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.”

Ghana Elections And Prof Yakubu’s Sham Claims

 By Ochereome Nnanna

There is something we call omehaa kachie enya in my Abiriba dialect of Igbo. It means a shameless or defiant offender. When a person is caught red-handed while committing an abomination, he is supposed to show remorse or contrition.

*Yakubu
But if such a person adopts a bold face, displays impertinence and opts to brazen it out, that person is beyond redemption. In ancient times, society had ways of quietly getting rid of such people to create deterrence and prevent them from corrupting the rest of the community.

Donald Trump’s Return: Americans Put Economic Self-Interest Above Moral Values

 By Olu Fasan

There are two views of human behaviour. One is that people are primarily motivated by self-interest – what’s in it for me? The other is that people are primarily influenced by deeply ingrained moral values – what’s right and wrong? The first view comes from the rational choice or game-theoretic school, the second belongs to what scholars call constructivism.

*Trump

Now, Europeans are generally believed to privilege high principles over narrow self-interest. By contrast, Americans have long been seen as mostly self-interested, individualistic people, to whom moral values are secondary considerations. That caricature of the Americans played out powerfully last week when they overwhelmingly returned to power Donald Trump, president from January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021, notwithstanding his deeply flawed character and untoward past behaviour!

US Elections 2024 And Media Disaster

 By Ochereome Nnanna

In Mass Communication education, we are taught that the newsman or mass media practitioner, is an impartial reporter of newsworthy events. In a democratic society, media is a social trust and arbiter between the people and the government.

In Nigeria and other democracies, the media is given a constitutional role to uphold freedom of information and hold government accountable. Indeed, the media is often given the lofty moniker of “Fourth Estate”. There are informed reasons for all this. Media is expected to perform its functions accurately, objectively and completely, eschewing bias, malice and deliberately misleading their publics for private gain.

TV Series Adaptation Of Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' Features Idris Elba As Okonkwo

 Press Release

Achebe Masterworks Announces Development Deal with A24 for TV Series Adaptation of Things Fall Apart

In a landmark collaboration, Achebe Masterworks is thrilled to announce a partnership with acclaimed Studio A24 and producers, Idris Elba and David Oyelowo, for the television adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart established African literature on the global stage and remains the most widely read African novel, with over 30 million copies sold and translations in more than 60 languages.

Nigeria: Fall Of Democracy!

 By Kenneth Okonkwo

President Barack Obama said, democracy will win if we fight for it. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of American democracy, arose from a meeting with his colleagues, where they deliberated on the preferable system of government for America, and was questioned by a woman outside the meeting to reveal to America their choice. He quipped, we have a republic, if you can keep it. Eternal vigilance is the price to pay for democracy, certainly not a fall. 

Democracy is worth fighting for, it’s not worth falling for. The reason democracy is failing in Africa is that the people who ought to be the fighters for democracy, are busy falling head over heels for the crumbs that fall off from the table of these half baked, incompetent and corrupt leaders. So nauseating is the level of sycophancy that even the leaders now make a joke when they fall that they were doing obeisance to democracy.

How 2023 Will Affect Nigeria’s Political Stability For Decades

By Olu Fasan

Nigerians, it seems, have moved on from the political events of 2023. Some are already talking about, others planning for, 2027. But the thoughtful and perceptive will not easily forget 2023. For the events of that year will have far-reaching consequences that could unsettle Nigeria for decades. As someone who is heavily invested in Nigeria’s political development, my concern here is how the events of 2023 could deepen Nigeria’s instability, while hoping an alternative aftermath would avert that dreadful political trajectory. 

For a start, following the Supreme Court verdict, Bola Tinubu is now the de facto and de jure president of Nigeria, leaving aside the philosophical question about the nature of his mandate. However, his presidency sets Nigeria on an unstable political future on two key fronts, both regarding the management of Nigeria’s diversity. This may not matter now, it will at some point. But before we come to that, there’s the more imminent problem of the 2027 presidential election. In one sense, 2027 will be like 2015; in another, it won’t. In both senses, 2027 will be acutely challenging. Here’s why.

Tinubu-CSU Certificate Saga And Nigeria’s Value System

 By Emeka Alex Duru

No matter how one tries not to bother at the certificate issue involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chicago State University (CSU), the institution he claimed to have attended for a degree, the matter keeps popping up. Like the mythical incubus, the bad dream which hardly dies, it keeps coming and does not let go. In a way, it has become a sore on the thumb, which only Tinubu can cure. 

In our days in the rested The Post Express newspapers, a hardworking colleague was about being made the daily editor, when, overnight, his rival contemporaries connived with corrupt minds in the administration department and all his academic records were removed from his file, leaving only the West African School Certificate. The smart Aleks had their way and rumours were injected into the organisation that he was not adequately educated for the position.

Nigeria’s Bow And Lie-Lie Senate

 By Emmanuel Aziken

The recent decision by FIFA to directly pay Nigerian footballers in the ongoing Women’s World Cup tournament their bonuses must be considered a slap on Nigerians and the independence of the country.

*Akpabio

However, for many who consider the FIFA decision as an insult, the brag about sovereignty slips into stupidity after watching the charade officially dubbed the ministerial screening of ministers by the Nigerian Senate.

Peter Obi Writes Nigerians, Says: A New Nigeria Is Again Possible On The 18th Of March!

 

On 25th of February 2023, millions of Nigerians from all walks of life, across generations and backgrounds, from Bornu to Lagos, Port Harcourt to Sokoto, Kano to Enugu, Taraba to Ondo voted strongly and resolutely to take back their country. They voted for Labour Party; they voted for a New Nigeria!  I most sincerely continue to thank all Nigerians for their genuine belief and commitment that a New Nigeria is possible through us. And indeed, it is possible and has started!   

Think, Before You Rwanda Lagos!

 By Jide Johnson

Long before the ethno-political madness for power started in 1998, which has taken an untoward dimension in recent years, Chief Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi sang a song, ‘Lagos State is the place for all…’ I am sure a lot of revisionists and ethno-bigots will disagree with me now because of the high stake politics of a selfish few, with disregard for the good of the majority. 

2023 Polls: The Morning After!

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

"Free, fair and credible elections form the strong foundation on which to build the house of democracy" – Ayo Oyoze Baje (On ‘Editors Forum’, Galaxy TV, May 2011) 

When on Saturday, July 11, 2009 the then United States President Barack Obama stated that: “Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions” it was made in total condemnation of tyrants on the continent; especially those who enrich themselves at the expense of the poor people. That is according to ‘International Articles’ online platform.  Back then Obama was on a landmark trip to Accra, Ghana. 

Power And Politics Of The Written Word: The Legend of Chinua Achebe

Keynote Address - 2022 Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at Prof Kenneth Dike Central E-Library, Awka, Anambra State 

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Chinua Achebe lived in glory as the one-man institution who conquered the world for Mother Africa, and the great Kenyan novelist, Ngugi wa Thiongo, put it in these words: “Achebe bestrides generations and geographies. Every country in Africa claims him as their own.” 

On November 16, 1930, Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born to a teacher-cum-evangelist father of the Anglican Communion in the town of Nnobi, near his hometown of Ogidi, in present-day Anambra State.

Why The Health Of Presidential Candidates Matters

 By Dan Onwukwe

Every election has a story. So is every person who offers himself or herself to high public office such as the presidency. It’s not for nothing. The presidency is the hardest job anybody can give his brain. The enormous responsibilities placed on the shoulder of a President are so huge that the occupant of the office should have a sound mind, among other attributes. His health status should not be a matter of conjectures.

That’s why the counsel, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, don’t get close to the kitchen’, is very instructive. It is also because, to paraphrase Gerald R. Ford (38th U.S. President) the ‘presidency is not a prize to be won, but a duty to be done ‘. The office is not an entitlement, but a trust. It means using great power for great purposes for the country and its citizens. 

Bestriding the Ethnic Politics: A Case Of Peter Obi

 By Ndubuisi Nwafor

“This dimension of our identity politics is frightening, but it’s not an unusual experience” – Gimba Kakanda, Daily Trust, 9 August, 2022

Nigeria’s political, social, cultural, economic and religious space is currently awash and agog with political activities. Such activities include ethnic, ageist, and other toxic innuendoes with the propensity to scuttle the very existence of our dear country Nigeria.

*Peter Obi 

The history of Nigeria’s power transitions may have assumed a parabola tangent, ranging from elections, coups and even appointments as was the case with transition from IBB to Chief Ernest Shonekan, but in all, good fortune and electoral popularity played major roles.

The argument that South East has been displaced politically in the power equation of Nigeria is an honest and painful truth, however, this situation is both self-inflicted and also as a result of festering fear of Igbo domination in the contemporary Nigeria.

Nigeria Is Very Sick And Urgently Needs A Qualified Physician!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
President Buhari’s regime has about a year to hit its expiration point. Perhaps, the only thing that still retains the capacity to squeeze out some smiles on a couple of faces today is the faint hope that the president might fulfill his pledge to firmly resist the deadly attraction of that poisoned fruit called “tenure elongation.” Indeed, many Nigerians are willing to take the risk of entertaining some optimism about this. 

Despite the blizzard of outrageous claims roughly thrown at Nigerians every other day, it has become just impossible to muster any bit of expectation that the Buhari regime might still be able to shock Nigerians with any edifying impact on their lives before it exits.  

Perhaps, the only reassuring feeling out there emanates from the palpable wish that the days and months might develop wings and fly away so fast so that with brightened faces and deep relief, Nigerians can happily embrace and congratulate one another that, eventually, the nightmare is over. 

The relief alone will be highly therapeutic, in fact, capable of increasing many lifespans. 

2023 Presidency: Why Jonathan Should Not Contest

 By Ifeanyi Maduako

Lagos Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, recently argued that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is not eligible to contest for the presidency of Nigeria again having spent five years as president between 2010 and 2015.

Falana premised his argument on a 2018 constitutional amendment which purportedly bars Jonathan from contesting because if he (Jonathan) becomes the president of Nigeria in 2023, he will spend a cumulative nine years as president whereas the amended constitutional provision on which Falana relied on limits the occupant of the position to two terms of eight years.

*Buhari and Jonathan 

I am not conversant with the amended constitutional provision that Falana relied on but I dare say that he got his interpretation of that provision wrong. A law does not take a retroactive effect and the 2018 constitutional amendment does not affect Jonathan. It can only affect a fresh president from the date it was signed into law. What if Jonathan had won the 2015 presidential election, didn’t Falana know that he would have been in office for nine years by 2019?

Oprah, Obama And The Story Of Black America: Alain Locke's 'The New Negro' Revisited

By Dianam P. Dianam

The twentieth century drew to a close with America's erstwhile Queen of Daytime Television Oprah Winfrey clutching a coveted trophy - proclaimed "Woman of the Century" (by Newsweek magazine) and "arguably the world's most powerful woman" (by Time.com and CNN). As though in a relay toward glorification of their ethnic stock, another African-American, Barack Obama, assumed office as President of the United States in the opening decade of the 21st century.

Is The Nigerian Army Capable Of Defeating Boko Haram?

By Simon Abah

 Many military strategists x-ray strategies to tackle the scourge of terror which has damaged the image of Nigeria globally. It is highly commendable that President Muhammadu Buhari as stated in the past, “has absolute confidence in the ability of the Nigerian military to bring to an end the insurgency spearheaded by members of the Boko Haram sect.”

But I have always believed that the military alone cannot end the war on insurgency without the support of the political benefactors of terror in the first place. In 2013, I asked a young army officer (now late) if the military can stamp out Boko Haram, he shook his head, “not with this commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” he said. Whatever that meant I didn’t bother to ask.

Nigeria: Jonathan’s Politics As Gold Standard

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After former President Goodluck Jonathan launched his memoir My Transition Hours on Tuesday, he might have heaved a sigh of relief. It might not be because the ordeal of writing and preparing to present the book to the public was now off his shoulders. Nor because he was now luxuriating in the cathartic effect of dislodging the single narrative that de-privileges his role in nation-building and the 2015 elections. Rather, it could be because of the sweet contemplation of the fresh horizon of possibilities that had opened before him. Now, he realised that it was not all gloom – he might not have been denigrated as an irredeemable villain after all.

*Former President Jonathan 

For over three years, Jonathan might have been shocked by how his legendary good luck has mutated into a source of personal tragedy as he was weighed down by the thought of his now being eternally identified with a dark role in the crisis of development of the nation. He might have felt that he and his government were held in utter disdain by the President Muhammadu Buhari government that has continued to afflict them with a rash of allegations of sleaze. The Buhari government has been unrelenting in portraying the Jonathan government as presiding over the unconscionable despoliation of the country. It seizes every moment to catalogue the depredations instigated by Jonathan and his co-travellers.