By Tonnie Iredia
The threat by US President Donald Trump of attacking Nigeria if its government allows a continuation of what he called the persecution of Christians has remained the matter of the moment since it was made last week.
By Ugo Onuoha
Lateef Fagbemi is Nigeria’s Attorney-general and Minister for Justice. He has been at the job since August 2023. He is a Senior Advocate, the equivalent of a King’s [formerly Queen’s] Counsel in the United Kingdom. He might have been a brilliant lawyer but his lawyering skills became more pronounced with his dexterity over election matters.
My understanding is that he has had quite a few victories in high profile electoral disputes. And the crowning prize of his nose for winning election disputes was in 2023 when he led a team of other senior lawyers and a motley of nondescript attorneys to persuade the Supreme Court to rubber stamp the award of the presidency of Nigeria by the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission [INEC] to Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
By Tony Iwuoma
When the history of Nigeria’s political decadence is finally written, the season we are living through will deserve its own chapter, a cautionary tale titled “Before Nigeria Defected.”
The phrase sounds exaggerated, almost absurd. But pause for a moment and look around. Every week, from one state to another, politicians, governors, senators, ex-ministers, former foes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are suddenly rediscovering affection for the ruling party. They are crossing over in droves, clutching brooms they once mocked, delivering speeches that sound as hollow as campaign jingles played out of tune.
By Owei Lakemfa
Senate President Godswill Akpabio issued a very powerful statement to the world on October 11, 2025, titled “The Trials and Triumphs of a Resilient Nigeria’s 10th Senate.” He vowed that: “The Senate cannot and will not be held hostage by the disruptive instincts of any of its members.”
He declared: “Democracy thrives only when its institutions are respected and its rules upheld…The discipline of parliamentary conduct is a universal marker of political civilization”. The Senate President mentioned no names, gave no instances, referred to nothing. It was just a bland statement that said nothing. It gives the impression of an idle leader finding it difficult to get out of bed.
By Tonnie Iredia
The uproar generated by the allegation that Uche Nnaji, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology forged both his degree and NYSC certificates has simmered considerably following the Minister’s resignation. But why he resigned is not clear. Did he resign because he was weighed down by the enormity of the scandal? Could it be that he wanted to save the government from further bad press or was he forced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quit? This unclear end to the scandal is one of the many reasons why the resignation is not enough.
If Nnaji was not guilty as some of his supporters forcefully argued, it is unfair to sacrifice him over some purportedly concocted allegations. Considering that it was not just a fake degree certificate but also a bogus NYSC certificate, the allegation became one too many. On this score, the former Minister cannot blame those who concluded that he has a propensity to be blame worthy. A spokesperson for Nnaji had argued that there was a PDP faction within the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN who ganged up against his principal. If so, did the same political group permeate the NYSC to conjure the wrong official to sign Nnaji’s bogus discharge certificate?
By Atiku Abubakar
Tuesday’s resignation of Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, has once again brought to light the deep moral crisis at the heart of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. What should ordinarily be a matter of national shame is now being disguised as a “voluntary resignation”, an attempt to whitewash yet another scandal that typifies the forgery-ridden character of this government.
Let the truth be told: Uche Nnaji should not have been allowed the courtesy of resignation. He should have been summarily dismissed and prosecuted for deceit and falsification. By permitting him to quietly exit through the backdoor, the Tinubu administration has once again demonstrated that it is an assembly of forgers, impostors, and morally bankrupt individuals masquerading as public servants.
By Ugo Onuoha
Many issues have been playing out in Lagos state between the government and residents, especially with those of Igbo extraction. There appears to be no love lost. It has been a cat and mouse relationship since after the February 2023 presidential election in which Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi [an Igbo], defeated a ‘son of the soil’ Bola Ahmed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] political party.
*Sanwo-Olu and Tinubu
The defeat of the Jagaban, who was a governor of the state between 1999 and 2007, was deemed an insult, an assault, and a sacrilege. It came as a shock of ‘tsunamic’ proportion because Tinubu, now president of Nigeria, was regarded as the builder and owner of Lagos, a claim that is blatantly untrue. He was regarded as a wily politician and a political strategist like no other. For once he was outed as a giant with clay feet.
By Suyi Ayodele
The photograph is graphic. The message is obvious. The semiotics are unmistaken. A bandit in military fatigue sits comfortably. On his lap is an AK-47 assault rifle. Around his neck are various communication gadgets. His look betrays his hubris. He is a man of power! His confidence shows who is in charge. It is audacity in its illiterate form!
Another man in a native attire bends towards the bandit. He smiles sheepishly. He holds a handset, in a very suggestive manner. The caption tells the entire story: “Nigerian Government Official ‘Exchange Contact’ with Bandits After a ‘Peace Deal’ Meeting in Subuwa LGA in Katsina State.”
By Nick Dazang
Leaders, like all mortals, experience fear. But most of them do not show it. In tempest and in turbulence, leaders must exude calm. They do so less their citizens find recourse in despair or paralysis. Which explains why at the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt assured Americans, in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
By Steve Osuji
Though the comment elicited pure, undiluted outrage one, dithered in commenting about it initially.
First, Igbo hating seems like a norm for Abike; a trait she cannot help. It seems to have lodged in her DNA like shrapnel. A number of times, in her unguarded moments, her true colours would peek from the horizon like the rising sun.
Second, some Yoruba elements have taken Igbo baiting, bashing
and hating to a new level in the last decade.
Consider the lineup: a paramount monarch of Lagos, the daughter of the sitting president, the current first lady in Aso Rock and the President's chief spokesman, among others, all have publicly and brazenly made hate remarks against the Igbo people of the southeast of Nigeria.
By Owei Lakemfa
One of the major challenges of Nigeria since colonial times had been corruption. But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has now proclaimed its death. Corruption is gone! Futuristic laser technology must have been used to carry out such a comprehensive and professional operation on corruption in the body polity of Nigeria.
So sophisticated that we Nigerians were not even aware we were on anesthetics until the operation had been successfully carried out. There also did not appear to be casualties in the final battle that ended corruption; no corrupt persons sent to jail, and no announced recovery of the trillions looted. It is nothing short of a 21st century miracle.
By Obi Nwakanma
A friend of mine sent me the link of the clip of my old buddy, Dr Reuben Abati, declaring that the civil war in Nigeria has not ended. Therefore the North will not vote for the likely candidacy of Peter Obi, an Igbo from the East. It of course struck me on two levels. Dr. Abati seemed deliberately to be lubricating tired and self-serving ideas.
The second part, where this hit very pointedly was at a very sudden realization! Dr. Abati is afraid of a Peter Obi presidency. He is not even hiding it. But for what reason? Why is the revanchist arm of the Yoruba in the Southwest of Nigeria a little too startled by the prospects of the Obi presidency? It is a question worth exploring.
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 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.
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.
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.
By Ojudu Babafemi
A troubling trend is unfolding in Lagos State. In the aftermath of the recent local government elections, some newly elected officials have embarked on a reckless spree of renaming streets—particularly those bearing Igbo names or named after prominent non-indigenes. This is not coincidental; it is a calculated political maneuver rooted in resentment, identity politics, and shortsighted leadership.
The long-simmering tension between Yoruba and Igbo communities reached a boiling point during the 2023 elections. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) shocked the political establishment by defeating Bola Ahmed Tinubu—Lagos’s long-reigning political figure—in the presidential poll within the state. That upset sent shockwaves through the ruling APC, and fears grew that a similar surprise might unfold in the governorship race. What followed was an aggressive, divisive campaign that shamelessly weaponized ethnicity, fear, and misinformation.
By Ugoji Egbujo
Tinubu’s government has become a propaganda factory. A government obsessed with spectacle over substance and relentlessly pursuing self-congratulation. A governance style that prioritises the trivial over the transformative.
By Basil Onwukwe
The dream of lasting peace in Nigeria remains a fleeting illusion until fundamental human rights are equal and guaranteed for all. Without this, the pursuit of economic growth and political stability can never be fully realised. Righteousness exalts a nation, and doing things right is not an option? Let’s not pretend that political alignment is about public interest.
Nigerians will be waiting to see whether they will establish a legal framework that enables the reconstruction of the nation’s failed issues. Let’s call it what it is: a carefully masked attempt to fund elite wasteful spending. Any change from frying pan to fire cannot be tolerated anymore, or state capture that offloads systemic failure onto the backs of the masses will not be acceptable.
By Ugo Onuoha
Who is a buffoon? I will not put my thumb on the scale so that I will not inject my personal bias and anger in the definition of a buffoon. I will simply ask MetaAI. Please AI who is a buffoon? “A buffoon is a person who behaves in a silly, foolish, or absurd way, often causing amusement or annoyance. The term can imply someone who: acts foolishly or absurdly; makes a spectacle of themselves; lacks seriousness or judgment; [and/or] engages in clownish or ridiculous behaviour”.
AI elaborates by saying that “In modern usage, ‘buffoon’ can be used to describe someone who is seen as ridiculous, incompetent, or silly, often in a way that’s entertaining or annoying”. It went on to illustrate: “He’s such a buffoon on social media, always posting ridiculous videos”. Which one of these descriptions does not fit the governor of Edo state, Monday Okpebholo? He is silly. He acts foolishly. He is absurd in conduct and utterance. He causes amusement and annoyance at the same time. He makes a spectacle of himself. He never appears to be a serious person. Indications are that he is a dullard.
