“I am beginning to wonder how many fools it takes to make the term ‘My Fellow Citizens’” – Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, in LOST ILLUSIONS. If you are a Nigerian, who has not lost hope in Buhari, you must either be a damn fool, a liar or a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, or all of the above. A government based on pure conspiracy, headed by an ill-educated leader and powered by frequently lying to itself and the people can produce no other result than what we are experiencing now. By the time Buhari is finished with…

As the crisis in Ukraine becomes more acute, so does the need for negotiations. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that Ukraine is “being decimated before the eyes of the world,” with the only reasonable option being “an immediate cessation of hostilities and serious negotiations based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law.” Though there have been talks between Ukraine and Russia, news reports have emphasized their failure to make progress. But make no mistake: a negotiated settlement is the only way forward. Even in seemingly intractable situations with intransigent actors, the power of reason can…

A comrade, Tony Iyare, asked why I had not yet commented on the show of shame, as many have described it, at my - and his - alma mater, the erstwhile University of Ife (established in 1962 but renamed the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1978 in honour of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, who died on 9th May, 1987). I gave Tony a few reasons. My plate was full. APC/Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria, more than at any other time in recent history, is a country where tragedy falls upon tragedy on a daily basis. And as our people would say, when…

In Russia’s 1998 St. Petersburg local assembly elections, incumbent Oleg Sergeyev had been a thorn in the flesh of totalitarian governor, Vladimir Yakovlev. Upon Sergeyev’s launch of his bid to replace him, Yakovlev waited till election date to sting him with his amusingly ingenuous strategy. On voting day, voters, majority of whom were illiterate, were at sea when they found two of their adored candidate’s namesakes on the ballot - Oleg Sergeyev and Oleg Sergeyev. The former was a pensioner and the latter, an unemployed man, both of whom had no qualification for the office they sought but were implanted…