It is Soyinka in his dreadful play, “Madmen and Specialists”, who insisted that “Even poison has its uses… You can use it either to kill or to cure.” In a sense, US President, Donald Trump, has fed Nigerians a big dose of Hemlock. It is now up to us...
COLUMNIST
Donald Trump’s gunboat foreign policy of unguarded words and unguided targeting has taken aim at a difficult target: Nigeria. Nigeria is in the gunsights . But it is a wrong choice. Nigeria is huge, complex, amorphous and a geo strategic nightmare. Though divided by diverse faiths and cultures, Nigerians...
A conclave of diverse economists have recently been crowing about the prospects of recovery in the Nigerian economy. It is not strange. Professional economics is a variant of madness. A mad man may have no compass indicating where he is coming from or where he is headed. But he...
The recourse to diversionary maneuvering is a familiar political gimmick. When government is thin on ideas and is politically ambushed or politicians are in disarray, the field is fertile for Machiavelli’s foot soldiers. We can domesticate this classic political script as one of the many possibilities in the reported...
When I arrived the Barber’s shop, there was excitement. Recitations of my past heroic exploits in the realm of journalism and contacts with the high and mighty in government and power filled the air. I had always gone and returned to the folks at the Barber’s shop. They are...
Drought of inspiration and content is the occasional affliction of every writer. Every newspaper columnist, creative writer or content provider experiences that moment of drought when you can think of nothing in particular to dwell on. You do not feel like writing or creating anything. It is either that...
Nations grow in age grades. When they are young, they are heavens of promises. When they arraign middle age, they behave like adults and do the things that make the age grade proud. They grow their economy, make the people rich, build good schools, fix the roads, encourage trade...
The world will not be in a hurry to forget Donald Trump’s address last Thursday to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. While UNGA addresses have become something of an annual ritual among world leaders, the occasional brilliant speech and touching rhetoric can sometimes touch the...
In the current class of state governors, Alex Otti of Abia stands conspicuous over most of his contemporaries. He is showcasing good governance and enlighened politics. This remarkable progress has got him into “good trouble”. He has become a favourite of both good media and toxic voices from our...
Last week, China seized the opportunity of its celebration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War to celebrate some other dubious things. It was not just the victory of the Chinese Liberation Army over the Japanese imperialists in the World War. It was also...
In what has become a familiar ritual of Nigerian campus trade unionism, ASUU has served notice of an imminent work stoppage. It is all about long standing service agreements over benefits and allowances that have been lingering for the better part of the last few decade or more. In...
A self -anointed select pack of northern political hounds has found a favourite seasonal mascot for each election cycle. Former president Goodluck Jonathan has managed to find repetitive mention in each election cycle. Hardly any presidential election cycle passes without a loud speculation of Jonathan as a possible candidate....
There is something ultimately futile about desiring an alternative society without knowing what exactly it is. A restless society wracked by adversity to seek an alternative ethos is a fertile ground for reform or even revolution. But a revolutionary fertile ground without a national consensus is a recipe for...
Midway into a rather routine and very tepid presidency, President Bola Tinubu is caught in strange identity crisis. Politicians from across the nation are asking the president to define whose leader he really is. The general public is equally embarrassed by what many see as an “anyhow “ government:...
There is a novelty in today’s political landscape in Nigeria. Real hard power is in the hands of President Bola Tinubu, an elected leader. On the other hand, soft populist power is in the hands of an unelected aspirant to the throne, Mr. Peter Obi. For good or for...
The demise last week of Nigeria’s former president and military autocrat, Muhammadu Buhari, merited national attention. Quite justifiably, Mr. Buhari belongs in that select group of elite Nigerians on whom Nigerian history has been most kind and generous. Obviously among our few military oligarchs, Buhari was variously regarded as...
Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election will be a nasty duel between two chaotic coalitions of politicians. Both coalitions are curiously fueled by fear. For the APC ruling coalition, it is the fear of being challenged and possibly thrown out of power. It is that fear and its insecurity that fueled the drift...
The public has been treated to some settlement of the political crisis that has engulfed Rivers state since after 2023. President Tinubu and his Rivers political ‘Warrant Chief’, FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, have been crowing to the hearing of all that they have struck a deal on the palaver....
A popular fiction has been normalized and consecrated into a national myth. Everybody believes it. No one questions a myth. It is often said that when a lie gets repeated ever so often, it assumes the status of a truth. Everyone mouths it, repeats it endlessly to a point...
The Nigerian governance road show rolled into Benue state earlier this week. The president and a motley collection of officialdom rolled into the state to see why so many innocent people are dying unnecessary deaths in the hands of nameless killers. As it turns out, the president and his...