“A precedent embalms a principle” – William Scott, 1745-1836, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 198 “Politicians are their own grave diggers” – Will Rogers, 1897-1935, VBQ p 191. I clocked 81 last month; and, if asked to list ten things which provide me with the most satisfaction, watching the gradual death of the People […]

“Telling the truth and accepting the truth has been our major problem in Nigeria. Some people will never tell you the truth when you are in power; and honestly, many of us in power also do not want to hear the truth” – Professor Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno State, 2021. Insecurity has been politicised […]

“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business” – US President Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865. I address you as “my brother” not because you are Yoruba and Ijebu; but because you are a Nigerian. As a stubbornly […]

“We must therefore not shirk from accusing our friends, or praising our enemies, nor need we be afraid of praising or blaming the same people at different times; since, it is impossible that the men [and women] who are engaged in public affairs should always be right; and unlikely they should always be in the […]

“More Nigerians will become poor by 2027 – WORLD BANK” – VANGUARD, APRIL 25, 2025. Acute poverty is already fuelling massive increase in all sorts of crime in Nigeria today. Predicting that more Nigerians will become poorer in 2027 amounts to passing a vote of no confidence in ALL the governments of Nigeria; not just […]

“There are no desperate situations; only desperate men [and women and children]” – Josef Goebbels, 1897-1945. Adolf Hitler’s Chief of Propaganda, during the last hundred days of the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich, was the man saddled with the task of broadcasting frequently fake news about the war situation to the German people – who […]

“Traditional democracies will end up on the garbage heap of history” – Alberto Fujimori, 1938-2024, Peruvian President, 1998, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 37. I started the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS in 1965 and got it published in 2007 – 42 years after. The first quote which caught my attention was by Dr Samuel Johnson, […]

“If you shut up truth and bury it underground; it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it burst through, it will blow up everything in its way” – Emile Zola, 1840-1902. I never thought President Tinubu would ever sack Mele Kyari. A few days before the announcement, a friend […]

“I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling drunkenness, or any taint of vice whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood” – William Shakespeare, 1564-1616. Olorogun Ovedje  Ogboru did one of my late friends a great favour, about eight years ago; which will never be forgotten, even if I live (God forbid) […]

“Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies” – Robert Greene, author of 48 LAWS OF POWER.  I pray that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, aka, BAT, will live much longer. Irrespective of whether he secures a second term or not in 2027, there was one meeting and a decision arising from […]

“Power and money of course do drive people crazy. So why shouldn’t people gain power and wealth through being crazy?” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005. America is in the grips of two absolutely crazy men who have acquired power and wealth by being screw balls. The entire world, America included, will pay a heavy price for the […]

“Failure is not fatal; but, failure to change might be” – John Wooden. Nothing substantiates the Pareto Principle better than the structure of the Nigerian economy which is composed of the vital few organisations and the trivial many. According to Pareto principle, twenty percent of our activities account for eighty per cent of our results. Four […]

“In every community, there is a class of people profoundly dangerous to the rest. I don’t mean the criminals. For them we have punitive sanctions. I mean the leaders. Invariably, the most dangerous people seek power” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005. The chaos experienced in Lagos State government goes beyond the ordinary political disturbance nations occasionally experience. […]

“Old age is now a moving concept” – American Sociology Professor, 1967. It was in my third year as an undergraduate, when taking a course on demographics, that Professor Epstein made the remark to introduce us to demographics – defined as “the study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which […]

“A group without a leader is a mob” – Anonymous, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 82. “All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies” – Dr John Arbuthnot, 1667-1735, VBQ p 191.  Ask anybody who is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or the Labour Party; and you would receive […]