Lagos: Bola Tinubu’s Parasitic Master Plan

By Modiu Olaguro

 “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”—Mark Twain.

In the last one month, the eyes of the nation was fixated on Lagos. Like a child’s play, the rumour of the governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, not getting a second term in office began and to the consternation of all, the rigmarole culminated in his ousting in a manner without precedents in the state. The All Progressives Congress (APC), being a party whose modus operandi relate in every way, shape or form with its siamese cousin, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), governors ordinarily take their second terms for granted, with the parties throwing the seat at them under the guise of first refusal however bleak a future they may have carved for their respective states.

*Jide Sanwo-Olu, Bola Tinubu and Gov Akinwunmi Ambode

With this in the know, coupled with the financial wherewithal of Lagos which could make even the least skillful occupant of the throne claim some glory from the people, Ambode, in a hubristic fashion wore the cloak of invincibility, deluding himself that should worst come to worse, the party would fear the backlash a move that could deny him a second term would generate.

Supreme Court, Gov Wike And Joe Igbokwe's Hallucinations

By Dan Amor

The recent display of political infantilism by one of Nigeria's most colourless political jobbers and butt lickers, Joe Igbokwe should be seen for what it is: a revelation of plot by his sponsors to once more intimidate the Nigerian judiciary as we prepare for the 2019 general elections. He recently posted a comment on his Facebook wall alleging that the Rivers State Governor Barrister Nyesom Wike goes to the Supreme Court to buy justice after several killings in his state. Igbokwe, a riotous personality who speaks before he thinks, posted on his Facebook wall: "Wike will not have the audacity and temerity to kill again and run to the Supreme Court to buy justice", ostensibly referring to what would happen to the governor in 2019 when they would rob him of his victory.

*Gov Wike 

It is another invidious attempt by someone generally known to be a political rascal to blackmail the judiciary. What he implies is that the governor is a killer and the Supreme Court a place where justice is sold and bought. But it is yet another joke too expensive for them as the judiciary under the leadership of the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen can no longer be intimidated.

Joe Igbokwe’s Unprovoked Mockery Of The Judiciary

By Ebun-olu Adegboruwa

Some few minutes ago, Mr. Joe Igbokwe posted on his Facebook wall, a comment, to the effect that the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, the latter a lawyer and a member of the Body of Benchers, bought his way through the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

I was alarmed at such open declaration, given that I’m part and parcel of the Nigerian judiciary.

Consequently, I urge all lawyers, activists and lovers of the rule of law and due process, to join me to engage Mr. Joe Igbokwe on this rather reckless utterance.

Indeed, it is the height of indignity. By my last reckoning, Mr Joe Igbokwe is still a public servant, in Lagos State, the land of opportunities, being paid thorough our sweat and labour.

How can such a person paint the entire legal system of Nigeria with such conclusion as that one could buy judgment in the Supreme Court?

Nigeria: At A Pro-Propaganda Rally

By Dan Amor

I'm not your run-of-the-mills television freak or enthusiast. Due largely to the nature of my job, which is basically guided by the need to beat deadlines, I hardly have time for over-indulgence in leisure and other niceties. Whereas my wife and kids occasionally feast on the television screen for either of their usual sops- Zee World, or Nickelodeon, yours sincerely would always lock himself up in the study writing an editorial or a column. 

Yet, since January this year (2018), I have occasionally squeezed a few minutes of my limited time in my little room to watch CHANNELS Television's flagship programme, SUNRISE DAILY. On occasions, viewers are treated to a crossfire which usually features a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and another of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who are made to argue on a topical issue of public concern in a moderated atmosphere.

How APC Betrayed Buhari

By Joe Igbokwe

I was shocked to the marrows when I heard that some APC Senators asked the National Working Committee of the Party led by the National Chairman of the Party Chief Odigie Oyegun to prevail on President Buhari to drop all charges against Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct corruption trial before they stop sabotaging the presidency. Words failed me when it dawned on me that this potentially dangerous demand is coming from some APC Senators who are supposed to be the agents of change we promised Nigerians while seeking their mandate in 2015.

*Buhari, Tinubu and Saraki 

I reflected on the event of the past 24years from 1993 when we elected Chief MKO Abiola to bring hope to Nigerians and how he was crushed and decimated by demonic and satanic forces after five years struggle to defend and sustain the mandate. Time and space will not permit me to recall the quantum of energies expended to defend the mandate for five years, the wars, on the streets, the casualties including MKO Abiola and the late wife Kudirat Abiola, and many others, the damage to the national project, the devastation of our economy, the balkanization of the political entity called Nigeria, the alienation by the international community making Nigeria a pariah nation, and the ethnic division it visited on Nigeria.

After killing Chief Abiola in July 7, 1998, the same satanic and demonic forces still bent on decimating Nigeria further decided to foist PDP and retired General Obasanjo on Nigerians. In sixteen years, from 1999 to 2015 the same forces wasted huge resources running into hundreds of billions of dollars earned in times of oil boom. The unconscionable looters and unrepentant thieves diverted and stashed away these huge resources into private pockets. These funds have been traced to private accounts both at home and abroad, traced to real estates both in Nigeria and abroad, and traced to farms and some buried underground. The rest is now history.

Ndigbo: Why Joe Igbokwe’s Self-Enslavement Worries Me

By Jude Ndukwe

In his well published diatribe against the Igbo people of Nigeria, Joe Igbokwe, the Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, who is also a son of Igbo, poured invectives on the Igbo nation while making spurious allegations against them. For those who know Igbokwe’s leanings and past stance on national issues, his latest scurrilous attack on the great people of the South Eastern part of Nigeria did not come as a surprise, the only surprising thing is that this latest attack seem to come somehow awkwardly late and too far apart given the man’s relentless and unrepentant penchant for always attempting to ridicule Nigeria’s most resilient and enterprising people in an essay full of contradictions, lame postulations and outright insults.

*Tinubu and Buhari 

His grouse is that, according to him, the Igbo have refused to move on since after former president Jonathan lost the last presidential election to the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari. In one fell swoop, he accused the Igbo of ethnic bigotry and still went ahead to wonder why it is that the people of the South South region have since moved on while their South Eastern brothers have refused to move on from that election. If the Igbo were ethnic bigots, how would they be so concerned about the loss of a Bayelsa man in an election to the extent that a certain Joe Igbokwe is riled by their stoic and unwavering support to such a man even more than a year after his loss?

Rather than paint the Igbo in such uncomplimentary, yet, false light, Joe should turn his focus on his principals and paymasters who are working tirelessly to continually divide Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines. When the president of a country has officially divided his nation into two political, ethnic and religious lines by the virtue of the “97% vs 5%” declaration of no person less than the president himself, the Igbo view him as one who does not mean well for the nation.

 In this light, the Igbo view Jonathan as a hero because, even though he is not Igbo, he would never have made such a divisive and unpresidential statement not to talk of acting it out. And as if to prove that declaration as an official policy of his, President Buhari’s appointments have not been federal either in character or in intent. To this extent, the Igbo view themselves as endangered species in a nation that easily preaches one Nigeria but state actors do the exact opposite. The president’s continued seclusion of certain parts of the country from State offices and projects, if there is anyone at all, is what is crippling Nigeria. The cry of the Igbo, which the likes of Igbokwe have misinterpreted to serve their own selfish purpose, is that Buhari should not crash the nation with his own hands.

 If anyone sees this as ethnic bigotry, the person has urgent need for an optician and a psychiatrist! With the level of poverty visited on us in Nigeria by the Buhari administration, it is enough to make people like Igbokwe spew nonsense in the name of criticism, and also makes it imperative for regular brain checks to be part of such people’s daily menu. When armless and harmless Igbo embark on peaceful rallies and the military shoot at them without provocation, killing many in the process, not once, not twice, and hurriedly bury them in mass shallow graves in military barracks and elsewhere in order to cover their evil, Joe Igbokwe expects Ndigbo to applaud rather than criticize state actors for their wickedness and insensitivity. Enough is enough!