Life In Ghana Under An Nkrumaist President

By Banji Ojewale

Here in Anyaa, Accra, capital of Ghana, I’ve come across some of the country’s leading newspapers. Their contents—news reports, opinions, vox pop, book reviews, cartoons, (dearth of these), sports, photo stories, advertorials etc.--give me a larger-than-life image of the Ghanaian society.  The two oldest journals, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, with their sister weeklies, The Mirror and The Spectator respectively, are on parade.  The later appearances, Daily Guide, The Ghanaian Chronicle, Modern Ghana (Online), The Insight, Finder, Business Ghana, Statesman etc. have also been consulted, considered or captured for this short essay. 

Ghana no longer has evening sheets. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s founding president, introduced an Accra evening paper in the late 40s to fight colonial rule and give a voice to the local population. In the 60s, there was also the popular Evening Times. Since then, there’s been no serious contention for a comeback.

Pastor Kumuyi’s Washington Trip And The Shifting Cynosure

By Banji Ojewale

In Washington DC, USA, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi of Africa is invited to lead the prayer and praise session as part of the ceremonies for the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47^th president of the US. The revered Nigerian evangelist is through after a delivery of 290+ words in 1 minute and 36 seconds. 

*Pastor Kumuyi, his wife, and American ministers in Washington 

Reporters also note that Kumuyi, Convener of the denomination-disavowing Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK, is the only Nigerian and African cleric asked to minister. There’s this observation, too: His assembly, Deeper Life Bible Church, DLBC, trashed all the prognoses of infant death made by religious pontiffs on account of its pick of unyielding holiness as its motto; it then went on to survive withering headwinds, internal and external, to position itself in the forefront of the push of evangelical Christianity from the Global South, rather than from its cradle in the Global North.

OJUKWU: Exile, Diplomacy And Survival (Book Review)

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Volumes have been said and written about the Nigeria/Biafra War: the pre-war hostilities that degenerated into the pogroms that eventually provoked the mass exodus of Eastern Nigerians from several parts of the country to the East; the secession of the people of the East to create a separate entity for themselves where they felt they could take charge of their own security and dignity as humans; the war that followed and the gallant efforts by the Easterners to pick the bits and pieces of their lives and survive the devastating effects of the bitter war.

But despite the very huge body of historical (and fictional) works that have accumulated on the war from Nigerian writers, foreign observers and journalists, a key aspect of the story continues to be conspicuously missing. The leader of the defeated republic, Biafra, left the country for Ivory Coast few days to the end of the war in January 1970 and remained there as an exile for twelve years before returning to a hero’s welcome in 1982 following the unconditional pardon granted him by the Shagari government.

Naturally, there have been intense yearnings by many people to be updated on the developments that marked those years between the end of the war in 1970 and Ojukwu’s return from the Cote d’Iviore in 1982. What were the things that occupied the Biafran leader in exile? What were his plans for Nigeria for which several meetings were held in Cote d’Iviore, Ghana, Nigeria and some European cities? Who were the Nigerians that visited him several times in Cote d’Ivoire and how were their trips arranged to ensure that the security operatives of the Yakubu Gowon’s regime which were keenly interested in him and his activities in exile were not aware?  How did he build the very formidable network of trusted contacts, friends, loyal and dutiful associates and aides that facilitated his ability to easily send and receive messages to and from Nigeria and  know almost every significant event that occurred in Nigeria within the shortest time – in fact, even before many people in Nigeria got to know?            

Accomplished electronic and print media journalist, eminent writer and public relations expert, Kanayo Esinulo “who worked at General Ojukwu’s State House…” in Biafra and followed him “to Cote d’Iviore and served as one of his closest aides all through his years of exile” has finally bowed to pressure from friends, colleagues, journalists, scholars and diverse interested parties, to write a book that admirably fills that gap.

Nightmarish ‘Prophets’ And New Year Predictions

 By Banji Ojewale

The true prophet of God is not the one who delivers predictions about the New Year or the future. No! Rather he reveals the Creator’s mind and how fallen humanity can be convinced to embrace that vision for his eternal good – William Folorunso Kumuyi, Convener, Global Crusade with Kumuyi, (GCK)

*Kumuyi

In one of his sermons at the December 2024 Global Retreat of the Deeper Life Bible Church and Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK, in Lagos, Nigeria, Pastor W.F. Kumuyi, Africa’s world-renowned evangelist, said the integrity crisis faced by today’s ‘prophets’ is the result of their desertion of the prophetic station ordained by God. He told millions of multitudes who watched and heard him worldwide online and physically that the true prophet of God is expected to hear from God and say only what he hears from Him, as sacredly served in the Holy Bible. 

Kayode Ojewale (1984-2024): Departing Soon At Noon!

By Banji Ojewale

January 17, 2025 would have marked the 41st natal anniversary of Solomon Kayode Ojewale, the young man who was beginning to be noticed as a regular name in Nigeria’s vast media space, online and main-view. He was a migratory writer. One time he’d be in The Guardian, The Punch, The Nation, Nigerian Tribune, or Vanguard, all in Nigeria’s south, or another time up north in Daily Trust, Leadership or New Nigerian.

*Kayode 

Kayode also had a promising presence in the online publications: Premium Times, Newspot, Sahara Reporters etc. He wrote and read lustily. On a number of occasions, he would query me: “Dad, what’s going on? I haven’t seen you write lately.’’ Sometimes, he was a monitoring spirit, searching for my articles on the internet and railing at the ubiquitous devil in the print. He also preyed on books. He took from me a book on John McCain, once a US presidential aspirant, which Emeka Eluem Izeze, former MD of The Guardian, loaned me.

Human Rights And Freedom In Nigeria Under Tinubu

By Kenneth Okonkwo

Gasiokwu defined human rights as claims made on society by individuals and groups which claims have found expression in objective law either at national levels and international levels, and serve as the standard for measuring the conditions of human existence below which no human being should enjoy.

*Tinubu
They are rights held by individuals simply because they are part of the human species. They are rights shared equally by everyone regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, nationality and economic background. They are rights inbuilt by God in human beings and discernable by human reason and man-made laws must conform to these natural law rights of human beings.

Nigeria: A Nation On Trial

 By Sunny Awhefeada 

The Nigerian state is undergoing a series of turmoil that is a desider­atum in her sojourn to nationhood. Great nations did contend with such moments in their history. The jour­ney to nationhood is not a hundred metre dash. It is long, tortuous and treacherous. It births heroes and throws up villains.

*Farotimi

While the heroes struggle to delineate the clear path the nation should walk, the villains deploy everything including subterfuge to subvert the quest in order to satisfy some base desires that often denude the major­ity of the people of stability, fairness and justice. What often baffles humanity in the course of the struggle laden quest is that some of the heroes turn out to be “heroes” who were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Deaths And Blood Rituals For Bulaba Balablu Christmas

 By Ugo Onuoha

‘It will get worse before it gets worse’. That was the title of my article published here and in other newspapers on November 21, 2023, six months after Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assumed office, and started his incoherent economic policies and programmes. The chicken is coming home to roost but it’s doing so at the cost of limbs, livelihoods and lives of the majority of Nigerians who are at the receiving end.

Everyday we wake up to news of tragedies, especially of avoidable accidents, miseries and needless deaths. Tragedies now straddle the land – at home, school, market, highway, sea/river, farm, stream, bush path. Everywhere, really.

Nigeria’s Hostages In Law

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

In 1991, Nigeria was in the full throes of the interminable transition to civil rule programme of General Ibrahim Babangida.

The effort by the regime in 1991 to relocate their terminal date from 1992 to 1993 coincided with a planned meeting in Ibadan, south-west Nigeria, of the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

National Assembly Should Repeal Criminal Libel Now

 By Tonnie Iredia

The handling of the on-going defamation case between legal giant, Afe Babalola and social activist, Dele Farotimi has provided strong evidence that Nigeria has probably lost its fight against media trial. Many years back, there was the well-articulated viewpoint that because the word “trial” is associated with the process of justice, trial by the media constitutes an undue interference in the process of justice delivery.

The argument has since been overtaken by the nature of social media which has made public communication exceedingly rampant, just as lawyers have themselves contributed to the development by engaging in the new wave of minute-by-minute commentary on cases already before a court of justice. Apart from publicity-seeking lawyers, some others with scanty briefs are too anxious to let the public know that they are learned.

Kemi Badenoch And Mob Attack Of Pseudo-Patriots

 By Emeka Alex Duru

The trending controversy on Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the British Conservative Party and her disposition to Nigeria, reminds me of an encounter with a media aide to a governor in the South East. 

*Badenoch

An obviously traumatized citizen had posted a comment on his social media Facebook page, chiding the governor for always frolicking in Abuja while the state suffers on account of insecurity and poor governance. That was all that it took for our friend, the media aide to break loose against the hapless citizen.

Battered ECOWAS Applies Cosmetic Make-Up

 By Owei Lakemfa

The highlight of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Authority of Heads of State and Government Summit of December 15, 2024, was the formalisation of its break up. Three of the 15-Member countries, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic which are now ruled by  military regimes, had given notice of withdrawal.

Some of us had hoped that while ECOWAS would acknowledge the three countries’ notice, it would stall for a political solution. It should be a very serious issue for even one country to leave, not to talk of three which is one fifth of the entire membership.

As Governance Confounds Okpebholo

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

When my attention was drawn to Governor Monday Okpebholo’s “Now, it is confusing me” video, I thought his political enemies were at work aided by Artificial Intelligence. The one-minute, 17-second video captured him stuttering while presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the Edo State House of Assembly.

*Monday Okpebholo

Struggling to pronounce the numerical value of the Bill which he christened “Budget of Renewed Hope for a Rising Edo,” the governor said: “The Edo State 2025 budget… appropriation bill of six billion, sixty and fifty, six hundred five billion, seventy six thousand, seventy six million, seventy six.”

Dele Farotimi: Is Afe Babalola After The Truth Or A Pound Of Flesh?

 By Olu Fasan

Most of those who have commented or are commenting on the Dele Farotimi-Afe Babalola saga have not read the book at the heart of the story: Farotimi’s Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System. I have. I bought a digital copy from Amazon last week, and spent four hours slowly reading – more appropriately, perusing – the 115-page book on Kindle.

*Farotimi 

Why did I buy the book? Two reasons. First, column-writing is about topicality and informed commentary. A good columnist should comment on any topical issue of significant public interest and do so from an informed perspective. The Farotimi-Babalola story has gripped Nigeria and has wider implications for the principle of legality. I decided to read the book so I could offer an informed opinion. Second, I wanted to know what irked Aare Afe Babalola so much that he went for the nuclear option, seeking to crush Farotimi personally and professionally. Well, answer: the book is a dynamite! 

2027: Sycophants And ‘No Vacancy In Aso Rock’

 By Dan Onwukwe

The first phase in the struggle for the presidency in 2027 has already started long before the flag off of campaigns.Well, does the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) matter any more?

If you care to know, this is a prelude to rigging the 2027 presidential election. In politics, no less than war, the lessons of the last campaign are prized beyond their application to the present one. But like each battle, each political campaign is dependent upon the experience of the past, but every political campaign is in itself unique. Is it a surprise to you that about 27 months to the next general elections, the desperate pursuit to re-elect President Bola Tinubu has been at fever pitch for days? That’s why Nigerian politics rings alarm. It’s about the manner of characters that pollute our democratic process and makes it look like a sham, if not a scam.

Corruption And Political Party Funding In Nigeria?

 By Tonnie Iredia

With the recent decision of the Supreme Court granting financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria,   the latter now presumably receive their share of the monthly federal allocation directly unlike the previous practice of such funds getting to them through their respective state governments.

Bearing in mind that most local government chairpersons in every state were greatly assisted if not handpicked into their positions, how easily achievable would the implementation of local autonomy be? 

Bola Tinubu’s Taxing Times!

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu 

A mere four years after emerging from a civil war, in 1974, Nigeria was at the beginning of an oil boom. Then, as today, the country was in the middle of a debate about fiscal federalism and revenue allocation.

*Tinubu 
Unlike today, however, there were significant differences: the country was under military rule and the men leading the debate were all soldiers. In the fifty years since then, the structure of this debate and the geo-political symmetries that define it have evolved only a little.

The Peace Ukrainians Deserve

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On December 6, Ukrainians commemorated the Armed Forces Day. It is an occasion used annually in honouring their “brave defenders who protect their homeland from Russian aggression.” I happened to be at the Ukrainian embassy that Friday where the Ambassador of Ukraine to Nigeria, Ivan Kholostenko, said the heroes being honoured “safeguard not only Ukraine but also the broader world.”

*Ukranian President Zelensky

“On this day, we express our deepest gratitude to all those who defend the freedom and future of our country, ensuring peace and security for millions around the globe. The Embassy of Ukraine in Nigeria commemorates the heroes with an exhibition. Faces of men and women who risk everything for their homeland and peace around the globe are looking from the pictures of the exhibition,” Kholostenko said.

Unending Collapses Of The National Grid

 By Adekunle Adekoya

On Wednesday, the national power grid managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, collapsed for the 11th time in 2024, leaving the country in complete blackout. Some people said that it wasn’t the 11th but the 12th time, on the average, a collapse of once a month.

Data from the National System Operator, NSO, showed that as of 2pm that day, none of Nigeria’s 26 power plants was on the grid.

Okonjo-Iweala, Kemi Badenoch: The Shaming Of Nigerian Statehood

 By Olu Fasan

The strength of any country consists of its natural resources, human resources and capital assets, namely, the economic wealth that delivers higher living standards. The first two determine the third. If a country can successfully harness its natural resources, using its human talent, it will prosper; if it can’t, it will fail.

*Kemi Badenoch and Okonjo-Iweala

Now, Nigeria is known worldwide for its abundant human and natural resources, so why is it one of the world’s poorest countries? Why is Nigeria run so badly that it’s utterly dysfunctional, verging on state failure? The commonest answer people give is “leadership”. But Nigerians run world bodies and lead major Western political parties, so why can’t Nigerians run their own country well? How can Nigerians provide leadership abroad, but not at home?