Our Columnists
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With PMB As Moving Spirit. NSA Monguno Leaves Footprints On The Sands Of Time
President Buhari used the opportunity of the commissioning to reflect on the general security situation in the country, and the landmarks achieved.
A landmark event happened in Abuja on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned two architectural wonders at the Office of the National Security Adviser’s Complex at the Three Arms Zone area of the Federal Capital Territory. One was the National Counterterrorism Centre, and the other the new offices of the National Security Adviser […] More
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in ColumnsLouis Odion: The Matter Of ‘Capacity’
Capacity was a columnist that other columnists had to read, especially on politics and current affairs.
Sometimes it feels like we have been childhood friends. That we have known each other forever. For over 30 years since our paths crossed, I can’t remember how many times I’ve called him “Louis,” much less “Louis Osaretin Odion.” Even now, it feels awkward to write it. I call him by the name that the […] More
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in ColumnsDemocracy Is Not Perfect
But taken as a whole, the outcome illustrates a ground-breaking election in which the numbers tell a story of improvement and less of rigging on a large scale as in the previous elections.
Many Nigerians are seething with rage because the election did not go as expected. On the day that I wrote this article, one of the trending videos on WhatsApp in Nigerian groups was that of a “Yoruba man” who tore up his Nigerian passport because the nation did not live up to his expectations about […] More
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The ‘Good Disappointment’ We Want
As we concluded the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, the first being attended and chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari since conclusion of the Presidential election held on February 25, he responded to congratulations on the largely successful polls.
It’s the figure of speech called oxymoron in literature, isn’t it? When you talk of a ‘good disappointment.’ When apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction, it is called an oxymoron. When you have antithetical words with opposing meanings coming together. Examples: ‘A gentleman of the road.’ ‘A honest thief.’ ‘Why, then, O brawling love” (Shakespeare, […] More
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INEC Server And Other Election Day Stories
Even with the bimodal machine, however, ballot papers will still have to be sorted, collated, counted and the results recorded manually, signed by agents and the polling unit officer, before the result sheet can be uploaded.
For the third time since 1999, I voted at a general election on February 25 and did so without much hassle. I knew my candidates would lose at the unit where I voted, but that didn’t matter. Voting mattered more. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) processed me so quickly it was almost like magic. […] More
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Osinbajo: A Leader For All Seasons
Osinbajo has been the Buhari government’s face-of-the-youth, rallying them, speaking to and for them on all things – from crypto to ICT and innovations.
Trying to fit him into a mold can be sometimes problematic. I have always thought of him as a teacher and mentor. And later, only much later, as a friend. For over three decades he has been more than enough in each of these roles. My path with Dr. Yemi Osinbajo, as he then was, […] More
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Identity Politics, A Clear Danger To Nigeria
The country is still recovering from the scars of previous ethnic and religious conflicts, and another one may be fatal.
The politics of identity which millions of Nigerians voters swallowed going into the 2023 presidential election is a dangerous prescription capable of ripping apart the country’s fledging but maturing democracy. If Nigerians allow the invasion of these worst elements of democracy, we may have to bid peace, merit and progress a farewell. Many things were […] More
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What Really Matters To Obasanjo
He has mastered make-belief uber-patriotism over the years, cultivating this ruse into an art form that disguises his large ego.
The last thing he wants to hear is that he desires anything other than what is good for Nigeria. Hero of Nigeria’s civil war; former military president who supervised the first-post war transition to civilian rule; two-term civilian president; and a much sought-after African leader, Olusegun Obasanjo considers it beneath his status to suggest he […] More
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Nigerians Stay Awake! Obasanjo And ‘Owners Of Nigeria’ Plotting Another June 12
There is clearly no basis — whether legal or moral — to cancel an election which, on the whole, has been adjudged by the Commonwealth Observer Group as a significant improvement on all previous elections.
One read with bewilderment, even a sense of dark foreboding, the statement by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday calling for the cancellation“of all elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test” during the Saturday (February 25) presidential elections. We have always known Chief Obasanjo to harbour anti-democratic proclivities. But never did one […] More
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I Saw The Old NNPC Die
For more than two decades, Federal Government conceived the idea to turn NNPC into a company, and came up with the Petroleum Industry Bill, which would revolutionise the entire oil industry.
I was witness to history on Friday last week. I’d been invited to attend what was called NNPC Cutover Ceremony at the corporate head office of the burgeoning National Energy Company in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. What did the event mean, in simple English. NNPC was completing its transmutation from a Corporation to a Limited […] More
