DAYS before President Muhammadu Buhari embarked on his official visit to America at the invitation of the US President, Barack Obama, many Nigerians appeared anxious. It was clear they could not be sure what would be the outcome of that visit. Their anxiety level had been raised by some commentators who could neither see nor be bothered by what the trip would achieve.

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission appears reinvigorated and rejuvenated for its traditional role of fighting economic and financial crimes. It seems to be experiencing a new lease of life in the manner it has been going after some former governors and other powerful untouchables in the expired dispensation of President Goodluck Jonathan.

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has not been quick to appoint members of his cabinet and Nigerians have understandably not been too excited about it.

THE much expected meeting of the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress,APC, finally held last weekend. The meeting was aimed at resolving the National Assembly leadership crisis that has divided the ruling APC down the middle. Since June 9 when what increasingly appears like a renegade segment of the APC, led by Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, took on the leadership of the party, things haven’t been the same again in the APC.

EARLIER this year, in the wake of the rather comprehensive defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 polls, Nigerian academic and Sahara Reporters columnist, Pius Adesanmi, had rechristened Doyin Okupe, presidential aide on media to Goodluck Jonathan, by turning ‘bastard’ into a proper noun and making it one of his middle names.

By Rotimi Fasan THIS week makes it the fourth since the Muhammadu Buhari administration was inaugurated amid much hope and high expectations. But while the new president has taken a few significant steps locally and internationally in his personal capacity, not much has been heard concerning those he would be working with and depending on […]

By Rotimi Fasan This indeed is the pertinent question to ask: whether Nigerians are ready to take on the challenge thrown at them by the oil marketers that have in the past few weeks held the rest of the country to ransom? Put differently, what the foregoing question demands of Nigerians is whether they are […]

WHEN Goodluck Jonathan steps down in two days time and Muhammadu Buhari takes over as president, he would have helped to give practical demonstration to that much remarked (in our parts) but hardly realised notion of popular democracy, that sovereignty lies with the people. By handing over power to Buhari, Jonathan would only be abiding by the will of the people who said, on March 28 2015, that they wanted a change of leadership.

PETROLEUM now seems more available in more parts of the country after four weeks of contrived scarcity. During these four weeks, Nigerians have almost literally been through hell and back. In the first two weeks of the scarcity, when things looked very dire, resourceful Nigerians still managed to be on the road.

TWO weeks from now, President Goodluck Jonathan’s six years in office would be over. But even before his departure, the judgment of history on his administration already seems clear. This is evident even in the long queues of vehicles at fuel stations across the country, testimony to the level of corruption and incompetence that has marked governance in the last six years.

JUST when the number of days he has left in Abuja could be counted off one’s fingers or reeled off without much thought, President Goodluck Jonathan finally did what any leader who is in control of his turf does: takes the hard decisions. He ordered the suspension of the permanent secretary in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

OCTOBER 1 was the most significant date on the Nigerian national calendar. It is, in a sense, still the most significant date in our national history. It was the day, in 1960, that Nigeria gained independence from Britain. It has ever since remained Nigeria’s national holiday during which Nigerians celebrate freedom from colonial bondage. Given its special status, important events in the life of Nigerians and Nigeria are often attached to that date.

AS the Jonathan administration winds down its activities and gradually goes into the ages, one thing Nigerians cannot balk doing is giving their assessment of the administration. One area that must get Nigerians debating in their assessment of the Goodluck Jonathan government is the power sector, particularly the issue of power generation and distribution. As far as this sector is concerned, the Jonathan administration has performed far less than it promised. We need not go into quoting statistics that only members of the administration believe to know this.

EVEN if nothing else comes out of the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the presidential election of 2015, Nigerians should count themselves lucky once the defeat can lead to the consolidation of our politics by way of giving room for the formation of viable political parties. But this is if our politicians would allow it. From the look of things, however, Nigerian politicians are not prepared to see our so-called nascent democracy grow into something more enduring.

IT’S been a week since Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of the 2015 presidential election. After what seemed like an impossible mission having tried a number of times to be president without success, Buhari now becomes one of two individuals (the other being Olusegun Obasanjo) to occupy the office of an elected president after holding office as a military dictator.