Wole Soyinka’s Faux Pas

 By Amanze Obi

By now, it is clear to one and all that Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is decidedly partisan on issues pertaining to the 2023 presidential election. He tried hard enough, initially, to mask his sympathies and loyalties. But recent developments have laid him bare. He is now unable to hold back.

*Soyinka 

Soyinka himself knows this much. He betrayed this tendency copiously while reacting to the criticisms that trailed his faux pas in South Africa penultimate week. He declared, rather blandly, that Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar lost the February 25 presidential election even before the election held. His reason? That both candidates split the votes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and, consequently, granted Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC) an easy access to victory.

How Nigeria’s Courts Became ‘The Lost Hope Of The Common Man’

 By Chidi Odinkalu

When Ogbonnaya Ukeje died in Lagos two days after Christmas Day in 1981, Bode Rhodes-Vivour was a 30-year-old lawyer making his way up the rungs of public service in the Ministry of Justice in Lagos State. Mr. Rhodes-Vivour had been called to the Nigerian Bar a mere six years earlier, in 1975. 

In 1989, when Mr. Rhode-Vivour succeeded Nureini Abiodun Kessington as the Director of Public Prosecutions in Lagos State, the case concerning the estate of Ogbonnaya Ukeje was already in its sixth year in the High Court of Lagos. Mr. Ukeje’s daughter, Gladys, had filed the case in 1983 to challenge her exclusion from a share in her father’s estate merely on the ground that she was female.

Prospects Of Fighting Poverty In Nigeria

 By David Ugolor

As you already know, the fight against poverty remains one of our society’s most pressing challenges today, particularly in regions where a substantial portion of the population live in abject poverty. Current data from the World Poverty Clock, has pegged the number of extremely poor Nigerians at 71 million. Nigeria, with its 213.4 million-strong population, faces this stark reality.

Approximately 63 per cent (133 million people) live in multidimensional poverty according to National Bureau of Statistics data, experiencing a range of deprivations that underscore the urgency of robust intervention. Certainly, the sudden removal of fuel subsidy only increases these numbers exponentially as the cost of living is at a very worrisome level, one of the worst since Nigeria gained independence in 1960.

It’s Still An Unjust World

 By Dan Agbese

The world talked to itself this week from September 18-22 in the most famous talk shop in the world – the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA). This important annual global political ritual is rooted in the belief of the founding fathers of the UN 78 years ago that jaw-jaw triumphs war-war. The man with his finger on the trigger will be minded not to pull back so long as the world leaders talk to one another. Still, the world war-wars within and among nations.’

World leaders, big and small, rich and poor, have duly performed the 2023 ritual. Each world leader let the world into his informed prescription on how to save the world or what nations must do to build better and more mutually beneficial international relationships for peace to reign.

Nigeria Without Trucks And Their Drivers?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Project Nigeria, started by the British with the 1914 Amalgamation, is still work in progress, after a century. In fact, next year will make 110 years of the Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates. Many people will say we have made a lot of progress since flag independence in 1960, while another multitude will counter them by saying we have made none. We are actually not progressing, they would say.

A coin has two sides; so I find on both sides — those that say we have made progress and those that are of the belief that we have not. It is a recurring debate where many are gathered, either at parties, bars, workplaces, or even in the molue or danfo, wherein self-appointed pontiffs who claim a lot of knowledge about what should have been done or not proclaim the way the country should have gone. In all the discussions, what is usually omitted is the fact that the individual has a role to play in the nation’s development, and that since many Nigerians don’t think they have an obligation to their country, they find themselves in situations they don’t like and are impotent to do anything about.

The Gates To Hell Were Opened Long Ago

 By Owei Lakemfa

The world gathered this week under the United Nations to talk peace, security and socio-economic justice, but hawks circled and beneficiaries of a skewed world sat silent in cold complicity.

It was the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, and even as the world on Thursday, September 21, complemented the UN objectives by marking the International Day of Peace, the voices for conflict were sounding more strident.

Recipe For Unqualified Teachers In Private Schools

 By Daniel Ighakpe

This is a rejoinder with respect to a piece published in The Guardian newspaper of Thursday, July 20, 2023, titled: “Tackling the menace of unqualified teachers in private schools.”

This is a humble appeal directed to the concerned authorities, requesting that at least some form of consideration be shown to some competent and quality teachers, who would, otherwise, be referred to as “unqualified,” going strictly by their non-possession of the N.C.E/B. Ed./PGDE or other education-related qualifications, as well as their status of registration with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (T.R.C.N).

South-East Beyond 2023: Time For A Reset

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

The title of this article, I must confess, is not original to me. It is the theme of the South-East Summit on Economy and Security which is scheduled to hold in Owerri, Imo State, next week. There couldn’t have been a better time or even a better theme for the Summit. Ndigbo are at a socio-economic and political crossroads in Nigeria and crucial decisions with far-reaching consequences have become inevitable. 

*Iwuanyanwu 

The idea of the Summit, therefore, is to galvanise Ndigbo, a people hitherto proud of their heritage, but who seem to have lost their sagacity in the face of debilitating national conspiracy, to look inwards to harness their inner strengths and abundant resources in order to reshape their collective destiny. A new trajectory has become imperative. 

Coups In Africa: It’s Time Politicians Accepted Soldiers As Rival For Power

 By Olu Fasan

The recent resurgence of military coups in Africa calls for further exposition, and I would do that here through the theory of militarism. From a cause-and-effect point of view, it’s futile, even irrational, to condemn coup d’états and ignore their root causes.

Unfortunately, a lot of contrived denunciation has dogged recent coups in Africa, whereas the underlying problems are glossed over. Indeed, some would view this piece as “coup-baiting”. Yet, the real coup-baiting is the failure of politicians to recognise that soldiers are their real rival for power, and that they must do the right things, democratically and in good-governance terms, to keep the military in the barracks and out of politics. 

Nigeria: From Buharisation To Tinubuisation

 By Ochereome Nnanna

When a woman marries twice, she is better placed to know which husband treated her better. As a country, Nigeria has married two husbands since 1999: the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC. No doubt, we experienced a far better Nigeria under the PDP than the APC. This claim has nothing to do with partisanship. Whatever evil the PDP committed, the APC regimes have multiplied them tenfold and added fresh, vile inventions of their own.

*Buhari and Tinubu 

The PDP was founded by political leaders who tried to use the outcomes of the Abacha Constitutional Conference to build an improved democracy and governance system. The PDP was built on the foundation of equitable power sharing and rotation, as well as the Federal Character Principle enshrined in Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as agreed at the Conference.

Reno Omokri's Weak Attempt At Revisionism

 By Ejike Anyaduba 

If there is anybody eager to rewrite history just to intone falsehood and malign a group of people, it is the squit called Reno Omokri. 

*Omokri

It is not clear what informs his choice of being an ethnic profiler. But whatever his reason, be it complex(inferiority) or  the need to generate traffic on his X handle (formerly known as Twitter),  or both, one thing is certain he has chosen for himself an unenviable task that offers no good reward. 

Was There Really A Consensus That Fuel Subsidy Should Go?

 By Jideofor Adibe

In my last week’s column (Beyond the PEPT’s Judgement), I argued, among other things, that the Western brand of liberal democracy we currently practise does not, and cannot work in our type of society where the basis of even statehood remains contested.

This is because the adversarial nature of our electoral competition aggravates the structures of conflicts in the society, deepening the fault lines necessarily mobilised as part of our identity politics and consequently undermining the nation-building process. I equally argued that largely because of these factors, many Nigerians feel alienated from the political process and consequently from the nation-state itself.

Gabon Can Happen To Any Country!

 By Abiodun Komolafe

There’s always a general tendency which is often ignored at the peril of governments; and that’s the fact that bad governance brings exposure. Of course, this exposure comes in all ramifications. When people get dissatisfied at home, they look abroad for succor. Human beings are like that.

What has helped the Francophone countries to remain silent for too long is the principle of assimilation – to be brainwashed like robots; unlike other colonizers who allowed people to be themselves. That’s why countries like Nigeria and Ghana experienced coups decades ago because, from the British culture, they saw bad governance and reacted.

Mujahid Asari Dokubo And The Life Cycle Of The Law Of Rule

 By Chidi Odinkalu

On a Friday in July 2005, Bayo Ojo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, quietly absconded from work in an office in Victoria Island, Lagos, from where he functioned then as the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. The next working day, a Monday, he turned up in Abuja as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s fourth Attorney-General in five years. 

Less than three months after assuming office as Attorney-General of the Federation, on October 6, 2005, Mr. Ojo filed a five-count charge before the Federal High Court against Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, at the time the self-proclaimed leader of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force, NDPVF. Asari was also a leading member of the Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO. The crimes charged included two counts of treasonable felony, two counts of running an unlawful society, and one count of publishing “a rumour…. which is likely to cause fear and alarm”.

Nigeria: Stepping Back From A Major Blunder On World Stage

 By Owei Lakemfa

President Bola Tinubu on September 2, 2023 recalled all Nigerian career and non-career ambassadors across the universe from their duty posts. His action, he said, is to transfuse his renewed hope agenda into foreign policy and ensure service delivery to all. He, however, made two exceptions: the country’s United Nations, UN, Permanent Representatives in New York and Geneva.

Generally, foreign relations can be quite slippery, so an ambassador is the eyes and ears of his country. Therefore, his recall is a serious matter. But making two exceptions tells of the importance of both missions.

Nigeria: A Tribunal From Hell

 By Obi Nwakanma

I watched with extreme difficulty, and not insubstantial pain, the interview in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in which the poet, playwright and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, very painfully, tried to subvert the truth about the Nigerian election, by claiming that the Labour Party “came third” and knew that they “did not win the election.” That the Labour Party had become a regional movement. That Peter Obi and the party leaders were trying to push young people into the streets to protest. 

Here, let us reproduce Soyinka in full: “One party took over the Labour Movement and then it became a regional party…my own organization has a monitoring unit, and so I could say categorically that Peter Obi’s Party came third, not even second! And that the leadership knew it. But they wanted to do what we call in Yoruba, ‘Gba Jue!’

Remembering Victims Of Terrorism

 By Ike Willie-Nwobu

The United Nations pauses on August 21 annually to remember and pay tribute to victims of terrorism. Terrorism represents what is arguably the greatest evil of the modern world. This tragedy of creed and cruelty has made the world riotously unsafe as things stand. Today, more than ever, its victims are deserving of reflection, attention, action, and tribute.

In Nigeria, the effects of terrorism are as stark as they come. In April 2014, a bomb went off in the Nyanya Area of the FCT. About 15 people were killed and many more injured. In April 2011, a bomb went off at the UN office in Abuja killing 21 people and wounding about sixty. In December, 2011 while worshipers looked with eager expectation at Christmas that was just a few hours away, a bomb went off, killing dozens and leaving many others injured.

The Metamorphosis Of Uncle Soyinka

 By Ugoji Egbujo

Professor Soyinka is a genius. Besides his exceptional creativity in drama and poetry, he has fought oppression like an attendant spirit. However, in the last few months, he has spent more time proving that he is human than engaging the demons of corruption and injustice. Before Tinubu, his friend ran for president, Soyinka would dwell on the credibility of the electoral process and dream of mass participation.

*Soyinka 

And if INEC spent two years seeking the authority to transfer polling unit results electronically to enhance transparency and eliminate substitution of results at collation, Soyinka would insist it was non-negotiable. And if INEC ran into a suspicious glitch on election day, leaving room for mischief at collation centres, Soyinka would worry about the integrity of INEC and lampoon the credibility of the process.

Big For Nothing Nigeria

 By Tony Eluemunor

When Egypt and Ethiopia, but not Nigeria, were the two African countries invited to join the BRICS bloc last month, many Nigerians were not surprised. Our leaders did not even betray any anger that Nigeria was not among the six new countries invited to join the BRICS bloc. 

*Tinubu 

On 27 August 2023, a Nigerian newspaper, the Business Day published a story: “What is Nigeria missing by its non-membership of BRICS”? Its answer: “But why will Nigeria join the bloc, if one may ask? The bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has since its formation as BRIC in 2009 and later BRICS in 2010, with the addition of South Africa, proven itself as formidable force against the overbearing and manipulative influence of the West”.

Slavery Is Not An Option

 By Pat Utomi

Beginning from age 17 as an undergraduate at the University of Nigeria I have rallied resistance against injustice.

My early cry for doing things right peaked with my calling out students at UNN to protest police killing of University of Ibadan Student, Kunle. Given the emotions of the times when UNN students lost three years as they watched friends and family die like chicken while UI students were in class during the Civil war was a hard sell. But we joined forces with Bassey Ekpo Bassey and founded the Students Democratic Society because we prized human solidarity.