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Opinion

Sunday, 29 April 2018 04:31

In defence of Muhammadu Buhari - Festus Adedayo

Having once gone through a road of similar nature as theirs, I can access the state of mind of Nigerian presidential media handlers today. If Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu could rudely snatch the microphone from their principal, Mohammadu Buhari, each time he speaks extempore, they would do so without batting an eyelid. For a media minder of a political principal, there is nothing as beautiful as having a boss who understands and observes the boundary of what old French speakers call prescis. Prescis is more than being precise or exact in speech and accuracy. It is about…

Sunday, 29 April 2018 04:30

This issue must worry Buhari - Jideofor Adibe

US government’s 2017 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria must be a source of concern to President Buhari and the country in general. The 48-page executive summary of the report, which was released recently by the country’s State Department (the federal executive department that advises the President and represents the US in international affairs and foreign policy issues), was generally thumbs down for the Buhari government on human rights practices. The full executive summary can be accessed via this link: https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/277277.pdf. According to the report, the “most significant human rights issues included extrajudicial and arbitrary killings; disappearances and…

Saturday, 28 April 2018 04:59

Buhari’s unguarded tongue - Ray Ekpu

It is obvious that President Muhammadu Buhari does not always filter his words before they come out. If he filters them at all he does not fully appreciate the connotative and denotative meanings of the words he uses. All words have meanings, and can be subjected to literal or metaphorical interpretations. We have had several occasions when the President’s handlers have accused the public of misinterpreting or misunderstanding, or misconstruing what the President had said. Sometimes they claim that the president’s words were taken out of context or have been stretched to achieve a political purpose. I sympathise with the…

Saturday, 28 April 2018 04:58

The Buhari Gani did not know - Dare Babarinsa

On Sunday, April 22, 1990, soldiers sought to arrest Mr Gani Fawehinmi, famous human right lawyer and activist. His offence? April 22 was his birthday and that was when Mr Gideon Orkar and his gang struck in a bloody coup attempt to topple Mr Ibrahim Babangida. The coup was said to have been financed by a wealthy fish-monger, Great Ogboru. One of the investigators got a brain-wave that the coup makers may have been dreaming of making Fawehinmi the head of a revolutionary government. The coup collapsed and the Babangida regime wobbled on to its inglorious end. Fawehinmi was spared…

Tuesday, 24 April 2018 04:40

2019: Nigeria’s emerging political leaders - Reuben Abati

A strong indication of both the quality and failure of politics in Nigeria, as the people look forward to the next general elections in 2019, is the manner in which virtually “every” Nigerian believes that he or she is good enough to be President of Nigeria. This may speak to a deepening of political consciousness, but it is also a reflection of the people’s anxiety and frustration about how the office and position of the President of Nigeria seems to have been mishandled and demystified. The process of that demystification has taken different shapes and tones since the return to…

Monday, 23 April 2018 04:54

Isiaka Adeleke: One year gone, but the soul keeps marching on - Wale Ojo

Whether by a combination of diabolical means or natural consequence, it's exactly a year ago today, April 23, 2018 when His Excellency, Sen. Isiaka Adeleke paid the supreme price. So much has since been written about him that one would think enough is enough. But he is not one to be forgotten so soon or wished away so quickly.The history of Sen. Isiaka Adeleke is the history of Osun State. His political detractors would have thought his demise is the end all and end all. But for a politician with antecedent and a solid political structure as he was, Sen.…

Monday, 23 April 2018 04:52

Shall we tell the President? - Simon Kolawole

Dear President Muhammadu Buhari, I hope this meets you well. I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Simon. Simon Kolawole. Never mind. We will come to that later. Let us briefly journey into history for proper context into why I have chosen to openly write you this morning. I first heard of your name in the evening of December 31, 1983, when you were named the military head of state. Earlier in the day, Brigadier Sani Abacha had woken us up with the announcement of the overthrow of the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. The economy…

Sunday, 22 April 2018 04:13

Nigeria as Buhari’s Suara Sobo lorry - Festus Adedayo

Nigeria of the 1950s and early 1960s had very many interesting personalities. Western Region had its fair share of such. One of them was a man named Suara Sobo (Sobo pronounced as Sorbor). He was a prominent transporter who held the transportation industry of the time by its jugular. An Ibadan man of the Opo Yeosa clan who lived in an area now known as Ring Road, Suara Sobo was wealthy and had a fleet of lorries in his pool. As a trade logo, Suara Sobo’s lorries always had monkeys chained to their entrance which excited and attracted passengers to…

Friday, 20 April 2018 05:21

Ekiti governorship election: Wheat and chaff - Niran Olatona

I understand up to 28 aspirants have picked forms to contest the primary election in anticipation of becoming governor of Ekiti State on the platform of APC. I have taken time to wonder why we should have so many people contesting from a party. But I remember that every child is a champion as far as the mother is concerned until otherwise proven. By the time we add candidates from other parties, we could even have up to 50 Ekiti sons (perhaps daughters) praying to God for the number one position in the state! Why? Even if you don’t agree…

Friday, 20 April 2018 05:19

Does God speak in discordant voices? - Jideofor Adibe

The political season is a festival of sort for many - not just for political gladiators but also for most members of the society - from political pundits to those renting themselves to political crowd contractors and thugs/ enforcers. It is also a boom season for those who claim they have mystical powers to see the future and ‘men of God’ who claim they commune with the Omnipotent. Largely because we live in a highly spiritualized society – some will say superstitious society - the predictions of those who claim to possess mystical powers and ‘men of God’ who claim…

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Wednesday, 18 April 2018 04:08

Where is Nnamdi Kanu? - Tola Adeniyi

Today I charge all of us in the Media with criminal silence and culpable complicity in the disappearance of Nnamdi Kanu’s saga. Since September 14 last year when Nigerian troops were ordered to brutally invade the home of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra [IPOB], now purportedly proscribed, not a word has been heard from the usually outspoken Nnamdi Kanu and all-powerful Federal troops that invaded his home had kept silent about his fate. Is he dead? Is he alive? If dead, where is his corpse? If alive, where is he and what is the state of his…

Tuesday, 17 April 2018 03:55

Tinubu’s conundrum - Femi Otubanjo

President Buhari’s presence at Tinubu’s 66th Birthday Colloquium was a public affirmation of a rapprochement between two men, who had been estranged for the better part of the pendency of the APC’s control of the Federal Government. It can, in fact, be regarded as a celebration of Tinubu’s rehabilitation and reintegration into the federal power circle, a process that began with the rapid appearances of Tinubu (with Akande) at the Villa and his weird commission by Buhari, as the Chief Peacemaker of the APC (weird because the party is not an arm of the presidency). Will Tinubu fall for Buhari’s…

Tuesday, 17 April 2018 03:53

Section 5 and the Mohammed Bello Adoke case - Reuben Abati

His Lordship Justice Binta Nyako at the Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory last Friday, gave an instructive, landmark judgment in the matter between Mohammed Bello Adoke and the Attorney General of the Federation on the extent of Presidential powers. I had addressed this particular subject in a previous essay titled “Obasanjo and the extent of presidential powers” (January 29, 2018) when President Obasanjo argued forcefully that President Muhammadu Buhari must be prepared to accept responsibility for the failings and failures of his government and stop blaming previous governments or political leaders. What Justice Binta Nyako has…

Tuesday, 17 April 2018 03:50

What’s been stopping the Left? - Dani Rodrik

Why were democratic political systems not responsive early enough to the grievances that autocratic populists have successfully exploited – inequality and economic anxiety, decline of perceived social status, the chasm between elites and ordinary citizens? Had political parties, particularly of the center left, pursued a bolder agenda, perhaps the rise of right-wing, nativist political movements might have been averted. In principle, greater inequality produces a demand for more redistribution. Democratic politicians should respond by imposing higher taxes on the wealthy and spending the proceeds on the less well off. This intuition is formalized in a well-known paper in political economy…

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