Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III: A Sultan for All Seasons, by Azu Ishiekwene
It was five years on Tuesday since I wrote a tribute to the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, who was 65 at the time. Our paths first crossed after he was named Sultan following the tragic death of his brother, Muhammadu Maccido, in the 2006 ADC air crash in which 93 persons were killed. […]
Choices, not chance: Why China is rich and Nigeria is poor, by Dakuku Peterside
China and Nigeria, two continental giants that entered the late 1970s with similar per capita incomes, have since taken opposite economic trajectories. In China, the decisive moment was Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 decision to “open the windows” and let the world’s capital know-how to blow in. In Nigeria, the same decade ushered in the oil boom that […]
Nothing to be gained from declaration of state of emergency(2), by Eric Teniola
From last week, the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, on May 29, 1962, summoned an emergency meeting of the Federal House of Representatives which was then the Federal Parliament in Lagos and moved a motion on the Action Group crisis The motion reads thus: “I rise to move the Resolution standing in my name which […]
Nigerians served peculiar mess, a la carte, by Owei Lakemfa
Adelabu Adegoke was one of the most flamboyant and charismatic politicians in pre-independence Nigeria. When one day, the press asked him about deliberations in the Western Region House of Assembly, he replied that it was a “peculiar mess”. He pronounced the words with a Yoruba intonation making the two words sound […]
DisCos’ operations as legalised scams on consumers, by Dele Sobowale
DISCO hiked my bill from N2.7m to N29m” — Lagos Deputy Gov. The report in a national newspaper of April 15, 2025, provided the best opportunity for all stakeholders to re-visit the matter of privatisation of electricity supply to Nigerian consumers. Put bluntly, Nigeria’s electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have become the greatest fraudsters in the […]
The wages of presidential subterfuge
On the evening of 5 April 2012, the prime-time bulletin on the television news of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), announced to the country that the president, Ngwazi Professor Bingu wa Mutharika, “had been taken ill and had been flown to South Africa for specialist treatment.”
Is every Nigerian judge corrupt? By Tonnie Iredia
At a recent symposium in Lagos on ‘Corruption in the Nigerian Judiciary’ the speakers persuasivelypresented facts and figures to amplify the popularly held opinion that Nigerian judges are probably the most corrupt group in the country. In truth, none of the speakers said anything new. After all, some 6 years earlier, a survey by the United […]
Democracy dead, dictators duel, destruction destined, by Dele Sobowale
“Traditional democracies will end up on the garbage heap of history” – Alberto Fujimori, 1938-2024, Peruvian President, 1998, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 37. I started the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS in 1965 and got it published in 2007 – 42 years after. The first quote which caught my attention was by Dr Samuel Johnson, […]
Coaches debts: NFF should come clean, by Patrick Omorodion
Penultimate Saturday, Vanguard Media broke the news of the passing of football legend ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu. Minutes later, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF through its Secretary General, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, issued a condolence message commiserating with the family and the football fraternity over his death. In his reaction to Chukwu’s death, his team mate and […]
A Day at Great Ife, by Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi
On April 15th, 2025, I had a book reading hosted by the Center for Gender and Social Policy Studies at OAU. There were two panels, one led by students who had read some of my writing, and another by senior academics. I had a delightful time discussing feminism and gender, policy advocacy, lack of accountability […]
Christian Chukwu mourns Chukwu, by Emeka Obasi
There must be something to this name. While we shed tears following the passage of legendary Green Eagles captain, Christian Chukwu, there are soothing words from his name sake, Air Vice Marshal Christian Chukwu (retd). Many similarities. These Chukwus hail from Enugu State. Both were given national honours. They survived air crash and went through danger battling […]
