“My practice of reflection had also convinced me that there is nothing on earth that turns quicker on its pivot than political idealism when touched by the breath of practical politics” – Joseph Conrad  Field Marshall Helmut Von Moltke’s dictum that “No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s […]

“Great talents appear everywhere, whenever the social conditions favourable for their development exist” – Georgi Plekhanov(On the Role of the Individual in History) AND what is left of the internationalism of the workers’ movement?” asked Frederick Engels of August Bebel. In like manner, we should ask, and what happened to the workers’ and students’ movements […]

“No egg can remain intact when a bird’s nest is overturned” – Japanese proverb Apropos of this, a radical transformation of ideas, philosophy and attitudes is required in this age of accelerated globalisation and incessant scramble for Africa’s resources. This attitudinal transformation should be around the establishment of the basic premises about the identities of […]

“He who has a mind to beat his dog, will always find a stick” – Chinese proverb THE glaring indifference and total insensitivity that the leaders of the Western countries have shown towards the systemic and wholesale slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, calls for an introspection about what being human is all about. The idea that […]

“Dalon yaye, cham ma muraduwo”! (If it’s milk, it does not matter whether it’s from an ox) – Kanuri proverb THE desired objective of democratic elections is to create legitimacy, order and stability in government. This paramount objective should be predicated on the approved wisdom and recognised capacity of the personalities and institutions charged with […]

“Upon the different forms of property, upon the social conditions of existence, rises an entire superstructure of distinct and peculiarly formed sentiments, illusions, modes of thought, and views of life” – Karl Marx THE idea of democracy is rendered practical by the participation of the people in the process of election of their leaders and […]

“The power of opinion is irresistible”- Edward Gibbon Federalism is characterised by the devolution or delegation of powers to the entities or tiers that form the government. As such, the regional or state governments and the provincial or local governments have their own lists of “to-do-things” outlined clearly in the constitutive documents that form the basis […]

“Profound definitions do not refute superficial ones, but, supplementing them, include them in themselves”- Georgi Plekhanov THERE are many deciding factors that inform or influence whether states or entities should come together as a federation. Mutually shared borders, for one, enables them to come together to enlarge their territories and also remove all artificial barriers and impediments […]

Despite the abstruse postulations of the proponents of restructuring, ordinary Nigerians were intelligent and perceptive enough to see through the arguments that were being posited as shallow and devoid of real meaning and content

“All great institutions are rooted and grounded in the soil”– John Buchan IN an era when political discourses in Nigeria are largely devoid of deep structural diagnosis, and when the subjects of such discourses are clouded by sentiments and are often unrelated to the requirements of nation-building, it behoves upon those with the interest and […]

“We are in the great crisis of this contention, and the part which men take, one way or the other, will serve to discriminate their characters and their principles”- Edmund Burke  THE seeming abdication of ministerial responsibilities and the almost tentative exercise of magisterial prerogatives in the discharge of duties by those in positions of power, […]