Ibadan Explosion And Security Gaps In Oyo State

 By Oludayo Tade 

On the ‘roof-top-bar’ of the Senior Staff Club, University of Ibadan, I sat with my professor friend switching between discussions on the social economic conditions and the precarity of our lives as public university lecturers in Nigeria and watching the African Nations’ cup.

We requested for a bottle of coke and mixed it with water, sipped it when we felt the need to and talked about how those who are supposed to protect Nigerians have abdicated that responsibility.

It was not long when we heard a massive bang, the only thing compared to it was a bomb. Paul, one of the waiters in the club ran up as the surface upon which he stood vibrated heavily. We experienced the same.

G-5: The Fallacy Of Wike’s ‘Contribution’ To Tinubu’s ‘Victory’

 By Olu Fasan

Last week, Nyesom Wike, the outgoing governor of Rivers State, gave Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s putative next president, extravagant welcome to Port Harcourt, the state capital. Tinubu was in Port Harcourt to open a Magistrate’s Court complex that Wike named after his wife. Wike declared a public holiday and closed down shops so that Rivers people could turn out to welcome Tinubu. He later hosted Tinubu to a grand reception, a lavish banquet! Surely, those acts were an extraordinary abuse of power.

*Wike welcomes Tinubu to Port Harcourt

How would you explain a sitting governor naming a monument, built with state resources, after his wife? How would you explain a state governor declaring a public holiday, closing businesses, thereby crippling commercial activities, so that someone could “open” the monument? And would any responsible would-be president be part of such abuse of office and waste of state resources?

Towards A Democracy-Sensitive, People-Oriented Judiciary

 By Tunde Olusunle

On Thursday, March 16 and Friday, March 17, 2023, an editorial titled “The judiciary and public criticism” featured on prominent pages of a Nigerian national newspaper. The editorial alluded to public denunciation of certain judgments delivered and actions taken by the nation’s apex court and its leadership. 

Principally cited in the commentary are pronouncements gifting Ahmed Lawan, president of the Senate, and Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, tickets to contest the recent senatorial elections. Such appropriation was done by the Supreme Court, even when both political leaders did not participate in the primaries which would have presaged their emergence. 

#Obidatti23 Rally: Who Is Afraid Of Lekki Toll Gate?

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On Wednesday, September 28, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officially blew the whistle for the commencement of the 2023 election campaigns. With the Presidential and National Assembly elections holding on February 25, 2023, that will be a grueling 150 days of politicians crisscrossing this vast country, soliciting for votes.

It promises to be five months of drama when the hoi-polloi will have their day in the sun. The elections will be consequential. Nigerians, this time around, seem to be conscious of what is at stake – the soul of their country, that beautiful damsel that has been serially and unconscionably raped by pretentious, maniacal suitors.