What shall we do about South Africa? By Azu Ishiekwene
If South Africa needed any serious signal that the mobs roaming the streets of its cities and townships in search of immigrants were a disgrace, the FIFA World Cup in June 2026 provided a large screen. But the country is not looking. Or it is looking but cannot see. In the last three years, according […]
Editors and the missing part of Uzodimma’s trust story, by Azu Ishiekwene
When I saw the programme for the 2025 Nigerian Guild of Editors annual conference listing Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as the keynote speaker, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Uzodimma has been in the press mainly for the wrong reasons. As one of Nigeria’s leading journalists and public intellectuals, Reuben Abati said on a […]
Why Is the Promise of 60 Years Unravelling? By Azu Ishiekwene
If the name of the chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), its secretary, or convention date were the subject of a quiz, there would not be a correct answer because answers don’t exist. The best attempt would be an open-ended response: It depends. It either depends on who has the latest favourable court ruling or who […]
The log in America’s eye, by Azu Ishiekwene
Apart from tariffs, another word that the Trump presidency is fond of is genocide. First, it was South Africa. During South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House last May, President Donald Trump played a video suggesting that white South Africans were under genocidal attack. It was a fake video, of course, but Ramaphosa […]
Aparutu and his life coach, by Azu Ishiekwene
Putting it nicely, Aparutu is the Yoruba word for a joker, a clown. In August 1986, when I first arrived at the wooden, fabricated office of PUNCH in Kudeti, Ikeja, Lagos, for a vacation job, that was how the editor then, Alhaji Najeem Jimoh, referred to me: Aparutu. He wasn’t being mean or harsh. That just […]
Of Trump, peace deals and the day after, by Azu Ishiekwene
US President Donald Trump may be getting ahead of himself with the encouraging signs that, following the ceasefire in Gaza, the world might have another opportunity to end the Middle East crisis, one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. It was a conflict in which Trump took sides with Israel – vetoing resolutions at the UN, supporting […]
