CHARLES OKOH Prof Mahmood Yakubu, is easily the most important Nigerian living anywhere in the world today. He has in his hands a thankless job that is so volatile that it simply sends the occupants of the office to early retirement and a solitary life to be forgotten and loathed. The reason that some of these otherwise gentlemen have been so treated may not be completely due to their inability to deliver when it mattered most, but most times because ours is a society of bad losers who believe that except the outcome of a contest is in one’s favour…
Author: Charles Okoh
CHARLES OKOH These are not the best of times for Nigerians. There are several existential threats confronting the average Nigerian. A man, whose house is on a raging inferno, certainly cannot have any time to spare to chase rats. For about two weeks now, Nigerians have been trekking, sweating, thirsty and starving. No thanks to petrol scarcity and the high cost of living. The persistent fuel shortage has continued and people are left running from pillar to post seeking for what God in His infinite mercies deposited in large quantities in our land, yet we have been living in want…
“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.” – Georg C. Lichtenburg It is no longer debatable that the only problem keeping this nation down is the problem of fixing the governance jigsaw. We have been held down by the fact that rather than a democracy where the wishes of the people reign supreme; we have practiced neo-feudalism where a few people lord it over the rest of us and dictate who gets what or into any office in the land. This has…
Whoever had advised Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo on the path he has taken in his unwarranted attack on the former governor of the state and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has obviously and totally misled him. If anything, his reaction was so infantile and lacking tact. What would Soludo say was the reason he went overboard and spewed all those bile when he is not contesting the position of the president? Between Obi and APGA’s Prof. Peter Umeadi, who realistically has a better chance? After all said and done, Soludo ended up projecting the candidacy of…
The greatest disservice any man can do to himself is to deliberately deceive himself; thinking he is fooling others. Many years ago, the then chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the late Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, woke up one morning, perhaps filled with an overdose of self-worth and having overrated his party, concluded that the PDP would rule for the next 60 years. Nothing else could have prompted this outburst, other than the fact that he would probably have been too convinced that his behemoth party, the self-styled biggest party on the continent, was doing very well, so much so…
On October 23, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria issued what it tagged elevated risk of terror attacks in Abuja, the federal capital territory. In the advisory, the US government said there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically in Abuja. It said targets may include, but are not limited to, government buildings, places of worship, schools, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, athletic gatherings, transport terminals, law enforcement facilities, and international organizations. Some Western nations including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and others swiftly issued similar advisories to their citizens. The American…
Last week, the Federal Government gave Nigerians, especially those from eastern extraction, something to cheer with the news of the award of contract for the purchase of vehicles from local entrepreneur, Innoson Motors. At least that will dispel those oft-told stories of President Muhammadu Buhari’s aversion for the south east. Disregard the Second Niger Bridge, which some Buhari’s loyalists continue to mention as evidence of his love for that region, because I refuse to concur that that bridge is meant for south-east travellers as that bridge would benefit all those travelling through Anambra all the way to the north. Anambra…
If there is one thing that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igbowo, share in common, it is the fact that whatever status, cult-like too, they now enjoy is as a result of the incompetence and lack of insight by this misfiring federal government. This is also not unconnected with the fact that the federal government has a man like Abubakar Malami as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation. Truth be told, Malami has the singular honour of being the most myopic, tribal, sectional and…
That Nigeria is broke and can barely fund her budgets is unarguably because the black gold, aka crude oil, which has remained our major source of revenue, has been badly managed since its discovery in commercial quantity in Oloibiri in 1956. This is moreso, given the fact that successive governments since its discovery either do not know what to do with it for the betterment of the people; are naïve about how to make this product work for the nation or are completely drowned in the cesspit of corruption which this all-important product attracts. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index,…
There is no telling the level of damage that the protracted insecurity has done to the nation. It is also very difficult measuring the debilitating state of hopelessness that pervades the land. Talking, or is it, writing on how these marauders have succeeded in stunting the development of the nation, can be frustrating especially when you realize that these problems are capable of being stopped by our security forces, but because of the lack of political will by the political class to do what is required dispassionately. On October 1, the remains of a Nigerian Hotelier who was kidnapped in…
About two months ago, the Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, in an interview with Leadership newspaper, said his government will train additional 600 members of the vigilance group in arms handling to complement the effort of security operatives, in curbing the menace of banditry and kidnapping in the state. Governor Masari said it is the responsibility of the government to protect the property and lives of the people. In justifying further the decision to arm the vigilantes and the modus operandi, the governor said; “So, I think we have done what we could within the limited resources as a…
From February 14, 2022 till September, our university students have been at home; meaning that for close to eight months that critical population of the nation’s demography has been kept idle and indolent. Indolent not because they are lazy as President Muhammadu Buhari once described them, but because they have been rendered so by a government that does not care a hoot how the people feel about the effect of their misgovernance and utter indifference to the plight of the people. Last Monday, passengers travelling from Lagos to other states and other countries from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA)…
For some strange reasons the two leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have continued to enmesh their parties in completely avoidable mistakes, controversies and disputes. Why this is so, I find quite difficult to comprehend. Oscar Wilde, it was that, was credited with the aphorism that “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes”. But when these mistakes are completely commonsensical and avoidable, is the experience gained therefrom desirable and of any use, especially when it comes to a very competitive game as politics where the winner takes all and the…
For Nigeria, the year 2023 is just not another year. It is a year that will determine the fate of the nation. The campaigns by political parties would not commence until September 28, 2022 as provided by Sec. 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. But, the tension around the election has reached boiling point. What happens to this nation going forward would be determined by the choice we make in 2023. There are several reasons why 2023 could make or mar Nigeria. One of the biggest reasons why Nigeria and Nigerians must get it right is that for the past…
For about 10 years now, Catholics in Ahiara in the Catholic diocese of Mbaise region have been suffering the consequence of their indiscretion and shameful refusal to submit to the authority of the universal church. In their attempt to politicize the church and bring in their clannish bigotry to bear in the affairs of the church they have shot themselves in the foot and must live with the consequences of their action. On December 7, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Peter Ebere Okpaleke Bishop of Ahiara, after the death of Dr. Victor Chikwe. Okpaleke was not consecrated a bishop until…
For those who have never believed in Nigeria’s touted fight against corruption and criminality, you can be excused. The joke called fighting insecurity by government and governmental agencies continues to question our collective rationality, sensibility, sense of decorum and decency. In 2019, Nigerians woke up to a chilling story of how one alleged billionaire kidnapper, Hamisu Wadume, who operates a high-profile kidnap gang in Taraba state, was set free allegedly by military officers in the state. Wadume was being transported to Abuja on August 6 after his initial arrest by police officers on a covert operation before being attacked by…
There are a lot of monkey businesses going on in the country. We are regaled with silly, mischievous, or deceitful conducts that simply makes you wonder if we have not lost touch with the rest of the world. There are bizarre stories you hear that are simply unique and special to us. In the past, we were used to people embezzling money and fraud attributed to human beings. We also had accounts or records units or departments set on fire. Today, the new trend that we hear is that apart from humans, animals also require money to spend or for…
It is clear that the federal government is not too keen to see to the end of the lingering dispute between it and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). It is also clear that what started as a dispute that would be resolved before long, has turned out to be a long-drawn battle and from all indications, the federal government, for all it cares, is no longer bothered. So, while they and their children go abroad for education, the fate of the ordinary Nigerian is left to chance. As it is now, the government is unfazed by the fact…
For all of the seven years that President Muhammadu Buhari has so far led this country, the experience has been like a prison sentence with hard labour for Nigerians. We have experienced hardship, difficulty, insecurity, killings, kidnappings etc. We have navigated valleys of general despair to hills of total breakdown of law and order as we daily gravitate towards the disintegration of a badly managed nationhood. While Nigerians experience the twinge of hunger and excruciating poverty and cry for relief, the ruling class is not on the same page with the masses of people who are daily having sleepless nights…
For once, in a long while, we heaved a sigh of relief with the refreshing news coming from far away Oregun in the United States, with the stunning performances of our ladies, Toby Amusan and Ese Brume. While Brume finished second in the long jump event, Amusan simply got the world talking and wondering with a jaw-dropping, record-breaking gold medal in the women’s 100m hurdles. The 25-year-old Amusan beat a field of dominant champions, including former world record holder Kendra Harrison, Jamaica’s Britany Anderson and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, to become Africa’s first ever gold medalists in the women’s 100m…
Just when you think you would have had enough from what is now increasingly becoming a crude joke on us all as a nation, I mean our presumed fight against insurgency, somebody somewhere will again jolt us with something so silly that you can’t but question our collective sanity as a people. You cannot help but think that we all should be subjected to psychiatric examinations. Are we normal, or are we just cursed? Why are we doing the same thing all over and expecting different results? Now, if you think I am just making things up or just being…
Finally, the three leading political parties have put behind them the issue of who their presidential running mates are. Between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), perhaps, that of the Labour Party was less contentious and acrimonious. For the APC and the PDP they would need a great deal of bridge-building and fence-mending of their houses to keep them intact going into the big one in 2023. The choice by the PDP presidential standard bearer, Atiku Abubakar, to opt for the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, against the choice of…
The state of insecurity in the country has clearly gone beyond control. The recent events in the country have continued to put a lie to the recent claims by the federal government that the security situation has improved. The situation is not only worrisome, but also is every day escalating to an alarming proportion. To say the federal government has failed would be stating the obvious. In fact, as they say in local parlance when a situation is beyond control; e don red. Recall that, some few weeks ago, the presidency was between a spate of two weeks thumping its…
The evil that men do, no longer lives after them, but with them. Perhaps, the greatest disservice that the present government has done to our national life is the total desecration of all institutions of government and of those things that we hold dear and value. Consistently, President Muhammadu Buhari has sacrificed competence and merit on the altar of primordial sentiments. All appointments of the president have been done with little or no recognition of other component parts that make up the nation. To fulfill his desire to have his way, he has severally reached to the lowest on the…
Indeed, the loneliest place to be is at the top. The enormous powers enjoyed by the president and the governors are such that every time their often helpless and dispensable assistants only massage their egos just to retain their source of livelihood and the splendor and affluence that come with public office. Anybody free from any mood-altering substances should be abreast with the excruciating pains that Nigerians go through these days. Anybody with a substance-free vein would agree that indeed Nigerians are going through pains. You must be a millionaire to boast of taking three balanced diets daily with a…
We have shed too much blood since the nation’s return to democracy. Sadly, this is becoming more like the norm now rather than the exception and we have practically come to accept it almost as a way of life. I recall prior to 1999 when my mother in law, of blessed memory, illiterate as she was, she was streetwise and had a wonderful perception on contemporary issues. She had lamented that killings by non-state actors under democratic governance is not only commonplace but politicized and often swept under the carpet, because according to her, the perpetrators of these crimes are…
Before I begin this piece, let me issue some caveats. I am a Christian and a Catholic and a proud one at that. I am not a pastor, of course, I cannot be a priest because I had chosen the path of holy matrimony and I have beautiful children, to the glory of God. So for all I shall be saying here, I don’t lay any claim whatsoever to the effect that they are revelations from heaven to me; let us take this as a case of a man who is speaking carnally. Our nation is going through a rough…
There has always been this dangerous tendency to deny or refuse to accept responsibilities when things go bad. We accuse everybody except ourselves. It’s no longer news that the reason the crime rates have gone up at such an alarming rate is because we have refused to accept responsibility and face the challenge to its logical conclusions. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, there is no denying the fact that the level of insecurity in the country is caused by the indifference in the leadership to address this threat. We cannot be fighting corruption, insecurity and other…
Power indeed is transient. Nothing lasts forever and kingdoms rise and fall. For many power drunk leaders, they often fail to realize that one day; eventually the chickens will come home to roost. For those in power now who are drunk by the mere fact that they were elected to lead the people, so can now arrogate to themselves as their lord and master and approbate and reprobate as it please them, they must today learn from the travails of the once powerful, boastful, arrogant lord of the manor in Imo, Rochas Okorocha, that their day of reckoning must come.…
The unity of Nigeria has remained utopian. It has remained a fleeting illusion which we will continue to pursue but may never attain, may God rest the soul of legendary reggae musician, Robert Nesta Marley (aka Bob Marley). How do you keep doing the same thing over and over and hope to get a different result; if it is not a case of psychosis? How do we operate different laws; use different standards and measures as well as discriminatory applications of sanctions and hope to have unity in a pluralistic, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic society? How do you favour an ethnic…
