Lessons From Osun 2026 and the road to 2027: Parties, personalities and the coming contest (2), by Usman Sarki
The first part of this article concluded with the observation that while all politics may indeed be local, the economic hardship confronting Nigerians today is anything but local. But before examining how these conditions may shape the 2027 elections, the Osun experience invites us to confront an even more fundamental question: what exactly do our political parties […]
Let’s stop playing Eve to FIFA
THE draws for the FIFA U-17 World Cup will be made today in Abuja.
It will probably mark the end of what ought to be a short journey but which was made long by our people. And it favoured the FIFA men.
Every form of refuge has its price
Late at night, the mansion she shares with the man she doesn’t really want gets lonely. So she acquires an attractive lover of her age – a penniless boy who lives on the poor side of town but excites her nevertheless because he not only has “fiery eyes and dreams no one can steal†but “makes her feel the way she wants to feelâ€.
Admiral, the Talibans are coming
Col Naira Abubakar: General, you are an old soldier. You have not gone on any modern exercise ….have you been on any Peace Intervention Force where you are sent to Afghanistan, Somali or even Sudan? You might have fought the tough Japanese, the very organized and able Germans, but when you encounter the Talibans, you will not like the day you joined the Army.
The carpet crossing in Owerri
When he arrives in Owerri, he hops into a motorcycle taxi (Okada) and then he walks into his house. He does not insist that the luxury bus or plane he travelled from Lagos with must drive him into his bedroom, since that may not be practically possible.
Degenerating to the level of Boko Haram
When asked in an interview in the Daily Trust of Monday July 27, 2009 why he and his followers would not surrender to the authorities, the late leader of the Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf claimed that his members were simply being massacred and that giving themselves up will tantamount to committing suicide:
Chidi Amuta, Ojo Maduekwe and the PDP leadership
If the above is the thesis of Amuta’s essay, can that essay be read as the warning of a watchman? Can Amuta be read as a message to one member of the political class who by past conduct can understand the message and transmit it to the PDP leadership? Such interpretation of the essay is supported by Amuta’s description of the Nigerian political situation and of the aptitude of Ojo Maduekwe whom Amuta presents in these words.
Central Bank and the economy
It is axiomatic that where the bulk of government revenue is derived from export proceeds, only mismanagement of the export earnings will inhibit economic advancement. The mismanagement of the public sector export proceeds, which has left a legacy of economic failure over the past three decades, must stop now
Yar’Adua’s cabinet in tatters
Reports have it that these state helmsmen cultivated a close tie as a result of frequently sitting close together at governors’ forums (T. A. is always flanked on the left by his Adamawa peer and on the right by his Zamfara colleague due to the alphabetical order of sitting).
That N8.2b cost of “refurbishmentâ€
A sport consultant would have let the MTN know that accreditations are necessary, that a mixed zone or media centre had to be established and that players had to meet the media before, during and after the match.
To Save Nigeria: the Revolutionary Coup and the Civil War
“The truth is†said Onyefuru, “I was his only troop!†in response to my question about the failures of troop mobilization that night. “I returned with him to the Ikeja barracks that morning. We had walked across the front of Colonel Njoku’s home.
