The Daily Times we wish for, but can’t have, by Azu Ishiekwene
The piece by columnist and former Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian, Martins Oloja, entitled “Why Should We Celebrate Daily Times @ 100, FRCN @ 75?”, published on September 5, was an angry one. And Oloja had many good reasons to be angry. Daily Times, Nigeria’s newspaper of record, was 100 years old on June 1, […]
Is there a backstory to Wale Edun’s exit? By Azu Ishiekwene
The short answer is yes – but there’s a long answer. There is, in fact, more than one inside story about why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu removed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun. The online newspaper Premium Times published multiple likely versions in a single story. The biggest issue, according […]
Amupitan’s yanga wakes trouble, by Azu Ishiekwene
Six months after his appointment as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan appears determined to beat the record of Professor Maurice Iwu as the most mistrusted electoral administrator yet. Iwu, a professor of Pharmacognosy (the study of medicinal plants), also had the distinction of managing Nigeria’s worst elections in 2007. […]
Adelabu’s power lines as laundry lines, by Azu Ishiekwene
In many parts of the country, the rains poured down earlier in the week, bringing much physical and psychological relief from the searing heat. The absence of electricity from public supply channels made it worse. Average daytime temperatures throughout March ranged from 33 degrees to 38 degrees centigrade in Lagos and Abuja, respectively. Nigeria’s public electricity […]
Obi’s transition from serious contender to Mascot, by Azu Ishiekwene
Friends, admirers, and the “Obidient” fanbase of the former Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, love to call him by the sobriquet “Okwute,” which in Igbo, Nigeria’s third-largest socio-linguistic group, means rock, boulder, or stone. Quite a nice alias – especially if you associate some doctrinal nuances of Obi’s faith with his first name, […]
ADC’s problem is ADC, not APC, by Azu Ishiekwene
This is the last thing the African Democratic Congress, ADC, wants to hear, but it has to be said, even if the party digs its thumbs in its ear. It began with the party’s delayed registration. When things were not moving as quickly as the early defectors, mostly from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had expected, […]
