Tomorrow in Lagos, scholars and intellectual expeditioners will gather to honour and celebrate a most unique and outstanding Nigerian intellectual. Prof. Biodun Jeyifo , easily one of Nigeria’s most outstanding humanities intellectuals, turns 80 tomorrow. Jeyifo , fondly called BJ by his colleagues and students alike is concurrently Emeritus...
COLUMNIST
On the matter of war and peace, US President Donald Trump is an ambiguous creature. His large ego craves recognition and celebration as a global peace maker. But his basic psychology is unrepentantly belligerent. He wants to be adored as a messiah of peace and feared as a fierce...
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has restated his administration’s commitment to ensuring that the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming the financial independence of local governments is implemented. President Tinubu made the commitment on Friday night at the 15th National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress, held at the State...
There are troubling skirmishes in Nigeria’s immediate neighbourhood. A coup attempt in next door Benin Republic was a rude poke in the nation’s eye. Nigeria quickly woke up and did the needful. When there is a fire in a neighbour’s hut next door, you need to rally to put...
Public reaction to the belated release of President Tinubu’s list of ambassadors designate has been uniformly negative. Some people feel insulted by the caliber of nominees. Others feel belittled that minimals are being chosen to represent a country that boasts some of the best and brightest citizens. Yet others...
President Bola Tinubu has finally decided to wrestle with the ogre of insecurity. He has named the wrong and declared an array of measures to contain the scourge. The public has been incensed. The nation over which he presides is tethering on the brinks of avoidable unravelling. He has...
Recent trends in our national life have forced Nigerians to abandon the virtue of incurable optimism and unconditional hope in the nation as a perpetual reality. It used to be that in all circumstances, Nigerians would never believe that the nation is under any terminal threat. But in recent...
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...
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...