Ns-Opinion

Opinion

Tuesday, 31 October 2017 04:30

The monkey business they call governance - Reuben Abati

“Have you gone to visit your brother in Ekiti?”“Who is that? I have many brothers from Ekiti state”“The Governor. Osokomole himself, ekun oko oke, the dainty irunmole who eats jollof rice.”“No. I don’t go about visiting Governors.”“I am referring to the fact that he recently escaped death. His G-Wagon suddenly went up in flames and it got completely burnt down.”“What is a G-Wagon to a Fayose who started his public career as a car dealer?”“Don’t be mean. That car is about N20 million. And Femi Fani-Kayode has said that the fire incident was a spiritual bomb. It was a mystery…

Monday, 30 October 2017 04:04

Aso Rock Villa and Maina’s maggots - Festus Adedayo

In recent times, there have been serious artillery bombardments of the two-prong pedigree upon which the Muhammadu Buhari government rode into the hearts of Nigerians and into power. Buhari stood on the dual prong of anti-corruption and restoring people’s sagging faith in government. The Economist had badly shelled what was left of the credibility of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when it referred to him as running a “clueless government” and was an “ineffectual buffoon who let politicians fill their pockets with impunity.” So while the tag of buffoonery and cluelessness stuck to Jonathan like a leech, Buhari wore on his lapel…

Monday, 30 October 2017 04:02

European populism is here to stay - Matthew Goodwin

Yet another European country has swung to the right. Nearly 58 percent of Austrian voters cast ballots penultimate Sunday for the center-right People’s Party or the far-right Freedom Party. It is likely that the two parties will form a governing coalition. Since the 1980s, the Freedom Party has been associated with anti-immigration xenophobia, anti-Semitism and, more recently, Islamophobia. On Sunday, about 26 percent of Austrians backed the party, giving it its highest share of the vote since 1999. Though the center-left Social Democrats came in second place, avoiding an embarrassing third-place finish, less than one percentage point separated them from…

Sunday, 29 October 2017 02:32

Hameed Ali and the ‘derailed change agenda’ - Kayode Samuel

Obviously flush from his uniform squabbles with the Senate, Customs boss Hameed Ali has now taken up the job of rescuing whatever remains of the legacy of the Change campaign. It is a most commendable venture. But I feel he will be expending too many bullets on the wrong enemy if he continues to argue that the problems of this administration are caused by PDP infiltration. In the first place, there'd be no administration to speak of if PDP elements had not hopped on the Change bandwagon. Trying to get them to disembark having used them to push the vehicle…

Sunday, 29 October 2017 02:30

MainaGate and a Presidency working at cross purposes - Jibrin Ibrahim

My good friend Garba Shehu made what would have been the joke of the year on Wednesday but the theme was too serious to be funny. He blamed the Goodluck Jonathan administration for the unfolding scandal on the corruption, escape, return, reinstatement and second escape from the country of Abdulrasheed Maina of the pension scam fame. His exact words were: “some influential officials loyal to the previous government may have been the invincible hands” behind the scandal. It’s not funny because the names of the key agents in the affair, 2017 phase, are known and include the Minister of Justice,…

Sunday, 29 October 2017 02:26

Those books in Governor Ikpeazu’s boot - Enyinnaya Appolos

If you have ever had the opportunity of seeing the trunk of Govenror Okezie Ikpeazu’s staff car, or even his spare car, and see the books in there, you would naturally wonder what the Governor is doing with so many books in his boot. The books in the Governor’s boot belongs to pupils and students he meets on his way...anywhere he goes, he shares the books to pupils and students he sees on his way. This practice didn’t start today; it actually started during the 2015 governorship election campaigns. After speaking to prospective voters then, anywhere he saw students on…

Saturday, 28 October 2017 03:48

Catalonia has always been distinct. Why is it part of Spain? - Max Bearak

To understand how Catalan people see themselves as distinct, a word from their language is instructive: seny.It is an adjective used to convey a supposedly unique Catalan sensibility: pragmatic, level-headed, and dignified. Seny is just about the last word the Spanish government and the European Union would use for the Catalans, who instigated a lurching attempt to declare independence from Spain with a highly controversial referendum this month. Spain's Senate is approved a federal takeover of Catalonia's regional government on Friday. Leading political proponents of the secessionist movement have been arrested. Whatever the government in Madrid does, the sense of…

Saturday, 28 October 2017 03:45

As the Chinese story continues to unfold... - Kayode Samuel

The only shop I'd ever been to anywhere in the world where the shop assistant did not seem impressed by the sight of dollar bills was in the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo, sometime in 2004. The lady disdainfully waved off my money as I tried to pay for a belt and only grudgingly showed me to the currency exchange in the mall. China continues to confound. At the beginning of its reforms, western experts were certain that as the country prospered, it would seek to become more like the West. Well, China has prospered but it is obviously…

Friday, 27 October 2017 04:02

Southern governors and the demand for ‘True Federalism’ - Jideofor Adibe

The recent report of a meeting of the Governors from 16 of the 17 States in the Southern part of the country has a lot of significance, especially as scheming and brinksmanship towards 2019 gather momentum. According to reports, after their meeting which held in Lagos on October 23 2017, the Governors “restated their commitment to a united, indivisible Nigeria” and to “true federalism and devolution of powers.” The Governors also reportedly vowed “to see an effective linkage of infrastructure in the Southern part of the country and pledged to work together for the development of the states in the…

Wednesday, 25 October 2017 04:38

The Maina mania - Kayode Samuel

Stranger things have been known to happen here. A man boldly resumes work in the same city where he's been declared wanted - and right under the noses of his ostensible pursuers. Not only does he resume work, he's promoted in a Ministry that supervises the nation's prisons - where many would probably say he belongs. And under the same government that says he's wanted on grave allegations of corruption. A government, by the way, that claims to be fighting the same corruption. All this, of course, to soon be defended and rationalised by people who are so concerned about…

More...

Wednesday, 25 October 2017 04:29

How Mao shaped communism to create a new China - Roderick MacFarquhar

Toward the end of his life, dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, Mao Zedong claimed two achievements: leading the Communist revolution to victory and starting the Cultural Revolution. By pinpointing these episodes, he had underlined the lifelong contradiction in his attitudes toward revolution and state power. Mao molded Communism to fit his two personas. To use Chinese parlance, he was both a tiger and a monkey king. For the Chinese, the tiger is the king of the jungle. Translated into human terms, a tiger is a high official. The agency running President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign today likes to boast when…

Tuesday, 24 October 2017 05:01

Baba, Maina, Idris and other stories - Reuben Abati

“I hear say our Sai Baba don return from Turkey”“Did you hope that he would stay there permanently? He went for the D-8 meeting, and he is bound to return.”“D-8 meeting. I have been thinking about it. We are supposed to be a secular country but internationally, we have continued to engage with Muslim countries. We belong to the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and also the D-8. Internationally, we are effectively a Muslim country.” “I don’t think so. In international diplomacy, it is not a sin for a country to engage at all possible levels. Nigeria is the most…

Tuesday, 24 October 2017 05:00

Buhari and ‘benefit of the doubt’ - Usman Abubakar

The 2015 election was the fiercest in our generation. A one of its kind I must add, where an incumbent was soundly defeated by the help of the disgruntled masses who felt they have had enough of mediocre leadership and wanton disregard to the plights of the common man. This ouster brought President Muhammadu Buhari to the mantle of leadership amid wild jubilation and high hopes. ASSET DECLARATION:No sooner had this happened than things began to look differently, when PMB adamantly refused to declare his assets publicly as promised by his party during campaign. Not until his media team couldn't…

Monday, 23 October 2017 03:24

Interim order of forfeiture of money without BVN in all banks illegal - Adegboruwa

PRESS RELEASE I’ve received the certified true copy of the interim orders of the federal high court, coral Dimgba, J., granting various interim orders in favour of the federal government of Nigeria, against all accounts in all banks that have no BVN. The said orders were said to have been granted at the behest of Attorney-General of the Federation. I am very well concerned about how we deploy interim orders for permanent purposes, such as to forfeit valuable assets, without any or fair hearing from the person(s) concerned. I think it is improper to obtain interim orders to freeze bank…

Page 240 of 280

Opinion

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS