Alex Ekwueme, Five Years After

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On February 2, 2018, the remains of Nigeria’s first democratically elected vice president, Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, were committed to mother earth in his ancestral home – Oko, Orumba North LGA, Anambra State. When he died on November 19, 2017, he was 85 years, an age many would consider old. Nonetheless, he died when the country needed him most.

*Ekwueme

As Professor Ben Nwabueze, Nigeria’s globally-acclaimed legal icon, noted in his tribute, Ekwueme’s demise “is not just the death of an individual, it is like the passing of an age – the age of patriotism, integrity, of principled approach in national affairs, of intellectualism in politics and steadfastness in political allegiance.” 

Ekwueme was a quintessential democrat who espoused politics without bitterness and demonstrated by his actions both on and off the political turf that politics is not a dirty game played only by grimy characters. He proved, remarkably, that politics and integrity can and, indeed, should be soul mates. For many years, he was a bridge-builder and stabilising political force who brought his enormous intellect to bear on the country’s politics.

Why The 2023 Elections Matter For Nigeria And Its Future

 By Chuka Onwumechili 

Nigeria is expected to be home to 380 million persons by 2050, making it the third most populated country in the world according to the United Nations. Of course, that is made of a huge youth population, given that the population was barely 55 million in 1980. Presently, 90 per cent of the 220 million population is 50 years or younger.

The dire situation is heightened by a growing poverty line where four out of 10 Nigerians live below the line, according to World Bank data. Worse still, a Nigerian online publication recently reported that Nigeria’s 2022 debt servicing is 18 per cent higher than projected revenue.

The Ayo Adebanjo Support For Peter Obi

By Luke Onyekakeyah

The Ayo Adebanjo-led Afenifere’s support for Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) has roots in the historic parley held between Ohaneze and Afenifere in Lagos in early 2017. That parley made strong national headlines as it was welcomed by political pundits from both sides as a worthwhile development.

*Adebanjo 

As an elder statesman who has no other option than to follow the path of honesty and speak the truth no matter what, Pa Adebanjo, who led Afenifere to that parley, cannot afford to backtrack from what he personally championed and endorsed. That is why he is not mincing words to say that equity, justice and fairness demand that the South-East should be given the opportunity to produce the next president in 2023, if the so-called national unity is anything to go by. Otherwise, the whole thing would be mere propaganda and deceit for sectional domination by those who think they are born to rule.

Lagos Is Far From Excellence, Not Yet Working!

 By Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour

Lagos is not working. Once promising, the state now wallows in a sickening state of mediocrity, captured by a fraudulent and mercantilist political class that has held sway for 21 years. Indeed, Roosevelt helps us understand the danger of the mercantile class when he opined thus:

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual, or a group.” Roosevelt’s wisdom sums up most appropriately the present tragedy that is the lot of Lagosians.

To start with, the wealth of Lagos is directly tied to the productivity and sweat equity of its citizens. More than 80% of Lagos’s revenue comes from income tax, consumption tax and several other forms of taxation. Hence, while successive administrations brag about increasing internally generated revenue, they have spectacularly failed to hold up their part of the social contract. Close to N10 trillion has been spent during the period but Lagos still ranks as one of the most unliveable cities in the world. Of what use are the trillions generated in tax revenue if it doesn’t improve the life or livelihood of the average citizen?

Why The Health Of Presidential Candidates Matters

 By Dan Onwukwe

Every election has a story. So is every person who offers himself or herself to high public office such as the presidency. It’s not for nothing. The presidency is the hardest job anybody can give his brain. The enormous responsibilities placed on the shoulder of a President are so huge that the occupant of the office should have a sound mind, among other attributes. His health status should not be a matter of conjectures.

That’s why the counsel, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, don’t get close to the kitchen’, is very instructive. It is also because, to paraphrase Gerald R. Ford (38th U.S. President) the ‘presidency is not a prize to be won, but a duty to be done ‘. The office is not an entitlement, but a trust. It means using great power for great purposes for the country and its citizens. 

Can INEC Conduct Free Presidential Election?

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

Lately, the INEC Chairman Prof Mammod Yakubu publicly promised that notwithstanding the gargantuan challenges facing the commission, it would conduct free and fair elections and deliver electoral justice in 2023.  “Only the votes cast by Nigerians will determine who wins and this is our commitment to the nation,” said Prof Yakubu.

Beyond mere verbal undertaking, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu led-INEC must truly and really conduct an impartial, free, fair and credible 2023 elections especially the Presidential election. Of all the elections the Presidential election is the crucial election which outcome will make or mar Nigeria. In fact guaranteeing peace, unity and stability in Nigeria in 2023 depends so much on the outcome of the 2023 Presidential election. Armed with their respective Permanent Voting Cards (PVCs) most young people across the geo-political zones of the country are poised to cast their votes for the Presidential candidate of their choice in the forth-coming Presidential election.

Thinking About Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Bid

 By Tony Eluemunor 

You have to make one remarkable concession to Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; he has “guts”.

And by guts, I mean something akin to resilience or determination. Yes, “grit” could be more like it. Grit actually refers to a hard coarse-grained siliceous sandstone, so it should do justice in describing a politician who is chummy with the “agberos” of Lagos state, yes, those crazy devils may care street goons of Oshodi bus stop and such other mean sites of the mean Lagos state. In fact, from what I have read about Tinubu, he may be the chummiest politician to those goons.

*Tinubu

Yet, the chumminess and the goonness of certain politicians and groups are not what this column set out to interrogate today. It just happens that even goonness should have a limit. So, too, personal interest.

That is why you could describe Tinubu with words such as willpower, resolve, purposefulness and the like and you would be 100 percent right, but if you bring in a word such as courage, you would become a liar.

Flood Menace In Nigeria

 By Paul Nwosu

Our country’s annual tragedy of rampaging flooding is at its worst this year. It is estimated that more than 300 persons have been killed by the floods that are somewhat beyond control. Out of Nigeria's 36 states, 27 are battling with the floods. Even Abuja is under threat of the flood sweeping from Kogi State capital, Lokoja. Large number families have been affected, and displaced persons keep increasing. Thousands of hectares of farmland have been destroyed. Hunger is a clear and present danger as the agriculture chain has been grossly disrupted.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is at its wits end while the State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) can hardly cope with the onslaught of water. Nigeria is indeed facing a beyond-the-pale disaster. The spokesperson of NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel, has stressed that “this is the highest we ever had since 2012”.

It has now become a recurrent factor that Nigeria records flooding every year.

ASUU Strike: Lecturers As Endangered Species

 By Esther Shaibu 

It is no longer news that the almost year-long strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has had devastating consequences on the plan of students and parents, and also dragged the image of the federal government to an all-time low. All the stakeholders involved in the face-off have had their ‘breakfast’ fully served, as it is said in street parlance.  But the key stakeholders whose plight has been ignored for obvious reasons are the lecturers themselves.

This may sound ironic since many people see the lecturers as the oppressors who are using their own agitation to frustrate the future of innocent boys and girls. This is because ASUU has been on strike since February 14 2022, following the failure of the government to meet its demands, including the payment of earned allowances, revitalisation funds to universities, lecturers’ conditions of service, University Transparency Accountability Solution(UTAS) and other matters.

Between The Spirit Of Slavery And ASUU

 By Ezekiel Ayoola 

It is well-known history in the continent of Africa that there was an evil practice called the slave trade. This involved the moving of African slaves to other countries. It has been estimated that about 500 million Africans were taken away as slaves. And our forefathers did it.

Sometimes purely out of envy and as they were capturing and torturing these slaves, taking them away, the slaves were issuing curses on those who did it. The curses were on the heads of the whites buying them and those Africans selling them together with their children’s children.

*ASUU and FG at the negotiating table 

Slaves were not allowed to wear clothes, they were humiliated, with stocks on their necks joined to each other. The sick ones were thrown into the sea and when they got to the plantations they padlocked their mouths. This evil befell fellow human beings only because somebody has sold them in exchange for a necklace, alcohol or a mirror.

Peter Obi Is Coming!

 By Chuks Ucheagu

Before the electioneering season, Peter Obi had been underestimated in the presidential race and called a loser. The establishment, made up of ruthless political class who do not want their boat of milking Nigeria and its future dry to be rocked by Peter the Rock, taunted him.

*Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret 

They jeered that he had no structure. The old and tired politicians averred he would come distant third. Then they and their minions mocked that he would only win on social media and end up a mere social media president.

The legacy politicians and their cronies were still living in denial when the gale of ObiDatti Movement started sweeping through the land, stirring a tsunami – ably led by the youths whose popular reality show, BBNaija, for the first time did not distract or deter. They are shocked to their bone marrows at the phenomenal accept- ability of Obi’s candidacy and the demand for his presidency by Nigerians across board. Be- cause no political movement had been this massive, spontaneous, organic and revolutionary in our recorded political experience.

Between God And Science: Kumuyi’s Take

 By Banji Ojewale

Dateline: August, 2022, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In a hospital, the fate of a pair of conjoined twins lies in the experience, expertise and exertions of some 100 medics. Dug deep in a duel to divide the duo where they are congenitally cleaved –the brains- doctors put up "one of the most complex processes ever’’ adventured.’’ Finally, after 27 hours in the theatre, preceded by months of trialing initiatives, the 3-year-olds are broken loose. 

*Pastor Kumuyi

For the first time in the world, surgeons across several countries take part in the separation task, wearing headsets to communicate. A "virtual reality room’’ is the ‘command centre’.  Dr. Noor ul Owase Jeelani, who led the team along with Dr. Gabriel Mufarrej, says: "In some ways, these operations are considered the hardest of our time, and to do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff.’’

 Described as space-age feat, it delivered a miracle humanity is applauding as the elusive Eighth Wonder of all time brewed in the recesses of science.

Why ASUU Strike May Outlive Buhari’s Govt

 By Adekunle Adekoya

I am filled with trepidation at the omens which seem to indicate that the on-going strike by the Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities, ASUU, might outlive the Buhari administration. I am worried, and I am sure that fellow compatriots, especially those who have children in federal universities, are equally worried that their personal timelines in terms of committing resources to the education of their children and wards might also have been negatively compromised, due to faults that are not their making.

*Buhari 

Earlier in the week, President Muhammadu Buhari verbally battled ASUU, accusing members of the union of aiding corruption in the universities. Our president used the occasion of an event, a summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector, jointly organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB, to fire the salvo. Let me quote Mr. President:

“Incessant strikes, especially by unions in the tertiary education, often imply that government is grossly under-funding education, but I must say that corruption in the education system from basic level to the tertiary level has been undermining our investment in the sector and those who go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit.

Peter Obi: Nigeria’s Beacon Of Hope

 By Promise Adiele

Overwhelming excitement. Sheer euphoria mixed with anger. Ecstatic frenzy sustained by passionate commitment. That is the story of Nigeria’s current revolution predicated on the ideology of omniscient humanitarianism. Peter Obi is the proponent of that ideology and millions of Obidients are the protagonists. Make no mistakes about it, there is a battle for the soul of Nigeria. While millions of youths are determined to save their country from all the spiralling contradictions of suffering and hardship, the human principalities responsible for these conditions are also fighting back. Thus the war rages. 

*Peter Obi 

It is class struggle, the cornerstone of Marxist sensibilities. Within four months, the Peter Obi story has become folklore, upsetting the subsisting narrative in Nigeria’s political terrain. The historical peregrination of revolution across the world follows a familiar pattern with what is happening in Nigeria now. However, the Nigerian revolution transcends nebulous categories such as ethnicity and religion. Indeed, it is a new beginning in Nigeria. 

Alex Ekwueme Would Have Been 90

By Ejike Anyaduba

Five years ago, almost to this day, the vacuum created by the death of Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme in the nation’s political life is yet to be filled. It is hardly to be imagined how low Nigerian democracy has been running, and to what weakness its riders have been reduced through avoidable crises. And it looks like there are no statesmen in the mould of Ekwueme to steer the ship ashore.

*Ekwueme 

Until the military’s convoluted transition to civil rule which ended in fiasco on June 12, 1993, Ekwueme, Nigeria’s Vice President between 1979 and 1983, was almost in the background, never quite in focus. But he would be stirred to action the moment it was clear that the General Sani Abacha’s transition to civil rule was a ruse – a winding path that was leading nowhere.

ASUU: Deconstructing A Government Of Anti-Intellectuals

 By Andrew A. Erakhrumen

Interestingly but regretfully, the current Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) – that is very good at disobeying court orders/judgements, just like, or even more than, its predecessors – has referred the trade dispute, (with negotiations ongoing), through its Ministry of Education with Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja Judicial Division. 

*Buhari receiving a honorary degree

At NICN, on the 21st of September, 2022, FGN’s request for an interlocutory injunction restraining ASUU from continuing with its strike was granted by a Vacation Judge. Not unexpectedly, ASUU filed an appeal and a stay of execution of the restraining order on the 23rd of September, 2022. Our interest in these events stems from the belief in an African adage, loosely translated as: if a wicked person states his/her case, another wicked person should not be allowed to be an arbiter in such a dispute! 

Enough Of Political Brigandage In Lagos

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi 

A highly disturbing video surfaced online on Sunday, October 2, which should give every well-meaning Nigerian cause for concern. Two supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, claimed in the video that they escaped being lynched at the Oshodi motor park, by a whisker.

It was sheer providence that a Good Samaritan, a Nigerian soldier, happened to be in the vicinity at the time to rescue them from the bloodthirsty touts who had already beaten them to a pulp and were about making a bonfire of them before the soldier stepped in. 

What was their crime? Nothing other than the fact that they were in possession of the insignias of the Labour Party. Hear one of the victims: “When the touts, who were ordered by their superiors, seized my friend, I took to my heels to the motor park and boarded a cab.

Paradox Of Poverty In The Midst Of Plenty

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

“While other nations are faced with the challenges of the 21st Century,we are bogged down by the avarice of the elite. Every time we believe we have seen the worst from our country, the shameless, opportunistic power grabbers take us back to a new low” – Nigeria Democratic Liberty Forum, NDLF New York (June, 2010)

Looked at, over the past six decades the statistics have been simply scary, shocking and scandalous! One is talking of course, about the inexcusable social inequality and injustice that still persist between the few rotten-rich citizens and the long-suffering led majority, here in my dear fatherland, Nigeria. With the knowledge that we live in a country abundantly blessed by God with vast and varied natural resources, it is a crying shame that we are still enmeshed in the deepest pit of pitiable poverty, globally.

Nigeria @ 62: Gridlocks And Illusive El- Dorado

 By Bobson Gbinije 

With peremptory magistracy and awesome gallantry our founding fathers fought with dogged obduracy for the political independence of our glorious country, Nigeria, They clamoured with no-holds-barred, like the Roman hero Horatius, who fought with Spartan intrepidity defending Rome from the Etruscan invaders. Horatius asked like our founding fathers; “And how can a man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods”?

Our founding fathers invested their dreams on Nigeria, but whither goeth Nigeria today? After 62 years of political independence, Nigeria is still silhouetted in the sordid saga and tapestry of progressivistic labyrinth. We are still rumbling in the cabbage of unthinkable corruption, arrant poverty, HIV –AIDS, Malaria Scourge and arrested development.

Why The Odds Favour Peter Obi

 By Dan Onwukwe

By the time the history of 2023 general elections is written, historians will record it that Mr. Peter Obi’s entry into the Presidential race on the platform of Labour Party was like a knight on a white horse. The excitement it has generated among Nigerians, especially the youths is unprecedented. 

*Obi 

And for those caught unawares by his emergence, it Obi’s emergence is like a fox entering into the chicken coop. Panic has encircled his opponents’ camp.  Moreover, history will record it for Obi, that indeed, there is so much one man with integrity and strength of character and competence can do to change the course of his people who desire a new pathway to politics and governance.