The ADC crisis, by Rotimi Fasan
The ongoing leadership crisis in the African Democratic Congress was a disaster everyone who is a Nigerian saw coming. Everyone except those bent on reaping where they had neither sown nor watered. Some members of the party in fact read the writing on the wall and gave the impression they were prepared for any eventuality. They […]
Where federalism works
By Rotimi Fasan THE world has for more than a week now been treated to images from Texas, in the United States of America, that many Americans thought belonged in the “Third World”. The state was plunged into prolonged darkness caused by extreme weather conditions that froze and disabled the power grid that was not […]
Sunday Igboho, Muhammadu Buhari and eaters of sour grapes
By Rotimi Fasan UNTIL about three weeks ago Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a. Sunday Igboho was known only in certain closed political or cultural circles. Except for those he had to work with directly, his celebrity was firmly locked within the Yoruba regional space. But that now looks like ages ago. Sunday Igboho’s name now rings a […]
The Buhari government is its own worst enemy
By Rotimi Fasan IT would look like there is nothing the Buhari government or the President himself does that will satisfy his critics. But while I would not deny there are opponents like that who would never be satisfied with what the President does no matter the merit of his actions, I am also inclined […]
Nigeria’s time for national renewal
Nigeria By Rotimi Fasan It is just January of the year 2021 and a few more days to the end of the month but Nigeria appears to be sinking under the dead weight of its many challenges that have been foundational to her existence as a sovereign nation. From political to economic and health issues, […]
Electoral fraud and the child bride legislation
By Rotimi Fasan The cesspool of corruption that is drowning electoral practice in Nigeria is being further muddied by the clearly self-serving antics of our national legislators in Abuja. Recently the Senate came up with the hairbrained idea of lowering the voting age for underaged girls who happen to be married. This legislation is tailored […]
Buhari’s strange question in a strange time
By Rotimi Fasan The last few years have been very strange times in the global scheme of things. But 2020 has been particularly grueling and disorientating. It is for many a wasted year whose after-effects will remain with us for decades. Each country has had to respond to the strangeness of the times in their […]
COVID-19 and the practice of federalism
By Rotimi Fasan NIGERIA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic both exposes the fault lines of our peculiar federal structure as well as throw light on our present bind and the way to achieving nationhood as a federation of states with disparate needs, goals and concerns. In the weeks following the announcement of the country’s index […]
The limits of Garba Shehu’s responses
By Rotimi Fasan There is something about the way presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, responds to issues of grave national importance that makes his position in government increasingly untenable. To be quite sure, there is nothing to pick between Shehu and his “twin brother”, Femi Adesina. Both men hardly have anything to say on behalf […]
Amotekun and fears of the Northern elite
IN the massive controversy that surrounded the inauguration of the Western Nigeria Security Network, otherwise called Amotekun or “Operation Amotekun”, the lone voice that was vehement in its opposition to the very idea of the security network has been the ruling elite from the far North, East and West.
Amotekun and Malami’s dog in a manger way
THE unitarist mind that is brought to the operationalisation of Nigeria’s federal structure is the reason why there would continue to be disagreement between the constituent states and whoever are the centrists running the “federal” government of Nigeria at any point in time.
