Let’s not gratify the greed of those learned crooks feeding fat off the nightmare that is Nigeria’s democratic practice

It’s shocking that after all they have seemingly done downgrading the capacity of the insurgents for further terror, 82 girls can still be brought out of that place of horror. Where were they being kept?

THIS month, precisely the 29th day, makes it exactly two full years to the day the present administration was inaugurated. That single event was preceded by the rather (in our parts of the world) unprecedented feat of the defeat of an incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan.

LAST week the Muhammadu Buhari administration took a major step in shaking off the odour of corruption that has been swirling around it since Babachir Lawal, erstwhile Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was implicated in a scandal surrounding the award of grass cutting contract in the Internally Displaced Persons’ camp.

What all these discoveries point to is that Nigeria is in very deep trouble; how can an economy survive with this level of liquidity outside the banking system?

IN just over one month, the Muhammadu Buhari administration would have spent two full years presiding over the affairs of Nigeria. These would be two years of lackluster performance for an administration that came into office with high hopes and promises to take Nigeria away from the blighted legacy of corruption left by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. But in just two days, last week, the Buhari government lost two high profile cases it had been prosecuting for several months.

Bamaiyi’s book provides no new or important insight. What it seems to have is an abundance of conspiracy tales that are many years behind time

IT’S not everyday Nigerians get to read about the Nigeria Customs Service even when personnel of the agency in the course of their corrupt, illicit activities, are often to be seen in many of our major towns and cities.

THERE have been a series of unfortunate events involving Nigerians abroad in the last couple of weeks. From South Africa where Nigerians were made victims of xenophobic attacks to the United States of America where Nigerians with valid visas were prevented from entering the country, the story has been the same: the undeserved humiliation of Nigerians and the seeming unconcern of the Nigerian government to the plight of her citizens.

IF there is one area in which the Buhari administration has consistently showed itself up as politically unsophisticated and fallen short of democratic values, it is in its handling of issues bordering on human rights. The administration has generally demonstrated a high level of unresponsiveness and disinterest in matters concerning individuals, groups and sections of the country it does not agree with.

IT’S been more than one month now since Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, assumed the status of Acting President. Even when this is not the first time he would be holding forth for the president, it is the first time he would be doing it for this long. Except in an actual state of incapacitation it is doubtful if anyone could envisage a situation like this when the president would be away from office for over a month without being declared ill or incapacitated. But by embarking on a medical vacation which has been indefinitely extended on the advice , Nigerians have been told, of his British doctors President Buhari has afforded his deputy an opportunity to demonstrate what he could do if given the chance. Before now, Osinbajo had operated in the shadows of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is the way things should be as the presidential system of government is a monarchy of sorts that does not leave room for two heads.

Is it not enough that the president is away on a medical vacation that could be costing the country so much in scarce foreign exchange even when we are being told that nothing is wrong with him?

THE pocket of protests organised across a couple of places by civil society organisations have since come and gone. The protests, of modest outcome, were to show the disenchantment of Nigerians against rising costs of goods and services and the generally poor economic policies of the Mohammadu Buhari administration.

A responsible government may in this situation in which we have found ourselves pay attention to the narratives coming from its supporters and critics

BY the time you’re reading this the planned anti- and pro-Buhari protests would (might?) have come and gone. While the anti-Buhari protesters were the first to announce their intention to protest against the rising cost of living and the generally dolorous atmosphere that has pervaded governance since the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president, the pro-Buhari demonstrators were out to celebrate what they obviously consider the achievements of the Buhari administration. The protesters have not articulated their mission in such clear terms but it was clear towards what direction their protest was geared. Clearly, their plan is largely reactive and meant to counter the narrative of failure, ineptitude and insensitivity that is being levelled by an increasing number of Nigerians against the government.