Ghana Elections And Prof Yakubu’s Sham Claims

 By Ochereome Nnanna

There is something we call omehaa kachie enya in my Abiriba dialect of Igbo. It means a shameless or defiant offender. When a person is caught red-handed while committing an abomination, he is supposed to show remorse or contrition.

*Yakubu
But if such a person adopts a bold face, displays impertinence and opts to brazen it out, that person is beyond redemption. In ancient times, society had ways of quietly getting rid of such people to create deterrence and prevent them from corrupting the rest of the community.

Tinubu’s ‘Do As I Say’ Reforms!

 By Ugoji Egubjo

Tinubu said he came to initiate reforms. And the people waited to emulate him. Because talk is cheap. After taking away subsidies without cushions, he went for a bloated cabinet. A flabby cabinet of the  sons of profligacy to prosecute austerity measures.

*Tinubu
With his deliberate choice of some indicted persons as ministers, he signaled to the EFCC that he wasn’t interested in anti-corruption. Once he awarded his first major contract, the multi-trillion naira  Lagos-Calabar road, to his friend, everyone got the message. The reforms would not include due process. The reforms are not ‘Do As I do’.

What If Farotimi’s Allegations Are Not False?

 By Tonnie Iredia

According to Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,"every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”

*Farotimi 

To underscore the importance of this right, the constitution further expands the empowerment beyond private discussions by recognizing the use of the media to effect communication across the globe by anyone desirous of consummating the freedom of speech provided by the section. Hence, Section 39(2) explicitly empowers citizens to “own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions.”

In The Matter Of Dele Farotimi Before The Star Chamber

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Paul Anyebe was a judge of the High Court of Benue State in north-central Nigeria who had a young son with sticky fingers and a sense of adventure  It was his role as a dad that endangered his job as a judge.

*Dele Farotimi 

One night around 1983, Anyebe caught his son attempting to steal from his bedroom. In response, Anyebe pulled his gun in an effort to scare the boy. The gun went off, discharging a bullet which hit and seriously injured the boy.

The Case Of Two Maniacal Looters And Our Future

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Two major reports on the anti-corruption landscape made the headlines these last few days. Both left me wondering about the mental state of the perpetrators, given the sheer scale of what they were up to.

Pix: Amazon

All of us still remember the late maximum dictator, General Sani Abacha. Since his passing, it has come to light that the redoubtable General siphoned so much money from the national exchequer that 30 generations from him would never have to work again.

Hunger: Nigeria Is Starving Its Own People; That’s Iniquitous!

 By Olu Fasan

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, published the results of the General Household Survey Panel, which showed that 63.8 per cent of households face severe food insecurity and are skipping meals, some for a whole day.

Nigeria is not in war or ravaged by famine, so why should two-thirds of the population be in the throes of hunger and starvation? How can one explain the savagery of hunger that has reduced many Nigerians to scavenging for food? Well, here’s the harsh truth: the Nigerian state is starving the Nigerian people through deliberate policy choices.

Death Of the Liberian Warlord General Prince Yomi Johnson

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The news of the death of the controversial Liberian warlord General Prince Yomi Johnson has just reached me. The man became friends with me whilst he was in exile in Lagos, Nigeria. 

*Prince Johnson 

Let’s just do a quick recall of the gory video scene of the killing of then President Samuel Doe of Liberia. There was the beer-guzzling Prince Yomi Johnson sitting in judgment over the captured and tied-up Doe who was begging for his life thusly: “Yomi, two people fight, one win. Spare me, please.” 

Of course poor Samuel Doe had his miserable life snuffed out. 

Now the news has hit town that General Prince Yomi Johnson too is dead.

A tear for him! 

Prince Yomi Johnson used to live in exile in Ikoyi, Lagos, and I once had a memorable encounter with him. No appointment was fixed with the former warlord. I simply appeared unannounced at the frontage of the man’s Ikoyi home one hot Tuesday afternoon, and settled on a white plastic chair by the door of the bistro that led into the compound.

Nigeria: Deferment Of Renewed Hope?

By Kelechi Deca

In 2022, Nigeria had its first comprehensive Multidimensional Poverty Index, MPI, report, measuring households’ monetary poverty, education and basic infrastructure services deprivation. It incorporated a Child MPI, adding a child development and survival dimension. 

The MPI estimates that 133 million Nigerians, or 63 per cent of the population, are multidimensionally poor, with significant disparities in poverty levels across states. Rural areas have higher poverty rates at 72per cent compared to urban areas (42 per cent).

Continuing Story Of Nigeria’s Undemocratic Posture

 By Tonnie Iredia

No democratic nation is expected to undermine any of the easily recognizable 5 pillars of democracy.

These are: (i)the sovereignty of the people in which government functions only on behalf of the people (ii) the rule of law which presupposes the absence of arbitrariness in a society where everyone is equal before the law iii) free and fair elections, that is, periodic contests which throw up political leaders that are truly determined by only the electorate (iv) majority rule in which government is formed by the political party which has the highest number of lawful votes and (v) minority rights in which government is obliged to protect the rights of the vulnerable and powerless segments of society.

Requiem For PDP

 By Dele Sobowale

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies” – Dr Arbuthnot, 1667-1735, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 191. 

Note: This article started on the day of the Ondo State election. The result was not surprising. “You can’t beat something with nothing”. PDP is now nothing. Obong Victor Attah, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Trustee of the PDP, is an internationally-recognised architect. He was the first African to be granted licence to practice as an architect in New York State.

Why Nigeria Is Worsening Under President Tinubu?

 By Mike Ikhariale

Nigeria has arrived at a very sorry pass, far worse than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. The title of our discussion today is a rehash of our earlier evaluation of the pitiable condition of Nigeria which was itself an adaptation of the title of the seminar work by the intellectual duo of Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson, which they aptly entitled Why Nations Fail.

*Tinubu

The economic quagmire which the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has stampeded Nigerians into is the classical definition of a failing state, where the gov­ernment and its organs become ethically and conceptually handicapped and become incapable of performing the hallowed du­ties of government with patriotic, pruden­tial and analytical dispositions.

Obasanjo’s Moment Of Epiphany

 By Promise Adiele

I met Olusegun Obasanjo for the first time in his Abeokuta home in 2017. I had gone to interview him with Prof. Hope Eghagha as part of the research materials we needed for a national project. After three hours of robust engagement on various topics about Nigeria, I no longer had any illusions about Obasanjo’s sagacity, intellect, and sometimes exaggerations which exonerated him of all culpabilities, creating an infallible image of a being.

*Obasanjo 

To say that Obasanjo is intelligent is to put it mildly. He recounted historical events with an uncanny exactitude and subtle arrogance that belies his position as a no-nonsense former leader of the most populous black country in the world. One can profitably argue that few people know or understand Nigeria more than Olusegun Obasanjo.

Trumpism Set To Upset The World

 By Owei Lakemfa

Unto us, a man-child is again born by the United States, US, electorate. Donald Trump is actually a reincarnation sent to upset the world.

*Trump

Friends like the European Union and neigbouring Canada are jittery for he is unpredictable and, foes like China are girding their loins. Trump is the weird one the incompetent and visionless Biden administration has given a smooth ride back to the White House.

GDP Growth Report: Whose Figures?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910). Please note that Mark Twain himself attributed it to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

Last Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, released a report on the National Gross Domestic Product for Q1 2024, that is, the first three months of this year. On its website, NBS gave the following overview: Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2024.

Decriminalising Nigeria’s Democratic Estate

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

A lot has been agitating my mind in recent times on the state of our union and why evil seems to continually thrive over good. Why is it that the things which disqualify people in other climes from holding public office are exactly what is needed by an average Nigerian politician to be considered astute?

In other climes, hardly will a certificate forger make a successful career in politics. In Nigeria the reverse is the case. Many of those in public office in Nigeria today forged their academic qualifications even when the bar is so ridiculously low that all you need to be president is the West African School Certification Examination, WASCE. You don’t even need to pass.

Tax Reform Bills: Tinubu Lacks The Will For National Consensus Building

 By Olu Fasan

Hardly anyone will disagree that Nigeria needs a fundamental tax reform. This, after all, is a country with one of the most cumbersome tax regimes in the world, where tax laws and regulations are overlapping and burdensome, where the administration and collection of taxes, and their spending, are ridden with inefficiency and corruption, and where tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent. Nigeria’s tax system is in deep crisis.

*Tinubu

However, while crises are a trigger for fundamental reforms, making the status quo unsustainable, they are not sufficient for reform success. In a democracy, there’s a critical need for an explicit electoral mandate for reform and for a carefully crafted policy design, shaped by a broad consensus for change.

Northern Elite Should Take Responsibility For Region’s Underdevelopment

By Aliyu Maigari Aliyu 

In the ongoing discourse surrounding the socio-economic challenges plaguing Northern Nigeria, the time has come for the long-standing elite in the region to take a step back and engage in meaningful self-reflection. 

Over the last 64 years of Nigeria’s independence, Northern elites have ruled the country for approximately 41 years. Despite this significant tenure, the region remains mired in underdevelopment, and the accusations being levied against President Bola Tinubu, who has spent less than two years in power, are not just disingenuous but also a stark exhibition of irresponsibility, to say the least. 

Are These Professional Soldiers?

By Sunny Awhefeada

A shocking and horrifying post appeared on facebook two days ago. The post in question is a video in which a helpless civil­ian was being pummeled by soldiers in uniform under the watchful supervision of a major-general!

The victim is neither a terrorist nor a bandit! He is just another ci­vilian accused by power drunk soldiers of denting the jeep of the major-general. As the brutes in uniform rained blows on the fellow, his traumatized wife wailed draw­ing attention to his ill-health and how his uniformed assailants were about to blind him. That heartrending cry of the wife did not deter the soldiers.

140 Years After The Berlin West Africa Conference

By Chidi Odinkalu & Chepkorir Sambu

Described by one scholar on its centenary as “perhaps the greatest historical movement of modern times”, the Berlin West Africa Conference began shortly after noon on 15 November 1884. Interrupted only by a short break at the end of the year and the beginning of the next, historian, Adu Boahen, records that the conference ended on 31 January 1884. 

On 26 February 1885, the powers gathered at the conference ratified the General Act of the Berlin Conference, which embodied their agreements. The week before the ratification of the General Act, according to historian, Godfrey Uzoigwe, the Lagos Observer newspaper lamented that “the world had, perhaps, never witnessed a robbery on so large a scale.”

AGF, IGP, Please Call DISCOs To Order; Avert Violence

 By Dele Sobowale

“FCCPC warns Ikeja, Eko Discos to halt metre replacement amid compliance concerns — Report, November 14, 2024.

The story went on to say that “The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a stern warning to Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) against plans to replace metres”. The FCCPC under Mr Tunji Bello has become more proactive than at any time since its inception by the Babangida administration (who else?) by Act No 66 of 1992.