WE are pleasantly surprised that our military and security agencies have woken up, and are moving in the right direction towards reining in the forces behind our insecurity. The continued onslaughts against the Boko Haram Terrorists, BHTs, and their Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, allies, scorching of Ansaru bases in Kaduna forests and […]

On Monday, September 5, 2022, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told a joint media briefing in Abuja that the worst of our insecurity  woes were over. He made the declaration in the presence of other senior Federal Government functionaries, such as the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi; Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; Minister […]

Within 10 days, the world has lost two iconic architects of the 20th Century. Former leader of the defunct the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, the man who brought down the Iron Curtain and ended the Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev, died on August 30, 2022. On Thursday, September 8, 2022, the Queen of England, […]

WARRING neighbours, Russia and Ukraine, signed a pact to allow stockpiled grains to be exported through the blockaded Black Sea ports over penultimate weekend. The pact was brokered by Turkey under the watchful eyes of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. Under the pact, Ukraine is allowed to export grain through its […]

At independence in 1960, Nigeria was classified as a developing new nation. But 61 years later, we are among the most underdeveloped and backward countries in the world. All our economic, social, political and human development indices are among the worst while the deficits are among the highest. The revelation that there are 56,000 abandoned […]

THE rising profile of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan certainly went up another notch, at least on a high moral ground, when he boldly dropped hints on how the Muhammadu Buhari administration can solve the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, protracted strike. At the 70th birthday anniversary of one of the voices of conscience […]

THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s, recent remit of $265 million to about 20 or so foreign airlines operating in the country is a step in the right direction. The Federal Government had defaulted in her  obligation to provide the dollar cover for about $600 million worth of ticket sales in naira for remission to […]

IT is surprising that Nigerians have remained aloof to the sobering confession by retired Brigadier-General Sani Usman Kukasheka that he and former Army Chief, retired Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, were asked by undisclosed unpatriotic elements to topple former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010. Kukasheka, who made this confession at a public lecture, named a former General […]

Some leaders and statesmen of the 20th Century gained their prominence or notoriety through aggression, conflicts, empire building and the defence of empires. Mikhail Gorbachev gained his through reforms of such extensive scopes that, unlike any other statesman of his class, changed the world for the better. He will be remembered as the man who […]

THE government of President Muhammadu Buhari moves in mysterious ways. This it has demonstrated through its shifting attitudes to the security of our oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta. The Goodluck Jonathan administration had awarded contracts for the pipeline protection from oil thieves to repentant Niger Delta warlord, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo. But when Buhari’s […]

Since he reluctantly assented to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which allows the transmission of election results from the polling units after intense pressure, President Muhammadu Buhari has been assuring us of his willingness to allow the 2023 general elections to be free and fair. However, his habit of taking measures to tamper with the […]

The Muhammadu Buhari presidency has been the most media-unfriendly government since the return of our democracy in 1999. It has done everything possible to constrict the media and democratic space and deprive Nigerians of their right to free speech and media freedom as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended). […]

WE are strong advocates for an independent investigative and prosecutorial body to deal exclusively on electoral offenders. We have also pushed for the establishment of a tribunal in the likeness of the Election Petition Tribunal, to try electoral offenders, including violators of the law in pursuit of their cases at the Election Petition Tribunals. We […]

The arrest and detention of Nigerian music superstar, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, popularly known as “Kizz Daniel” in Tanzania, should be a lesson to all our celebrities, including musicians, actors and other artistes that if the law in Nigerian can be bent in deference to their stardom, the same does not apply in other more serious […]

THOUGH the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, swiftly issued a statement last Sunday affirming that “electronic transmission of results has come to stay”, the confusion as to the continued role of “manual collation” of results in our electoral management under the recently amended Electoral Act remains. Festus Okoye, INEC’s Chairman of the Information and Voter […]