By Ugoji Egbujo There is a delusion that North sits somewhere dressed in babanriga, picking its teeth and relishing in its ability to make whomsoever it loves the president. This arrogant conception by political opportunists and their excitable rabble is often thrown around in different hues to make ambitious southern politicians supple and servile. A […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo Elections held in 2003. In Anambra, Ngige and Obi were the major contenders. The electoral commission declared Ngige the winner. Obi cried and took his grievances to the tribunal. By the time the courts corrected the error, it was 2006. Ngige had stayed three full years as governor. In the eyes […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo Why has Soyinka ignored INEC and Yakubu to focus on Datti Ahmed, who reacted to Mahoomd’s bizarre handling of the presidential elections and suspiciously hasty collation of results? Wole Soyinka is my idol. Besides his illuminating literary works, he has been the embodiment of hope through the dark ages of oppressive and crassly […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo At some point during the collation of the results of the March 18 elections, INEC cried out. Many ordinary people mocked. They said, “Yes, everybody must chop breakfast.” Because when people had cried about thugs, INEC had jumped in and say, “there were only isolated incidents and pockets of violence.” INEC […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo Mc Oluomo said it wasn’t him. That he didn’t actually threaten to teach a nice lesson to the ungrateful Igbo who seemed bent on disrupting the order and disrespecting constituted authorities in Lagos. Perhaps, he expected adult non-indigenes to know their limits and what could amount to an abuse of hospitality […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo The last time Mr Festus Okoye was on television, he looked constipated. Okoye, who used to be the face of INEC, was the man that did most of the gospelising. Gifted with the soul-winning voice and mannerisms of an evangelist, Okoye had bragged about INEC’s preparedness for D-day and boasted about […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo At puberty, big changes happen. Not long ago Amwuo Odofin was swampland. Long after Gov Jakande and his industriousness birthed mass housing, swathes of land around Festac town were still inhabited by toads in the rainy season. Then Tinubu came to rebuild Lagos island and moved the Balogun market to the […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo A controversy has arisen. A month before the election, a former NBA president had written to INEC seeking clarification. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, wanted INEC to state its position on the true meaning of Section 134 subsection 2 of the constitution. INEC ignored the legal luminary. But on the eve of the […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo The elections are here. There is no margin for error. So, we must work and pray. We must work for peace and pray for unity. If we could choose credible leaders without frittering away borrowed funds in this exorbitant and perennially ineffectual ritual, our situation wouldn’t have been as dire. Nigeria’s […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo A few days before the APC primaries in June 2022, Asiwaju Tinubu lost his cool. The rumours that president Buhari would anoint a preferred candidate to represent the party had thickened and pressure had been applied on Tinubu to step down. So before his kinsmen in Abeokuta, Tinubu literally declared war. […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo In the last few days, two of Nigeria’s best music maestros have locked horns. And since the jibes have spared no indecency, sentimental mobs have queued up behind the gladiators, throwing tribal firewood into the inferno. What started as a clash of political ideas has lost its innocence and degenerated into […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo The Janjaweed have sprouted in Rivers state. In Rivers, nobody can campaign freely. The INEC has a constitutional duty to monitor election campaigns and prosecute electoral offences, but it has said nothing. A few days ago, Senator Abe of the SDP was rushed off the campaign stage as gunshots sent the […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo A few days ago, at my village entrance, there was a roadblock beside a military roadblock. Armed NDLEA staff in colourful purple and beige uniforms were interacting with motorists in the ‘wetin you carry’ mood. Yes, National Drug Law Enforcement Agents. They don’t often mount such roadblocks in Lagos or Abuja, but somewhere […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo In a banana republic, big politicians are gods. They are not gods because they are bullies who arbitrarily ride roughshod over laws and moralities and decide the fate of men. They are gods because sane citizens adopt them as idols they must protect, promote, and worship. It is the willful mass […]

By Dr. Ugoji Egbujo Obasanjo has never had kind words for this government. He had asked Buhari to resign in 2019 when he supported Atiku. So the presidency should have disregarded the arrows in the letter and taught Nigerians how to react with maturity to unpalatable political endorsements. The presidency could have engaged the endorsement […]