Donald Trump’s Return: Americans Put Economic Self-Interest Above Moral Values

 By Olu Fasan

There are two views of human behaviour. One is that people are primarily motivated by self-interest – what’s in it for me? The other is that people are primarily influenced by deeply ingrained moral values – what’s right and wrong? The first view comes from the rational choice or game-theoretic school, the second belongs to what scholars call constructivism.

*Trump

Now, Europeans are generally believed to privilege high principles over narrow self-interest. By contrast, Americans have long been seen as mostly self-interested, individualistic people, to whom moral values are secondary considerations. That caricature of the Americans played out powerfully last week when they overwhelmingly returned to power Donald Trump, president from January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021, notwithstanding his deeply flawed character and untoward past behaviour!

US Elections 2024 And Media Disaster

 By Ochereome Nnanna

In Mass Communication education, we are taught that the newsman or mass media practitioner, is an impartial reporter of newsworthy events. In a democratic society, media is a social trust and arbiter between the people and the government.

In Nigeria and other democracies, the media is given a constitutional role to uphold freedom of information and hold government accountable. Indeed, the media is often given the lofty moniker of “Fourth Estate”. There are informed reasons for all this. Media is expected to perform its functions accurately, objectively and completely, eschewing bias, malice and deliberately misleading their publics for private gain.

Trump’s Victory, The True Colour Of Democracy

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On Wednesday, November 6, Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. President, pulled off what, to all intents and purposes, is an extraordinary political comeback – an exceptional feat that has catapulted him once again to the enviable position of the president-in-waiting. On January 20, 2025, he will take another oath of office as the 47th U.S. President.

When Americans went to the polls on Tuesday, November 5, to elect President Joe Biden’s successor, the odds weighed against Trump. Here is a president who was impeached twice during his presidency, refused to accept electoral defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol before vacating the White House and was subsequently convicted of felony charges.

Killings On The Plateau: The Shame Of A Nation

 By Etim Etim

The brutal killings of over 160 Nigerians in three local councils in Plateau State on Christmas eve and Christmas Day by terrorists have once again illustrated the failure of the Nigerian State to protect its citizens. Over 20 villages across Barkin Ladi, Bokkos and Mangu LGAs were attacked in what has become a pattern of a failed or a fast-failing state. 

I am sad, pained and aggrieved by the flagrant failure of the security agencies to thwart the terrorists’ plots or arrest them after their heinous crimes. Many Nigerians, including a retired general who had once served as the Commander of Operation Safe Heaven on the Plateau, Gen. Henry Ayoola, believe that there are elements in the security agencies that collude with the terrorists and are complicit in these killings.

2023: Nigeria Cannot Afford An Emperor As President

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Delivering the 2022 TheNiche Lecture titled “2023 Elections And The Future Of Nigeria’s Democracy” on September 8, the guest speaker, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos State and Minister of Works and Housing, disagreed with those who hold the view that next year’s elections will be momentous. 

*Buhari and army officers 

Though Fashola admitted that “no two elections are the same; and the intensity always varies anyway as indeed the number of voters and sometimes the number of parties; and the novelty of some candidates,” he nonetheless orated that rhetoric like “this will be a most defining election; this will be an election like no other; and so on and so forth… is common in every democracy and at the onset of a new election cycle,” and no one should be surprised hearing them.