It is easier and better for all of us to bear in mind what is on offer – in case we are called upon to come and collect our own share of the palliatives. We should have an idea of what we are going to get; in exchange for all the inconveniences as well as risks to life and limbs going there.

“There are no desperate situations; only desperate men” – Joseph Goebbels, 1897-1945, Hitler’s propaganda chief Tinubu is the most desperate man in Nigeria today; and possibly the most desperate President on Earth right now. I read at least three books on the last days of Adolf Hitler, 1899-1945, and some of what Nigerians are experiencing […]

“There is a time in the affairs of governments when deadlock becomes total and ordinary human agencies are impotent to deal with the situation” – Harold Wilson, 1916-1995, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 81. Great Britain was caught in an economic quagmire similar to what Nigeria is now experiencing when the late British Prime […]

“The worst thing that can happen to a leader is to look back; and find that nobody is following” – US President Lyndon B Johnson, 1908-1973. Talk is cheap. Nigeria is not Lagos. Presidents don’t talk first and think later. Those are three pieces of advice President Bola Tinubu should bear in mind whenever making […]

“It is quite impossible for those who want to gain power to avoid getting rid of those who are most likely to form the opposition” – Critias, 404 BC, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 196. In addition to those in opposition, power-grabbers abhor those likely to form a rival source of allegiance by the […]

“Friends speak the truth to each other. Good friends speak the bitter truth” – Israel’s President Herzog, in address to the US Congress, July 19, 2023. Herzog stunned the US Congress (National Assembly) by confessing that his country is now practising the same apartheid for which South African whites were globally condemned in the last […]

NOTE: Just before this article was sent to the Editor, the FG announced a review of the cash transfer to households. It is a wise decision. Just in case Tinubu is still thinking of cash transfer, then, this article remains valid. As I wrote immediately Tinubu addressed us on May 29, 2023, “talk is cheap”. […]

But, herdsmen have suddenly become endangered species everywhere in Nigeria. They were safe while Buhari was President; Buhari has left with the immunity conferred on them. Those they brutalised for eight years are gradually waking up to the fact that they are now vulnerable and can be attacked without consequences.

How he deals with Festus Keyamo might turn out to be one of the acid tests of President Tinubu’s sincerity in tackling governance in Nigeria. Right in front of our eyes, Keyamo committed three grave offences which, in any other country where the rule of law prevails, would have landed him in hot waters.

“Books are the carriers of civilisation. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, desire crippled, thought and speculations at standstill” – Barbara W Tuchman, Harvard University History Professor Few men and women, out of the thousands I have known, have left me feeling intellectually inferior and also lacking in wisdom as the late Mr Agbo […]

It is quite refreshing that it is the North that is taking the lead in dismantling the status quo and bringing a new era of transparency and accountability to governance in the states

“When evil men must seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo; good men must try and bring into being real order of justice” – Reverend Martin Luther, Jr, 1929-1968. The suspension and subsequent arrest of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has brought the inevitable collision between President Tinubu and ex-President Buhari […]

By Dele Sobowale “A picture is worth a thousand words.” That is why in a rare departure from the custom on this page, a photograph is published. However, as new governors increasingly take a hostile attitude towards their predecessors, the story accompanying the picture should teach some of our new governors a few things about […]

By Dele Sobowale “If the unemployed could eat plans and promises; they would be able to spend [some of their time in Dubai]” – W. E B Du Bois, 1882-1963, amended. Welcome to the hot seat. Whatever happens, don’t forget; you asked for it. And, any time you find it too hot, you can always […]

By Dele Sobowale “In every community, there is a class of people, profoundly dangerous to the rest. I don’t mean criminals. For them we have punitive sanctions. I mean the leaders. Invariably, the most dangerous people seek power” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005. Before revealing to you how dangerous a Nigerian leader can be, permit me […]