The Forgotten Take-Aways From June 12

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Yesterday was June 12. That date has become something else in the history of our dear country. At the risk of telling you what you what you already know, the presidential election of June 12, 1993 was adjudged by Nigerians and watchers of Nigerian politics worldwide to be the freest, fairest ever held in the country.

But sadly, the country was denied the benefits of enjoying the dividends of their freest and fairest election through a most callous annulment of that election, a development that I still cannot understand till tomorrow. Not that I was a child in 1993; far from it, in fact I had fathered two of my own children long before that election, and as a university graduate, was fully equipped to discern and witness the train of events that happened one after the other, as a practising newspaperman, till the nation was told that the election stood annulled. I still don’t understand it.

‘Shadow Government’: The Irrational Hounding Of Pat Utomi

 By Olu Fasan

There are two views about Professor Pat Utomi’s decision to float what he called “Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government, BTCSG”. One is that he should not have stirred up a hornet’s nest with something as “provocative” as a “shadow government”.

*Utomi
Another is that any democracy that cannot tolerate a non-violent pressure group, by whatever name it is called, is not a true democracy. I subscribe to the second view. For me, the first view, by being censorious about the BTCSG, misunderstands the true nature of democratic pluralism.

However, there’s a third position, far more pernicious, which seeks to demonise Professor Utomi and treat him as an enemy of the state. From the hysterical, even apoplectic, reactions of the state, you would think Professor Utomi created a “shadow government” to overthrow the Tinubu government and not merely to hold it accountable.

Tinubu, South East And Dave Umahi’s Good Boy Antics

 By Emeka Alex Duru

I always recall what a friend lectured as the staying power in Nigeria’s politics each time any politician literally dances naked in dramatizing the indispensability of the president. The trick is to be seen as loyal, no matter what it takes and how it is demonstrated. Suspicion of disloyalty, by facts or perception, can be fatal. 

*Umahi and Tinubu

But to be considered loyal, is all that is required for advancement and all that come with it. When therefore you see a politician, especially an appointee shouting himself hoarse in praising the president or governor, he is only trying to keep his job and remain relevant. In Nigeria, politicians are like street hawkers who thrive on traffic. Their fidelity is attached to where their stomachs are nourished at a material time.

Blackmailers And Peddlers Of Falsehood Against Me Cannot Profit From Their Evil Ways

 

By Peter Obi

It's obvious that the biggest business for blackmailers now is talking about Peter Obi from every negative perspective. Even my solemn spiritual trip to Rome has been twisted into yet another blackmail campaign by merchants paid ostensibly to propagate anything negative against Obi.

One such individual, whose entire life revolves around blackmail, falsely claimed that I went to Rome to have a private meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding a purported ₦225 billion debt crisis involving Fidelity Bank. These claims are not only baseless, malicious, but entirely false. 

Nigeria And The Fading Lights Of Justice

 By Chidi Odinkalu

As he settled in to deliver the judgment of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on 2 April 2025, presiding judge, Wilfred Kpochi, felt obliged to get one ritual out of the way. Glancing left and right, he asked each of his two colleagues on the three-person tribunal to confirm that the judgment he was about to deliver was unanimous. Justice Kpochi only proceeded after each, one to his left and the other to his right, nodded their affirmation.

The judge had good reason for this preliminary ritual. 48 hours before it was due, a leaked document purporting to be the judgment of the tribunal went into circulation.

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.

Why Nigeria Is Worsening Under President Tinubu?

 By Mike Ikhariale

Nigeria has arrived at a very sorry pass, far worse than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. The title of our discussion today is a rehash of our earlier evaluation of the pitiable condition of Nigeria which was itself an adaptation of the title of the seminar work by the intellectual duo of Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson, which they aptly entitled Why Nations Fail.

*Tinubu

The economic quagmire which the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has stampeded Nigerians into is the classical definition of a failing state, where the gov­ernment and its organs become ethically and conceptually handicapped and become incapable of performing the hallowed du­ties of government with patriotic, pruden­tial and analytical dispositions.

GDP Growth Report: Whose Figures?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910). Please note that Mark Twain himself attributed it to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

Last Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, released a report on the National Gross Domestic Product for Q1 2024, that is, the first three months of this year. On its website, NBS gave the following overview: Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2024.

Tax Reform Bills: Tinubu Lacks The Will For National Consensus Building

 By Olu Fasan

Hardly anyone will disagree that Nigeria needs a fundamental tax reform. This, after all, is a country with one of the most cumbersome tax regimes in the world, where tax laws and regulations are overlapping and burdensome, where the administration and collection of taxes, and their spending, are ridden with inefficiency and corruption, and where tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent. Nigeria’s tax system is in deep crisis.

*Tinubu

However, while crises are a trigger for fundamental reforms, making the status quo unsustainable, they are not sufficient for reform success. In a democracy, there’s a critical need for an explicit electoral mandate for reform and for a carefully crafted policy design, shaped by a broad consensus for change.

Northern Elite Should Take Responsibility For Region’s Underdevelopment

By Aliyu Maigari Aliyu 

In the ongoing discourse surrounding the socio-economic challenges plaguing Northern Nigeria, the time has come for the long-standing elite in the region to take a step back and engage in meaningful self-reflection. 

Over the last 64 years of Nigeria’s independence, Northern elites have ruled the country for approximately 41 years. Despite this significant tenure, the region remains mired in underdevelopment, and the accusations being levied against President Bola Tinubu, who has spent less than two years in power, are not just disingenuous but also a stark exhibition of irresponsibility, to say the least. 

Nigeria: The Return Of Kwashiorkor

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu 

The deadly kwashiorkor disease that was so much associated with the Biafra war has made a return to peacetime Nigeria. It was not a pretty sight seeing malnourished children with distended stomachs, nylon-like skins and dopey eyes during that evil war.

The belief was that kwashiorkor had gone for good with Biafra. My shock knew no bounds when I read in the Nigerian Tribune of Saturday, October 26, 2024 that kwashiorkor is back in town.

Enough Of IMF/World Bank Puppets

 By Nick Dazang

Individuals, corporate entities and countries which succeed are those who plan for the long haul, provide for contingencies and keep their eyes firmly on the ball. They think long-term; they delay immediate gratification; and they deny themselves in the knowledge that things will turn out well in due course.

Such individuals, corporate entities and countries do not cut corners. They follow due process. They are transparent. They only tweak their policies to align with their long-term goal(s). Their leaders complement these qualities by demonstrating emotional intelligence; by delivering good governance; by demonstrating prudence; and by exuding respect and fellow-feeling for their compatriots.

Before Nyesom Wike’s Fire Consumes Nigeria

 By Luka Danboyi

The self-immolating tendency for people to be indifferent to situations in which they are not directly involved seems to be playing out in the debacle in Rivers State. Curiously, there are people who are enjoying the political drama between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor-cum-godfather, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

*Wike 

There is no question that the vast majority of Nigerians are inured to the shenanigans of a disoriented political elite that hardly reckons with the plight of the people. Only such a situation would produce the present economic nightmare afflicting a country so richly endowed that, less than 50 years ago, other countries were visiting to understudy its impressive developmental effort and to borrow ‘seeds’ for their agricultural revolution.

EFCC And Yahaya Bello’s Hide-And-Seek Game

 By Charles Okoh

The Economic and Finan­cial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may have with re­cent events, proven to those who never believed in its abilities to properly prosecute financial fraud offenders without bias, that it has outlived its usefulness. An anti-graft agency that seems only out to diligently hunt and pros­ecute small fries while bungling high-profile cases involving men and women of means certainly can­not provide the much desired check on economic and financial crimes that hold this nation hostage.

*Tinubu and Bello 

At the outset of the agency, inci­dentally under Nuhu Ribadu, who is the current National Security Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there were at least some attempts to prosecute high-pro­file cases. Even though it was ar­gued that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and succeeding presi­dents after him, have been using the agency to persecute political enemies but it was still not hopeless as it currently is.

Edo 2024: A Fait Accompli!

 By Jane Uyi Orobosa

As far as many people are con­cerned, the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) can­didate, Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the Edo State gubernato­rial contest on Sunday, September 22, was simply a fait accompli and not the outcome of an election. For them, it was long predetermined. All that happened was working from the answer to the question by shameless national institutions. An unmitigat­ed travesty of electoral contest.

*INEC Chair Yakubu and Tinubu

It is an open secret that before the election, an alleged viral video of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while canvassing votes from would be delegates in the 2023 presidential election, allegedly vowing to hand over Edo State to APC as a sitting President, was repeatedly circulated. It was ostensibly to remind Tinubu, the institutions involved and the general public that there was an ‘ex­isting pact’, or so it seems, to deliver Edo State to APC by hook or crook.

Governing Nigeria: Does The Economy Trump Politics? No, It Doesn’t!

 By Olu Fasan

It is the age-old chicken and egg question. Which comes first: the economy or politics? That’s the question at the heart of this intervention, and it was triggered by two recent events. The first was President Bola Tinubu’s response to the call for a new Constitution. The second was Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s speech at this year’s Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in which she called for a social contract for Nigeria. Everyone knew about those events, but few detected their logical fallacies. So, first, let’s recall the events.

Recently, in August, the highly venerated elder statesman Chief Emeka Anyaoku led a group of eminent Nigerians under the aegis of The Patriots to meet Tinubu at the State House and asked him to convene a constituent assembly to produce a draft people’s constitution for Nigeria.

Bola Tinubu: The Unravelling Of A Bigot

 By Onyema Omenuwa

Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been unravelled. As a bigot, that is. Eventually, and completely, it needs to be added. And it is all due to the hypocritical kind of politics that he plays, particularly in Lagos State where he holds sway as the alpha and omega of politics. Significantly, his unrelenting and desperate quest to become the President of Nigeria led to his unravelling. Though he has succeeded in that regard, since he is today the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the success came at the great cost of shattering the façade of progressivism that has all along defined his politics.

*Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi

Tinubu projects progressivism as his political worldview. But presently in Lagos State, the “Igbo Must Go” hashtag has become something of a mantra across social media platforms for the Yoruba residents of Lagos and their supporters. That is starkly anti-progressive by any stretch of imagination, and it is happening in Tinubu’s Lagos. “Residents” is used advisedly in this context because not every Yoruba in Lagos is an indigene of Lagos State or a “Lagosian,” as the indigenes of the state delight in describing themselves. And that is the irony. 

As Tinubu Redefines Protest To Mean ‘Movement To Effect Change Of Regime By Force’

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

After quelling what, to all intents and purposes, was a peaceful protest by economically challenged Nigerians over insufferable high cost of living, President Bola Tinubu has moved quickly to consolidate his grip on power. Taking a page from the archetypical fascist playbook, he summoned a meeting of the National Council of State, NCS, on Tuesday, to pass a vote of confidence in him and the Council obliged.

*Bola Tinubu 

For those who may not know, the NCS idea, which was introduced by General Murtala Muhammed in a broadcast on July 30, 1975 after overthrowing General Yakubu Gowon, was to create an advisory body.  

“The structure of government has been re-organised. There will now be three organs of government at the federal level namely: The Supreme Military Council, The National Council of State, and the Federal Executive Council,” he said.

Nigeria: After The Protests Storm

 By Sunny Ikhioya

Let us call a spade by its real name. The address by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fell far short of resolving the issues raised by protesters. It only helped to exacerbate the prevailing situation. But what can the cowed masses do? It ended as expected. So much senseless destructions, time and money wasted, avoidable deaths and the battle shifted to another auspicious time and, that will be the day.

 The protests exposed the high level of neglect in the North as evidenced by illiteracy and poverty. The people are hungry down there in the streets; that is the real situation. If government does not vary its strategies to address the scourge of poverty in the land, there will surely be another protest, because you cannot keep a hungry and angry man at home. What we have been offering is just palliative, and palliative is not a final solution to problems, it is ameliorative and temporary. 

Why Ethnic Profiling Must Stop!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

It would have been funny if it were not so DANGEROUS! When Muhammadu Buhari was in power, there was ethnic profiling of the Igbo people in the North. Some sponsored “youth coalitions” gave Ndi Igbo quit notice in 2017 because of Biafra agitations in the South-East, which arose from Buhari’s 97%/5% formula of Igbo exclusion.

*Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu and and his wife, Tinubu

Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu co-founded the All Progressives Congress, APC, which has never enjoyed Igbo support.

Ndi Igbo constitute by far the second largest ethnic group in Lagos after the Yoruba indigenous residents. They control the commercial sector of Africa’s sixth largest economy, especially the markets and a sizeable slice of property ownership. They contribute a hefty chunk of the internal revenue that sets Lagos apart compared to the rest of the 36 states. Under a normal political atmosphere, the Igbo population in Lagos should be courted because of their electoral and economic values.