Is there any connect between law and public opinion or judgments and public opinion? Before Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad’s (rtd) valedictory speech at the Supreme Court last Friday, the connect or disconnect between those two had begun to assume a life of its own. The presidential election judgment delivered by the Supreme Court the day before heightened concerted quests for the nexus or disjuncture between them. In the Dattijo valedictory, it would appear that the Learned Justice had deliberately set out to take the sail off the wind of views which divorced law from judgments and public opinion. In the…
Author: Editor-in-chief
Father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, must have had the conversation last week between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the recently cleared Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede in mind. While propounding the theory of what is now known as Freudian slips in his 1901 book he entitled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud discussed what in German is called Fehlleistungen. It is another name for faulty actions which mirror bits of unconscious mind leakages into conscious behaviour. This leakage, otherwise known as misspeak, according to him, prompts a speaker to say what is unintended…
There was this infamous Emperor of Rome by the name of Nero, who busied himself partying and merry making while the Empire he ruled was burning. There was a trending pictures of Governor Makinde and the G-5 meeting with the President in Abuja on Tuesday night and those pictures touched my consciousness to the sad story of Emperor Nero. By the time Governor Makinde was posing for those pictures in Abuja, Iwere-Ile, a town in Iwajowa Local Government of Oyo state was burning. In fact, it is safe to say that while Governor Makinde was posing for those pictures, there…
Each time I heard the rhetoric that”Education is free in Oyo state”, what always come to my mind is the phrase made popular by a former First Lady of the Federation, Patience Jonathan, ” there is God ooo”. Good enough, Governor Makinde always allude to the fact that he, as a young student enjoyed the Free Education. The question is, can he, in all honesty, compare the Free Education he personally enjoyed as a young pupil to the shambolic policy he has put in place now as Governor of Oyo state? How many of the Governor’s children, that of his…
I listened to Akeem Olatunji, erstwhile Public Relations Officer of the People’s Democratic Party on the program tagged “Ijoba Ibile”. Honestly, I pitied the gentleman who obviously struggled without success to defend the scandalous handling of the Local Government funds by Governor Seyi Makinde. As we speak, Olatunji is the candidate of the PDP in the Local Government Election slated for April, 2024. His approbation and reprobation in the attempt to justify the illegal meddlesomeness by the Governor in the reconstruction of the Akesan market without wanting to admit that the Governor actually engaged in illegal spending of Local Government…
Why do Nigerian public officials always fail to see the divide between the public and the private? Perhaps taking a cue from their parents, children of successive Nigerian presidents have also made this a pastime. A recent example is the reported cruising in Nigeria’s presidential jet by the president’s son, Mr. Seyi Tinubu. He had flown the aircraft last Sunday to attend polo games in Kano State. By convention, it is only the president of Nigeria, the First Lady, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of Nigeria, ex-presidents and a presidential delegation who are authorized…
Who is the man who today sits atop the presidency of Nigeria? What is his name? Who are his parents? Who are his childhood friends? What was his childhood like? What primary school did he attend? Where did he attend secondary school? Or, the university? Is he a criminal? Is he a serial forger? On account of the above, can we trust him? Can he be trusted with the destinies of over 200 million Nigerians? Can the rest of the world trust him as the embodiment of Nigeria? Last year, I wrote about the history of certificate forgeries and identity…
The high point of the Splash FM gubernatorial debate of 2023 was the furore caused by Governor Seyi Makinde in a desperate bid to defend the former Chairman of the Oyo state Parks Management System, Mukaila aka Auxiliary. The then gubernatorial candidate of the APC , Senator Teslim Folarin had alluded to the fact that the body language of Governor Makinde vis a vis his appointment of a notorious ex convict in person of Auxiliary didn’t help in the maintenance of peace in the state. To Senator Folarin, the Governor’s continuous romance with Auxiliary who, at the material time was…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) won the February 25 presidential election and was duly sworn in as presidential and Commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 29th May, 2023, yet, all is not well within the platform of the party that sponsored him for the election. There seems to be peace and calmness in the APC presently. That seeming calmness must not be mistaken for peace and contentment. It is the calmness of the graveyard. The kind you see before a big bang. Yes. The APC was victorious in the last presidential…
As God would have it, the Governor of Oyo state, Seyi Makinde got re elected for a second term in office. Whether his re election was deserved or based on merits considering the prevailing circumstances during the election would remain a matter for a debate for a very long time. However, the fact that many who hitherto supported the re election of Makinde are now regretting regretting the support they offered him is less debatable. Even, many, if not all of those who veered off the lane from their political parties to offer Makinde support for a second term are…