FOR his own purposes, President Bola Tinubu had delayed the appointment of Bayo Onanuga as one of his spokesmen. Ajuri Ngelale, broadcast journalist and Ogoni chief, was presented to give Tinubu’s media office a handsome, though unsmiling face. Many commentators were relieved that elements like Bayo Onanuga, Dele Alake and Festus Keyamo would not be brought […]

SOMETIMES Nigerians rejoice over some government policies only to find out later that they wasted their euphoria. Remember when the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced he would ensure electronic transmission of results in the 2023 general elections. Nigerians rejoiced. The sleeping youth awoke. Everyone headed to voter’s card registration centres. […]

FOR sure, banditry, especially kidnapping for ransom, is one of the three security challenges in Northern Nigeria. The others are Boko Haram/ISWA terrorism in the North-East, and Fulani herdsmen militia, a nationwide terror network. In the South, kidnapping for ransom is in the hands of local criminal gangs. Even our battered Nigeria Police Force, NPF, are […]

THIS article is not really my as sessment of the “performance” of the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima. There are only two major things to write home about this presidential pair: untold hardship for Nigerians and wasteful spending based on misplaced priorities. Tinubu never enjoyed the usual […]

YOU are used to hearing of Northern Governors Forum, NGF. Now you are also hearing of Southern Governors Forum, SGF. Politicians are warming their engines for 2027, simple. The NGF is one of the remaining relics of the fast-dying imperial Sokoto Caliphate, or Northern (Arewa) political establishment which has dominated Nigeria’s affairs even before Independence. The […]

I remember during the 2023 campaigns when some Northerners asked Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to unfold his agenda. He bluntly declined, arguing that doing so could put him in danger. Despite this rather tactless answer, the North still played the leading role in getting him “elected”. One year down the […]

I HAD intended to entitle this article: “Gowon, just before you go.” But I reminded myself that going is not necessarily according to age. The Almighty God, the giver of life, asserted His total sovereignty over life and death by making the date of death unpredictable for all ages. Because of this, I might very easily […]

I strongly believe that Rivers State, one of the 12 created by General Yakubu Gowon at the outset of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, should do better than it has. With the second highest revenue profile, only one major town (Port Harcourt) and minimal damage from the war compared to the five states of […]

RIVERS State is the wealth iest of the four core oil producing states – Akwa Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers. It is always either the highest federal allocation and oil derivation earner, or second. Definitely, it is the highest in terms of internally generated revenue among the four since it is second only to Lagos […]

ABUJA Minister, Nyesom Wike, held absolute power for eight years as Governor of Nigeria’s foremost oil state, Rivers State. Yet, he did not really understand what power was. As Governor, Wike caged his predecessors, the same ones that built up his political career. There is an adage among my people that a person who dresses a […]

ONE of the biggest infrastructural projects that Muhammadu Buhari (easily the most backward leader Nigeria ever produced) did was the controversial railway project from Kano to his father’s village, Maradi in Niger Republic. Technically, Buhari is an alien, but despite his obvious inadequacies, Nigerians, including some celebrated professors, gave him their support to lead. Buhari […]

Kidnapping is as old as crime itself. The first time I became familiar with it was in early secondary school when I read crime novels by James Hadley Chase, Harold Robbins and others. These thriller writers helped us hone our writing skills. In those formative years of the 1970s, kidnapping was hardly known in any part […]

FORMER Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, called out President Bola Tinubu and his Works Minister, Senator Dave Umahi, over the signature project: Lagos to Calabar Highway. Atiku did what the Godswill Akpabio-led National Assembly ought to have done but did not do: ask the administration to tell Nigerians the facts and figures of the 700 kilometre […]

I WATCHED with great bemusement the comedic arrest and arraignment of Idris Okuneye (Bobrisky) staged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Guess what he was charged with? Abuse of the Naira and money laundering. Right before our watchful eyes, EFCC acceded to drop the more serious money laundering charge, leaving Nigeria’s number one […]

From over N4m charged by foreign airlines, Air Peace slashed the fare to N1.2m. This forced other international airlines to begin adjusting their fares downwards to be able to compete.