IN January 2016, the traditional ruler of Ubuluku in Aniocha Local Government of Delta State, Obi Agbogidi Akaeze Ofulue III, was kidnapped by suspected “Fulani herdsmen”. They demanded a ransom of N100 million which, reports say, was paid by the family. But alas! The royal father was found dead as a result of his ordeals at the hands of these agents of darkness.

ON Tuesday this week, notable members of the Nigerian elite gathered in Abuja for the Bola Tinubu Colloquium, which annually commemorates the politician’s birthday. This year, Bola Tinubu turned 64, and give or take a few sour notes, this must be a very happy year for a man that has become the indomitable figure of contemporary Nigerian politics.

By Josef Omorotionmwan WITH just a little push, Nigeria would have been able to show itself a blessed nation; but it is the lack of that essential push that has left us the way we are – impoverished! Nigeria’s development process is not only disturbing but also pathetic – a country with all the natural […]

IBE Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, does not come across as a politician. Even as a long time player in the oil industry his resume proclaims him more of an intellectual or a technocrat rather than an oil merchant and, even less, a power monger.

Quite a few people requested “further reading” after last week’s article. I recommend To Kill a Mockingbird, by Pulitzer Prize winning author Harper Lee for anyone interested in understanding the rise of Donald Trump, the workings of the South in America, racial (or, in our climes ethnic) politics, economic backwardness, a feudal system where poor Whites blame poor Blacks for their misfortunes while ignoring the White chieftains who uphold a medieval “Rankadede” system whereby patronage and keeping literacy levels low ensures a profitable arrangement goes unchallenged. Politics all over the world is basically the same.