In The Name Of God

There is something fascinating about Nigerians. As a people, we hardly disappoint even our worst detractors. For too long, many in the international community have come to the conclusion that nothing good can come out of Nigeria. And at every given opportunity, we have proved them right.
But there comes a time when, even, an [...]

Crisis Foretold

Shortly after President Olusegun Obasanjo called the then Plateau State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Yakubu Pam, a “total idiot,” I wrote an article in this very column titled, “Yes, We Are All Idiots.”
I used the article to comment on the highly flawed 2003 elections and concluded thus: “When a [...]

Yes, INEC has lost the game

At long last, the rampart of deceit, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erected around the April 2007 polls, in a desperate bid to hedge in the rights of Nigerians, is crumbling.
And the electoral umpire is grumbling aloud. But it is necessary to state from the very outset that whatever difficulties INEC claims [...]

If I were Atiku Abubakar

Four days to the start of the April 2007 polls, everything is still in a state of flux. On Saturday, April 14, Nigerians will perform their civil responsibility by electing men and women who will superintend over the affairs of the Nigerian state at the state level.
 
A week later – on April 21 – [...]

Iraq: The making of another Vietnam

In Iraq, as it happened in Vietnam more than three decades ago, the counterinsurgency clock is, slowly but inexorably, ticking against the US
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Robert Gates, US Defence Secretary, is reputed for his level-headedness. Ordinarily, he seldom blows his top even when faced with challenging situations. But the hell-hole that is Iraq is giving him the jitters.  [...]

As The Rule Of Law Retreats

Those who argue that Nigeria is not a lawless society have a truckload of statistics to back up their claim.

They would, for instance, assert that in every minute or so they claim, about ten women are raped in
South Africa. Before you could counter that, they reel out more statistics of the crime rate in New [...]

Hearkening To The Buhari Gospel

I don’t know how many Nigerians took ‘judicial notice’ (apologies to President Olusegun Obasanjo) of recent political developments in the Republic of the Philippines, a country also known as the Pearl of theOrient Seas. Even for the few who may have read the story, I doubt if any appreciated the significance vis-à-vis the happenings in
Nigeria’s [...]

Yes! We Are All Idiots

There are times when one feels ashamed being a Nigerian. And if you have ever had the misfortune of that feeling, you will appreciate that it hurts badly. It hurts because you love your country and would wish that its socio-economic and political trajectory was different from what it is now.

You are confounded by [...]

—Professor Maurice Iwu, INEC chairman

 Yes, INEC Has Lost The Game 
At long last, the rampart of deceit, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erected around the April 2007 polls, in a desperate bid to hedge in the rights of Nigerians, is crumbling. And the electoral umpire is grumbling aloud.
But it is necessary to state [...]