The outcry over the Nigerian Navy yacht, otherwise known as the presidential yacht, has characteristically died down but I am not certain the matter has been conclusively resolved. Like most things Nigerian, it has been swept under the carpet. You only need to know how many hurricanes have been swept under the Nigerian carpet, and how many more are still being swept underneath it. Nigeria’s carpet is like the ubiquitous “Molue” which always has space for additional passengers, even when it is obvious to all that it is already bursting at the seams! Scripture says in Proverbs 30: 15 –…
Author: Bola Bolawole
In journalism parlance, we say facts are sacred and opinion, free; some prefer to say “opinion is cheap”. Writing the manifesto for the Guardian newspaper in 1921, its editor, CP Scott, said: “Comment is free but facts are sacred” Comments, or opinions, are like wishes which an old English proverb says beggars would ride were they to be horses. Facts, however, are empirical and verifiable truths, devoid of the likes or dislikes of its purveyor. Facts are news and must be reported contemporaneously; so that we do not lose any of its essence. Opinion, on the other hand, allows for…
Penultimate week; I travelled home to be part of the 60th anniversary celebration of my alma mater, Owo High School (OHS), founded by Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin, that great educationist credited as one of the brains behind the Free Education programme of the Action Group in the First Republic. Ajasin was also the inimitable NADECO and Afenifere leader who stood ram-rod against rampaging military dictatorship in the struggle for the democracy that we enjoy today. Sadly, it is the same democracy that the politicians who took power since 1999 have done everything imaginable, even bizarre, to undermine. The journey to…
For forms of government, let fools contest. Whatever is best administered is best – Alexander Pope. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable – US President John F. Kennedy. Let me start by saying that a good number of Nigerians have lost faith in the ballot box; it only remains for them to also lose interest completely in the democratic process as a whole. If and when they do, what next? Of course, democracy is not the only form of government available. There are options. Alexander Pope (Born: 21 May, 1688; Died: 30 May, 1744) was…
Those who say life is not a straight line may be right! It is topsy turvy, full of curves, surprises and happenings that can hardly be explained satisfactorily. Niger State-born Justice Musa Datijjo Muhammed became more popular; nay, controversial, on the day he was retiring from the Supreme Court Bench than the 45 awesome years he had spent sitting on it. What will leave an imprint on the minds of the present and the future will not be any of the judgments His Lordship delivered beginning from 1978 when he was appointed as Magistrate Grade 11 up to his elevation…
There appears to be a grand design to ruin the Judiciary and the protagonists are, in my opinion, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the PDP in the Saturday, 25 February, 2023 presidential election, and his Labour Party counterpart, Mr. Peter Obi. Both men lost the election to the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Tinubu has formed his government; he has been congratulated, recognized and accepted by world leaders. He has attended and addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. He has visited and been welcomed by world leaders and important dignitaries. Those ones, too, have visited Tinubu and…
Have the President’s appointments been fair? Have they been equitable? Some say he has not been fair, equitable and just; especially those who say that he has unduly favoured his Yoruba ethnic group. To buttress their point, they have listed some important and critical appointments which they say have gone the way of Tinubu’s Yoruba ethnic group. Let us take the appointments one after the other, beginning with the office of Chief of Staff, created in 1999 by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. We have since then had the following as Chief of Staff. 1. Abdullahi Mohammed (Northerner), 29 May,…
7Two elephants are rumbling on the streets (not in the forests) of Rivers State and the people (not the grass), as they say, are suffering. The elephants are the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his immediate predecessor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. Wike is the godfather and Fubara is (was?) the godson. Wike installed Fubara but things appear to have fallen apart between the two. This unravelling of godfather-godson relationship has set the record of one of the fastest in Nigeria where godfather/godson love-hate relationship has become a given. Just five months before Armageddon! What…
With the verdict, last Thursday, of the Supreme Court of Nigeria confirming the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the Saturday, 25 February, 2023 presidential election and the duly elected President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of its Armed Forces as declared by INEC, those challenging the outcome of the said election came to the end of the road. As the apex court poignantly declared, there must be an end to litigation. For PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi, that end came last Thursday as their appeal, declared frivolous and vexatious, was dismissed in…
As we were saying, Abram, father of the Jewish faith of Judaism, the Christian faith of Christianity and the Muslim faith of Islam, came from Ur in Mesopotamia in present-day Iraq. Christianity’s Old Testament bible and the Jewish Tanakh bible, which are significantly the same, has this to say in Genesis 12: 1 -6: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee… So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him… And Abram took Sarai his wife,…
Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, is already one-year-old in office. How time flies! It looks just like yesterday when dust was raised by the godfather, the outgoing Ekiti State Gov. John Kayode Fayemi, anointing Oyebanji as the godson to take from him the mantle of leadership of the state tagged “Land of Honour and Fountain of Knowledge” It is doubtful if Ekiti or any state for that matter in Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s south-west can still be said to be the pacesetter in education in today’s Nigeria. Other states, especially in the south-east and south-south, appear to have overtaken the…
´And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the…
After a hectic day last Sunday, I was already hauling myself into bed early when my phone rang. I missed the first call but the second came quickly thereafter and Baba (Prof. Banji Akintoye) broke the news to me that the Yoruba Nation fighter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, has been released from what many have described as “protective custody” in the Republic of Benin. Igboho was kept first at Porto Novo and later at Cotonou. Baba mandated me to craft a news story to that effect. Igboho, he said, would be boarding a flight from Benin Republic to…
For the umpteenth time, Labour leaders have suspended their declared strike action after an eleventh-hour meeting with the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They said the suspension is for a period of one month. If, at the expiration of one month nothing concrete comes out of the so-called “promisory note” the Labour leaders said they got from the government – as a result of which the latest threat of strike action was suspended – what happens? They will start mobilizing for another strike again! The government will wait for the new deadline to approach before calling them in again…
Many of our leaders do not read. They either do not have the time to spare or they lack the inclination. Reading culture is generally on the decline, even among students – as well as teachers – whose job it is to read. These days, students generally study or read to pass their examinations, not to excel or be on top of the subject of study. Many also are the teachers who simply pour out notes that were constructed decades ago. That is why we have all manner of professionals who, at best, are only textbook gurus with no practical…
Generally-speaking, the traditional rulers of today have, in many respects, lost the mystical or spiritual powers associated with their fore-fathers or ancestors. And this is not restricted to traditional rulers; there is hardly anyone, family or institution that has not lost something. We are all not as “powerful” as our forebears. Many families have lost what their families were noted for in spiritual and mystical prowess. We have lost our traditional medicine. My grandmother cured all manner of aches with the tip of a broom stick. She would prick your navel as she uttered some incantations – and that would…
A saying of our people is that 20 children cannot pull or play together for 20 unbroken years. This is not because they may not be willing to do so but because circumstances beyond their control will compel them to do otherwise. Many strings will put them apart and they will go in different directions whether they like it or not. The first pull is time and the activities that each of them will have to undertake or accomplish. For instance, it is not all the kids that grew up in the same environment that end up attending the same…
The Yoruba traditional institution and the Obas and Chiefs that perch on it are no longer what they used to be in terms of effective power and royal – even regal – bearing and esteem. In those days, an Oba is someone who sits (perches) atop everything (O ba l’ori ohungbogbo). He bore effective rule but today he only reigns. He has no effective powers, not even over those that are still referred to as his “subjects” In the real sense, Yoruba Obas have no subjects anymore; everyone is now a citizen with equal rights and privileges as the Oba…
The earthquake in Morocco, which killed thousands and left many more homeless, led me to ask questions. About the same time, floods in neighbouring Libya also reportedly killed its own thousands, leaving many more homeless. In both cases, millions of people; nay, entire countries and humanity as a whole, have been left traumatised. What if any of these shoes were on our own foot or did we think, as we are wont to, that it can never happen here? The answers that I got to the questions that I asked told me pointedly that we will be wrong to think…
It’s been four months since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office; in that interval, he has spoken and acted on a variety of issues. He has removed fuel subsidy and has brutally devalued the Naira, both policies with dire consequences for all and sundry. He has fired; he has also hired. He has made his first trip overseas as president and both the United Nations and the United States’ president are eagerly waiting to receive him. But we are yet to hear from him on the unsettled business of ASUU. If Tinubu or anyone else thinks the Muhammadu Buhari administration…
It is no longer news that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has given its verdict on the petitions challenging the INEC declaration of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the Saturday, 25 February presidential election, defeating 27 or so other presidential candidates, three of whom felt so dissatisfied with the INEC declaration that they challenged it at the tribunal. Last Wednesday, judgment was given and the five-man tribunal, made up of Court of Appeal judges, not only upheld the result as declared by INEC but also had sobering admonitions especially for two of the…
All around us, the barrel of a gun is seeking justice for the long-suffering, long-oppressed, long-pauperised, and long-marginalised African. Chad, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and now Gabon, the military have deposed sit-tight civilian dictators and are railing at the French colonial masters that has sustained the caricatures of leaders in office. France has only acted in its own self, even selfish, interests; it has maintained in office spineless African leaders who let her exploit the resources of the erstwhile colonies for next-to-nothing. The colonies of France in Africa might have been given flag Independence; they remain, in words…
In many States of the Federation, the story is the same: State governors treat Local Governments as appendages and not the independent third tier of government that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) proposes them to be. The three tiers of government in the awkward Federal system that we operate are the Federal, State and Local Governments, each of which are supposed to be independent of each other, the head of which is supposed to wield executive powers; perhaps, it is to emphasize this fact that many of us still affix the needless “Executive” to presidents and governors! Thus we have…
The trending news in Lagos right now is the list of commissioner-nominees that the governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, sent to the state House of Assembly for confirmation – 39 in all – out of which the House approved 22 but rejected 17, six of them sitting Commissioners being nominated to return for second term like the governor. Since 1999 when the Fourth Republic kicked off, this is the first time that such an ominous occurrence will happen in Lagos, which is usually a one-party state, so to say. In a 40-member State House of Assembly, a whopping 38 are members of…
If you ask many Nigerians the name of their local government chairman, they will most likely not know. I, for one, do not know mine. Maybe you can say it is because I do not reside at home (Owo in Ondo state) but live and work far away from home (in Lagos state). Even at that, I do not know the name of the local government chairman where I live in Lagos (Agege) or the one of Ikeja (where my office is) or of Agboyi/Alapere, Ketu where I have my church. Undue emphasis is placed on the Federal Government while…
Now that the Ministers are empanelled… On Monday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomed 45 out of 48 Ministers, with just three more to complete his bloated cabinet. Hours before their inauguration, some Ministers-designate swapped offices. Should we call that cabinet reshuffle or what? Or is it another sign of the ill-preparedness of the president to govern, as some critics have suggested? While it is damn too early to categorically affirm such a thing, the morning, as they say, shows the day. So, the president must watch it. He needs to put his acts together. Too many unforced errors make even…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assigned portfolios to his motley crowd of Ministers. Close to 50 Ministers in a depressed economy calls for jeers, not cheers. This is not to mention the plethora of advisers and assistants, each of them with their own retinue of aides, all with tantalizing perquisites of office. One is bound to query whether, truly, this economy is depressed. The crowd of Ministers, Advisers and Assistants is one thing; their suitability for assigned portfolios is another. I also thought we were told that Tinubu will not appoint Ministers of State; how come they have now reared…
Which one is more appropriate: To say that I am in support of the South West Development Commission Bill introduced to the Senate penultimate week by Senator Justus Olugbenga Daniel (Gbenga Daniel aka OGD) former two-term governor of Ogun state and senator representing Ogun East in the current 10th National Assembly, or to say I am “in defence” of the bill? The same bill was concurrently sponsored in the House of Representatives by Hon. Olufemi Fakeye and 80 others. It is instructive that all the senators from the Southwest were co-sponsors of the OGD bill. “I am in support” will…
Let us start our discussion today by considering a few quotes. “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!” – Stephen Decatur. “My country, right or wrong” has gone down in history as an expression of patriotism but what is patriotism? Patriotism is defined as the quality of being patriotic; devotion to and vigorous support for one’s country. Put in another way, it is the love for or devotion to one’s country, if I may add, with unquestioning submission. This must have been what propelled a one-time…
Last week, we ended the first part of this treatise with the question whether Nigerians think the right thing to do is to go back to Egypt, as it were, because of the hardship occasioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s policies of “fuel subsidy is gone” and the floating (devaluation) of the Naira. “Going back to Egypt” here means being nostalgic, so soon, about the Muhammadu Buhari ruinous administration or even of the clueless, corrupt and incompetent Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathan administration before it. Life under those regimes appear today as “better” than what we are experiencing under Tinubu because…
