Our Columnists
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Ribadu’s Storm Over Canada Visa Refusal
If the country’s status has moved from visa-on-arrival up to the early 1970s in many Commonwealth (and even non-Commonwealth countries) to a status of cautious admission and even outright hostility toward ranking government officials, Ribadu does not need to invoke hell.
Many Nigerians experience visa refusal daily. They don’t need the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to invoke hell against any country to make the point. Unfortunately, Ribadu’s fury after the Canadian High Commission refused visas to Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa and other officials for the winter Invictus Games in Vancouver Whistler […] More
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Understanding The Nonsense About State Creation
States are not in short supply, yet because of primordial greed, the campaign for more will not abate until each of Nigeria’s 350 ethnic nationalities has one.
Many years ago, when my son was completing paperwork for a job with the Lagos State government, he was required to fill out a form that included his State of Origin. He paused. It had been marked a compulsory field, and he wanted to know if not filling it would affect his chances. I said […] More
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From America First To America Alone: The Lab Meets The Street
He has hinted at annexing a sovereign country, criminalised migration, and dragged his largest trading partners, including his neighbours, to the negotiation table at gunpoint.
It’s nearly 20 years since Mark Steyn wrote a non-fiction book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. Steyn, a Canadian newspaper columnist, could not have known that the kicker of this book title, which extolled America as the last bastion of civilisation as we know it, would become the metaphor […] More
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Preparing For Trump Deportation Copycats In Europe
Regrettably, Trump is inspiring copycats around the world, and it won’t be long before they start following his example, especially his anti-immigration hysteria.
I can understand if many people outside the US wish to forget about President Donald Trump and get on with their lives. However hard you try, you can’t keep up with the chaos in the White House since January 20. It would be a defamation of the animal kingdom to call Trump a bull in […] More
More Columns
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Trump’s Message From God For Africa
Trump’s America First policy means the continent may have to look out for itself, which it does poorly even at the best times.
It’s hard to argue when U.S. President Donald Trump says that God saved him to save America. Not only is a rational argument often suspended or lost when God enters the matter, but Trump’s return as the 47th president defies logic. A leader’s job is never done. But how do you rationally explain Kamala Harris’s […] More
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Trump, Again…
Only exceptionalism could produce an Obama and eight years later produce a Trump – the one neo-liberal and the other neo-anything-is-possible.
On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th President of the U.S., on January 19, 2017, I wrote an article I could easily write now. It was entitled “A Memory of America on Obama’s Last Day.” With minor edits, it’s worth repeating as Trump happens again as the 47th President of the U.S. […] More
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What You Might Expect In 2025
To stave off social discontent from hardship, governments at all levels must invest more in the weak and vulnerable, especially the growing army of urban youths who will drift more into cybercrimes in significant numbers this year.
“Arsenal fans are currently over the moon, testosterone pumping – and why not? The story will not change in 2024… the odds are not in Arsenal’s favour… My forecast is that despite setting his ducks in a row, (Godwin) Obaseki’s candidate would lose in September. His biggest undoing would be the large army of political […] More
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A Nation At War: Five Days In Israel
It’s a measure of Israel’s resilience that, despite the war and disagreements even within Israel about how best to handle the war and the return of the remaining 100 hostages, despite a Hamas information machinery that brooks neither dissent nor filters, Israel is still standing.
Perhaps three will be the lucky number. After at least two previous failed attempts, a peace deal between Israel and Hamas might be reached by January 20 or in the early days of Donald Trump’s second term. Or… It’s a matter of perhaps, with a big P. Optimism is a rare commodity in a region […] More
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Back Story Of Tinubu Interview
Among the unaired questions were whether the President considered Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a political liability and whether direct payments to the local governments were not a derogation of the principle of federalism, which recognises the centre and the states as the fundamental constituent units of the federation.
Apart from General Sani Abacha, I have met one-on-one with every Nigerian leader since 1992, from General Ibrahim Babangida. However, I have only participated in one televised live group media chat with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. If you have met Obasanjo before – whether for an interview or anything else – you might agree that […] More
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Babalola vs Farotimi: The Tiger And The Cat
What began as a property dispute and a controversial book has escalated into a landmark case that challenges fundamental principles of free speech, legal procedure and institutional integrity.
When legal titans clash, the pillars of justice tremble. Such is the case in Nigeria today, where a high-profile confrontation between Afe Babalola, a venerable 95-year-old legal luminary, and Dele Farotimi, a vocal activist-lawyer, has exposed deep fractures in the nation’s legal and democratic systems. What began as a property dispute and a controversial book […] More
