The Ozymandias complex in the Tinubu administration psyche, by Owei Lakemfa
The transformative Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is mired in endless controversies. This is the fate of great monuments and, I dare say, great leaders. So, my primary concerns here are not the hullabaloos about its actual cost and absence of biddings or, its ever changing designs as it meanders through coast and land. My interest here is its […]
Many things we don’t know or may never know
By Owei Lakemfa THE United States of America, US, this Monday placed visa restrictions on some Nigerians who allegedly undermined the February and March 2023 general elections. The US in a statement by its Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said it took the decision as part of its commitment to supporting and advancing democracy in […]
National Assembly sovereignty: Joke taken too far
By Owei Lakemfa AS an undergraduate in Great Ife, the Obafemi Awolowo University, I was a member of the Students Representative Council, the parliament. Whenever we met, the generality of the student body surrounded the venue to observe. The idea was that the parliament represented the students, so they have a right not only to observe, […]
Battered, occupied, exploited, but the Saharawi remain unbowed
By Owei Lakemfa I got word that my elderly friend, His Excellency Mohammed Ould Salek, the Minister-Adviser on Diplomatic Affairs to President Brahim Ghali of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, better known as Western Sahara, was in Nigeria. He was the Special Envoy sent by the Saharawi President on April 28, 2023 to bid farewell […]
Obaro Ikime: The intellectual as hostage
By Owei Lakemfa General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the Dean of Coups in Nigeria, finally staged a coup for himself on August 27, 1985. The veteran coup plotter could sniff coups years away. On December 17, 1985, he rounded up over 100 military officers for allegedly conceptualising a coup. Some, including his childhood friend, Major General […]
My democracy is not your democracy
By Owei Lakemfa WE were gathered. Some intellectuals, social activists, journalists, serving and retired diplomats. The primary issue was democracy. Is it universal and is there just a single, or multiple roads to democracy? Is the British democracy which calls itself the Mother of Parliaments, superior to the American version; is the latter better than […]
