Biodun Jeyifo (1946-2026), by Obi Nwakanma
There are these times when uttering words feel too overwhelming, because words sometimes weigh like stones. Such moments are like now, when we must make offerings to the memory of a man like Biodun Jeyifo – BJ for short. At his death, I was too tongue-tied to make appropriate tribute. In these times, when vulgar […]
Let us invite the Americans to colonise us
In the aftermath of the Boko Haram bombing of the Louis Edet House, special agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation,FBI, promptly arrived Abuja to begin to collect data on the incident. Some newspaper reports also claimed the arrival of the Central Intelligence Agency,CIA of the US. I suppose in this climate of global terror, there is increasing transnational cooperation between and among the various spy agencies of the world and the gumshoes who pit-patter around each other to stem the rise of militant terrorism.
Boko Haram’s threat
By Obi Nwakanma On Thursday, the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram took their challenge to the Nigerian state one notch up. They bombed the Louis Edet House, the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja. As a statement of defiance, nothing could be bolder. It is a simple statement of challenge: catch me if […]
Geo-political abracadabra or Nigeria’s patronage politics
By the last count, Mr. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal had garnered more than enough votes to emerge the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Tambuwal had polled 252 of the 360 votes to beat the party’s favourite, Mulikat Akande-Adeola. Ms. Akande-Adeola had gone into the chambers of the House that morning with the firm backing of the PDP leadership which had zoned the Speaker’s job to the South-West in line with the party’s zoning policy.
The NATO war in Libya
France and Great Britain, leading a NATO alliance are effectively at war in Libya on the pretext of a United Nations’ mandate. The United States, led the early charge against Libya’s Ghadaffi from the air, but has taken something of a back seat, and allowed Britain and France to continue what can now be considered a war of aggression against a sovereign African state, far beyond the mandate of the UN.
A legislative agenda for new parliament
Parliament is the powerful engine room of the grand edifice of democracy. There, is where we make or mar the sovereign. A powerful parliament is an agenda-setting institution. Whatever happens in the hallowed chamber of the people sets the pace for public governance. When we examine it thoroughly, the fight for democracy, all that battle we, my generation, fought on the streets for a return to democracy was in truth for the reconstitution of the parliament and, of parliamentary oversight over the executive.
