On the night of January 15, 1966, a coup d’etat took place in Nigeria which resulted in the murder of a number of leading political figures and senior army officers in Lagos, Kaduna and Ibadan. This was the first coup in the history of our country and 98 per cent of the officers that planned and led it were Igbo. From the political class those that were killed included the following: Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister, who was abducted from his home, murdered and whose body was dumped somewhere along Lagos-Abeokuta Road; Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the old Northern Region, who was killed in the sanctity of his own home together with his wife and his security assistant; Chief S.L. Akintola, the Premier of the old Western Region, who was gunned down in the presence of his family and Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the Minister of Finance, who was abducted from his home, brutalised, murdered and dumped in a bush.

We all know that aircraft seats are not the most comfortable – they are just about OK for the period of the journey. At times due to lateness or failure to check in online some people travelling together have been assigned seats away from each other. They are advised at times to politely ask other passengers if they would swap seats. If this is fine by you, just accept politely and swap, if you prefer to stay in your assigned seat, simply apologize for not being able to do so; they will understand.

When Governor Udom Emmanuel was declared winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akwa Ibom State erupted in rapturous joy, the type that can only be compared with a football loving nation winning the FIFA Senior World Cup. No doubt, that was an incontrovertible proof that the people’s will had prevailed and that the uncommon transformation of the state as started by former governor Godswill Akpabio would not suffer any painful and premature termination as has most times been the case in most states in Nigeria.

For the year 2016, many people have several wishes, hopes and aspirations, and many of them are personal. But I have one desire only and that is to see a Change in my home state, Taraba. Things are so bad in the state that it will indeed take a miracle worker to salvage it. From immense […]

This essay is part of a special edition being published in partnership with Foreign Affairs, titled “African Farmers in the Digital Age.” This anthology explores the future of African food systems and the role that digital solutions can play in overcoming the isolation of smallholder farmers and speeding up rural development.

At the time of writing this essay, Nigeria has lost 44 of her citizens to the dreaded Lassa Fever which like the equally dreaded Ebola Virus Disease is a haemorrhagic fever that spreads easily from one person to another even at the slightest of contacts. The two diseases need a comprehensive action plan involving the people and relevant agencies, local and international, as led and mobilised by government who deploys all resources necessary, be it human, cash and material, to tackle the menace headlong before it ravages the citizenry. That the disease has claimed 44 lives already within a short period of time shows how deadly it can be.

Apart from institutional leakages where deliberate non-implementation of policies has continued to lead to porosity of public funds; braze greed of unpatriotic public servants and sheer lust to climb the ladder of societal superiority are elements that have continued to rekindle the flames of corruption in Africa.

I was elated because, finally, somebody was cutting the politicians to size and telling them that the era of impunity was over. The tribunal noted that it was a fundamental law in Nigeria that a candidate for an elective position must be duly nominated and sponsored by a registered political party before the candidature of such a person can be valid.

OUR leaders have failed us. It is clear that our politics is that of bread and butter politics, that is politics of the stomach. No one is left out; the one that is good is tainted by very bad ones. When you have one good apple mixed with nine bad apples, the result is ten rotten apples. The revelations from the Dasuki investigations are galling and nauseating. It is a surprise that the country is still standing despite the activities of carpetbaggers we have as leaders and politicians.

The late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu has been my hero right from the time I became politically conscious, however, I wish he had not participated in the January 16th, 1966 coup.