I cherish good news. I look forward to good and heartwarming news. It in this regard that I was jubilating earlier in the week when I read two major good news items from my state, Delta. One, the approval of Otovwodo flyover on the East-West Road in Ughelli North Local Government Area, by the Delta State […]

There are books and there are books. In this age of Fast Cash, many Nigerians do not read especially when all they need to drive big cars and drink exotic wine is paint all sorts of obnoxious deals with the Yahoo brush. There is trouble waiting for everyone. I am glad Offiong Esua took pains to put […]

Peter Obi has the best chance against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 of all opposition candidates. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may have received a slightly higher percentage of the votes (6.9 million or 29.1 percent) in the last presidential election; still, that was poor for Atiku, a sixth-timer in the […]

Dogs, no matter how we view them, are animals. To force human beings to eat like dogs, and under conditions worse than how a dog feeds, is intolerable. But that is what is going on in “God’s own country” the United States, US. It has been plucking alleged illegal immigrants, or those with supposed criminal records, […]

Thanks to various recent dramatic developments on the national stage – ex-President Buhari’s death, high-profile politicians defecting from Labour/APC/PDP, febrile coalition talk, etc – my poor, oppressed home state, Rivers, has almost been forgotten.  We continue to be controlled by retired Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas, an unelected, non-indigenous onetime Chief Of Naval Staff turned military administrator […]

APART from the fact that the power elite, irrespective of which faction is in the corridors of power at the moment, has proved itself completely incompetent in managing the commonwealth to the benefit of all of us, excluding themselves and their favoured ones, one aspect of life and living in our country that is exteremely bothersome, at […]

At best, Nigeria’s democracy in this Fourth Republic has been wobbly, standing, as it were, on feet of clay. And a quarter of a century thence, rather than getting better, things have got worse as the politicians are busy dismantling all the guardrails of democracy – civic participation, which undergirds every genuine democratic project; the rule […]

How time flies! Five years ago, about this time, I wrote a column titled “At 60, my life and undying passion for Nigeria” (Vanguard, July 23, 2020). It was on the glorious occasion of my diamond jubilee, which this great newspaper, Vanguard, covered with special features, including a two-page birthday interview. Five years later, I’m celebrating […]

I must finish this report tonight” carries a very different weight from “I have to finish this report tonight.” Both express obligation, yet they reveal fundamentally different sources of motivation and authority. Understanding this distinction can change how you communicate leadership, manage relationships, and present yourself in professional settings. These two expressions of necessity might appear […]

Nigerian politicians thrive in chaos and take pleasure in gaining the unfair advantage. They would sooner violate extant conventions, regulations and laws that guide electoral contests than abide by them. There’s hardly any aspect of Nigeria’s electoral practice that is not spelt out in the guidelines provided by the Independent National Electoral Commission and these guidelines […]

“The formulation of a question is its solution”- Karl Marx It is little wonder that the “revelations” by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, on the “mind-boggling” corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, that he revealed during a hearing of the Public Accounts Committees of […]

Many Nigerians expressed their shock that the late President Muhammadu Buhari, despite his  extremely nepotic rule, still attracted so much outpouring of eulogies at his graveside. I want to remind such people that even the Devil itself has admirers and fanatical devotees. That deranged people can strap themselves with explosive devices and detonate to kill themselves […]

Effect of education on the process of Independence   Prior to the coming of the missionaries to Nigeria and other African countries the continent had become a major attraction for explorers and merchants who were in search of new frontiers for trade. Eventually the scramble for Africa began ultimately culminating in the colonisation of Africa by the […]

Just when you think you have seen it all, something happens to convince you very strongly that all that journey is a circlical movement which has not taken you far from the point of departure at all. Like peddling away on a stationary bicycle at a fitness centre. Or expending so much energy and achieving very […]

“Only the thing for which you have struggled will last” — African proverb Two groups invited Nigerians to a wide-ranging summit in Abuja last week on a new constitution which may address some of the most basic problems we face as a nation. The Nigeria Political Summit Group and the Patriots joined their intimidating profiles to […]