Why Peter Obi Is Not Your Typical Politician

 By Dan Onwukwe

History sometimes provides a striking opportunity to understanding the interplay between leaders and situations that differentiate one from the pack. It also provides a valuable insight into the changing dynamics of power. It’s a fact that leadership carries a sacred responsibility not measured by political contests alone, but by courage, conviction, and respect for the dignity of the people – even under pressure. 

*Peter Obi

This is why some politicians deserve the recognition, good will and respect they get from the people, while others don’t. The latter category can best be described in pidgin English as “waka just pass”. These are leaders who strut the political space just to be noticed. They leave no enduring legacy. Their footprints varnish once they leave the political stage. 

Has Nyesom Wike’s Juju Expired?

 By Ugoji Egbujo

For years, Nyesom Wike seemed untouchable, wielding power with impunity and bending institutions to his will. He could come on national TV ‘barking’.  He could wear crazy colored clothes. He could hold more media chats than the president and all governors combined to gossip about his mentors, who had all become his enemies.

*Wike 

As a junior minister, he hounded his former governor—Rotimi Amaechi—who had played a key role in his rise. In 2015, when the Court of Appeal nullified elections across Rivers State, only the governorship survived to the Supreme Court. Shockingly, the apex court upheld Wike’s victory despite widespread allegations of grave irregularities.

Renewed Hope Or Renewed Hypocrisy: Tinubu’s Risky Politics Of Redemption

 By Emmanuel Aziken

At a time President Bola Tinubu has chosen to nominate some of Nigeria’s most controversial personalities as ambassadors to represent the country abroad, the emergence of his so-called Renewed Hope Ambassadors—appointed to canvass support for his second-term aspiration—has shaken the polity in a manner that many did not expect but which, perhaps, should no longer surprise anyone observing the curious evolution of our political culture.

*Tinubu and Omokri 

 The inclusion of figures like Mr. Reno Omokri, whose pre-election stance painted Tinubu with every negative virtue that should not be associated with a leader, did not completely shock Nigerians. After all, before Omokri, the president had already appointed Dr. Daniel Bwala as Special Adviser, a man who only a year earlier emphatically declared that “even if you give Tinubu 30 years, nothing will work.” With such examples, it has become increasingly clear that Tinubu’s political instincts lean heavily toward embracing, rehabilitating, and strategically deploying his most ferocious critics.

Requiem For PDP

 By Dele Sobowale

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies” – Dr Arbuthnot, 1667-1735, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 191. 

Note: This article started on the day of the Ondo State election. The result was not surprising. “You can’t beat something with nothing”. PDP is now nothing. Obong Victor Attah, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Trustee of the PDP, is an internationally-recognised architect. He was the first African to be granted licence to practice as an architect in New York State.

Tinubu’s Disappearing Acts

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s president since May 29, 2023 is a man of many parts, talented in multiple areas of life. As someone who is able to do many different things almost effortlessly, Nigerians perceive him as a superman – the “ideal superior man of the future,” as described by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher in Thus Spake Zarathustra, “who could rise above conventional Christian morality to create and impose his own values.”

*Tinubu

Notwithstanding, it has become glaring in the 11 months of his presidency that what is still unknown about him far outstrips what people thought they knew. For instance, Nigerians didn’t reckon with his ability to do a disappearing act on them. Again, how could anyone have imagined that Tinubu had the ability to cast a spell on an otherwise vibrant people and turn them into zombies so much so that even in the face of egregious conducts, the people would rather relapse into portentous silence?