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Opinion

Thursday, 16 March 2023 03:17

Does Nigeria really have a voter apathy problem? - Abimbola Adelakun

Months ago, when the Independent National Electoral Commission announced its voter register listed a whopping 93.4 million potential voters, it was an exciting promise of how the elections would go. At the end of the day, the presidential election—which typically attracts more voters—ended up with an underwhelming figure. With all the raucous noise that the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party made about their “structure,” who would have thought that the eventual winner would not even have up to 10 per cent of registered voters and even less than five per cent of the estimated national population? While…

Wednesday, 15 March 2023 06:07

Presidental election 2023: Demonstration of craze - Ighodalo Clement Eromosele

The expectation by Nigerians of a free, fair, transparent and credible presidential election; the hope that results from the polling units would be transmitted directly to INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV); the enthusiasm kindled in Nigerians, many, first-time voters to perform a civic duty of voting have all been eroded by processes characterized by multiple irregularities, foremost of which was the failure by INEC officials to transmit results for the presidential elections directly from the polling units in accordance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act and with the much publicized INEC election guidelines. INEC has arrogated the failure…

Sunday, 12 March 2023 06:03

Pressure ti wa, but we meuve - Toyin Falola

Sufie stands in the scorching sun in Sabon Gari; his hands protruding outside like a statue. He had no energy to talk and his legs were failing. But he has found himself in the midst of others, some on the floor and others running after each vehicle that passes – every man to his own problem. His last energy is reserved to keep him standing as long as he can and he stretches his little hand out as far as he could. He had just returned from the closest buka, where he would normally take customers’ leftover food, but wallahi,…

Sunday, 12 March 2023 06:02

Now that we have arrived Rwanda - Festus Adedayo

Just before genocide broke out in Rwanda in 1994, a broadcaster on the Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) had said: "Someone must ... make them disappear for good ... to wipe them from human memory ... to exterminate the Tutsi from the surface of the earth.” That statement, among others, from that Kigali-based radio which broadcast from July 8, 1993, to July 31, 1994, became the tinder that set Rwanda on fire. By this time next week, the 2023 Nigerian general elections would have been concluded. However, like the shrew – the asin – which leaves in its…

Sunday, 12 March 2023 06:00

Moving with God's cloud of glory - Taiwo Akinola

And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp ~ Numbers 10:34. Introduction A life devoid of God’s presence and intervention is plainly unpalatable. Living without the God who can move to secure our multidimensional progress is like sifting endlessly through the dross. Happily, our God is very interested in our day-to-day affairs, and can profitably intervene in all our lives’ circumstances. The fine detail here, however, is that God is always on the move, and joining Him as He moves is what guarantees our experiences of His wonder. Yes, God…

Sunday, 12 March 2023 05:59

Article of faith: Are Christians disciples of Jesus? (2) - Femi Aribisala

Jesus says His disciples should count the cost before following Him: “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it – lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:27-30). But they do not teach Christians in churches to carry crosses and pay the…

Friday, 10 March 2023 06:00

Osinbajo: A leader for all seasons - Azu Ishiekwene

Trying to fit him into a mold can be sometimes problematic. I have always thought of him as a teacher and mentor. And later, only much later, as a friend. For over three decades he has been more than enough in each of these roles. My path with Yemi Osinbajo, as he then was, first crossed at the University of Lagos when he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and I was a student at the Department of Mass Communication at the same university. Just a busybody trying to indulge my fantasy of becoming a pocket lawyer, I…

Thursday, 09 March 2023 05:56

The confessions of Dino Melaye - Bola Bolawole

Politician Dino Melaye needs no introduction to Nigerians; neither is he new to controversies. His theatrics, however, set him apart from other controversial politicians of his ilk. He has traversed the country’s entire political gamut since the return to civil rule in 1999, moving from PDP to AC/ACN and taking shelter in Bola Tinubu’s Bourdillon home when the then President Olusegun Obasanjo turned the heat on him before he joined the New-PDP to pull the rug from under the feet of President Goodluck Jonathan. Therefore, the coming to power of Muhammadu Buhari was not without the support of Dino Melaye.…

Thursday, 09 March 2023 05:55

Yorùbá ro’nú, yes, ro’nú! - Abimbola Adelakun

The ethnic irredentists who regularly punctuate the atmosphere with the dog whistle of Yorùbá ro’nú are not sincerely invested in the gains of contemplation. If they were, they would deploy the same gusto to call for a reflection on the Yorùbá condition within this contraption called Nigeria. We would be asked to ponder if this is all there is to our life or if we are being shortchanged by our self-serving leaders and their herd of brownnosers who remind us to use our power of reason only when it potentially benefits the political class. Deploying the force of our thought…

Sunday, 05 March 2023 05:59

My Bola Tinubu odyssey - Festus Adedayo

Since Wednesday, March 1, 2023, as Persians, Carthaginians and Romans did in penal sanction, I was literally hung up for crucifixion. It began the moment Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, announced ex-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of last Saturday’s presidential election. Diatribes, sarcasms and mild verbal whiplashing were reserved for me. Like ice cubes, rebukes of me got generously intermixed with cognac of victory celebrations. It reminds me of celebrated Nigerian journalist, May Ellen-Ezekiel’s piece, Over Cognac, in her column in the Quality magazine of the 1990s. Battling personal medical privations that resulted in delayed childbirth,…

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Sunday, 05 March 2023 05:57

Let God arise! - Taiwo Akinola

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him ~ Psalms 68:1. Introduction Let’s get this straight from the onset: our God is very very powerful (Psalms 62:11). He rules by His power forever, and His eyes behold the nations (Psalm 66:7). All He needs to do is arise and speak, and His counsel will stand fast (Psalm 33:8-9). No wonder Jesus said God is even able to raise up children out of stones (Matthew 3:9). God’s plan for your life is far greater than your ability. Your strength, or anything you…

Sunday, 05 March 2023 05:56

Article of faith: Are Christians disciples of Jesus? - Femi Aribisala

Not likely! Christians cannot be disciples because pastors are not disciples. Jesus asks: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:39-40). A disciple of Jesus must be like Jesus. But Christians are not like Jesus. They are like their teachers, the pastors. Jesus says: “Do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.” (Matthew 23:10). Nevertheless, pastors arrogate themselves as teachers of Christians. Jesus says in His church: “There will be…

Friday, 03 March 2023 06:00

Peter Obi, a salute, a bow - Comfort Obi

I neither flaunt nor use the title, but I am a Princess of an over 150-year-old Royal Home. So, by tradition, I usually don’t bow for, or courtesy before most people. I was told not to do so because “you are Royal.” However, I make exception before some Clerics; some, not all. There are too many fake and lying Clerics that one is tempted, at times, to ask God: ”Almighty, why are you patient with these fake guys?” But today, for Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded February 25, 2023, Presidential Election, I…

Friday, 03 March 2023 05:59

In praise of ‘no structure’ - Seun Kolade

Whatever you make of the outcome and the controversies surrounding it, the 2023 presidential election has marked a seismic shift in Nigeria’s political landscape. And this is all credit to the vast army of Nigeria’s youth, and the older citizens with them, who sent a strong message to the effect that an end to the old, destructive political order is in sight, and the long-suffering citizens of Nigeria will no longer take it lying down. Tension in the land has not abated, mind. A close friend, who is otherwise apolitical, sent to me the screenshot of the results in his…

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