By Dele Sobowale “We have created Italy; now we have to create Italians” – Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1807-1882, Father of Modern Italy. Italy did not exist on the world map until the Kingdom of Italy was created on March 17, 1861. That was after rivers of blood had been spilled all over Europe on account of […]

By Dele Sobowale “It is unthinkable that wisdom should ever be popular” – Goethe, 1749-1832, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, 275.   As usual, I find myself writing a proposal to the leaders of our country – with a dire prediction attached. Invariably, the advice is ignored and I get to write another article saying […]

By Dele Sobowale ‘Northern Leaders Call For 12- Structure, Resource Control: Southern leaders divided, receive call with suspicion, cautious optimism’ -VANGUARD, Wednesday, October 14, 2020, p 30. “Vox populi, vox humbug” meaning “Voice of the people is rubbish” – US General William T Sherman, 1820-1891. Ask any advocate of restructuring about the matter, especially a […]

The government gave its reasons: “The decision on a low-key celebration was taken following the unfortunate incessant attacks by bandits in some areas of the state which led to the death of many people and left several others injured or homeless.”

In the good old days, pupils in public primary schools received a strong dose of folks’ wisdom along with their lessons in English. My all-time favourite teacher – Mr Udoh – who shaped my life at St Peter’s Primary School, Faji, Lagos, was responsible for drumming that piece of sage wisdom into our small skulls in Standard Four in 1956. It was the sort of wisdom most Niger Delta political leaders – President, Governors especially, Ministers, Senators, Speakers of States Houses of Assemblies – never understood or applied to governance in the region when God smiled on the neglected people by giving them crude oil.

By Dele Sobowale NOTE: A different article was planned for today. On Sunday, August 31, 2020, despite still being physically challenged, I travelled to Abuja to discuss two national issues – NDDC and Igbo presidency in 2023. That was supposed to be this week’s topic. But fuel subsidy removal trumped it. “Integrity is a 100 […]

By Dele Sobowale “The climax of every tragedy lies in the deafness of its heroes” – Albert Camus, 1903-1960, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 90. Edo State election of Saturday, September 19, 2020 ended predictably. Comrade Adams Oshiomole, ex-NLC President, ex-governor and ex-National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, suffered a self-inflicted and […]

Mr. Udoh was a class teacher I will never forget – even if my life lasts (God forbid) 100. He was our Standard Four A teacher at St Peters School, Faji, Lagos Island. Mr. Udoh (sorry I cannot bring myself to call him Udoh), from either Cross River or Akwa Ibom, was a staunch Catholic, a workaholic and a very stern disciplinarian.

Nigerian history tends to repeat itself with equal tedium. A minor disagreement between northerners and Yoruba people in Ajegunle, leading to loss of a few lives prompted President Obasanjo, in 2001, to issue a “shoot at sight order against Area Boys in Ajegunle” to the police.

My colleague and a great journalist reminded us of the words of Lazar as he was doing exactly the opposite. He published on that day a tribute to our common colleague – Wada Maida. It was titled, ‘Wada MAIDA: Sunset at Dusk.’ It was a great prose – the best of Ali M Ali. But, it was no better than sending flowers or writing a poem which Wada would never read. I only hope Ali had told Wada how he felt about him while still alive.

NOTE: Because of our current travails on account of the partial lockdown of the Third Mainland Bridge, this part of the article ended abruptly. Readers could not possibly understand the significance of the bridge and the vision it entailed at the time. IBB embarked on completion of the bridge approximately 17 years after the Eko Bridge was opened by Gowon in anticipation of the population surge which the 1988 Census revealed. Even then, it was clear that the 3rd Bridge would provide only temporary relief. Another bridge or tunnel was needed within 15 years. Today, nearly 30 years after that forward looking regime, we are feeling the lash of the folly of his successors who failed to construct another bridge or the first tunnel.

“The most uncharitable critic of IBB, after experiencing four other administrations (Shonekan, Abacha, Abubakar and now Obasanjo), readily conceded that, but, for the annulment of June 12, 1993, IBB would have been an untainted hero” – Double Chief Duro Onabule in my book, IBRAHIM B BABANGIDA 1985-1992: LETTING A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM.

One of the indisputable truths in the book I am already writing is the fact that Oshiomhole and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, after accepting Akpabio into their party, called all the leading members of APC in Akwa Ibom State and ordered them to turn over the party structures in the state to Akpabio and regard him as their leader.

 Without giving away my age, I can recall seeing Ms Adjai-Lycett on a British comedy programme. This was during the time of black and white screen even that did  not take the shine off her sparkle; seeing her with threaded height defying hairstyle juxtaposed with her English accent so plum  that it can cut glass.

Increasingly, the Federal Government of Nigeria now resembles the modern version of ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES.

One of my late uncles who worked for ELDER DEMPSTAR LINES – one of the largest shipping companies in the pre-independence days – was in the habit of bringing me small pamphlets of story books from England.