Category: OPINION

By Suyi Ayodele In my place, we say one vegetable does not chase another out of the plate. South-South’s Edikang Ikong soup is a practical illustration of that saying on inclusiveness. Has northern Nigeria ever heard of this other saying among the Yoruba? Should Ogedengbe (Ijesha war General) be tending his ware of beads while Aduloju (Ado Ekiti war leader) is exhibiting his guns and bullets at same time? (Sé é ye kí Ògèdèngbé maà pa àte ìlèkè, kí Adúlójú maá pa àte ìbon ní Adó Èwí?). This caution speaks…

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By Godwin Adindu An orphan has no father, no mother and, at times, no siblings. Governor Alex Otti, unarguably, passes as the metaphor of an orphan in power. He is the only surviving Labour Party Governor and Abia State the only state flagging the flag of the Labour Party (LP). An orphan, by the circumstances of his life, is the only continuation of the bloodline of his ancestry. Today, Governor Alex Otti is the only orphan transmitting the gene of the movement for the rebirth of a nation; for Labour…

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By Emeka Alex Duru You would notice some discomfort by certain individuals and groups from the northern part of the country over the Federal Government’s plan to relocate the Headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) and some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos. The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) have been championing the agitation against the move. Next are the senators from the zone. In a bid to sound patriotic, the groups lace their arguments with sentiments of saving cost…

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By James Imoru Being a beacon of integrity in an abundantly blessed but criminally managed, consciously monetized society like Nigeria can be daunting. Ask the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) boss, Ahmed Lawan Kuru. Confronting the hawks who wrecked the banking sector with unpaid loans and thus forced the creation of the corporation in the first place is not just a daunting task; it is an assignment strewn with perils, including lawfare and media wars by profiteers from the people’s pain, the friends, and enablers of criminals. For one…

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By Suyi Ayodele My sense of patriotism would not allow me to call Nigeria a failed nation. Yet, everything points in that direction. Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State warned as far back as March 2022 that a dollar would exchange for a thousand Naira. They called him names. What is the situation today?  I asked Google this question: “What are the indices of a failed nation? This is the answer the search engine gave: “Common indicators include a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective that it…

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By Ikeddy Isiguzo Muhammadu Buhari, former President of Nigeria, has no spartan expectations when he is praised. Forget his ditters. Buhari glows in the glories of the gamut of his failures. He still only cares for himself. When he turned up for the public presentation of “Walking With Buhari”, Femi Adeshina’s reflections on being his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Buhari was stiff, smug, distant, and bore the same askance that saw Nigeria dither for eight years under him. “Without documentation, revisionism wins. Human beings often have short memories, and…

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By Emmanuel Gandu Prophecy? “If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria” – Buhari. This is Muhammadu Buhari who had said this repeatedly during the build up to the 2015 general elections. And just like he prophesied, Nigeria failed to kill corruption hence corruption turned around to kill Nigeria under Buhari’s watch. Introduction Here was a man who in both his private and public life had shunned corruption to embrace and maintain strict discipline. Here was a man who had been a military governor, a General Officer Commanding,…

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By Felix Ofou Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in the 2023 election in Delta State, is a man known for many words and causing hysteria. He is one man driven by ego and does not care what happens to other people. And unless you are willing to lick his often-dirty boots, the Oginibo, Ughelli South born lawyer, turned politician is likely to declare you persona non grata. Because he is also a man given to high drama and calling attention to himself, no…

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By C. Don Adinuba Chukwuemeka Pius Ezeife, Anambra State governor from January 1992 to November 1993 who died last month at 86, hauled himself up by the bootstraps and became an embodiment of progress. He took to apprentice trading on leaving primary school owing to paucity of funds. Yet, before anyone knew it, he had obtained a doctorate in economics from Harvard, becoming a lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda. At the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, he re-joined the federal civil service, retiring as a permanent…

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By Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim The big story this week is that the Nigerian government has suspended the evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from universities in neighbouring Benin and Togo. The announcement comes a few days after an undercover report by Daily Nigerian exposed certificate racketeering from a university in Benin. The suspension, according to the ministry, stands pending the outcome of an investigation involving the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education of Nigeria and the two countries as well as the State Security Service (SSS) and the NYSC. It…

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