Our Columnists
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Do Children Of Politicians In Power Make Sense?
The tweetstorm between the children of these leaders has only piled on the party’s misery, and what lies ahead doesn’t look pretty, especially after the PDP governors’ meeting in Ibadan.
It’s understandable if you have not paid attention. I can’t help noticing because minding other people’s business is a part of my job description. On Tuesday, the newspapers reported a spat between the children of two leading politicians, Mohammed Abubakar and Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed. Mohammed and Shamsudeen are the children of Atiku and Bala. Atiku […] More
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Fake Outrage And The Making Of The Uromi 16
When the state, expected to guarantee security and maintain law and order, abdicates its responsibility, turns a blind eye or becomes complicit, people take the law into their own hands.
It’s a most unlikely crime scene. I travelled by road from the Benin airport to Uromi, Esanland’s most significant town, for a wedding about three years ago. The fear of kidnappers is a constant worry for road users. I was nervous for nearly four hours of the taxi ride, especially as we turned off the […] More
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The Canary Is Sick, But Nigeria Can Survive
Trump’s tariff philosophy stems from core beliefs: that trade deficits represent significant economic losses for America, previous administrations struck unfavourable deals, and aggressive tariffs could extract concessions from trading partners.
You know there’s trouble when communist China tweets that America should act to protect capitalism. The Asian giant is hurting from President Donald Trump’s mission to extract gains through aggressive negotiation tactics against other countries. The world economic order is in turmoil because of one powerful actor. The canary that the miners depend on for […] More
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When Are You Going To Get A Proper Job?
It’s a chronicle of his 60 years in journalism, which helped me understand why he once told me that I’d be better off being a plumber than hoping to make money from syndicated writing.
He didn’t say when his father asked him, but I wonder what the old man must think in his grave. Jonathan Power is now 83 and arguably one of Europe’s most widely published columnists. He was a young freelance journalist when his father asked him the question. Still, even if he had lived to see […] More
More Columns
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Rasool Is Africa’s Missed Opportunity To Tackle The Bully
The anti-Pretoria lobby in the US has had it for South Africa for a long time, especially following that country’s stand against Israel in the ongoing war on Gaza.
The question is not where US President Donald Trump has not touched in less than 100 days in office. It is how the world is coping with the shock and devastation of his touch and the trail of chaos it is leaving behind. Because of its vulnerabilities, Africa was never far from Trump’s reach. When […] More
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Putiny! Growing Autocracy And Oligarchy In America
Americans and America’s allies are waking up to a new reality that nothing is beyond the reach of President Trump to tinker with or destroy.
America stands at a crossroads. The nation that has long prided itself as a beacon of democracy now faces an unprecedented challenge to its fundamental character, under its 47th President, Donald Trump, who is determined to refashion the US constitution as if it is one of his Trump towers. Feelings and expectations around the globe […] More
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Rivers State Emergency Rule: A Different View
Those opposed to the proclamation should say how to leave Fubara in place and extract the water of peace from the coconut of Rivers State without breaking the shell on the head of the people.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s proclamation of emergency rule in Rivers State on Tuesday surprised me for reasons different from those for which he has been severely criticised. The mildest criticism is that Tinubu’s failure to call the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to order was responsible for the crisis. The more severe […] More
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The Thing Between Godswill And Natasha
It is not Akpoti-Uduaghan’s right to a fair, impartial hearing alone that was at stake, even though the absence of that should have been sufficient to discredit her punishment.
Many years ago, when my teacher said nothing sells like sex, crime, and money, I didn’t fully understand what he meant. Yet, over the years, I’ve repeatedly seen that a judicious mix of these socio-economic ingredients is a spellbinder. Apart from the tragic news about banditry, the suspense in Rivers State, and the heightened prostitution […] More
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African Lessons Zelenskyy May Use In Ukraine
But as petty and detestable as Trump is, he was on point that it would be foolhardy to expect the current war to end without Ukraine giving up anything.
The live drama staged in the Oval Office on February 28 between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was such that Zelenskyy might never have rehearsed in all his former life as a comedian. Except that it wasn’t funny. It was unprecedented. You would need to go back 64 years to find […] More
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Babangida’s Revisionism Is A Giant Bowl Of Spaghetti
Those who sat in that room at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja to share Babangida’s lies at the public presentation of the biography represent the worst of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s former military leader, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), prepared a giant bowl of spaghetti and invited the rich and powerful all over Nigeria to witness him eat. The food was prepared first for the rich, and then disseminated on social media for common consumption. It preparation dated back to years of intricate scheming with ingredients […] More
