Nigeria: Millions For 90 Minutes, Peanuts For 35 Years!

 By Stephanie Shaakaa

When a country rewards each Super Falcons player with N150 million and a three-bedroom house for a 90-minute football match, yet sends police and military pensioners who served 35 years home with N2–5 million, no housing, no healthcare, and a pension too small to feed a family, what we have is not just imbalance it’s a moral crisis. 

And just like that the  copy-paste generosity extended to the women’s basketball team. More cash, more houses, same hypocrisy. Meanwhile, the  heroes of this country from other sectors  rot in silence.

I Choose To Believe Him: Peter Obi Has Earned The Benefit Of Doubt!

 By Kunle Agbede

Truth is rarely born of politics, and trust is even rarer. But that’s not unique to politics—it cuts across every human endeavour.

*Peter Obi 

For many, the moral arc easily bends away from conscience when the outcome benefits them. That’s the way of the world. But as we say in law: for every rule, there is an exception.

Is Media Still The Fourth Estate Of The Realm?

 By Fred Chukwuelobe

Before I delve deeper into the details of this question, let me briefly take a cursory read of the term, “fourth estate,” in the interest of those who may not know what it means.

According to Wikipedia, the term “fourth estate” refers to the press and news media and their influence on politics and society. It’s often seen as a watchdog of the government and a vital part of a functioning democracy, holding power accountable. The concept originated in Europe, contrasting the press with the traditional three estates of the realm: clergy, nobility, and commoners.

Tinubu’s Injudicious Governance Template In A Heterogeneous Society

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

In his seminal offering last Sunday titled, “Whose president is Tinubu, anyway?” TheNiche columnist, Dr. Chidi Amuta, concluded in a rather cautionary note: “Tinubu’s current quandary as to his real national constituency may end in greater confusion unless he is ready to rediscover the source of his original sin and redress it. That original sin is that he has failed to rise to the lofty height of the nation. Instead, he has spent two years struggling to reduce a great nation to the limited size of his stature, vision and politics. To discover his mission, Tinubu has to rise to the magnitude of his national canvass.”

*Tinubu

It was a well-intentioned advisory, which, if heeded, will do President Tinubu a world of good and soothe frayed nerves in the country. But knowing him, it is an advisory he will treat with derision.

A tale Of Two Nations And Their Victorious Women’s Sports Teams

 By Olu Fasan

The past two weeks have been remarkable for sports women internationally. Women’s national sports teams were victorious in major international tournaments and attracted differing responses from their governments. In Britain, England’s women’s national football team, the Lionesses, beat their Spanish counterpart to win the 2025 UEFA Women’s Championships.

In Nigeria, the Super Falcons, this country’s women’s national football team, triumphed over their Moroccan rivals to bring home the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON. Barely a week later, the D’Tigress, Nigeria’s female basketball team, secured a hard-fought victory over Mali to clinch the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket cup. Kudos to the ladies! Who says women cannot do what men can do? Of course, they can, and even better! 

Insouciant, Immoral Politicking For 2027 Elections

 By Adekunle Adekoya

A cursory perusal of the state of affairs in Nigeria today and how things are managed by the politicians in charge led me to one conclusion — we, the people of Nigeria, do not matter a jot to the politicians managing our affairs. In addition, the laws that we have in place to regulate our daily experience in many spheres of life also do not matter to them.

This is because preparations to get re-elected after the elections of 2023 began earnestly last year, a development unprecedented since the Fourth Republic was birthed in 1999. To me, that wasn’t just jumping the gun, it signalled a crazy obsession with, and yearning for power that even demagogues may not possess. Throughout last year, and continuing into this year, developments on the political landscape had to do in the main with who is defecting from which party, and to which. This year, most of the rumours became fact when the decampings started taking place, one after the other, like the sequence in a computer programme.

Lagos Is A Land Of Law, Not Tribal Lords: A Rebuttal To The So-Called Yoruba Elders Progressive Council (YEPC)

 By Bolaji O. Akinyemi

I read with deep concern the unsigned and shameful document issued in the name of “Yoruba Elders Progressive Council (YEPC)” titled “Our Land, Our Identity: Lagos State Government Must Act Before We're Made Strangers at Home.” 

It is unfortunate that in 2025, in a democratic Nigeria where the Constitution reigns supreme, some cowards cloaked in the name of Yoruba elders still find it acceptable to publish ethnic bile and incite division without the courage to sign their names. 

As a proud Yoruba son, a senior citizen, and a disciple of the progressive school of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, I cannot keep silent while these masked agitators try to drag the Yoruba identity into the mud of tribal bigotry and reckless political opportunism.

Let me now respond, point by poisonous point, to their disturbing and dangerous narrative. 

Reflections And Tribute To Media Icon, Dr. Doyin Abiola

 

By Richard Ikiebe

Dr. Doyin Abiola, a pioneering figure in Nigerian journalism, passed away on August 5, 2025, at the age of 82. As one of the first women to break barriers in the male-dominated field, her career spanned decades, marked by bold storytelling, advocacy for gender issues, and leadership roles at major publications. 

Dr. Doyin Abiola 

In light of her recent passing, the following draws from a March 2013 interview she granted to me at the School of Media and Communication studio, offering insights into her life, challenges, and vision for Nigerian media. This transcript, provided in the query, captures her candid reflections and serves as a testament to her enduring legacy. 

Tinubu And Alienation Of S’East Region

 By Dan Onwukwe

Political power is like a bikini. It reveals. It exposes a leader’s real character, no matter how he tries to hide it. That’s why what some politicians do when they are trying to get your vote is not necessarily what they do after they have it. This is what happens: when a President feels he has got enough power, when he thinks he can do without you anymore, that’s when you begin to see how he always wanted to treat people. 

*Tinubu

Moreover, you can begin to see by watching what he does with the power he has desperately acquired and what he wanted to accomplish all along. That’s also why history sometimes provides a striking opportunity for understanding the interplay between leaders, circumstances, and the behaviour of some leaders who society once accorded recognition and respect.

The Selectorate: When The People Vote But The Judges Choose

 By Abdul Mahmud

One month ago, in Abuja, a small circle of friends, literary enthusiasts, human rights activists, politicians, public intellectuals and thinkers gathered to listen to Chidi Odinkalu read from his latest offering, The Selectorate: When Judges Topple the People. It was a private reading, but the ideas Chidi graciously espoused belong in the public domain. They concern us, citizens of this ruined Republic.

Odinkalu is no stranger to judicial criticism. I have often described him both as a restless ruffler of the judicial nest and a flamethrower who scorches the dark recesses of our judicial quarters, casting light into corners long hidden from public view, so that citizens may, if only for a moment, glimpse the shadows that dwell within. Rightly so. He has spent the better part of his sterling career in the academe and public activism, exposing the inconsistencies, betrayals, and quiet capitulations of the judicial branch. But The Selectorate is more than a critique. It is a mirror, held up to a country whose judicial branch is in utter disrepute.

Serial Defections: How Would Atiku Be Remembered In Nigerian Politics?

 By Olu Fasan

Recently, on July 14, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, announced his latest defection from a political party. It was his fifth since 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule. In 2006, while still vice-president under the administration of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku defected to Action Congress, AC. In 2007, he returned to PDP, only to decamp to the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2014.

*Atiku

Three years later, in 2017, Atiku defected from APC and returned to PDP. Now, in 2025, he has defected from PDP to the African Democratic Congress, ADC, under which he is assembling a coalition to face the APC and its flagbearer, President Bola Tinubu, in the 2027 presidential election, which, seemingly, he’s keen to contest. That would be Atiku’s seventh attempt at the presidency, aged 80! Outside politics, Atiku is known for many things. He is a proud family man, a successful businessman, and a holder of a major traditional title, the Waziri of Adamawa.

Lagos And The Yoruba…

 By Obi Nwakanma

The lethal cladding of extreme power could blind, and constrain a man, so much that he might fall into the ditch, and still think himself powerful. Wise folks know this. So, they handle power and its claddings with extreme care. 

I would like in that sense to caution Dr. Rotimi Fasan, columnist and colleague at the Vanguard, whose recent take on the renaming of streets bearing Igbo names in Lagos, leaves sour tastes on the mouth. I will try to stay in the bounds of collegiality, but I should remind Fasan that our calling in the humane letters demands a broader, clearer, sober, gentler regard  for truth unconstrained by provincialism or the kind of deadly and empty self-regard, that is so writ large in his column, this past Thursday. He titled it, “Who Are the Bigots?” Dr. Fasan should take a very hard and steady look at the mirror, and his answer might stare right back at him. 

Oshiomhole Lied! Benin Nursing School Not Owned By Govt — Catholic Church

                                           ----------------------------------

                    PRESS CONFERENCE

(July 30, 2025)

Setting The Records Straight: Philomena College Of Nursing Is Not Government-Owned

*Obi

Introduction

He who speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit. — Proverbs 12:17 (RSVCE).

On this note, I welcome you, ladies and gentlemen of the press, esteemed guests, and fellow citizens to this press conference at the Archdiocesan Secretariat of Social Communications and Printing Press. My name is Rev. Fr. Jude Orah, and I am the Director of Social Communications and Press of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, Edo State. Thank you for honouring our invitation.

A Call for Truth in a Time of Misinformation

The times we live in today call for moments of truth so that falsehood may not thrive. As Scripture reminds us, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (cf. John 8:32). 

It is in this spirit that we are gathered here today to address the public regarding the ownership and funding of the College of Nursing Sciences, located within the premises of St. Philomena Catholic Hospital, Benin City. 

This clarification has become necessary in response to misleading statements made by His Excellency, Senator Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, CON, who was a former president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, former Governor of Edo State, and former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC); also the current senator representing Edo North Senatorial District.

2027, Lagos And Resurgence Of Anti-Igbo Sentiments

 

By Emeka Alex Duru

2027 general elections may still be far but signs of what to come are becoming clearer and indeed, disturbing. Nigerians may be in for a rough deal, perhaps, worse than what was experienced in 2023, if the morning, as they say, tells the day. Mudslinging and ethnic recriminations are already dominating public spaces, in place of issue-based engagements. Lagos is a place to watch in the worrisome development.

Igbos Earned Their Lunch In Lagos

 By Prof. Femi Olufunmilade

Lagos has been a cosmopolitan, global destination with a modern seaport at Apapa since the mid-1800. It became a Crown Colony in 1861. I did a research for the Nigerian Customs, went into the Federal Archives at the University of Ibadan and discovered records of the Customs Administration of Lagos since 1877. Could have been earlier? 

Lagos was developed by people from diverse parts of the world. The British contributed their bit, ditto indigenous people, as well as other West African groups like Dahomians, Ghanaians, Togolese, etc. From within Nigeria, you have early settlers like the Bini, and the Tapa, and returned slaves from Brazil and Sierra Leone, and, by the early 1900s, the Igbo began to flock in. Later, the Lebanese came, followed by the Indians. All of these groups had made Lagos what it is before Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT) came out of his father’s crotch, whoever he is.