthronement of another Olowo of Owo has started in earnest. I understand many princes from the royal family are interested in ascending to the throne. I used to …

President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure began with a low-key inauguration at the Eagle Square in Abuja, a scenario that decidedly flowed from the President’s persona of prudence. His kitchen cabinet’s counsel must have also been contributory. The observance of June 12’s maiden Democracy Day edition drew from the same spirit. …

Once again, unscrupulous politicians are beating the drums of secession. It’s not new. Whenever the political atmosphere seems charged, one potent way of extracting concessions from the other side is to play the ethnic or religious card. Reputable academics, professionals and politicians have been implicated in this crime of creating …

One would imagine that business papers like economic success stories; apparently not. Instead, they feast and thrive on negatives. Financial Times, for instance, is worried about a government policy that is enabling boom in rice production in Nigeria. And the Economist is panicky about toothpick manufacturers springing up following tariffs …

  Those who were young (men-about-town) in the 80s will remember the 1979 hit track by McFadden & Whitehead, titled Ain’t no stopping us now. The lyrics goes thus: Ain’t no stopping us now! We’re on the move! Ain’t no stopping us now! We’ve got the groove! And if you …

Same-sex marriage will, effective this Friday, be legalised in Taiwan, the first Asian nation to do so. President Tsai Ing-wen will assent to the bill passed by the country’s parliament last Friday. The news has delighted gay rights activists in Asia and other parts of the world. My reaction was to post …

  I do not look into crystal balls. That is not my preoccupation.  I certainly lack the endowment of predicting the future. That enterprise is better left to the confident fortune-tellers. Agreed it is their forte, there is the possibility of their getting it wrong sometimes and such times could …

[email protected] 0705 263 1058 Between the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who would you say is in the eye of the storm? Emir Sanusi is not new to controversies. In his days as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he …

The history of modern politics in Nigeria, especially since return to civil rule in 1999, cannot be written without generous space devoted to the personality of Right Honorable (Chief) Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi. Chief Amaechi is currently the Minister of Transportation and in the last general elections, was the Director General …

Nobody knows the actual population of Nigeria today.  Not even the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which intermittently releases figures knows. The foreigners, it seems, conduct censuses from their air-conditioned offices in New York. In its 2019 State of the World Population report about to be released, UNFPA says our population …

  [email protected]  0705 263 1058 As would be expected, a flurry of activities is hallmarking Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode’s last days in office. Last Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari was in Lagos on a one-day working visit during which he commissioned many signature projects of the Lagos State governor. Critics say the …

  [email protected]  0705 263 1058 “But let justice run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” – Amos 5:24. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… I must confess that I am not afraid of the word ‘tension’… Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it …

  April 12, the day set aside since 2012 as the International Day for Street Children, has come and gone. In our dear country, with its hustles and hassles, the day went largely unnoticed, barely reported and scarcely celebrated.The International Day for Street Children is meant to call attention to …

To borrow the words of colourful First Republic politician, Chief Ozumba Mbadiwe, “come has finally come to become” for President Muhammadu Buhari, as he has won election to serve a second term in office, after a pulsating contest. The country, nay, Africa, and the world looks forward to the inauguration …

Since he won the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state in 2015, he has been galloping from one crisis to the other which has greatly affected the fortunes of the party, including during the last general elections. Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has, indeed, found himself …

  [email protected] 0807 552 5533 News, last week, that some land-grabbers poisoned Opa Dam, the main source of water supply to the Obafemi Awolowo University (formerly the University of Ife), Ile-Ife, made me sick to the marrows. What has taken over this country? How bold has criminals and criminally-minded persons …

The post-election actions and inactions of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration in Enugu State in sustaining the tempo of peace and good governance have further demonstrated the governor’s sheer dexterity, vision, passion and commitment to rapid development of the state as well as the wellbeing of the people. Gov. Ugwuanyi who …

I first came in contact with Professor Edward Oparaoji in a hotel in Washington DC during the Peoples Mandate Party breakfast meeting addressed by Dr Arthur Nwankwo, the Chancellor of Eastern Mandate Union and Peoples Mandate Party presidential candidate in 2003 Nigeria elections. I have followed Professor Eddie’s antecedents as …

  Still smarting from the national embarrassment of topping the odious table of states that have not been able to keep fidelity to payment of workers’ salaries, which are in arrears of many months, Kogi State is once more in the news.  Again, for the very wrong reason! The three …

LAST week, I was trapped for hours on the Isolo-Apapa Expressway in an unprecedented traffic gridlock. Many lanes of the so-called expressway were seized by articulated vehicles especially trailers carrying containers and fuel tankers, forcing other vehicles to drive against the traffic, in an effort to move forward since most …

By Ayodele Oni At last, Ekiti state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, early this week forwarded to the State’s House of Assembly names of 14 persons to be appointed as commissioners. Two days after, the assembly, dominated by card carrying members of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) ratified the names. They are …

There are several Biblical Guides to  courage and victory in the face of extreme ungodly obstacles. One of such guides is the one recorded in Numbers that involved Caleb. As I tried to internalize the fundamentals of the victory of the Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and other PDP candidates in …

[email protected]  0705 263 1058 Last Friday’s decision of the Osun election petition tribunal to shoot down the All Progressives Congress and its “impostor” governor, Gboyega Oyetola, while affirming “dancing PDP Senator” Ademola Adeleke as the duly elected governor of ”The State of Osun” or the state better known for its “Osun …