Nigerians Have A Right To ‘Change Of Government’

 By Olamide Francis

On Monday, October 10, 2022, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu, said, “If they say they want a change of government, just tell them ‘we like to be polite but shut up your mouth.’” This is another sign among the many we have already seen that Nigeria’s democracy is endangered. This is not a matter of political parties but the general political clime in Nigeria. That aside, it is more disheartening that this kind of statement is coming from the platform of a party that benefitted from the agitation of the Nigerian masses for ‘a change of government.’

*Buhari and Tinubu

A change of government is the beauty of any democracy. So, I am bewildered at the call by the APC presidential candidate for people wanting a change of government, the same mantra they sided with in 2015, to shut up. Should people not call for a change of government if the current one has disappointed them? Is that not what democracy is all about? 

What Is Wrong With Africans?

 By Tochukwu Ezukanma

In his Philosophy of History, the 19th Century German philosopher, Friedrich Hegel, wrote so disparagingly about Africans, “The African exhibits the natural man in his wild and untamed state; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in his character”. 

And “the undervaluing of humanity among them reaches an incredible degree of intensity: cannibalism is looked upon as quite customary and proper. The devouring of human flesh is altogether consonant with the general principles of the African race.” We can disregard Hegel on the grounds that, as of the 19th Century, the Europeans’ prejudiced and inadequate knowledge of Africa could not have given an accurate and objective account of Africans.

Nigeria: Covid-19 And The Leadership Question

By DAN AMOR

For those of us who still believe in the geographical expression called Nigeria, at no other time that our country needs more fervent prayers than now. But the current situation also demands eternal vigilance and critical immediacy. Yet, the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging the human race since November 2019, more than anything else, poses a grave challenge to leaders across the world. While the COVID 19 pandemic has really revealed leaders with the sterner stuff who have shown the capacity to lead at very auspicious moments in the affairs of man, it has also exposed the soft underbelly of others who lack the capacity to walk their talk.

*Buhari 

It is now so apparent that Nigeria, my country, is a nation of experts without roots. We are always creating tacticians who are blind to strategy and strategists who cannot even take a step. And when the culture has finished its work, the weak institutions handcuff the infirmity. But what is at the centre of the panic which is our national culture since we are not yet free to choose our leaders?

Nigeria's Unending Leadership Crisis

By Dan Amor

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo's recent bombing of President Muhammadu Buhari does not make him a better candidate for national heroism. After all, the outcome of his letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan is the person whom he has just attacked. If care is not taken, the next president in 2019 might even be worse than Buhari. This is not a death wish for my beloved country. Never. Far from it!

*Babangida, Buhari, Obasanjo, Shagari and Jonathan

But Nigeria is a nation of experts without roots. We are always creating tacticians who are blind to strategy and strategists who cannot even take a step. And when the culture has finished its work the institutions handcuff the infirmity. But what is at the centre of the panic which is our national culture since we are not yet free to choose our leaders? Seeing how ineligible dunces who don’t even understand the secret of their private appeal, talk-less of what the nation needs jostle for power, I realize all over again that Nigeria is an unhappy contract between the Rich and the Poor. It is not that Nigeria is altogether hideous, it is even by degrees pleasant, but for an honest observer, there is never any salt in the wind.

2015: Jonathan's Place In History

*Jonathan

By Dan Amor 

All over the world, people choose their heroes for different reasons. Some  designate legendary creatures from every historical epoch and every field, such as Christopher Columbus, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc, Louis Pasteur, Alfred Nobel or even Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet, there are also those who believe that some heroes are unknown to the general public, their heroic deeds unrecognized but far from insignificant. These heroes include school aides, foster parents, security and medical personnel-all kinds of people who struggle, often against daunting odds, to make life better for others. As Victor Hugo said: "Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields which have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than illustrious heroes".

In choosing former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the reigning King of African Democracy, a successor to the famous Nelson Mandela of South Africa, this writer believes that, like every other hero, he is a human being, with everything that it implies. I also believe that recognizing a hero-warts and all-makes it possible to become a hero and to encourage others to do the same.