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Today is the 35th anniversary of the transition of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. A sage is “a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.” A sage is also he that is “venerated for the possession of wisdom, possession of judgment and of experience.” That is what my dictionary says ‘sage’ means. In life, […]
Continue ReadingGovernor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on Wednesday, formally declared his presidential ambition on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) listed some challenges he intends to fix if he becomes the president of the country in 2023. The Ekiti State governor explained that he wants […]
Continue Reading“My brother, when are you declaring for President?” “Which President? I am already a President in my own right. I am the President of my house.” “That is not the kind of President I am talking about. I mean a President with the big P, not the small one that gives you a delusion of […]
Continue ReadingYou don’t promote unity by simply glibly mouthing off infuriating platitudes about unity being “non-negotiable.” You promote it through meaningful symbolic gestures to reassure estranged groups that they, too, matter. Unity is promoted when conscious efforts are made to heal national wounds, to accommodate disadvantaged groups, and to make political concessions to restore faith in […]
Continue ReadingAre we being ruled by coincidences or by conspiracies? There was a British passenger liner, the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic. It was a ship of luxury boats that was built to sail forever; but it sank on the night of 14-15 April, 1912 during its maiden voyage. In Nigeria, over 270 secondary school girls […]
Continue ReadingMany readers of this column—and of my social media interventions—have asked me to endorse a candidate for the 2023 presidential election. Although I have my mental archetype of the kind of person that should be president, I won’t endorse a candidate for at least three reasons. One, I am not important or influential enough for […]
Continue ReadingIn Russia’s 1998 St. Petersburg local assembly elections, incumbent Oleg Sergeyev had been a thorn in the flesh of totalitarian governor, Vladimir Yakovlev. Upon Sergeyev’s launch of his bid to replace him, Yakovlev waited till election date to sting him with his amusingly ingenuous strategy. On voting day, voters, majority of whom were illiterate, were […]
Continue ReadingThe politics of zoning is likely to make or mar the 2023 Presidential election, with implications for the stability of the country. It is one of the most contentious issues in Nigeria at the moment particularly in the two major political parties: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), which both […]
Continue ReadingFormer governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and ex-Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, on Monday, said that Nigeria is living on extra time in view of the numerous challenges battling the country. Sanusi noted that the country would be in a deeper hole in 2023, if nothing drastic was done to address the […]
Continue ReadingThe godfather of Lagos politics, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in 2015 led the South-West into an alliance with the North to birth the All Progressive Alliance (APC). His decision, evidently, was informed by the expectation that the two geopolitical regions will share power, invariably to the exclusion of the Eastern bloc. And ultimately that he, […]
Continue ReadingHow do you address a people who create a situation and then turn round to play the victim? The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, talked tough in a Sun newspaper interview at the weekend. He said any southerner hoping to replace President Muhammadu Buhari next year must seek out […]
Continue ReadingIt has turned out that it was actually Buhari himself, not the Aso Rock cabal, who wanted Goodluck Jonathan to succeed him in 2023! Apparently, even members of the cabal were disquieted by this. The cabal played along for a while (knowing Buhari’s well-known cognitive impairments and imperviousness to reason) and, at the right time, […]
Continue ReadingSpeaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, recently stated the need to review the minimum educational requirements for intending officeholders. At the 52nd convocation ceremony of the University of Lagos, where he delivered the Convocation Lecture, he reflected on the imperative of updating what we require of our would-be leaders to meet contemporary standards. […]
Continue ReadingThe aged died, we replaced him with the chronically ill; who does not know that there will be wailing once more soon in the palace?. (Arugbo ku a fi olokunrun j’oye; taa ni ko mo wipe ariwo k’eekan l’aafin?). This Yoruba proverb covers the field of fears of those worried about the age and health […]
Continue ReadingSouthern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum met in Abuja on Thursday and declared that political parties that field northern presidential candidates won’t enjoy their support in the 2023 general elections. Delegations from the four regional socio-cultural organisations: Afenifere (South West), Ohanaeze Ndigbo (South-East), Pan Niger Delta Forum (South-South) and the Middle Belt Forum (Middle Belt) […]
Continue ReadingFormer Nigerian Military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has endorsed Nigerian Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for the 2023 presidential election. Premium Times reports that the former Nigerian leader endorsed him when the Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation visited him at his Hilltop residence in Minna, Niger capital, on Thursday December 23. According to him, Osinbajo has great passion […]
Continue ReadingFormer Osun State Governor and founding national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, released his memoir, ‘My Participations’ last week in Lagos and I have read it. The 534-page memoir, including an 11-page foreword by Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, was apparently written for two reasons. One, to render his own […]
Continue ReadingOn Thursday, I did something I had not done in Lagos since 1999: I rode in a public bus. I had taken my car for service at Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja. I was told it would be ready “in two hours”. I thought to wait at the reception to do some office work. But as […]
Continue ReadingAlhaji Baba Ahmed, a Mauritanian cow seller, plied his trade from his country to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and to Dahomey (now Benin Republic). Business was very good but at a point, his customers in Dahomey, with impunity, refused to pay for his cows. Is it not the law that every seller must collect […]
Continue ReadingWith the way we are running our country, I said in my Platform Nigeria 1st May 2019 presentation, ‘An Economy on Life Support: Time to Pull the Plug’, a convulsion was inevitable at some point. “It’s either we have a conversation about the future of our country in an orderly manner or it is forced […]
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