Earlier on this year, I flew to Freetown to interview President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, his First Lady, and several members of his cabinet. I was touched by the warm welcome I received and highly impressed by the quality of the conversations I had with all of the above; and I remember thinking that it […]

Early morning Sunday, December 7, 2025, while many Beninois slept, hoping to go to church, mosque and traditional places of worship at dawn, some members of their armed forces fanned out. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Paschal Tigri, they planned to bring the people under their claws. At 05:00 they attacked the Presidential Palace and then retreated […]

TWO major ironies are staring Nigeria in the face at the moment, in so far as it concerns air travel. A few days ago,  the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development rolled out the drums to celebrate 100 years of civil aviation in Nigeria. An international air show was organised and held in Abuja, among other events, […]

At the time Lucy Kibaki, wife of Mwai Kibaki, the third President of Kenya, died at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital, South West London, on April 26, 2016, aged 75, she had the unenviable reputation of being Kenya’s grouchiest First Lady. In the ten years her husband was in office (2002-2013), she was, in the words of […]

Twelve years after I last came to Nigeria in 2013, I returned home last month. The purpose? To launch my new book, “In The National Interest: The Road to Nigeria’s Political, Economic and Social Transformation.” The event, held at the famous MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, on Thursday, November 20, 2025, was both memorable and splendid. Indeed, […]