Our Columnists
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From The Mouth Of His Lordship
If there is no dichotomy in the status of residents, and they have no exclusive proprietary right over and above citizens anywhere in the country, how can they claim a casting vote that holds the country to ransom at elections?
It’s not often that you meet Supreme Court justices, serving or retired. I first met retired Justice Sunday Akinola Akintan casually at a reception in Abuja, for my friend and radical lawyer, Yinka Olumide-Fusika, who had been admitted to the inner bar. Then, we met again about one year later, this time, through his book. […] More
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Obaseki And Shaibu Deserve Each Other
The bad blood between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, is so bitter and so strong it has spilled beyond Osadebe House in Benin, splattering as far as Abuja courts, and daily smearing the front pages of newspapers.
It’s more than one year to the next governorship election in Edo State, which prides itself on being the “heartbeat of the nation”. But in a maelstrom that has forced the state’s heart to beat faster than is good for it, you would be forgiven to think the election is tomorrow. The bad blood […] More
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The New MMIA Terminal, A Symbol Of Nigeria’s Problems
As a result, many airlines, mostly the European and American, have had to stay at the older Terminal 1, the eyesore, which has more apron space.
The story fits a nutshell. Nigeria built a billion-dollar airport terminal that is too small for most of the aircraft it was intended to house, resulting in underutilisation and a facility unfit for use or purpose. The terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos was a much-anticipated project. Designed to be […] More
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Saving Abuja From Wike, Really?
Framing Wike as an urban bulldozer misses the point. Abuja needs salvation not from Wike but from decades of elite abuse.
Abuja is not in a hurry to change. However, in a city famous for its bad habits fostered by wayward politicians, I think the dial may have moved a bit in the right direction. It’s hard to say if this slight movement has been fortuitous, or whether it had anything to do with the threat […] More
More Columns
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Gas Car Rigmarole, Questions Tinubu Can’t Ignore
As surely as big money never fails to follow big talk in conspiracies that often end in heart-breaking scandals, the Central Bank offered N250 billion to “support” the NNPC’s gas car value chain.
It was not meant to be this way. But like a good number of things Nigerian, the story is hardly complete without a twist in the tale. And so it has been for at least three years now with the story of the gas car that was supposed to lessen, if not end, Nigerians’ petrol […] More
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The King’s Anointed
We are likely going to see fundamental shifts in the nation’s economic structure that may result in prosperity and opportunities, but a lack of intentionality to harm the saprophytic political establishment may weaken the far-reaching impact of policies.
Nearly three months into his term, we now have a better grasp of the type of President Mr. Bola Tinubu may turn out to be. I am seeing a leader who has a great ambition, who can shake the foundations of the oppressive economic structure, but who is probably too beholden to his political […] More
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Engaging Nigerien Military President Is Like Having Sex with Someone You Hate
How do you talk with a man who not only despises your election and questions the legitimacy of other regional leaders, but one who has also spurned your emissaries and is openly rallying other scoundrels against you and the regional body?
A good number of people, including me, seems opposed to Nigeria leading the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to war in Niger. In one of the most telling anti-war metaphors, a Nigerian columnist and Editor, Lasisi Olagunju, likened military intervention to rubbing buttocks with the porcupine. Doves everywhere are flying the flag […] More
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Death In The Elevator
The young medical doctor did what she risked every day by using a defective elevator at the General Hospital in Odan, Lagos Island, which finally gave up and gave her up to death.
For Vwaere Diaso, August 1, 2023, was just another day at the hospital as she edged closer to completing her housemanship. Two more weeks and she may have lived but it was the day of her departure from the land of the living. The young medical doctor did what she risked every day by using […] More
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Tinubu’s List, Gbaja-nisation And Nigeria’s Politics
It is concerning, however, that at a time when Tinubu needs a strong inner circle to get things done, reports of a civil war, with his Chief of Staff at the heart of it, continue to engulf his government.
If President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hit the ground running, it was because problems chased him into office. Yet, it wasn’t long before he tripped on a matter in which his genius has been acknowledged: forming his cabinet. One of his credentials for eight years as governor of Lagos, and even outside public office for […] More
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Again, A Bizarre Joke in Niger Speaks French
Apart from the worn-out reasons of “deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance” given by the coup plotters, other familiar reasons have ranged from jihadist insurgencies to corruption and poverty; and from high birth rate to desertification.
Not only are military coups becoming frighteningly frequent in West and Central Africa, virtually all of them, it appears, also speak French. For the fifth time in three years in West Africa, soldiers struck again in Niger, Nigeria’s Northern neighbour, where former President Muhammadu Buhari had teasingly longed for refuge from Nigeria’s hostile press. With […] More
