Broken politics: Deeply flawed primaries point to a messy 2027, by Olu Fasan
The morning foretells the day. Early signs can indicate how a day will unfold. In that sense, the recent presidential, gubernatorial and legislative primaries foretell a very messy general election next year. Over the past two weeks, the media have been awash with endless stories about deeply flawed party primaries. The primaries betray a political […]
AfDB: Adesina’s travails betray naivety in the world of realpolitik
By Olu Fasan IN 2015, when Akinwumi Adesina ran for the presidency of the African Development Bank, AfDB, I wrote a piece in my Businessday column entitled “AfDB presidency: Adesina, best candidate for the job” (BusinessDay, May 4, 2015). Apart from the national prestige in a Nigerian heading an international economic institution, I believed Adesina […]
Five years of elusive ‘change’, Buhari’s self-congratulation grates
By Olu Fasan LAST week, having self-assessed his five years in power, President Muhammadu Buhari adjudged himself a success. In a 26-page self-assessment report, tagged “Buhari Administration Fifth Anniversary Factsheet”, the presidency said the Buhari administration “has made salutary impact in almost all the facets of Nigerian life”. Basking in the self-congratulatory mood, Lai Mohammed, […]
Gambari is a world-renown technocrat, but what are his values?
By Olu Fasan THE appointment of Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari as his new chief of staff is President Muhammadu Buhari’s only high-profile and undisputedly meritocratic political appointment since he assumed office in 2015. Over the past five years, President Buhari has run a mediocre and lacklustre government, with uninspiring cabinets, consisting of ministerial poodles who […]
A legacy project? Buhari needs a grand vision of Nigearia’s future
By Olu Fasan PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will be five years in power this month. Next week, on May 29, he will complete the first year of his second term, and thus has three more years in office. But, according to the theory of presidential election cycle, the last year of a presidential term is usually […]
Nigeria shames itself by posthumously honouring Abacha
By Olu Fasan Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s kleptomaniac and despotic former dictator died in office in 1998. But if anything reminds us of him, it is Shakespeare’s famous words: “The evil that men do lives after them.” For 22 years after Abacha’s demise, he is still talked about in local and international media. Not for any […]
COVID-19: Nigeria is institutionally weak to tackle major emergencies
By Olu Fasan A FEW years ago, some foreign security experts visited Nigeria to study its crisis management system with a view to offering advice and support. What they found shocked them. Nigeria’s standards, they said, were below what they had feared. The country’s technical ability to handle crisis was very low. There was little […]
COVID-19: Nigeria is institutionally weak to tackle major emergencies
By Olu Fasan A FEW years ago, some foreign security experts visited Nigeria to study its crisis management system with a view to offering advice and support. What they found shocked them. Nigeria’s standards, they said, were below what they had feared. The country’s technical ability to handle crisis was very low. There was little day-to-day […]
Spare a thought for victims of Nigeria’s flawed COVID-19 lockdown
By Olu Fasan THIS week, President Muhammadu Buhari extended again the lockdown of Lagos, Ogun and Abuja. He first imposed a two-week lockdown on March 30 and extended it for another two weeks on April 13. This time, the extension is for one week, until Monday, May 4, when “a phased and gradual easing” of […]
Coronavirus is a great leveller, but Kyari’s death was not inevitable
By Olu Fasan THE coronavirus is a non-discriminatory disease. It has hit princes and paupers, presidents and commoners, rich and poor alike. COVID-19 is a great leveller; it doesn’t respect status. Here in Nigeria, four state governors contracted the virus. And President Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, has died from it. Sad! But contracting […]
COVID-19 is a fertile ground for aggravated corruption in Nigeria
By Olu Fasan LAST week, I wrote about how the coronavirus emergency could trigger an escalation of power abuse in Nigeria, with increased violation of human rights and the rule of law. This week, my focus is on another potential fallout from the pandemic: corruption through the misappropriation of the COVID-19 funds. Let’s face it: […]
