Cost Of Governance: Playing Ostrich With The Economy

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Earlier in the week, two renowned economists, one a businessman and the other a traditional ruler used the occasion of a book launch by the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja to speak truth to power. They are HRH Muhammad Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Mr. Atedo N.A. Peterside, founder of IBTC, which later fused with Stanbic Bank to become Stanbic-IBTC Bank. 

*Tinubu

What came up at the event, which the media focused on, were the reforms of the present administration and the cost of governance.

For Sanusi, the issue was the size and cost of governance. He pointedly asked: “We’ve got to be honest, why do we need 48 ministers? Why do we need dozens of vehicles when we’re moving around in convoys or travelling all over the country?”

Need For Decisive Action On Insecurity

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Recently, the Governor of Niger State, apparently at the end of his tether, vowed never to negotiate with bandits or pay ransom for kidnap victims, saying instead residents must be prepared to defend themselves against attacks. Governor Bago said this when he visited the people of Rijau and Magama Local Government Areas of the state, whose communities were recently attacked by bandits in Kontagora.

His words: “The state has reached a point where the people must stand up and defend themselves because ransom will only turn kidnapping into a thriving business.

Politics Of Lagos Igbo Property Demolitions

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The emergence of Senator Bola Tinubu as the “winner” of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, governorship ticket on December 21,1998, unknown to many, marked a major historic turning point for Lagos State.

Ordinarily, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the man in charge of the party’s primaries in Lagos, should have insisted on a rerun. He did not, mainly because Tinubu’s contributions to Afenifere/NADECO struggle for Abiola’s mandate, especially his exile experience, endeared him to the party’s leaders above his co-contestants, such as Funsho Williams, Wahab Dosunmu, Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and Rashid Shitta-Bey.

Tinubu And The Politics, Morality Of Presidential Pardons

 By Olu Fasan 

Pardon. An act so seemingly innocuous it should never be controversial. Yet, recently, a state pardon provoked public opprobrium in Nigeria. Why? Because it was wrapped in crude politics and stripped of morality. Pardons are much like gifts: they have a deceptive innocence.

*Tinubu

For instance, gifts are rooted in customs and tradition, but they are also associated with bribery and corruption. Similarly, a presidential pardon loses its moral anchor when it is steeped in impunity and abuse of power. So, it’s understandable why President Bola Tinubu’s recent decision to pardon 175 people, most convicted of serious crimes, triggered a spontaneous public outrage.

Pardons, Clemency, And The Death Of Moral Clarity

 By Ugo Onuoha

Lateef Fagbemi is Nigeria’s Attorney-general and Minister for Justice. He has been at the job since August 2023. He is a Senior Advocate, the equivalent of a King’s [formerly Queen’s] Counsel in the United Kingdom. He might have been a brilliant lawyer but his lawyering skills became more pronounced with his dexterity over election matters. 

My understanding is that he has had quite a few victories in high profile electoral disputes. And the crowning prize of his nose for winning election disputes was in 2023 when he led a team of other senior lawyers and a motley of nondescript attorneys to persuade the Supreme Court to rubber stamp the award of the presidency of Nigeria by the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission [INEC] to Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Before Nigeria Defects To APC

 By Tony Iwuoma

When the history of Nigeria’s political decadence is finally written, the season we are living through will deserve its own chapter, a cautionary tale titled “Before Nigeria Defected.”

The phrase sounds exaggerated, almost absurd. But pause for a moment and look around. Every week, from one state to another, politicians, governors, senators, ex-ministers, former foes of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are suddenly rediscovering affection for the ruling party. They are crossing over in droves, clutching brooms they once mocked, delivering speeches that sound as hollow as campaign jingles played out of tune.

Tinubu’s Unpardonable Pardons: Folly Or Fraud?

 By Ugoji Egbujo

In exercise of his prerogative powers of mercy, Tinubu pardoned a convicted murderer on death row. He also pardoned drug barons. He pardoned a kidnapper. That power was given to him on trust by the people.  In a country ravaged by insecurity, every message from the leader should reflect a ruthless determination to stamp out crime and give the fear-wracked populace a new lease on life. How much can we trust Tinubu?

*Tinubu

The power to tell convicted offenders “Go and sin no more” before they have served their complete sentences is at the absolute discretion of the president. But that absolute discretion must be exercised in good faith. Political discretion is a test of a sense of responsibility. A president must always act in the country’s best interest; otherwise, he loses moral authority to govern. When Tinubu grants pardons to murderers, kidnappers, and drug dealers, he doesn’t just expose the country to a few recidivism-prone criminals; he lowers the bar. He tilts the scale in favour of lawlessness.

David Umahi Is Too Small…

 By Obi Nwakanma

David Umahi, Minister of Works under this administration, is not a very likeable man.  He is crude, and not really very polished.

*Umahi

Mr. Umahi trained in engineering at the old Anambra State University of Technology (ASUTHEC), now Enugu State University.

It was not a bad school.

But in the period David Umahi went there, it was not among the top dog schools for engineering in Nigeria.

And so, it was quite rich for David Umahi to claim, in a standoff with the Arise TV News journalist, that he was a “professor” in the practice of engineering. Well, of course, clearly, he was sounding off, in a manner of speaking.

Rushed Clearance Of INEC Chair: For What?

 By Tonnie Iredia

Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), outgoing Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) of the University of Jos is now the chairman of Nigeria’s electoral body – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The entire process of nomination, scrutiny, endorsement, approval and appointment was as far as the public was concerned concluded within a week.

*Amupitan

What was the speed for? Whereas background checks may have started much earlier when the President first ear-marked a candidate, we really didn’t need to present a rushed exercise to the public more so, as the position involved has not only become controversial but has also since moved into one that attracts much cynicism. 

October 20: When Nigeria Lost Children And Conscience At Lekki Toll Gate

 By Ebuka Ukoh 

October 20, 2020, was an unforgettable Tuesday night. Then, I sat at home, watching DJ Switch’s Instagram livestream, my phone trembling in my hands as her voice broke through the darkness. The sound of gunfire echoed over the national anthem. Flags fluttered in blood and fear. Protesters-unarmed, singing, kneeling-were sprayed with bullets. I remember feeling sick. Not just in my body, but in my soul. I knew how this would end. We all did. 

In Nigeria, power too often answers activism, not with dialogue but with death. 

Revealing The Secret Behind Kumuyi's Prayers - A Book Review

Book: Riches Of Prayer

Author: W. F. Kumuyi

Pages: 157

Publishers: Life Press Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale 

Years ago, a journalist approached Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, eager to know what he hid under his miracle-laden prayers that always landed, bereft of boisterous baggage. The newsman wondered: ‘’What I find amazing … is that some other pastors would lay their hands on people and shake them till they fall down and roll about. But you don’t do that. You just stand at the podium and pray a simple prayer, a normal prayer, no theatrics, and people get healed.’’

Let’s All Defect, Now!

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Earlier this week, Tuesday precisely, Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ditched his party, and with his entire political machinery, defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. He was not the first, and will not be the last.

*Mbah and Tinubu

His colleagues of the PDP that had defected to the APC much earlier include Governors Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State and Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State. With the way things have turned out in Rivers State, we should expect another defection from there anytime soon.

Obasanjo And The Haunting Ghost Of His Third Term Agenda

 By Olu Fasan

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former military ruler and former civilian president, is a bundle of contradictions. One could write a book on Obasanjo’s strengths, and another on his flaws. Of course, Obasanjo is his own hagiographer. He has written many books on himself, with such self-referential titles as My Command, Not My Will and My Watch. But as the biographer Lytton Strachey said, discretion is not the better part of biography. And so, most of Obasanjo’s books are an exercise in self-glorification, with highly disputed narratives. 

For instance, Obasanjo’s My Command, an account of his role during the civil war, was so controversial that it provoked General Godwin Alabi-Isama to write his own book, The Tragedy of Victory, to correct what he described as “Obasanjo’s Tissues of Lies”.

Senior Advocates Of No-Consequence (SANs)

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

The ritual of the “Call to Bar” is the formal ceremony for the admission of new entrants into Nigeria’s legal profession. The responsibility for administering it resides in the Body of Benchers (BoB), a statutory entity described by law as “a body of legal practitioners of the highest distinction in the legal profession in Nigeria.”

The solemnity of the Call to Bar is guaranteed by the presence of members of the BoB who administer the ceremony resplendent in ceremonial gowns supposed to testify to their high distinction in matters legal. The criteria for the determination of this threshold requirement of “highest distinction” antecedent to membership of the BoB are, however, opaque.

Air Peace Expands Horizon With New Abuja-London Route

By Fred Chukwuelobe

On October 26, 2025, Air Peace Airlines Limited will add the lucrative Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja (IATA code ABV) and the London Heathrow (LHR) route to its network. The airline will also in 48 hours after, add the ABV – London Gatwick (LGW) route. This will bring to three the number of UK destinations Air Peace will be flying into, that is, in addition to its highly successful Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) Lagos to London Gatwick (LGW) it currently operates.

Last August, Air Peace received another Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with registration number 5N-CEG, bringing to four the number of wide-body aircraft in its fleet to service these new routes. The upcoming London routes will increase their share of passenger volume into London, a market that had for years been dominated by foreign “big players” in the aviation industry.

Nigeria: Beautiful Nonsense As Governance

 By Owei Lakemfa

Senate President Godswill Akpabio issued a very powerful statement to the world on October 11, 2025, titled “The Trials and Triumphs of a Resilient Nigeria’s 10th Senate.” He vowed   that: “The Senate cannot and will not be held hostage by the disruptive instincts of any of its members.”

*Akpabio 

He declared: “Democracy thrives only when its institutions are respected and its rules upheld…The discipline of parliamentary conduct is a universal marker of political civilization”. The Senate President mentioned no names, gave no instances, referred to nothing. It was just a bland statement that said nothing. It gives the impression of an idle leader finding it difficult to get out of bed. 

Certificate Scandal: Minister’s Resignation Not Enough!

 By Tonnie Iredia

The uproar generated by the allegation that Uche Nnaji, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology forged both his degree and NYSC certificates has simmered considerably following the Minister’s resignation. But why he resigned is not clear. Did he resign because he was weighed down by the enormity of the scandal? Could it be that he wanted to save the government from further bad press or was he forced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quit? This unclear end to the scandal is one of the many reasons why the resignation is not enough.

*Nnaji

If Nnaji was not guilty as some of his supporters forcefully argued, it is unfair to sacrifice him over some purportedly concocted allegations. Considering that it was not just a fake degree certificate but also a bogus NYSC certificate, the allegation became one too many. On this score, the former Minister cannot blame those who concluded that he has a propensity to be blame worthy. A spokesperson for Nnaji had argued that there was a PDP faction within the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN who ganged up against his principal. If so, did the same political group permeate the NYSC to conjure the wrong official to sign Nnaji’s bogus discharge certificate?

Minister Nnaji: Is Tinubu’s Cabinet An Oluwole United?

 By Ugoji Egbujo

Atiku says the federal cabinet is an assembly of serial forgers, money launderers, election bandits and identity thieves. While it can’t be described as a total rogues’ gallery, it harbours far too many shady figures, granting too many reprobates access to the pulpits of power.

Tinubu, the acclaimed talent hunter, wanted a minister of innovation, science and technology and chose Nnaji. That is telling. Of all the brains in Igboland, of the constellation of Igbo intellects, Tinubu chose an Nnaji to lead innovation. Perpetuating the pattern. The third-class students march into politics to govern the first-class students, their footsteps echoing their hollowness in the corridors of power. Had Tinubu placed country above cronies, summoning scholars and inventors to ignite science and technology, he would have spared himself and the country this festering mess. And spared Nnaji this life-bending humiliation.

Plagiarism: The Silent Crime That Robs Nations Of Ideas

 By Stephanie Shaakaa

The first time I saw my own words staring back at me under someone else’s name, I felt an ache I cannot quite describe. Every sentence, every metaphor, every night of reflection poured into that piece stolen. Not borrowed, not referenced, but taken whole.

Plagiarism is theft. I know, because my original article carefully researched, deeply thought through, and published in Vanguard Newspaper on August 23, 2025 was stolen, rebranded, and published in a business newspaper in Nigeria under the name of Udo Maryanne Okonjo, who even had the audacity to call it “Side-Chick Economics: The Hidden Billions of Secrecy (Part 1)”. Part 1! As though she intends to build an entire series on an idea that is not hers.

Rufai Oseni And The Courage To Ask Questions That Burn

 By Stephanie Shaakaa

There are journalists who report and there are journalists who interrogate reality. 

*Oseni

Rufai Oseni of Arise TV belongs to that rare, unbending category of truth-tellers who refuse to be hypnotized by power or intimidated by titles. He has mastered the art of peeling away official veneers and exposing the hollow core beneath the rhetoric that too often passes for governance in Nigeria.

Some journalists report events. Rufai Oseni dissects them.

He doesn’t just anchor the news he interrogates reality.