Arguably the best Inspector General of Police since the exit of Solomon Arase, Nigeria’s top police shot, IGP Usman Alkali Baba appears to have now run himself into an unnecessary controversy. Given the foibles of the ruling political class, he had within reasonable expectations held his dignity in the face of the rascality of political […]

For a man who has successfully pinned down his Lagos political rivals to submission, suggestions as to whether President Bola Tinubu could transform Nigeria into his political image is now a matter of debate. Considering the cavalier surrender of the likes of Chief Bode George, and before then, his former political combatant, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, […]

By Emmanuel Aziken It’s an irony that the fortunes of the Nigerian petroleum industry were at the worst under the longest serving minister of petroleum in the country’s history, Muhammadu Buhari. Even more astounding is the fact that the last eight-year spell was not Buhari’s first time as minister of petroleum, having occupied that portfolio […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The unusual turnout of travelers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja yesterday, the last working day of the Muhammadu Buhari administration could be interpreted in various ways by political pundits. Some could have seen the mass movement through the airport as indicative of the claim that people like Chief Bode George […]

By Emmanuel Aziken It has been distressing hearing the outgoing governor of Ebonyi State, Deacon David Umahi justify his decision to withdraw from the Senate leadership contest on the premise of the guidance given him by the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Though Umahi’s prospects had not received any serious consideration, the justification for him dropping out in […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The news that President Muhammadu Buhari was staying back in the United Kingdom for another one week after the end of the coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III for the purpose of keeping an appointment with his dentist was shocking to many. The president had travelled penultimate Wednesday, three days ahead […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The outing of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to Rivers State earlier this week inadvertently gave a preview of how the politics in the All Progressives Congress, APC may play out after May 29. The visit was remarkable in several respects among which was the fact that Tinubu chose to visit a […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The return of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to the country and the attendant rev in political activities undoubtedly underline the fact that business would certainly not be the same in a Tinubu presidency as it has been in the Muhammadu Buhari administration. Under Buhari things were at most humdrum with the pace and […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The comprehensive 4-0 defeat of one of the world’s most esteemed football clubs, Chelsea FC by Real Madrid in the Champions League tournament indeed resonates with the fate and misfortunes of Nigeria. Chelsea in the last year topped in the footballers’ spending market, expending $305 million in the transfer market. That was […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC to choose a flag bearer for the party in the November governorship election in Kogi State was ongoing as at press time yesterday. Though the result of the election was yet to be declared, what was incontrovertible was the fact that the man who […]

By Emmanuel Aziken President Olusegun Obasanjo’s enduring imprint in the Nigerian story again came to the fore this week in two different interventions. In the first instance it emerged that the former Nigerian leader had intervened in the sorry case of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife who were recently convicted along with a Nigerian […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The Department of State Services, DSS trended this week after the internal police issued a statement of caution over an alleged plot by some political actors to install an interim government. The DSS in the statement said it had identified the political actors involved and  went further to insinuate the stages that […]

By Emmanuel Aziken The landscape in Abia State burst out in unbridled expression of joy last Wednesday evening after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC finally declared the outcome of the governorship election in the state. The joy was so effusive that even the outgoing state governor, Dr Okeize Ikpeazu under whose name some folks […]

By Emmanuel Aziken Nigerians go to the polls today to elect governors in 28 states of the federation. The eight states not conducting governorship elections, however, will join the other states in electing brand new state legislative houses. Given the constitutional powers of the state legislative houses in determining the fate of governors, it is […]

By Emmanuel Aziken Against the background of dashed hopes and the intrigues that shadowed the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, it is difficult for anyone with a clear conscience to rush to the defence of Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Given that Yakubu is a professor of […]