A party for Nigeria’s latest abductors, by Azu Ishiekwene
Nigeria’s main political parties are in the thick of their primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections. That politicians can still manage to hold primaries in the midst of a worsening wave of horrendous attacks on communities and kidnappings in parts of the country, not to mention the economic hardship, suggests we must be living in […]
Louis Odion: The matter of ‘Capacity’
By Azu Ishiekwene 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 […]
INEC Server and other election day stories
By Azu Ishiekwene 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 […]
Osinbajo: A leader for all seasons
By Azu Ishiekwene TRYING to fit him into a mould 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 […]
What really matters to Obasanjo
By Azu Oshiekwene 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 […]
Nigeria’s election and the pollster’s albatross
By Azu Ishiekwene WITH all the predictions of Armageddon and doubt about whether Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls would hold it does sound a bit silly to contemplate life after. Even those who grudgingly concede a life after fear it might be worse. Optimism is like playing the Ostrich. Nigeria’s history of electoral violence […]
Looking back, facing forward as Nigeria decides
By Azu Ishiekwene IT’s hard to imagine that it’s nearly eight years since. This time in 2015, I was over the moon with the prospects of a general election that was certain to end the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, which had lost its way. Folks were so excited at the prospects of change that […]
A leader like Jacinda Ardern
By Azu Ishiekwene A LEADER like Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand doesn’t come in tens. Not even in twos. And so, it was such a bright day on October 26, 2017, when she took office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister. She was 37 years old and also the youngest head of government at the time. […]
Why they shoot friends and spare the enemy
By Azu Ishiekwene HER funeral rites would have begun on Wednesday, January 11, but were postponed because her family, along with the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, is awaiting an autopsy report. As of the time of this writing, the matter had faded from the headlines, and a new date was yet to be announced. Obviously, […]
The trouble with Obasanjo’s wish
By Azu Ishiekwene I’m sure he expected the firestorm. As is his custom, he primed it and released it to explode at his own time and season. If the letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo endorsing Labour Party’s Peter Obi had gone unnoticed, uncriticised, and unreplied, then it would not have been Obasanjo’s letter. The […]
What you might expect in 2023
By Azu Ishiekwene The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will be shaken to its foundations, but it will survive. The most problematic question for the party, of course, is who carries its presidential flag in the 2023 election, when President Muhammadu Buhari will step down… If Tinubu survives the ambush of the wolves in his […]
