By Olu Fasan
Recently, President Bola Tinubu unceremoniously sacked Kayode Egbetokun as Nigeria’s 22nd Inspector-General of Police, IGP, reportedly for expressing strong reservations about the creation of state police. Tinubu swiftly named Tunji Disu as the new IGP.
By Marcel Okeke
While the entire world remains on edge following the United States of America-Israel military strike on Iran last weekend, one of the upshots of the incident has been a remarkable surge in the prices of crude oil. As the conflict is yet unfolding and spreading across the entire Middle East, crude oil production, logistics and distribution are getting encumbered or crippled.
As a ripple effect of the crisis, prices of oil have spiked, busting expectations and projections by stakeholders and analysts. For Nigeria which has built its 2026 budget of N58.4…. trillion on oil price assumption of $64.85 per barrel, the surge to over $90 per barrel (at a point) looks, in all respects, like another windfall in terms of the resultant huge foreign exchange (FX) revenue inflow.
By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
Judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…. Bible, Matthew 7:1-2 (NKJV)
In the first six months of 1986, Nigeria’s Supreme Court delivered two judgments with far reaching consequences for the lives and careers of two senior judges of the High Court. If the facts were to recur today, 40 years later, neither of these cases would come to trial. This fact says a lot about how the standards of judicial conduct and ethics as well as accountability for both have evolved – for worse – over the intervening period.
Donald Ikomi was a judge and Chairman of the Armed Robbery and Firearms Tribunal of Bendel State when – together with his cook, Reuben Udoh, and one Martins Ekezoka – he was arraigned in December 1985 on a charge of murder.
By Owei Lakemfa
Thirty months after recalling all Nigerian ambassadors, and 15 months before the end of its four-year tenure, the Tinubu administration on March 6, 2026, unveiled ambassadors for Nigeria.
In the first place, the recall of the ambassadors in September 2023 was myopic. It resulted in the country having no ambassadors at a time the world was on the boil, and our West African region was falling apart.
It was also embarrassing that for over two years, government was unable or incapable of appointing new ambassadors.
But as the administration rolled out the names of the new ambassadors and their supposed countries of posting, I sensed the absence of professionalism in the process.
By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Power(electricity)is one of the subsectors of the national economy that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government has failed to revive from its hitherto moribund status.
Nigeria has had energy poverty as one of the severest challenges undermining the prosperity of millions of Nigerians for decades. Electricity poverty is one of the causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria.
By Kingsley Moghalu
The Daniel Bwala interview with Mehdi Hasan on AlJazeera ‘s Head to Head program was a disaster of gargantuan proportions for Nigeria as a country, for President Tinubu’s administration, and for Bwala himself. Of these three, the last is the least important, because Bwala’s track record speaks for itself.
The interview made a spectacle of Nigeria, not just because of the reach of the program globally, but also the format in which there was a global audience in the room itself. What will EACH of those people think about Nigeria after such a fact-based shredding of the country’s leadership and its performance? It was a sad commentary on Nigeria’s political culture in which there are no beliefs, no policies, no ideology, just crass opportunism and the battle for political power. Turn-coatism is “it”.
This is the painful reality confronting our nation. From Zamfara State to Kwara, Ondo, Kebbi, Edo, Benue, Adamawa, Plateau, and many other states, families have buried loved ones, and communities have been emptied by gunshots and fear.
By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
Football is the greatest instrument that unites Nigeria. Whenever the national team, the Super Eagles, is on song all Nigerians become united in an astonishing togetherness.
There was the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-70 that could have divided the country forever. At the end of the war in 1970, then Head of State General Yakubu Gowon made the famous announcement of “No Victor, No Vanquished”.
Of course the vanquished ones knew themselves as they sauntered back into Nigeria, hungry and broken, after the end of the Biafra struggle.
The eminent Nigerian football administrators of that time, notably the iconic Oyo Orok Oyo, at the end of the war stressed that a team from the erstwhile rebel section must be involved for a true national champion to emerge.
By Adekunle Adekoya
That our nation is challenged on many fronts may be a trite observation; from economic challenges in the form of a cost of living crisis and the growing inability of many Nigerians to afford things they once took for granted to existential threats posed by kidnapping, banditry, insurgency and terrorism, it is obvious that these are not the best of times for Nigeria and Nigerians. Even the rich are also crying.
People say once a problem is known, it is already half-solved. Threats already identified in the economic and security spheres are being dealt with, or ignored as the managers of our affairs see fit, leaving one to wonder why the Nigerian state cannot eradicate the scourge of terrorism from our lands the way a surgeon excises a disturbing growth from the body of a patient.
By Promise Adiele
This essay is not intended to elaborate on Nigeria’s socio-political and economic regression or to emphasize the potential of a new socio-political beginning. It does not attempt to achieve a consensus about the more suitable quintessential habitation between City and Village.
By Steve Osuji
Tinubu in do-or-die 2nd term bid: First, it is perverse for an incumbent to seek to shutdown an entire system; the very same that ensconced him onto power. It's like sequestering yourself in a house with doors and windows tightly shut! The very open system which brought a man to power, he now seeks to shut it down in order to eliminate any form of contest or opposition.
This scenario is what President Bola Tinubu has fully pre-occupied himself with since he came to power in May, 2023. Shutdown the space! Pull down their bastions and hack their stanchions! This seems to be the silent battle cry of Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
By Promise Adiele
The subliminal expression, “let Nigeria collapse, let us all go our separate ways”, is a dominant mindset for many people across the country. It resonates with tenacious assurance in the mental process of those who subscribe to such an idea. Surely, no one would blame them for believing that Nigeria has expired. Its twin expression is “the Nigerian project is not working. To your tents, O Israel.”
Those who accommodate the second submission borrow a leaf from the Biblical book of 1 Kings 12:16, where the general discontent of the ten northern tribes of Israel towards King Rehoboam is captured. But the shrewd and circumspect have argued that the disintegration of the country may not be the best option.
By Promise Adiele
Time is an important factor in human engagements. That is why “time wasting” is repudiated by serious-minded, result-oriented, and committed persons. I remember a popular slogan by one of my school teachers. It says “time wasted is irretrievable”. In simple terms, time lost cannot be recovered.
Contemporary events have punctured that submission. Of course, time wasted can be recovered at least from a spiritual point of view, especially if we consider God’s declaration in Joel 2:25. In that portion of the Bible, God made a promise to restore the wasted years, the years of the locust and cankerworm. It means that God can restore wasted time. Although God can restore wasted time, we must not slaughter time on the altar of irresponsible indulgences.
By Jude Obuseh
In today’s Nigeria, the contradiction is stark and unsettling. Armed groups in remote forests upload videos in real time. Kidnappers broadcast proof-of-life clips within minutes. Terrorists circulate propaganda across multiple platforms with ease. Yet, when it comes to elections—the very foundation of democratic legitimacy—citizens are repeatedly told that electronic transmission of results is “not always feasible.”
The question therefore forces itself into the national conscience: if bandits can transmit their crimes live, why can’t the Nigerian state transmit election results electronically? This is not a debate about abstract technology. Nigeria has over 120 million internet subscribers, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission, and mobile network coverage extends to over 85 percent of the population. Banks process millions of electronic transactions daily.
Thank You, Nigerians!
I am profoundly grateful to Nigerians from around the world for your prayers, calls, and solidarity following the incident at the ADC office in Benin yesterday.
I especially appreciate your support during this difficult time for the family of the distinguished elder and former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Oyegun, who has served Nigeria honourably in various capacities, as well as for another former Governor, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor. Your support has strengthened my faith in our shared humanity and our collective hope for a better Nigeria. My deep gratitude is reflected in my renewed commitment to serve and build our nation.
By Halima Abdulazeez
The story of journalism in Nigeria cannot be told without mentioning a patriot like Sir Ayo Oyoze Baje, whose 73rd birthday recently marked another milestone in a life dedicated to intellectual rigor, creative innovation, and selfless service.
As President of the Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria (GPAAN) and Chairman/CEO of Oyoze Creative Concept, Sir Oyoze continues to exemplify how sharp analysis and boundless creativity can transform public discourse and nation-building.
By Tonnie Iredia
Many analysts who felt they could explain away the poor conduct of the 2019 elections ended up making two irritating statements; first that the nation’s electoral body did not have a server and second that even if there was one, it was not put into use. Considering that it was public knowledge that INEC was funded to get a server, the narrative could have sent the nation ablaze, but it did not.
In 2023, INEC’s claim that a glitch adversely affected only one out of 3 elections that were simultaneously conducted should have led to massive violent reactions as it used to be in Nigeria, but again it did not. It is however naïve to imagine that Nigerians have suddenly become dumb or that the unusual post-election calm has now established the emergence of a new political culture.
By Bassey Ewa Henshaw
“Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide
In the strife of truth with
falsehood
For the good or evil side
Some great cause, some great
decision
Each offering the bloom or
blight
And the choice goes by forever
Twixt that darkness and that
light.”
—James Russell Lowell
And indeed, the INEC Amendment Bill presents such a moment. A moment of great decision. It is the moment when we all must choose between transparency, credibility and trust or manipulation, doubt and suspicion. It is a moment when silence is not golden and we must all speak up and side with the truth.
By Olu Fasan
The vexed debate over the Senate’s refusal to guarantee “mandatory” and “real-time” electronic transmission of results in the electoral law ignores two fundamental problems. The first is Nigeria’s utterly weak state capacity; the second is the total lack of institutional independence.
Even if the electoral act provides for mandatory and real-time transmission of election results, “mandatory” will not be mandatory and “real-time” won’t be real-time. Furthermore, INEC and the courts can’t be trusted to be above board in discharging their duties. Both problems discredited previous presidential elections in Nigeria and look likely to undermine the 2027 poll.
