Amnesty International deeply is concerned by the reckless and unlawful use of political thugs that blocked the presidential candidate of opposition NDC Peter Obi from entering Benue state.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
It is indubitable, all pretensions to the contrary notwithstanding, that this is not the best of times for President Bola Tinubu. Granted, he is a hard guy – tough, unyielding and some will say lacking in empathy – but even the hardest of men have their vulnerable moments.
This must be such a moment for Tinubu because nothing can be more unsettling for a leader than when the past, thought to have been successfully buried returns like a phoenix, an apparition of sorts, with old memories and unresolved events, haunting like a sudden ghost. But make no mistake about it. Nigerians are not spared because it is a nightmare for a people to have a leader who is haunted by his dark past.
By Steve Osuji
Let it be stated that I am ashamed of my president. Yes my president and supposed president of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Tinubu. It’s not because he’s not good looking. I am not particularly good looking myself. It’s not because he’s not from my ethnic group. No. My best friends and benefactors are not of my tribe.
*Tinubu
I am ashamed of my president because he never gets anything right. He is what we used to call a bumblebee in those early school days. But worse is that he doesn’t seem to know nor does he care. He carries on like someone so much out of his depth, out of his league and doing all the wrong things.
President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu has once again left Nigeria for another holiday, this time beginning a three-week vacation in Europe.
President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu has once again left Nigeria for another holiday, this time beginning a three-week vacation in Europe.
By Christian Chime
It is shameful that major roads in the heart of oil producing states such as Delta and Edo are in a sorry situation with government leaving road users and residents of the areas wondering if actually they are part of Nigeria.
The Auchi-Abuja road which leads to Delta State, especially from Uromi-Ubiaja leading to Asaba, the Ebu-Illah Road roads are critical arteries linking various major cities in Edo, Delta, the entire South-South and South-East to the rest of the country, have totally collapsed.
Also, the Ubiaja Ewohimii road that leads to Onicha–Ugbo, Asaba-Benin Expressway has been totally cut off while the Uromi- Igueben road leading to Agbor is also write off.
By Christian Chime
It is shameful that major roads in the heart of oil producing states such as Delta and Edo are in a sorry situation with government leaving road users and residents of the areas wondering if actually they are part of Nigeria.
The Auchi-Abuja road which leads to Delta State, especially from Uromi-Ubiaja leading to Asaba, the Ebu-Illah Road roads are critical arteries linking various major cities in Edo, Delta, the entire South-South and South-East to the rest of the country, have totally collapsed.
Also, the Ubiaja Ewohimii road that leads to Onicha–Ugbo, Asaba-Benin Expressway has been totally cut off while the Uromi- Igueben road leading to Agbor is also write off.
By Dele Sobowale
“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall” – Lord Mansfield, 1705-1793
“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side” – James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891
Until now, there was no reason to raise the question about substantial justice untainted with legal subterfuges – like the Supreme Court decision which declared a fourth place finisher in an election the winner; after awarding him more votes than INEC announced were counted. The Nigerian judiciary, since that judgment, had steadily reduced public confidence in the Third Estate of the Realm. We are in the season again when justice would be tested to the limit.
Yesterday, I joined other presidential candidates to sign the first National Peace Accord for the 2027 Presidential Elections.
*Obi
My signing of the accord is a reinforcement of my continued commitment to insisting that we, as candidates, must conduct ourselves in a way that reflects the office we aspire to. Leaders must eschew all forms of violent rhetoric and rein in their followers to do the same.
By Adekunle Adekoya
Again, the matter of fuel subsidy has dominated national discourse in the last few days, with President Bola Tinubu, former vice-president and ADC presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, NDC presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi and a host of others have had not a little to say about the issue.
The matter was reignited when Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said that if he should be elected, he would return subsidy on fuel energy. Expectedly, presidency officials descended on him, and in the exchanges that followed, harsh, near-uncivil words were used. The exchanges went as far as dredging up the matter of over $16 billion spent on the power sector during the Obasanjo administration. It just shows how deeply the issue of subsidy is affecting lives.
By Olu Fasan
In 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu sowed the seed of the political humiliation of Christianity in Nigeria. As a presidential candidate, Tinubu concluded that Christianity was of such low electoral value that no northern Christian could help him win the presidency. Thus, he picked a fellow Muslim as his running mate.
It worked. However, the seed that Tinubu planted is now being watered by Islamic bigots who are citing the “success” of the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket as evidence of Islam’s numerical superiority over Christianity in Nigeria and, thus, asserting that Muslims should continue to dominate national leadership, a view recently advanced by Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, an Islamic supremacist.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
As should be expected in this political silly season, politicians will maximise the window to test wild narratives and launch personal attacks aimed at distracting voters from the substantive issues that confront them. There is nothing particularly wrong with that as long as such antics are within the ambit of the law. But most Nigerian politicians like stretching the limits of such propositions.
The result is that politicians are now banning others from straying into their self-appropriated fiefdom with impunity, knowing that there will be no consequences. To be fair, such bullying tactics didn’t start today. But it has worsened because political buccaneers, who exploit public office for personal gain, would rather break bones than play by the rules. In this malfeasance, Edo State takes the cake.
In recent days, deadly attacks have struck Benue, Plateau and Niger States, three contiguous states in Nigeria’s North-Central region.
In Mangu, Plateau State, at least 23 people were officially reported killed in the Jwak Maitumbi attack, while residents put the toll above 30. More than 45 houses were reportedly destroyed.
I had the privilege of joining some presidential candidates and their representatives as a guest and panellist at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
*Peter Obi speaking at the NBA conference in Port Harcourt
Our discussion focused on how to rebuild Nigeria and make it
work for its resilient, hardworking, and long-suffering people.
I reiterated my long-held view that the poverty and hunger Nigerians face today are largely the result of years of mismanagement and corruption by leaders entrusted with our commonwealth.
By Dele Sobowale
Vanguard recently published pathetic pictures of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Expressway; and Punch revealed to us what happens to the Lagos-Calabar Expressway, not even 15 per cent completed, each time there is a heavy downpour in the Lekki peninsula.
The road becomes so flooded, it becomes barely usable. Morning shows the day. If Tinubu-Umahi’s legacy road already shows evidence of long-term stress, pity the Nigerians who will ply that road ten years from now.
A nation that tolerates unverified academic credentials at any level of leadership, regardless of who is involved, risks destroying the very standards upon which a society is built. The issue is not about an individual. It is about standards, accountability, and the values we choose to pass on to the next generation.
We cannot continue to excuse blurred, missing, questionable, or unverified credentials simply because they belong to someone we support. The process through which people attain positions of responsibility matters greatly. How we get into leadership is as important as what we do with leadership.
The killings in Ungushi, Sokoto, where 32 Nigerians reportedly lost their lives, and the recent attacks in Ukum, Benue, where more lives have been lost and several others injured, are deeply painful.
These are not just numbers. They are parents, children, farmers,
and breadwinners whose lives have been cut short, leaving families devastated
and communities in fear.
We cannot continue with a cycle of killings, condolences, promises, and inaction. The government at all levels must prioritise addressing insecurity.
MY ADDRESS TO MARK THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 2027 PRESIDENTIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGNS
21 August 2026
Dear Compatriots,
Members of the Press,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026, marked the official start of the campaign period for the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
There is no doubt that this is a defining moment for our democracy. This moment gives Nigerians the opportunity to assess the records, ideas, and plans of those seeking their mandate to lead their country at a time of grave uncertainty in our rapidly changing world.
I consider myself quite privileged to be one of those seeking your mandate to deal with these challenges facing our country.
I enter this contest with one firm conviction: Nigeria can work,
and Nigeria must work.
Nigeria faces several serious challenges. Some of them are indeed of existential proportions.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Nigerians are an excitable lot. It is, therefore, not surprising that the outcome of the August 15 off-cycle Osun governorship election is generating so much buzz. To be sure, the outcome calls for celebration because for the first time in a long while, the will of the people prevailed in an election.
And it prevailed not because attempts were not made by the powers-that-be to replicate the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election heist. Till date, the beneficiary of that abracadabra, an open sesame of sorts, sits comfortably on the purloined mandate while the actual winner is languishing in political purgatory.
By Owei Lakemfa
It appears the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil passed before the US–Iran war, was one of the most urgent tasks of humanity. The United States has, for six months, been unable to re-open this vital artery, which handled 100–140 commercial ships daily. Then, like magic, Oman and Iran reached a consensus to reopen the strait.
*Trump in the Middle East
Oman, a tiny country of 5.4 million people spread over a 309,500 square kilometre area, is one of the closest allies of the US. It was the first Arab nation in the Arabian Peninsula to sign a trade and diplomatic agreement with the US. That was 193 years ago. In the on-going US–Iran conflict, Oman has suffered many Iranian strikes, including on the ports of Duqm and Salalah, the industrial areas of Sohar, Mina Al Fahal and Bukha, radar and ship-detection infrastructure, and hits on commercial and oil tankers navigating the Gulf of Oman.
