Fake Independence: So, Tinubu Can Tell EFCC What To Do!

 By Olu Fasan

Some Nigerians commit the delusional sin of believing that once a state institution has the word “independent” prefixed to its name, it is, indeed, independent.

They believe that critical state agencies created by statute or the Constitution to ensure security and law and order, to guarantee justice and rule of law, to safeguard electoral integrity and democratic norms and to fight corruption and malfeasance in public office do, in fact, discharge their responsibilities dutifully without fear and without favour, deliberately removed from presidential control.

Presidency-Catholic Bishops Saga: When Defenders Are Attackers

 By Adekunle Adekoya

I really don’t think there is anybody living in this country at the moment that is satisfied with the state of affairs. Don’t let me bore you — everyone knows where it’s pinching hardest — whether in the cost of transportation, or the risen and rising cost of food, or near-unaffordable accommodation, sky-high cost of fuel energy (gas, petrol, diesel), insecurity, etcetira. If there is anybody as yet untouched by these, such a person, or group of persons must be doing things we can’t do, or know not how to do to make money. As a result, people are worried, and perplexed at the state of affairs.

*Tinubu with the Catholic Bishops

This Friday morning, not a few people would have woken up from disturbed sleep caused by an empty stomach, and worse, they can’t even see the prospects for a breakfast, no matter how little. So, when top clerics of the Catholic Church, specifically the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria sought and obtained an audience with the president on this undesirable state of affairs, I think they were doing a duty to seek better options for all of us, irrespective of our diverse faiths.

As Bola Tinubu Plays God

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Listening to President Bola Tinubu’s response to the plea of Nigerian Catholic Bishops that he should make the yoke of Nigerians lighter, I couldn’t help but remember the Biblical story of King Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles 10:1-15.

*Tinubu

After the death of King Solomon, Rehoboam, his son, went to Shechem to be crowned king and the whole assembly of Israel supplicated: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Rehoboam asked for three days for consultations. And, indeed, he consulted, first with the elders who had served his father during his lifetime.

“How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked. “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever,” they riposted.

Tacking Poverty In Nigeria: Onus On Crony billionaires, Not Self-Made Musicians!

 By Olu Fasan

Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Nigeria’s irrepressible first lady, recently made two controversial interventions on the country’s socio-economic situation. First, she told the jobless to start selling akara, roasted corn or kuli-kuli to eke out a living. 

Then, she admonished rich young musicians to help the poor. She received a torrent of criticism for the comments. Yet they contain a kernel of truth and a fundamental flaw. I explore both here, arguing the remarks are more deeply flawed than valid.

‘Fake’ Agency: Tinubu’s Amoral Rule Breeds Impunity, Abuse Of Power!

 By Olu Fasan

There is a shocking paradox, a bewildering moral hypocrisy, at the heart of President Bola Tinubu’s leadership. On the one hand, he is actively prosecuting previous public officers for corrupt practices, claiming to have secured over 7,000 convictions since he came to power three years ago.

Yet, on the other hand, he presides over a moral cesspit, where ministers routinely abuse power and act with utter impunity, where some are so powerful they can literally get away with murder, protected by their fealty and sycophancy to the president, where governance is utterly devoid of transparency and accountability, and where conflicts of interest are so blatant, with a total blurring of public and private interests. These malfeasances are the subjects of this intervention, but we must start with the ongoing “fake” agency saga.

Nigeria As Federal Republic Of Asiwaju? Why Not!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

At the rate some public officials are going, no one should be surprised if a bill surfaces in the National Assembly tomorrow seeking to rename the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the Federal Republic of Asiwaju. When that happens, we will seize being Nigerians and become Asiwajuans! What a great name. Anyone saying God forbid as Nigerians are wont to do is not reading the signs correctly.

*Tinubu

In a country where public officials – elected and appointed – are falling over themselves and elbowing each other to please one man, God is not in the business of forbidden anything. Come to think of it, how long did it take the National Assembly to pass the bill that changed the national anthem in May 2024? Six days!

The Plots Against Peter Obi And Threats To Democracy

 By Emeka Alex Duru

Make no mistakes about it; democracy is not a sure bet for emergence of good leaders. It is also not a guarantee for good governance. But it allows the electorate a voice on how they are governed and grants them the freedom of choice and participation in the affairs of the state, at least, ideally.

*Peter Obi

It is this people-content that separates democracy from other forms of government. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was therefore right in defining democracy as the government of the people, for the people, by the people. Take away the people-factor, it is no longer democracy, no matter how benevolent it may seem. A system that is shorn of democracy, is an aberration. But then, democracy, if not properly managed and protected by the relevant checks, can be abused by even elected leaders. This is part of the reasons why every Nigerian must ensure that the current democracy in the land, is not truncated.

June 12: Nigeria’s Annual Ritual Of Glorifying A Sham ‘Democracy’

 By Olu Fasan

The decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to name June 12 as Nigeria’s “Democracy Day” was motivated by self-serving politics, not principled conviction. Before he became president in 2015, Buhari never once publicly condemned the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

*Tinubu and Buhari

However, in 2018, as he prepared to seek re-election the following year and faced deepening unpopularity in the South-West, Buhari changed the annual “Democracy Day” from May 29 to June 12 to curry favour with the South-West, which had turned the annulment into an ethnic issue. Professor Wole Soyinka said at the time that Buhari took the decision “with an eye on electoral fortunes, undoubtedly.” He was right!

2027: Atiku Only Cares About Running, Not Winning!

 By Olu Fasan

To several Nigerians, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, should not run for president next year. Some cite age, others zoning. On the first, the general view is that, at 80 years old by the time of the next presidential election in January 2027, Atiku would be too old to run for president. On the second, many posit that the South, which currently holds the presidency, should be allowed to complete the conventional second term.

*Atiku

Thus, Atiku, being a Northerner, should respect the unwritten zoning rule, and desist from seeking the presidency next year. But while there are some merits in the age and zoning arguments, they are not the real obstacles to Atiku becoming Nigeria’s president next year if he decides to defy the zeitgeist and run for the presidency.

Terrorism: Hold Some Northern Govs Responsible

 By Dele Sobowale

“In every community, there is a class of people profoundly dangerous to the rest. I don’t mean the criminals. For them we have punitive sanctions. I mean the leaders. Invariably, the most dangerous people seek power” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 124.

Newspapers headlines were grim a day before the Eid-el-Fitr 2026. The end of Ramadan, to which all faithful people looked forward, joyfully, in the past, has now become threatening and mournful all over Nigeria. Apparently, no place is spared the fear of violence on the days of celebrations declared by government. It was never like this. Hope for relief is fading faster with each new assault by terrorists. Increasingly, there is despair about governments’ ability to provide security to citizens who, in many communities, have surrendered sovereignty to the bandits by paying the levies imposed.

Terrorists Are My Enemies, Not “Brothers”!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

For me, the legacy of the late President Muhammadu Buhari remains the most profound failure of Nigerian leadership. It was a tenure defined by a litany of institutional abuses. Chief among these was Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC).

Initiated almost as soon as he touched the levers of power in May 2015 and fully activated by September 2016, it was a betrayal of his primary campaign promise. Instead of the total military defeat of Boko Haram he had pledged, he gave us an abomination: a programme designed to “rehabilitate and reintegrate” so-called repentant jihadists back into the very society they had spent almost a decade trying to incinerate.

Recurring Bloodbaths: Nigeria Is Too Fragile, Too Fractured To Be Safe

 By Olu Fasan

Recently, after the mass killing in Jos, Plateau State, President Bola Tinubu said he was not elected “to comfort and create widows and widowers”. Yet since he became president barely three years ago, his administration has overseen the creation of thousands of widows, widowers and orphans whose husbands, wives and parents were killed in terrorist attacks.

After each attack, President Tinubu would mourn the dead, console their widows and widowers and then authoritatively declare, as if issuing the irreversible law of the Medes and Persians: “This experience won’t repeat itself”! 

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.

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.

A Tale of Two Movements: City Boys and Village Boys

 By Promise Adiele

This essay is not intended to elaborate on Nigeria’s socio-political and economic regression or to emphasize the potential of a new socio-political beginning. It does not attempt to achieve a consensus about the more suitable quintessential habitation between City and Village.

Rather, it presents a realistic interpretation of City and Village to underscore their precise fittingness or otherwise towards the 2027 elections. This exercise has become necessary given the sudden incursion of City and Village into Nigeria’s socio-political lexicon.

Nuhu Ribadu Vs. El-Rufai: Battle Of The Last Hegemons

 By Steve Osuji 

Tinubu in do-or-die 2nd term bid: First, it is perverse for an incumbent to seek to shutdown an entire system; the very same that ensconced him onto power. It's like sequestering yourself in a house with doors and windows tightly shut! The very open system which brought a man to power, he now seeks to shut it down in order to eliminate any form of contest or opposition. 

*El-Rufai and Ribadu 

This scenario is what President Bola Tinubu has fully pre-occupied himself with since he came to power in May, 2023. Shutdown the space! Pull down their bastions and hack their stanchions! This seems to be the silent battle cry of Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). 

Nigeria: Should The 2027 Elections Still Hold?

 By Promise Adiele

Time is an important factor in human engagements. That is why “time wasting” is repudiated by serious-minded, result-oriented, and committed persons. I remember a popular slogan by one of my school teachers. It says “time wasted is irretrievable”. In simple terms, time lost cannot be recovered. 

Contemporary events have punctured that submission. Of course, time wasted can be recovered at least from a spiritual point of view, especially if we consider God’s declaration in Joel 2:25. In that portion of the Bible, God made a promise to restore the wasted years, the years of the locust and cankerworm. It means that God can restore wasted time. Although God can restore wasted time, we must not slaughter time on the altar of irresponsible indulgences.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Is Tinubu Having Buyer’s Remorse?

 By Olu Fasan

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s Marmite president, is by no means a religious bigot. He is a moderate, even liberal, Muslim, who is surrounded, including in his immediate family, by practising Christians.

*Shettima and his wife; Tinubu and his wife 

However, for self-interested political calculations, Tinubu played the religious card to become president in 2023 by picking a fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima, as his running-mate. Perhaps more than any other columnist in Nigeria, I wrote severally on the issue. It struck me as a profound mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity and a monumental betrayal of the national interest to place personal political gain ahead of religious balance and harmony in Nigeria. 

Kwara: The Slaughter House — A State Betrayed by Leadership

 By Michael Oyewole

For over five months, these terrorists had been sending warning letters and pamphlets to these communities. They announced their intention to “preach” Islam to them. They demanded surrender. The villagers reported this strange incident to ALL relevant authorities. The intelligence was there. And what did the government do? Nothing. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

In the early hours of February 3, 2026, the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State were turned into a literal slaughterhouse. Jihadist terrorists preaching a twistedly strange, bloodthirsty doctrine stormed in around 5 p.m. They went from house to house, rounding up residents, binding their hands behind their backs, and executing them in cold blood. 

Gale Of Defections: Why Should Anyone Vote In Nigerian Elections?

 By Olu Fasan

By the end of this year, or even earlier, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Nigeria’s ruling party, may control 30 or more of Nigeria’s 36 state governors. Currently, the party has 29 state governors in its fold. Of these 29, only 21 are APC governors by election, the others are APC governors by defection. 

The gale of defections has swept away eight of the 12 governors of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and deprived the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, of its only governor. The president, Bola Tinubu, is fully hands-on in his determination to lure and co-opt virtually all opposition governors into his party ahead of his re-election bid in 2027.