IBRAHIM Magu, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, recently bemoaned the fact (during a Lagos press conference) that mothers of cyber fraudsters, known as “Yahoo Boys”, have organised themselves into an association and go out of their way to justify their sons’ criminal activities…on the grounds that such activities generate funds that support families that may not even have a responsible or surviving father figure.

MADAME Henrietta Nnenda Wachuku will be laid to rest today in Ogbodo Village in Isiokpo, Rivers State. Madame Wachuku, who passed away peacefully aged 90 on September 30, was the beloved wife of the highly respected Ikwerre chieftain, S.A.J. Wachuku, the Orosi IX of Ogbodo.

THE Federal Government has set up an interim management committee to run the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The interim committee was inaugurated last Tuesday by Senator Godswill Akpabio, the ex-Governor of Akwa Ibom, former Minority Leader of the Senate and current Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

By Donu Kogbara RECENTLY, I accused  President Muhammadu Buhari of not being the kind of strict disciplinarian who can cure Nigeria of multiple ills. Some Vanguard readers contacted me to say that they disagreed with me because Buhari’s administration has been extremely strict in its dealings with VIPs it regards as miscreants – for example, […]

Weeks back, I told you about Greta Thunberg, a passionate teenage activist from Sweden who took to the stage at the United Nations  General Assembly, UNGA, gathering in New York and blasted world leaders for failing to take climate change seriously.

I AM writing this week’s column from New York. I came to America’s most dynamic and cosmopolitan city to hover on the fringes of the annual United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, meeting. 

I HAVE quite a few bitter gripes against South Africa at the moment and roundly condemn the shoddy treatment I have recently received from the South African High Commission in Abuja and the evil thugs who have killed and bankrupted blameless Nigerians in South Africa.

EARLIER on this week, students at the Federal University in Oye-Ekiti took to the streets to furiously protest about constant power outages on their two campus and in surrounding host communities.

I AM not in a jingoistic mood at the moment. When I hear that Black criminals in South Africa are killing Nigerians and burning down their shops, my knee-jerk reaction is enormous sadness about the breakdown of a once-warm relationship between the two countries, rather than burning anger fuelled by patriotic fervour.

I HAVE a soft spot for the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, because when I was kidnapped in 2015, policemen at all levels – the then Inspector General (Solomon Arase), the then Commissioner of Police in Rivers State (Musa Kumo) and several of their subordinates who investigated my case and acted as bodyguards – were so kind to me.

I’m was drawn to eccentrics and to difficult, grouchy old folks; and I must confess that I just love Sheikh Ibrahim Yaquoub El-Zakzaky!

SENATOR Gbene (Chief) Cyrus Nwidonane Nunieh was born in Beeri, Ogoni, on February 5, 1930, and quietly passed away aged 98 last year.

NIGERIA has never been so riven with unfraternal toxic tensions. Deep, dark suspicions about Islam and its adherents are commonplace in Christian areas and gatherings. Many Muslims also harbour extremely uncharitable thoughts about Christians.

CHARLES Dadi Onyeama was the first-ever Nigerian judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. And his author/publisher son, Dillibe (of Nigger At Eton fame), has written a biography of his illustrious father titled: The Man, The Legend, An Intimate Portrait.

LAST week, three surprising climb-downs took place.  Firstly, Adamawa-North lawmaker, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator, Elisha Abbo – a Christian – was filmed viciously assaulting a sales lady in a sex toy shop that he happened to be visiting and instructing his police orderly to aggressively yank the sales lady out of her place of work.