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Opinion

Friday, 23 May 2025 04:25

Ishaq Oloyede’s cross - Azu Ishiekwene

The last time a public official wept on national TV, Nigerians regretted offering her towels instead of buckets to collect her tears. She was acting, but we didn’t know it. Diezani Allison-Madueke had just been appointed Minister of Transport and went on a tour to assess some major roads. At the Benin end of the Lagos-Benin highway, she broke down and wept. She was seeing for the first time, outside her bubble, what Nigerians knew and endured daily: poor, hazardous roads. Her tears changed nothing. She left the roads in a worse state than she found them, but Nigeria being…

Thursday, 22 May 2025 04:34

Will Oloyede’s JAMB now listen? - Abimbola Adelakun

In our society, it is uncommon for public officials to admit faults, let alone offer a tearful apology, and that seems to explain some of the reactions to the actions of JAMB registrar Is-haq Oloyede. We are used to poor leaders scoring themselves high and branding those who ask legitimate questions as “haters”, and so the reaction to Oloyede was either extreme vilification or wild applause. Take, for instance, the University of Nigeria chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities that alleged a conspiracy against their region and threatened to sue JAMB. Even if taking legal action was part…

Wednesday, 21 May 2025 01:36

To my brother Bayo Onanuga - Dele Sobowale

“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business” – US President Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865. I address you as “my brother” not because you are Yoruba and Ijebu; but because you are a Nigerian. As a stubbornly non-party member, I remain non-partisan. Politicians can play their games as they always do – deceive, decamp, destroy, defraud – but my neutrality is unassailable. That should not be misconstrued to mean that I have no opinions about performances, usually horrible, but they are never…

Tuesday, 20 May 2025 04:33

Ibrahim Traore: Is democracy in Africa at a dead end? - Seun Kolade

Ibrahim Traore is the latest sensation on the African continent. For many young- and not so young- people on social media, he has become the figurehead of a new pan Africanism that is suspicious to Western interest and interventions on the continent and specifically opposed to the French neocolonial hold on large swathes of African countries- with little to show in terms of development and progress after many decades. They are also sceptical about democracy and its lofty promises, against the reality of continued under-development and impoverishment of the African continent. Captain Ibrahim Traoré, a 34-year-old artillery officer in Burkina…

Monday, 19 May 2025 04:39

Democracy in Africa and the dangers of a judicial selectorate - Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

In March 2006, Uganda’s Supreme Court convened to begin adjudication of the disputes over the presidential election that occurred the previous month in the country. Voting took place on 23 February. Two days later, on 25 February, the Electoral Commission announced the results, giving the incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, 59.28% of the valid votes cast. In second place, with an award of 37.36% of the votes, the commission announced Kiiza Besigye, a medical doctor whose military career began as part of the bush war that brought Museveni to power 20 years earlier in 1986. In his petition against the announced result,…

Sunday, 18 May 2025 04:06

Coming soon: Compulsory voting for APC - Solana Olumhense

Mandatory voting, the idea that a citizen must cast a ballot in an election, is not new. Of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 181 members, about 20currently practice some form of it. Compulsory voting ensures a higher voter turnout. Where they feel that they have something to lose, voters obey the law to avoid the consequences. A law such as the one sought by Abbas Tajudeen and Daniel Asama Ago in “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act, 2022 to make it Mandatory for Nigerians of Maturity Age to Vote in All National and State Elections and for Related…

Sunday, 18 May 2025 04:03

Anointed for good deeds - Taiwo Akinola

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor …. and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised ~ Luke 4:18. Introduction: Touching lives with the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ sometimes looks very easy, but it is not always so. You definitely need Someone bigger than you — the Holy Spirit Himself — to excel in the spiritual arts of doing good and touching other lives for God on earth! Quite unfortunately, many people remain oblivious of this…

Sunday, 18 May 2025 04:01

Article of Faith: The mind of Christ (4) - Femi Aribisala

The worrisome mind is anathema to the mind of Chist. The mind that is fretful and full of anxiety is a mind that does not glorify God. The worrisome mind is the mind that does not trust God. It is the mind that does not believe that God is God. It is the mind that does not have faith in God. It is the mind that is not fed on the word of God. It is the mind that is not built on the rock of God’s word. Paul says: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and…

Saturday, 17 May 2025 04:30

‘Apepa’ or arterial blockage? The urgency of self-care after 45 - Babafemi Ojudu

In many parts of our hinterland—and even in our cities—sudden death is often attributed to what the Yoruba call apepa—a mystical demise believed to be caused by malevolent forces who summon a person’s soul from afar. One is said to have been “called,” their life abruptly and mysteriously ended. This belief, though deeply rooted in our culture, has often led to misplaced blame, suspicion, and years of acrimony among families and communities. But as our understanding of health improves, we must face the truth: most of these sudden deaths are not spiritual—they are medical. Preventable. Manageable. Treatable. Conditions like undiagnosed…

Friday, 16 May 2025 04:19

How to crown an impostor - Azu Ishiekwene

Burkinabe leader Ibrahim Traore is acting like a rock star. It’s not entirely his fault. He’s receiving a lot of help from dozens of social media users, especially TikTokers, who are desperate to anoint him as the best thing to come out of Burkina Faso since Thomas Sankara. Traore must be enjoying it, because even though he is pretending, he knows he’s not Sankara. He is an opportunist, happy to capitalise on the current frustration in his country and the Sahel for his benefit. A recent report by The Africa Report summarised Traore’s fictional character. “In dozens of viral TikTok…

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Thursday, 15 May 2025 04:27

Pastor Ibiyeomie can learn from Bill Gates - Abimbola Adelakun

You must have read the news that philanthropist Bill Gates plans to give away his wealth within the next 20 years. His charity foundation, which has been making various interventions in global public health, now has till December 31, 2045, to spend down about $200bn to facilitate health and human development. Even more fascinating is that Bill Gates wants the money to offset some of the imbalances caused by the Donald Trump administration’s abrupt cutbacks to health and development agencies, such as USAID and PEPFAR. Many of us are familiar with the Biblical narrative of a rich young ruler who…

Wednesday, 14 May 2025 04:38

‘Kebabbed’ Kemi Badenoch facing her moment of truth - Iliyasu Gadu

We all know what “Kebab” is and means. It is pieces of meat (lamb or beef) spiced, marinated and roasted on a skewer often with vegetables. It is a Middle Eastern delicacy and probably the best example of it is the Turkish variety. In its original Arab form, it is written and pronounced as “Kabab”. But in English usage it is spelt as “Kebab” which is pretty much how we have known it all this while. For long the usage of the word was restricted to the culinary world but in 1989 courtesy of Neil Kinnock (now Lord Kinnock) then…

Tuesday, 13 May 2025 04:36

Why jihadists can’t win in Nigeria — but can’t be defeated - Julius Ogunro

Islamists are expanding their frontiers in Nigeria. The latest being Mahmuda, an Islamic terror group with ties to Boko haram, terrorising Kwara and several states around it. Because of its cross-border threat, the Beninese government recently closed its borders with Nigeria around the Baruten area. Ansaru, a battle-tested Islamist group also connected to Boko Haram, is active in the North Northcentral, especially in the Kogi area. Its forte is kidnapping for ransom and spreading its twisted ideology of Islamic puritanism. In Nigeria’s northwest, the Islamic terror group, Lakurawa, is gaining ground, increasing its attacks on civilian and military infrastructure, especially…

Monday, 12 May 2025 04:40

Nigeria: The making of a judicial selectorate - Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Anambra North senatorial constituency comprises seven local government areas (LGAs). These are: Anambra East, Anambra West, Anyamelum, Ogbaru, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, and Oyi. The contest to represent it in the election to the senate in 2007 turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Voting in the election occurred on 28 April 2007. At the end of the contest, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returned Joy Emordi, the incumbent senator and candidate of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner. In the race for the party ticket which preceded the election, Emordi beat out…

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