Independence address, endless promises no specifics
By Dele Sobowale Bayo Onanuga, the Senior Special Adviser to the President, accused critics of writing their responses without reading Tinubu’s address. That is certainly not true about me. In fact, the address was read to me by Uncle Sam, the Publisher of Vanguard, in his house – while asking for my comments on a […]
Tinubu and his incredible ministers, by Azu Ishiekwene
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed to keep his promise to provide a constant electricity supply. He said at a business lunch in December 2022 that he shouldn’t be voted for a second term if he didn’t fix the electricity supply problem and end estimated billing in his first term. Although he modified that pledge […]
The president’s disappointing October 1 message, by Adekunle Adekoya
NOT a few Nigerians, especially me, expected that there would be something to hold on to when the President made his speech commemorating our National Day, October 1, yesterday morning. As a newspaperman, I read the message more than three times, looking for that strand of a message that could give hope that at the […]
Nigeria, my heartbreaking age mate, by Donu Kogbara
Nigeria cast aside the shackles of colonialism and became an independent nation exactly 66 years ago. I am also 66; and as I have pointed out to anyone who will listen to me on every single October lst in recent decades, neither I nor the land of my ancestors are getting any younger or stronger. […]
Calypso: Enslaved African gift and its Mighty Sparrow, by Owei Lakemfa
Slinger Francisco, better known as Mighty Sparrow, the “Calypso King of the World”, flew away on September 27, 2026. He was ninety. Calypso music was invented in the seventeenth century by African slaves in Trinidad who had mainly been taken from the Ibibio, Efik and Igbo peoples in present-day Nigeria and Congo. It is generally […]
When hypocrisy and doublespeak define a nation, by Ikechukwu Amaechi
On this day, October 1, 66 years ago, Nigeria gained flag independence from Britain. Within these years, the country reached another milestone – 27 years of unbroken civilian rule, which many confuse as democracy. Ours is not yet a democracy. It may well be with time, but democracy and civilian rule are poles apart. In […]
