Nyesom Wike has finally crossed the line between political relevance and national embarrassment. The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory now behaves like a law unto himself — loud, insolent, and intoxicated with power — dragging the dignity of public office through the mud. His most recent public clash with a naval officer, whom he…
On the strength of his exploding influence in politics and public admnistration as Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike could not imagine that anything or anybody, except President Bola Tinubu, could stand on his way. By his actions, by his words, his combustible words that reduce a family man to a weeping boy before…
Yakubu Mohammed presented his autobiography, Beyond Expectations, last week at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos. It was attended by top men of the media, including Aremo Segun Osoba, Tola Adeniyi, Soji Akinrinade. But two things stood out of the event. One was a revelation, and the other was virtual silence. The revelation…
The idea of Biafra remains one of the most emotionally charged subjects in Nigeria’s political history. It has refused to fade from public discourse, not because of nostalgia or rebellion, but because of the unresolved constitutional and structural issues that gave birth to it in the first place. From 1967 to this day, successive attempts…
Sometimes I wonder in my quiet moments how African forebears treated the silent assassins of the body and soul – bleeding in the head, hernia rupture, unborn extra-large child, heart attack, kidney and liver failure, among others. I wonder why the rampaging Abiku phenomenon disappeared upon the arrival of hygienic birth delivery practices and Western…
A long time ago, when the harmattan still remembered how to bite, a thunderous blinding lightning and thunder flashed across the sky. It was followed by chilling bellow. Who could that be or were the ancestors descending on an angry ladder. It was the voice of Trump the Thunderer, the one whose voice could not…
The year was 2002 and we were seeing off Mrs. Bola Thomas, the Chief Executive Officer of LTC Advertising. She had come to The Punch on a courtesy call, in solidarity, for the foremost role the newspaper played in forcing the soldiers back to the barracks, after 16 years of military rule. When we saw…
I just saw a news flash that the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, will address the press regarding President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy the U.S. military to Nigeria if the government fails to act against what he calls the “systemic persecution of Christians.” This follows Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a…
The resurgence of military coup rumors is not a coincidence; it is a clinical symptom of a democracy in profound failure. The disturbing truth is that, for any attempt to disrupt the constitutional order to gain traction, plotters must first conduct a reconnaissance of the public mood. And right now, the mood of Nigeria is…
In retrospect, Professor Wole Soyinka’s dramatic decision to tear up his U.S. Green Card shortly after Donald Trump’s election was unnecessary and deeply disrespectful to the country that had legally granted him residency. While protest is a legitimate expression of personal conviction, every privilege carries responsibility. The U.S. Green Card, governed by the Immigration and…
