Category: OPINION

By Chuks Iloegbunam Author of several books and popular newspaper columnist, Chief Chuks Iloegbunam characterizes the 2023 national polls as a presidential election to thrash calamity. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is – of the 18 candidates in the February 25, 2023, presidential election – the least deserving of the exulted office. His candidacy is, to be charitable, an affront to decent political sensibilities on all sides of the world. Yet, he appears to trend in the media more than all other aspiring tenants of Aso Rock. Why? The answer lies at…

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What is going on in Imo State is a fratricidal war by determined political forces. Imo has become the Hobbesian state of nature characterised by violence of all against all. And this mess can only get worse because violence begets violence. By Ikechukwu Amaechi “This is to notify the general public that this may be my last acts as a human as my house in Umukegwu Akokwa is under heavy attack currently. As I pen this, all the cars in my house have been set ablaze and there is heavy…

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By Ori Martins Let the truth be told. Before 25 years ago, Mbutu in Aboh Mbaise used to be derided as an evil coven and their people regarded as cove. Our elders and leaders told us while we were growing up in the 1970s never to have anything in common or associate with Mbu. Without asking questions, we strictly adhered to that divisive and condemnable piece of advice. Yet, that time or as we later discovered, Mbutu was preparing ingeniously albeit surreptitiously to conquer both Mbaise and Imo State as…

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By Henry Chigozie Duru On 26th December 2022 is exactly one year after the death of a Catholic cleric, scholar, teacher, musician, traditional medicine practitioner and advocate of tolerance, Rev. Fr. Dr. Raymond Chukwunyelugwu Arazu, CSSp. Being a man of many parts, Fr. Arazu represented different things to different people. To me, he was a mentor and great motivator, hence the prompting to pen down this tribute. Arazu was born on May 27, 1939, to a Christian couple in Ihiembosi in the present Ekwusigo local government area of Anambra State.…

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By Onwuasoanya Jones Ordinarily, it is advised that respect is accorded to individuals who have managed to achieve some success in any meaningful endeavour, more so when such success came in the world of business, where it is expected that it takes more than a mere flash of luck, but some dedicated work, creativity, and a great measure of discipline. However, in Nigeria, many multibillionaires didn’t need any of those qualities, especially in the ignominious days of the military, when all you needed was a good word put across on…

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‘The beginning of a thing is not as interesting as its end. All things being equal, last week’s Christmas message would be the last from…’ By Tunde Asaju The beginning of a thing is not as interesting as its end. All things being equal, last week’s Christmas message would be the last from Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president. This last lap, as it should be, is stocktaking time and the president appeared to have found the meaning of change in the dictionary. The president seems ready to engage with the…

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By Uche Anichukwu I have read the rejoinder to my piece “Pinnacle Oil and Gas: The Limits of Propaganda”, which was my counter-narrative on the propaganda dished out to Ndi Enugu on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Dr. Peter Mbah and Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd. E dey sweet me no be small because the writer was honest enough to admit that I am a principled and “decent man”. Forget the fact that he/she claimed that I lied in my account of Dr. Mbah and Pinnacle’s Road to…

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It is funny that while the press found it quite easy and convenient to scapegoat the Qatari government on migrant labour, it has maintained a hypocritical silence on Western companies in Qatar that are the main employers and beneficiaries of migrant labour. By Azu Ishiekwene The shenanigans were always there, but until FIFA president, Infantino Giovanni, called them out in his down-to-earth press conference in Qatar, they remained the elephant in the room. The hint of displeasure goes back 12 years ago when Qatar won the bid, defeating Australia, Japan,…

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A phalanx of anti-Obi surrogates were already coalescing, holding court in the social media with the hope that Okupe’s travails would significantly diminish Obi, making him a shrunken presence on the political landscape. By Ikechukwu Amaechi This week has been dramatic for both the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. While the party’s campaign train, which has become the rave of the moment, headed South-South, a zone that promises to be a battleground in the 2023 elections, the very soul of the movement, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Director…

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Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (in white middle) with security chiefs By Steve Oruruo Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) of Calcutta, the Indian-Albanian Catholic saint once said that “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” These timeless profound words provide a philosophical lens through which earth’s long gruesome history of insecurity could be appraised. Bottomless greed and maniacal quest for global domination triumphed over love for each other when nations bore arms and spilled blood like soulless ghouls in the…

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