Now that Abuja men are losing their manhoods, By Abimbola Adelakun

Last Friday, the Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, while intimating newsmen about the epidemic of “stolen manhoods” in the nation’s capital and adjoining towns, noted that about 62 cases have been reported since September 21. Of this figure, Garuba said 51 were false. The “suspects” who raised the alarm have been charged […]

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Tinubu’s certificates, Atiku’s moral victory, By Abimbola Adelakun

With the United States court mandating that Chicago State University release some of President Bola Tinubu’s records, Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate and Tinubu’s rival in the last general elections, won a moral victory bigly. While this might not translate to legal gains in the upcoming Supreme Court, many Nigerians seem thrilled by the […]

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There are no abominations left in our culture, By Abimbola Adelakun

If Nigeria were a different country, a society that draws a moral line no one is allowed to cross, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, would be out of her job by now. For some unclear reasons, she intervened in the case of the embattled Dean of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Osim […]

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Obi’s supporters still irritate you? Oh, good!, By Abimbola Adelakun

Two developments that happened last week seemed disparate but were interconnected. First, it was the Bola Tinubu administration’s 100th day in office. That timeline used to be for an administration to glance back and celebrate its bold and decisive decisions that potentially set the country on track, but this one was rather muted. Several op-eds […]

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PEPC: No surprise was ever coming, By Abimbola Adelakun

Anyone who has seen enough of Nigerian history and politics would have known beforehand how Wednesday would unfold. Despite all the build-up of anticipation in some quarters, the procedure of presidential electoral petition tribunals is standard: they deliver their judgment (expectedly in favour of the incumbent), analysts will dissect the verdict for days (maximum, a […]

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Ìsèse practitioners should be protected class, By Abimbola Adelakun

One of the first things that jump at you in the charge sheet issued against Ilorin activist, Adegbola Abdulazeez (popularly called Tani Olohun), and published on SaharaReporters was the erroneous description of his religion as “idol worshipping.” It is a mischaracterisation borne out of socially transmitted ignorance. Public officers in other cultures are made to undertake diversity […]

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Akpabio has no motivation to be different, By Abimbola Adelakun

Many an unflattering adjective has been deployed to describe the vulgarisms of Senate President Godswill Akpabio. None of it matters. If you thought his predecessor, Ahmad Lawan, was too servile in his dealings with the executive, Akpabio leaves you with no doubt that he would be a lickspittle. In the video his aides made of […]

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Insincere government, rogue ideas, By Abimbola Adelakun

If there is an issue everyone—and I mean everyone—agrees on, it is that the cost of running the government needs urgent and radical pruning. One of the most topical issues in the public service system, administrative cost, is also where the government’s indecisiveness is highly exemplified. So it was no surprise when, on Monday, President […]

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Tinubu finds his own demons, By Abimbola Adelakun

Successive administrations in Nigeria start out by apprehending demons, or enigmatic forces, against which they will test their political strength and define the character of their government. Those forces are the factors on which all evil bedevilling the nation must necessarily be blamed. From coup speeches to inauguration addresses, each administration launches itself by stating […]

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The Lagos Necropolis, By Abimbola Adelakun

Since the ill-fated night of October 20, 2020, the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has heavily invested in propagating its version of what went down. One press release issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye, to deflate the outrage following the leaked memo revealing that the Lagos State Government planned a […]

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Will the poor in Nigeria eventually breathe?, By Abimbola Adelakun

In at least 70 recorded cases of police brutality in the United States, the victim cried out three words: I. Can’t. Breathe. From Eric Garner in 2014 to George Floyd in 2020, people hogtied or put in a chokehold cried out those words but were ignored by officers who thought they were lying or exaggerating […]

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Babalawo power is no ‘powerless power’, By Abimbola Adelakun

Last month, popular Christian gospel singer Tope Alabi ignited some controversy when she appropriated a greeting associated with babalawos, while singing in a church. Several Christians defended her but did not assuage her critics who insisted she was encroaching. There is a reason Christians do not conduct their services in Arabic, they argued. What I […]

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What kind of tiger will the IG be?, By Abimbola Adelakun

Shortly after his investiture as the new Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, proclaimed that he felt like a tiger ready to chase away criminals in the country. Despite the jeers he received from those who wondered if he has a multiple personality disorder, the man’s point is well-understood. It is that feeling of exhilaration that […]

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The myth of ‘suffer now, enjoy later’, By Abimbola Adelakun

This time eight years ago, Nigerians still basking in the euphoria of having a martinet president began to ascribe all kinds of wonderful happenstances to his body language. So excited were the supporters of former President Muhammadu Buhari about the country’s potential under him that they attributed some magicality to otherwise routine happenings. Civil servants […]

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Student loans and the measure of poverty, By Abimbola Adelakun

On Monday, the President signed into law a bill establishing an education bank that will provide interest-free loans to “indigent students.” The clumsily titled bill, “An Act to Provide Easy Access to Higher Education For Nigerians Through Interest-Free Loans From Nigeria Education Bank Established in this Act with a View To Provide Education for All […]

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From #OccupyNigeria to muted groans By Abimbola Adelakun

No matter how we pare it, the 2012 #OccupyNigeria protests will remain pivotal in our sociopolitical history. Its significance lies in how much the pushback against government insensitivity resounded nationwide and even among the Nigerians in the Diaspora. It started as protests against the fuel subsidies removal, but it soon culminated in other disquieting issues such as […]

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Tinubu enters the week of gràgrà, By Abimbola Adelakun

Every government transition begins with a week of gràgrà where the new helmsman tries to assert their power by making definitive executive decisions. The week of gràgrà is when new leaders dis-anchor from the old. This phase, where the cliches of a “new beginning” are still being belted out, is where the newly enthroned must make a show of […]

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Nigerian universities in search of morality, By Abimbola Adelakun

Nigerian universities come up in the news these days to announce either the inauguration of new dress codes or the revival of dormant rules. Fixating on appearance is not new in Nigeria, but the frequency—especially by academic institutions—in the past months is head-scratching. Hardly a month passes these days without some university or polytechnic issuing […]

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