National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has very strong enemies and a few of them would not wait for him to die before burying him. As soon as there were indications last week that President Muhammadu Buhari had withdrawn support for APC Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the floodgate of attacks opened. Apart from its obvious collateral damage, Oshiomhole’s ouster was scrutinized and interpreted for the worst it could mean politically. It has since been widely celebrated as the ultimate proof that the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu has broken down irretrievably. Tinubu, not Oshiomhole,…
Author: Azu Ishiekwene
I goofed, but may be just a little because this is not how the story ends. In January, I predicted that the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, and his protege and Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, would drag themselves to the brink, but that just when everyone thinks they’ll fall off the edge, they would stop to avoid mutually assured destruction. They got to the brink all right, but just when the APC primaries screening committee headed by one Jonathan Ayuba, a professor of history at the Nasarawa State University, pushed Obaseki over the edge,…
Journalist and former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, wrote a thought-provoking piece last week entitled, “Who speaks for the North?” The article reinforces the need for an important conversation, especially as we reflect on our past, engage with the present and contemplate the future. Who speaks for the North? In a region with a long history of eloquent speakers from Sa’ad Zungur and Tafawa Balewa to Aminu Kano and from Adamu Ciroma and Ibrahim Tahir to Maitama Sule, Musa Musawa and Bala Usman, it’s a measure of how poorly things have progressed that we should be contemplating…
I first watched the movie in the lockdown. At the beginning, it was funny when the pair was fiddling with their entrée in the restaurant and wondering why they had both avoided each other until now. A few minutes after they left the restaurant, trouble started. The movie, entitled “Queen & Slim,” is the love story of two black Americans drawn to each other by tragedy even before their love story began. Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), were driving home from their date when a white police officer flagged down their car for a minor traffic offence. In…
In the fight against COVID-19, the war between biology and economics has just expanded to the nationalist front, spilling over with the ferociousness of a zero-sum game. Madagascar President, Andry Rajoelina, believes that the reason why the world is not giving his country’s miracle herbal formula the accolade it deserves is because of its African origin. If COVID-Organics had been developed in a US, European or Japanese lab, President Rajoelina said, he would not have had to answer all the questions about the safety, quality or efficacy of the herbal remedy, when hundreds of people are still dying daily from…
In a recent article in The Atlantic also widely used elsewhere, American journalist, Anne Applebaum, described the pathetic meltdown of US President Donald Trump, especially since the outbreak of the global health crisis, COVID-19. According to the journalist, not only has Trump become the butt of jokes in video games, but the US President’s serial faux pas in managing the health crisis has also made him a laughing stock in memes and cartoons. On April 29, the US President reportedly phoned his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, and promised to help with some ventilators. The next day, an irreverent mascot in a cartoon…
It’s uncertain that he knew the town hall video meeting would leak. When Herbert Wigwe, the Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank hosted a virtual town hall with his staff last week, the only thing on his mind was how the bank would come through the present global health pandemic stronger. His message was clear: If there was only one commercial bank left standing when all is said and done, that bank must be Access. On the whole, he struck the right note offering, above all, to take a 40 per cent pay cut on his annual salary (minus…
Following a string of suspicious deaths in Kano last week some have said the state, arguably Nigeria’s most populous could be Nigeria’s Italy. They are wrong and right. They are wrong because healthcare in Kano and what obtained in any region in pre-COVID-19 Italy is not comparable. Like night and day, they’re not even close. But they are right because leaving Kano, a state with a population of over 14million people unattended as is presently the case – a serious mistake which Italy made early on – is like playing with fire. It would be Campania and Lazio (in Southern…
In one of his bestsellers, The Zahir, Paulo Coelho said there are two major problems in life: knowing when to begin and knowing when to stop. If, for example, Nigeria had closed its borders early on and enforced quarantine for all returning Nigerians, whoever they are, things might have been different today. I’m sure many others would say the same for their own countries as well. In between knowing when to begin and knowing when to stop, however, an agency of the United Nations, which ought to help Africa find its way out of the present crisis, is bandying figures about COVID-19…
The government did not extend the lockdown by two weeks to punish us. But the unintended consequence of the extension for a poor country such as ours will be just that: hardship beyond description, misery by default. Yet, that might not even be the worst thing. It appears that on top of the hardship, a good number of people would also have to endure the indescribable feeling that they’re being ripped off by people who are claiming to bring them relief. Politicians are feathering their nests using COVID-19 as an excuse; a few security men deployed to enforce the lockdown…
In the nearly two weeks of lockdown so far in most Nigerian cities, we have seen great acts of charity by individuals, groups and institutions. Many have gone the extra mile to share what little they have with friends, neighbours, and even strangers, who have little or nothing. And in one inspiring example, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, a US-based Nigerian author and creative writer, entered a challenge only to share the entire prize money of N330,000 she won from it among her followers and needy strangers she never met. In the midst of the heartening news of extraordinary sharing, however, a few…
When I left Abuja at short notice nine days ago, the city was already emptying. The single biggest factory and business centre there – the National Assembly – was on the verge of closure. Before the closure was announced, though, things were already slowing down but there was still just enough time left for the lawmakers to take delivery of their brand new SUVs to drive any virus out of town. Lagos was by far more affected than was Abuja. The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had reported 26 infections from COVID-19 at the time, yet the scenes at…
The trip was not planned. As concerns over the spread of Covid-19 grew and the country inched more and more towards the abnormal, I figured travel might be restricted before the end of the week. A call that Tuesday morning confirmed that feeling: I decided to travel out of Abuja immediately. What I saw at the airport and on the flight on a short trip to Lagos, was a special class on the current public health crisis. I kept thinking… Of the numerous, dizzying changes that have come upon us in recent times, one that we have had to quickly…
In a world where laughter is already in short supply, the outbreak and rapid spread of Coronavirus has only left us all the more depleted. The world, as we know it, has been turned on its head. Yet, in this once-in-a-lifetime experience, we have examples of fate using the tragedy to write the book of humour. Who could have believed that Mexico would be contemplating border restrictions with the US or that vacationing Italians will choose to be refugees in Ethiopia or Tunisia instead of returning to their country which, until recently, turned away hundreds of migrants from Africa and…
“Politicians are often very intolerant of contrary views to theirs. If one differed from them on any issue one automatically became an enemy.” – Oba Sikiru Adetona The day after Governor Abdullahi Ganduje dethroned Mohammad Sanusi II, Sarkin Kano and banished him, the question that kept coming back to me was: what is going on in Sanusi’s mind? Was he in despair, denial or defiance? Or the whole range? What was he thinking? I found a book that helped to answer the questions as if Sanusi himself were providing them. The author of the book, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba…
If words could make the dead turn in their grave, the founder of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Faseun, would have rolled over last week, caught between amusement and surprise at a remarkable statement during the first-anniversary lecture of his passing. On that occasion, former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that the country risked another civil war if President Muhammadu Buhari’s government continued to ignore the demands for restructuring. That statement, it’s timing, and the place was extraordinary. Faseun would be amused that it took Obasanjo 20 years to get to this point, and at the same time surprised…
If there were dividends for controversy, the stock of the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi, would be perhaps the most bullish among investors in royalty, coming next in demand to that of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The Oluwo of Iwo cannot help staying out of controversy, and he goes the extra mile to stir up even the most vexatious kind. At a recent peace meeting over a land dispute, the Oba, 53, officially fourth in the hierarchy of traditional rulers in Osun State, was alleged to have punched the Agbowu of Ogbaagba Oba Sikirulahi Akinropo, who dared…
Not a few politicians are beginning to have second thoughts about what may be the sure path to electoral success in the future. The traditional model, which was godfather plus moneybags, and then crisscrossing the country squawking like fowls with broken beaks, appears to be old school and in rapid decline. After Hope Uzodinma’s unexpected installation as Imo State governor and Douye Diri’s dramatic emergence as Bayelsa State governor, both following rulings by the Supreme Court, politicians must be asking themselves whether it would not be more productive to stop canvassing voters, and instead, just take their campaigns to judges.…
On a hot, dusty harmattan day last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) loaded its gun, and pulled the trigger, terminating 74 political parties. The grieving remnants were left to bury their dead in what seemed a most unkind Valentine gift. A number of the leaders of the affected parties have refused to be consoled. They have vigorously expressed their displeasure, with a few even threatening court action. The presidential candidate of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), Tope Fasua, for example, accused INEC of pursuing a policy that suggests that the commission expected the parties to “win by…
One week after the Supreme Court overturned the election of Emeka Ihedioha of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as governor of Imo State and installed Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), nine lawmakers in the statehouse of assembly abandoned their party and joined the “winning team”. Four of them were elected on the platform of the Action Alliance (AA); two were members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); and three were from the PDP which, until two weeks ago, was the ruling party in the state. The defection was announced on the floor of the House by…
The boy whose mother was hounded to her death by the paparazzi has come of age. And he is reminding the British establishment of everything it has tried desperately to forget about that tragedy and more. Harry, still addressed as His Royal Highness and Duke of Sussex at the time, was not supposed to remember. He was just 13, shy and impressionable. Like most last born, he was the apple of his mother’s eye. Princess Diana doted on her salt-and-pepper-haired lad and did all she could to protect Harry and his elder brother, Prince William, from the limelight and crushing…
He brushed it aside, saying that he would not lose sleep over the prophesy. But you could tell, even by a casual look, that it was not the new year present he was expecting. Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo has been trying to be a man since Father Ejike Mbaka prophesied on New Year’s Eve that his days as governor are numbered. It’s not been easy. One source told me that there had been a suggestion in Government House, Owerri, to get either Reverend Uma Ukpai of Uma Ukpai Evangelistic Association or Most Senior Apostle David Unuefe-Ikhuiwu of the Christ…
In an article entitled “2019: How Atiku will lose – and other matters,” published this time last year, I made six predictions: 1) Atiku will lose 2) despite Access Bank having Diamond Bank for supper, there won’t be a rat race for size among banks and liquidity will get tighter 3) Super Eagles will reach the semi-finals of the Nations cup and Gerhot Rohr will still be in charge 5) Manchester City will win the premier league, despite being third on the table and seven points adrift at the time 6) the telcos may finally get licences to upgrade to…
Politicians are not leaving anything to chance. Even before the posters for the 2019 elections have been removed, the race for 2023 has started and it’s just as charged at the national level as it is in the states. One state that is offering a spectacularly different approach to the business of the next general election is Ebonyi. Governor David Umahi has told politicians – at least those in his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state – that they should not worry about who will take over, or even how it will happen. The governor has it all…
Since we have eyes but cannot see, the Department of State Security (DSS) invited us to look again at the viral video of the invasion of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu’s courtroom on Friday. Laughable, if it wasn’t a travesty. The previous day, the judge had given the DSS 24 hours to release the Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, who was arrested on August 3 but detained for 72 days after the first court order for his release, bringing his total detention period to 125 days. Apart from the ultimatum for Sowore’s release last Thursday, the judge also awarded a cost…
Literature, like other art forms, is a reflection of society. It is from society that creative writers get their ideas. Society is the subject matter of literary expression. This is one of the reasons why literature is viewed in relation to the era or age it reflects. For instance, we have the literature of the various centuries across the world. Here, we have the precolonial, colonial, postcolonial and contemporary Nigerian literature. Literary works could reflect pieces in a puzzle of political, social, religious and scientific changes of a particular age. The choice of this theme to mark one year of…
When the tenure of a chief executive is coming to an end, there’s usually a feverish outbreak of schemes to push him over the edge, for good or bad reasons. Lobbyists are masters of the game. They keep a diary of appointment and termination dates – including possible renewal where the law permits – and also keep a meticulous dossier of everything that happens in-between to sway public opinion and, possibly, the appointor. If the chief executive under scrutiny is a tax collector, then he is despised with the venom reserved for Zacchaeus, the biblical tax collector. Zacchaeus was the…
Defeat is an orphan. Nothing illustrates its orphanage status as vividly as the fate of two politicians involved in last week’s elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states: Senator Dino Melaye and Governor Seriake Henry Dickson. As he went down, Melaye, the PDP candidate in the Kogi West senatorial election rerun, deployed his video-making talent to its utmost. Even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the process inconclusive, the senator had manufactured two videos, each with the distinctive ring of a drowning man, to plead his case. In one of the videos adapted from a Channels TV interview, Melaye…
