The earliest example of personal rule gone awry in the world was given in the biblical account of Eli, the prophet. Personal rule has become prevalent in Africa and other Third World countries. In the account, Eli was High Priest and Judge of Israel in the city of Shiloh. Kind-hearted to the troubled and oppressed, the prophet’s renown for kindness became weightier in the narrative of his comforting words to Hannah, one of the hitherto barren wives of Elkanah. When Hannah eventually gave birth to a son named Samuel, Eli extended his affable disposition to Samuel’s upbringing at the tabernacle.…
Author: Editor-in-chief
Ibadan, Oyo State, the city of warriors, quaked last Friday. The rumbling vibrations of the historic coronation of Ex-Governor Rashidi Ladoja as Olubadan sent valleys into a seismic shake. Ibadan’s ancient event center, Mapo Hall, was nearly submerged with excited feet. Children of Oluyole were at the zenith of their excitement. Expensive automobiles, resplendent attires and infectious joy lit the faces of a people who christened self as cunning. That Friday, however, Ibadan wasn’t ready to listen to the rhythm of its famous Láyípo christening. It was rather ready to receive the world. Suddenly, a huge blot appeared on the…
The Federal Government’s plan to approve a massive ₦4 trillion bailout bond for the power sector has ignited outrage, with the Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria (CTAN) warning that Nigerians are being dragged into debt without answers. In a strongly worded statement signed by Prof. Adekunle Alao, CTAN’s Coordinator, the group said the bailout is shrouded in secrecy and risks turning into a political slush fund ahead of the 2027 elections. *Nigerians in the Dark* Since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, the national grid has collapsed several times – October 2023, February 2024 and most…
Poor Goodluck Ebele Jonathan! Last Thursday, at the 70th birthday of his ex-Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Aiyegbeni Oghiadomhe, in Benin, Edo State, the former Nigerian president revealed the soft underbelly of Nigerian politics. At that event, Jonathan opened up a wound he had nursed since he lost the 2015 presidential election. It was his ordeals in the hands of political Askaris. “Politics in the Nigerian standard is about betrayals. I have witnessed a lot of betrayal during 2015 election,” he said. Apart from politics, in liberation struggles, betrayers and betrayals are rife. During South Africa’s apartheid era, a number…
Growing up, people of my generation matured into a fiery imagery painted of the wild and the animal world. We were fed on such frightening broths in folktales and fabulous novels like that of D. O. Fagunwa. They taught us that the wild is home of gnomes, predatory animals and human hunters who constitute a trinity in the forest ecosystem. One of the animals thus lionized was Ìkòokò, the hyena, one of Africa’s most merciless predators. He belonged to a family of wild doglike carnivores. The Ìkòokò was a wild, restless animal capable of inflicting so many brands of disasters…
The Sunshine Democratic Forum (SDF) has raised alarmed over alleged attempts by some individuals to incite fresh waves of political tension and instability in Ondo State. The Forum in a statement by its Coordinator, Adedeji Obasola, said some local politicians are collaborating with Abuja-based allies to incite crisis in the state. It said: “We have reliable information indicating that their latest scheme involves a coordinated political witch-hunt aimed at key officials in Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa’s administration. “Specifically, we are aware of disturbing plans to deploy certain security agencies in Ondo State to intimidate prominent members of the State Executive…
A few weeks ago, an outburst of then aspirant for Nigeria’s presidential office, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, marked its third anniversary. On June 2, 2022, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Tinubu bit the bullet in what has now become an epochal ad-lib commentary. In a retort to attempts to deny him the Nigerian presidency, he had said, “Èmi l’ó kàn, ẹ gbé kinní yìí wá” – It is my turn, bring this thing. At a meeting with Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, as well as leaders and delegates of the APC at the presidential lodge, Ibara, Abeokuta on that same…
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu did the unthinkable last week. As Nigeria hailed the women’s national football team for a hard-earned victory at the recent Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, (Wafcon) either excessively overjoyed, a manifest showboating, or an influence-seeking celebratory evangelism, Tinubu splashed gifts and cash rewards that lack precedent on the girls. As he hosted them at his presidential residence last Monday, Tinubu offered $100,000, (about N150 million) a three-bedroom apartment and a huge national award, the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), on all the 24-woman squad players and staff, “on behalf of a grateful nation”.…
There was territorial tension in Nigeria last week. Like in the famous fable where animals gathered in the forest to delineate their individual boundaries, last Tuesday, Northern Nigeria regrouped in Kaduna in aid of its territory. Western Nigeria Awurebe music lord, Late Ibadan, Oyo State-born Dauda Epo Akara, has the patent of a folklore that captures this fictional animal gathering. Epo sang about a quartet of animals comprising Lion, Fox, Cobra and Tortoise which can be extrapolated into a human gathering. It was a power show and territorial delineation. The animals did not only gather to flex muscles but to…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s appearance at the opening of the two-day Progressive Digital Media Summit at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja has once again laid bare where his true priorities lie — and sadly, it is not the Nigerian people. At a time when the economy is in freefall, investors — both local and foreign — are desperately seeking confidence-boosting engagement from the nation’s leader. Instead, Tinubu sat with his cyber army for a solid two hours, mapping out strategies to churn out propaganda, spread misinformation, and bully opposition politicians online. From his first day in office, it has…