Misplaced Tears Over Iranian Leaders When Blood Flows In Nigeria

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The war in the Middle East, being fought by the United States and Israel against Iran, is still raging, and its outcomes are being felt all over the world. In the early days of the war which began February 28, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the aftermath of air strikes on selected targets in Tehran, the Iranian capital. Khamenei’s death occurred as part of a wider joint operation by the United States and Israel, using strategic locations intelligence from the US’s Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, to determine the whereabouts of several Iranian leaders.

Now, Khamenei was not only Iran’s Supereme Leader, he was also acknowledged as the leader of all Shi’a Muslims worldwide. In Nigeria, Shi’a Muslims are organised under a mission called the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, promoted and led by a cleric, Ibrahim el-Zakzaky.

Tinubu’s UK Visit: Britain’s Gains, Nigeria’s Pains

 By Owei Lakemfa

It was, undoubtedly, a difficult time for President Bola Tinubu to visit the United Kingdom, UK. Yes, he is a regular visitor. In fact, since he became Nigeria President on May 29, 2023, he has visited the mother country at least nine times, including spending weeks at a stretch on private visits and “working vacation”.  

*Tinubu, King Charles and Queen Camilla

But what made his March 17-19, 2026 a “monumental visit’ is the fact that this was a State Visit. He was received by King Charles, one of those I refer to as a gainfully unemployed individual, GUI. He was also received by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a politician difficult to pin down to principles.

When Educated Illiterates Rule, Society Is In Trouble

 By Owei Lakemfa

Fuel prices in Nigeria went up an average 40 percent within days of the United States, US, and Israel attacking Iran. Diesel prices went up 50 percent. This development shot up prices of transportation, and more Nigerians who cannot afford the price hike took to trekking.

Mr.  Peter Obi, former Anambra State Governor, lamented the plight of Nigerians and the devastating effects on industry caused by recurring fuel price hikes. He argued that these rapid increases illustrate how vulnerable to external shocks the country’s economy is, and how quickly we are impacted by foreign events. In his analysis: “The reason for this is straightforward: most countries, whether they are oil-producing or non-oil-producing, maintain strategic petroleum reserves to cushion against supply or price shocks. This means that when there is a disruption in the global oil market, they can release part of these reserves to stabilise supply. However, Nigeria lacks such a buffer, so the impact is felt almost immediately.”

State Police: Tinubu Is Pushing Nigeria Towards A Disaster

 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.

Disu immediately declared that “state police has come to stay” and set up a panel to develop a framework for establishing it. So, one senior police officer lost his job as the nation’s top cop because of his principled opposition to state police; another clinched the prestigious job by enthusiastically embracing the idea and showing willingness to give the president what he wants.

Middle East: Is Nigeria Ready For Another Oil Windfall?

 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.

In Nigeria, A Judge Is Not Above Or Beyond Investigation

 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.

*Odinkalu

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.

After 30 Months, Nigeria Returns With Ambassadors, Fumbling

 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.

*Tinubu

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.

Nigeria: These Voodoo Electricity Bills

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.

The Daniel Bwala Al-Jazeera Interview With Mehdi Hassan

 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. 

*Bwala and Hassan 

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”. 

Peter Obi On ‘Politics of Zero Humanity’!

 

It is profoundly disturbing that while we, the politicians, continue to obsess over the 2027 elections—spending our energy scheming about how to capture, grab, and run the next election—the first two months of 2026 have reportedly seen the killing of over 1,000 Nigerians and the abduction of several thousand others.

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.

Rangers International Won The War For The Vanquished

 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. 

Security Risks Posed By Okada Riders Govts Are Blind To

 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.