In mature democracies, the time-honoured practice is that the executives obey and follow the law strictly. In fact and in law, it is a convention to obey the law strictly.This week, I will examine some examples from the US, UK, Canada and Germany where Parliament or Congress has checked executive power and then detail Nigeria’s troubling […]

…the 10th National Assembly’s legacy risks being summed up in one brutal statistic—19 per cent.

In promulgating decree 24 on May 5, 1999 as the 1999 Constitution, the then Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, made an addendum to the decree. The addendum was not part of the decree, it was just an explanation on the Constitution. General Abubakar […]

“Two men in a burning house must not stop to argue”- African proverb The choice between a rock and a hard place describes a situation of being between two equally difficult, even impossible options. It is what comes to mind as a number of developments in the country are contemplated by people in a widely […]

Nigeria, this Thursday, May 29, 2025,  marks its 26th anniversary ending brutal military rule, and embarking on the road to democracy.  I am reminded, on this occasion, of three political figures who contributed to this situation. President  Bola  Ahmed Tinubu emerged into  national consciousness in 1992  when he was elected the Senator representing the Lagos West Constituency.  […]

Marte, the headquarters of the eponymous Local Government Area (LGA) on the western floodplains of the Lake Chad in Borno State, north-east Nigeria, has been a site of lingering contest between Nigerian troops on the one hand and Islamist insurgents of Boko Haram on the other for over one decade.

The Nigerian National Assembly, NASS, has passed for second reading, a bill which seeks to compel registered voters to compulsory cast their votes during elections. The goal of the bill is to bring to an end, low voter turn-out in Nigerian elections. The posture on its face value appears valid because of the total 93.47 […]

“Telling the truth and accepting the truth has been our major problem in Nigeria. Some people will never tell you the truth when you are in power; and honestly, many of us in power also do not want to hear the truth” – Professor Babagana Zulum, Governor of Borno State, 2021. Insecurity has been politicised […]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration marks two years in office with an avalanche of economic reforms bundled into what many have dubbed Tinubunomics

Tinubu hasn’t done half of his term. But he already thinks he is entitled to a second and perhaps more terms. The obsequious lackeys he has surrounded himself won’t let him catch a moment for sober reflection,  a glimpse of reality. They seem bent on making him the Oba of Nigeria, unaccountable to no one […]

A friend came visiting recently. It was his first time to the house so I took him round our home before settling him in the family living room which I felt was cozier since it was just the two of us. He commended the arrangement of the apartment and its ‘view’. Compliments over, we settled down to […]

A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother, King Solomon was quoted as saying in Proverbs10:1. Why exactly the father takes joy in glorying in the output of a wise son may be an argument for theological experts. However, why the father is left out in the agonies […]

My article last week generated some questions. But until the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, is proven guilty of ethnic or religious bigotry, I stand by what I wrote. I also support an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the glitch. Anyone found culpable should be punished.  Just in […]

YES, you read that right: Nigeria is currently under invasion by peoples from the Sahel, fleeing the twin effects of climate change and virulent terrorism and banditry. But first, let us put this in context. According to Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Barbarian invasions, or the movements of Germanic peoples began before 200 BCE and lasted until the early Middle […]

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, suffering from serious arthritis, cerebral malaria and a splitting headache by three countries, turns 50 on May 28, 2025. It had a dream of regional integration, including a free and seamless flow of persons, services and capital, the elimination of customs duties, and joint development of transport, communication, […]