Philip Shaibu has been impeached as the deputy governor of Edo State and replaced by thirty-eight-year-old Omobayo Godwin. He has declared his impeachment illegal, but until a court of law follows suit, such a declaration would remain beyond his fiat as an erstwhile deputy governor. In Nigerian politics, the heads that are reared up too soon are swiftly cut off and served in salomenic style as the prize for ambition in a gathering of power. Whenever deputy governors have replaced governors, it has been a case of restraint, and sometimes helplessness. Otherwise, it is only hostility that is displayed. That…
Author: Kenechukwu Obiezu
Business has never been better for those whose high-value commodities are Nigerian students. In the week following the release of the hundreds of pupils kidnapped from the LEA Primary School Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, more students have done time in kidnappers’ den. About nine students were kidnapped in Ughelli, Delta State, as they returned from their school in Calabar. They were freed after spending some days. Three students kidnapped from their hostel at the University of Calabar are still being held. Their families have been asked to pay fourteen million Naira as ransom for their…
After many years of listlessness, Nigeria has finally rolled out the list of those sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria. No drums were rolled out with the list, and every objection will be spent even before it is voiced. This is because Nigeria is not yet home and dry on the issue of combatting terrorism. Indeed, every vestige of vigilance is still needed. Slowly but steadily, Nigeria is putting names to its nemeses, naming its shamers and perhaps maiming their memories. The country appears ready to move on from what is surely one of its darkest chapters, but the signs are that…
Two students of the Nasarawa State University Keffi were trampled to death and dozen others injured when the sharing of palliatives provided by the government became deadly on Friday 21st March 2023, served up death at the Nasarawa State University Keffi. Bright futures smoldered painfully and prematurely as a sharing formula failed, and a stampede flared, the strongest flexing their muscle. In many ways, it was a metaphor for what Nigeria has become today—a survival of the fittest. Students of the University had obviously got wind of the distribution and gathered to receive their portions. News of the palliative and proposed distribution…
It appears that the glass of water has truly overflowed in Nigeria with the harrowing revelation that the captors of hundreds of school children and staff from LEA primary school in Kuriga In Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna are demanding one billion naira to release them. It is not just a demand cut loose to be suspended in the air, the intrepid bandits have given the Nigerian state a twenty-day ultimatum before they begin to do what they want with the children. Eight months into the presidency of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it appears that Nigeria is being force-fed the…
In the comfort of his most private moments, that is if he finds comfort anywhere or in anything these days, Abdul Ningi, the senator representing Bauchi Central in the National Assembly may be forced into a rethink.With the aid of a sober reflection, he may be compelled to lament the situation where he leveled allegations of budget padding at Nigeria’s premier legislative institution. Could he have shown more respect? Did his fidelity to his constituents in Bauchi Central and the Senate where he is a ranking member warrant that he show more respect to authority? In a country where heinous…
An unidentified man has allegedly died after falling off a police vehicle in Anambra State. The unfortunate incident was said to have happened on Wednesday near Ọgbọ-Ọgwụ Market, by Port Harcourt Road in Onitsha, the commercial city of the State. An online video trending on various platforms showed the lifeless body of the young man in dreadlocks in handcuffs, lying on the road as onlookers watched, lamenting, and making videos of him. According to a voice narrating the incident in the video, the victim was arrested by some police officers who came into the market and also seized some goods from the traders in the market. It was further alleged in the video that,…
Nigeria may be in the throes of its worst economic crisis ever, but increasingly loud calls for the president to resign are wildly off the mark in a country where hypocrisy and hysteria are common public attributes. On 18 February 2023,Nigerians elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a four-year term. The election which was hotly contested was even more disputed in courts of law. Resulting litigation from the election went all the way to the Supreme Court before a judgment of 26 October 2023 put paid to every litigation as far as the election was concerned. But it has not…
The decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic, three landlocked countries sub-Saharan African countries, to pull out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sparked fears of increased instability and insecurity in the region. Recently emboldened by military take-overs, the three countries have accused ECOWAS of being a tool in the hands of neocolonialists. As if all along, beyond each of them, ECOWAS was not a foreign body, as is each of them to each other. It is a survival instinct to find emergency unity, to draw friends from anywhere, in desperation. Three coups—Mali in 2021,…
Man lives each day consumed by the certainty of death. While some people mold the certainty of death to their advantage, riding the surety of finality to leave a legacy, others allow this certainty to rattle them, force them to live carelessly and ultimately steal them when they least expect it. On 6th February, 2024,The Asagba of Asaba Kingdom in Delta State and one of Nigeria’s foremost traditional rulers, Professor Chike Edozien, joined his ancestors. He was ninety-nine and had spent thirty-two years on the throne. A world renowned nutritionist, the Asagba was first appointed a professor in the University…
Nigeria is currently entertaining a conversation over whether it is a country of clowns. The conversation was ignited by KashimShettima, Nigeria’s Vice President. At an event in Abuja, Shettima described Nigerians celebrating the free fall of the Naira against the dollar as clowns. Particularly, Shettima chided them for their celebrations on microblogging site X. Clowns imply a circus, and the use of the word by Shettima evokes memories of a 2018 interview of then President MuhammaduBuhari when he described Nigerian youths as lazy. In what is quickly becoming a viciously uncharitable cycle, it appears that Nigerian leaders not only insist…
Now that the Supreme Court has affirmed A.A Sule as governor of Nasarawa State, there is an attempt to dish out lessons. The protesters first cried foul immediately after the election of March 11, 2023. They knew their winner whom they voted for and poured into the streets. Women. Young. Old. Baring their breasts, they bore down on Akwanga and Lafia, bearing their grievances. Another electoral heist had been carried out, they cried. The incumbent announced as winner could not have won. As minutes became hours and hours days, the government panicked. At the sight of women clad in black…
Mohammed Ali Ndume is an angry man. He is almost on the verge of hyperventilation. The senator who represents Borno South Senatorial District is angry with President Tinubu. He is irked by the decision to relocate some key government offices under the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to Lagos. Lashing out on Channels television, he accused’ Lagos boys’ of misleading the president. He warned of political consequences. Ndume presumably spoke for the North. But it is not like the North is without a voice. Vice President KashimShettima is from the the North. He is Ali…
Former Nigerian Governors aren’t getting enough pension. Especially now that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is president of the country. And Godswill Akpabio is president of the Senate. The precedent set in 2007 ought to be revisited. Especially now that its chief proponents are number one and number 3 respectively. As May 29, 2007, neared, Tinubu numbered his days as Governor of Lagos State. He also numbered his achievements in office. And his loyalists who owned the state house of Assembly. That was when he pushed a bill. It was a feat of great political mathematics. Lagos was one of Nigeria’s richest…
When was the last time you slept with both eyes closed? I guess it has been a while. The last time the sweat pouring out from your pores while you slept was entirely due to power failure must have been a long time ago too. It has been a long time since anxiety failed to invade your sleep. It has become so difficult to sleep in Nigeria. A country that was once an oasis of peace has morphed into a hotbed of sleeplessness. If you stay in Abuja, especially on the outskirts – Apo, Bwari, Lokogoma, Kubwa, Lugbe – basically…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as is to be expected in a democracy, but Nigeria’s first citizen has shown signs that he is ready to put his foot down when it matters. A presidency which emerged at the end of hotly disputed elections was at pains from the very beginning to stress that it would hit the ground running. It did hit the ground running as an inaugural address served as the final nail in the coffin of the controversial and costly fuel subsidy regime. There was also a lot to like very early…
Amidst the insecurity turmoil Kaduna, NasaraDabo, a fourteen-year-old student of deal International College, Kaduna recently scaled Olympian heights. Nasara, a student at Ideal College International in Kaduna, gained attention for her exceptional performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad. She solved 34 math problems in just 172 seconds, averaging an impressive 5 seconds per question, earning her a gold medal in the junior category. Outshining 150 competitors worldwide, Nasara secured a total score of 145 and claimed the Olympiad champion title. Kaduna State in Nigeria’s Northwest is easily one of Nigeria’s most volatile states. The state, which maintains proximity to Abuja…
Nigeria’s history of epic governance struggles is as chequered as it is well documented. Since independence in 1960, the country has struggled to find good governance at the highest levels. The cause of the country has not been helped by decades of military rule.In 1999, Nigeria returned to democracy after more than a decade of military rule. Upon its return, it was a given that the country would take a while to acquaint itself with the delicate designs of democracy. To say that the process has taken more than expected is to put it mildly. Democracy in Nigeria has revolved…
In what was a modern-day power tussle like no other, Rotimi Akeredolu, the ailing Ondo State Governor clung on to life and power by the skin of his teeth for so long in his state while his deputy, Lucky Aiyedetiwa waited in his place, ready to pounce. Behind both men were camps awash with expectation, each desperate to consolidate power. Akeredolu may now be back in Germany for further treatment, but the intrigues at home continue with rabid ferocity. It bespeaks the many hiccups inherent in Nigeria’s democracy and constitution that there are always loopholes to be exploited by those…
As the Governorship election unfolded in Kogi State on November 11, residents of Magongo in Ogori-Magongo area of the State were in for a rude shock. While they were still queuing up for accreditation and voting, results of the elections, which showed a landslide victory for the ruling All Progressives Congress, mysteriously appeared. The residents duly gave It a protest, during which they accused the APC and INEC for collusion and complicity to deny them of their choice. Dino Melaye the PDP candidate during the election, may have gained notoriety for being a rablerouser despite previous stints in both chambers…
The Abacha loot readily reminds increasingly poor Nigerians of their past, but especially of the relentless avarice of those who have led them at different times. In many respects, Nigeria appears to be a plundered country. Whether it is money, historical artifacts or the intangibles that ground proper and dignified human existence, many things have been taken away from Nigerians. If foreigners are go blame for the priceless cultural artifacts taken to Europe during the colonial era, Nigerians themselves are to blame for the dizzying amount of public funds stolen from the country and stashed away in other countries. In…
It is unacceptable, and even scandalous that Nigeria, a country where women have always stood tall, and continue to play such critical roles, has been ranked the sixteenth unsafest country for women. Where do Nigerian women rank in the grand scheme of things? Certainly, the country of Tobi Amusan, Chimamanda Adichie, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Hilda Baci, should have enough space for women to thrive? No? According to the 2023 Women,Peace and Security (WPS) Index report,Nigeria ranks as the sixteenth most unsafe country for women in the world. If this is not a scandal, then pray what is? The odds stacked against…
The apple does not fall far from the tree, it appears. In Kano State, this timeless idiom is proving spectacularly true. Only recently, the state government bid farewell to about 1000 indigenes of the state who were going to India and Uganda for their post graduate education. It continues a laudable legacy which started under Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a two-term former Governor of the State whose strides in education will not be forgotten in a hurry. It Is really no surprise that like Kwankwaso, Abba Kabir, the present governor is toeing the line of his predecessor and mentor. During the…
Half measures. Band-Aids. Papers over cracks. One can describe Nigeria’s attempt at poverty eradication in many ways and still have a lot left in the tank. What won’t Nigeria give to eradicate poverty? A monstrous problem, entire budgets and even generations have been guzzled up in an attempt to eradicate it. Successive administrations have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the problem, or so they said, but the problem it has persisted. Poverty in Nigeria has become an affliction as well as a symptom. An affliction many years in the making. A symptom that has manifested for many years.…
In Gaza, Palestine, war continues to rage between Israel and Hamas with catastrophic consequences for children and conscience. On October 7,2023, Hamas militants broke into Israel from its Southern frontier, slaughtering hundreds and abducting hundreds more. At the end of the operation, more than 1400 Israelis lay dead with about 200 abducted and taken into Gaza by the militants. The attack which has generated an outpouring of support and sympathy the world over has provoked Israel into action. It was in furtherance of an age-old conflict between Israel and Palestine. It has also provoked Israel into responding with a bombardment…
Nigeria’s seemingly unstoppable guillotine of mob justice has claimed yet another victim with the brutal killing of Mr. Fwinbe Thomas Gofwan by a mob in Jos for stealing a car he owned, by all accounts. In Nigeria, the mob that has shown itself lurking and lethal in Sokoto State, the Federal Capital Territory, as well as Delta State usually moves with such lightening ferocity whenever there is a sacrifice to be made. In May 2022, Deborah Samuel, a student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, had life brutally snuffed out of her by a mob in the state…
An open letter to the Inspector General of Police on the gruesome killing of Mr. Fwimbe Thomas: Too many beasts for a sane society. Sir, On Wednesday, September 27th 2023, Mr. Fwimbe Thomas, an old student of the prestigious College of St. Joseph(CSJ) Vom, in Plateau State, was killed by a mob in Jos, the Plateau State capital. There are conflicting reports, but the most authentic version is that of his brother, who said in a Facebook post that Fwimbe was mistaken for a thief, and when a rendition of“ thief, thief,” rent the air around Bali junction in Jos,…
The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja delivered its eagerly awaited judgment on Wednesday, September 6, 2023. In affirming the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 elections, it duly delivered a rude shock to those who expected a different outcome. Nigerians are no strangers to seismic shocks. On personal and national level, many Nigerians have lived things that no one should fairly have to live in a thousand life times. Nigerians have seen it all: from absolutely shocking and senseless depredations visited on public funds to heinous terrorist attacks visited on families and their…
With the appointment of Dr. Tahir Mamman,SAN as Nigeria’s minister of education, never in the history of Nigeria has a round peg been so fittingly rounded into a round hole. In a country of misfits, misfiring tailors and hideous sartorial choices, the appointment of Tahir Mamman SAN as Nigeria’s minister of Education is a masterstroke. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency may reek of illegitimacy for many Nigerians as they eagerly await the September verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court, but while the court decides, the man himself continues to show that he has a nose for the right people,…
Cutting The Cost Of Governance In Nigeria As governments in Nigeria take shape, it is reward season for those whose loyalty was tested and confirmed in the furnace of Nigeria’s treacherous electoral system between February and March. With those who passed this test eager to retain the services of those who helped them pass preparatory to future elections, there has been so much lobbying for political appointments. The lobbying never really ends. There have been conflicts and there would be conflicts as cabinets around the country take shape to set in motion the business of little governance and no little…
