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Opinion

Sunday, 05 January 2020 05:52

Why did Gov Abdulrahman eat Arugbo’s cocoyam? - Festus Adedayo

After watching the viral video of several Ilorin, Kwara State old women, referred to as arugbo in Yorubaland, pleading with the Kwara State governor, Mr Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, not to demolish the Ile Arugbo (Old people’s home) built for them by the old Kwara political warhorse, late Mr Olusola Saraki, and his eventual demolition of the property last Thursday, what leapt into my subconscious was the old folklore, Ti nba je koko arugbo (if I ate the old woman’s cocoyam) notoriously told at moonlight in Yoruba-speaking homes of the pre-colonial, up to the 1970s era. A three-member travelling young boys, en-route…

Sunday, 05 January 2020 05:51

Pabambari prophecies - Tatalo Alamu

In Yoruba local parlance, pabambari is something that is so outlandish that it strains credulity and common sense all at once. As the New Year gets underway, Nigeria’s ever growing tribe of pabambari prophets have been busy at their game. One of them quite oblivious of the fact that a former top politician quietly expired at the last polls has predicted his imminent return to power. Not to be left out of the engaging nonsense, Baba Lekki had approached Okon for his New Year prophecy about the fortunes of the nation. “Ah baba, I been dey see dem cashless society…

Thursday, 02 January 2020 05:49

Seyi Makinde: My Man of the Year 2019 - Bola Bolawole

If I were to choose my “Man of the Year 2019” from abroad, it would unmistakeably have been US President Donald Trump. His many advertised shenanigans notwithstanding, Trump’s advocacy for the rights of Christians in an age where Christians, surprisingly and ironically, have become endangered species even in a world where many of the world power-nations profess Christianity, stands him tall and he has been the guardian angel and saving grace for Christians in many parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive. The American president might have been the nightmare of minority groups in the United States – with the Latinos…

Wednesday, 01 January 2020 05:27

Impeachment stalemate is result of two decades of partisan hypocrisy - Joseph Moreno

As the year ends with an undelivered impeachment led entirely by House Democrats, both parties fighting over how a trial should be conducted with Senate Republicans in control, and the public still split on whether President Trump should have even been impeached in the first place, we have an opportunity to reflect on how we got here. How is it that after months of hearings in this proceeding the public remains so divided on the facts and standards advocated by our elected leaders in Washington? Some contend the blame falls entirely with Trump, whose actions left Democrats no choice but…

Tuesday, 31 December 2019 05:47

This has been the best year ever - Nicholas Kristof

For humanity over all, life just keeps getting better. If you’re depressed by the state of the world, let me toss out an idea: In the long arc of human history, 2019 has been the best year ever. The bad things that you fret about are true. But it’s also true that since modern humans emerged about 200,000 years ago, 2019 was probably the year in which children were least likely to die, adults were least likely to be illiterate and people were least likely to suffer excruciating and disfiguring diseases. Every single day in recent years, another 325,000 people…

Monday, 30 December 2019 06:26

Corruption worse under Buhari than at any time in the past – Utomi

Pat Utomi, professor of political economy and management in this interview with Charles Okonji offers a gloomy prognosis about the state of Nigeria’s economy. Excerpts: What is your projection for 2020? I will tell emphatically that 2020 would be a very challenging year for Nigeria when you look at the terrible economic performance of the country in the recent years. Unfortunately, most of them are self-inflicted. We keep focusing on such basic macro issues whereas the real problem with the Nigerian economy is fundamental, structural, basic institutional and cultural base. I keep reminding people that the problem of the Nigerian…

Monday, 30 December 2019 06:18

Lawan’s chilling surrender to the General - Shaka Momodu

Nigerian Senate under the leadership of Ahmed Lawn has fallen. It has completely surrendered to Major General Muhammadu Buhari and needs to be saved from itself before it does irreparable damage to the meaning of checks and balances in a constitutional democracy. Since Mr Lawan emerged as Senate President, he has left no one in doubt by his utterances and body language that the National Assembly, particularly, the Senate is an extension of the executive arm of government. Not many paid attention then when some of his colleagues who knew him well cautioned Nigerians that he was a yes-man and…

Monday, 30 December 2019 06:16

Baba Lekki turns the table on journalists - Tatalo Alamu

To Mafoluku in the hinterland of Oshodi where the indefatigable Baba Lekki, with Okon ably assisting, is fielding questions on the state of the nation from journalists in a ramshackle and abandoned plaza belonging to an old politician. This is one area of contention where the crazy boy will never be able to match Baba Lekki’s fiery anti-establishment intellect and cerebral wit. In Shakespearean drama, an assistant clown is known as a fool’s zany and Okon was on his zaniest form this gloomy and mournful afternoon. Nigerians are a hard dying lot. Nothing, and absolutely nothing, can get them down…

Monday, 30 December 2019 06:15

If this has been super-decade, why are we still so angry? - Jonah Goldberg

There is a strong case to be made that things are getting better. In 2010, Matt Ridley made the case in "The Rational Optimist" that things were better than they appeared. Writing in The Spectator, on the cusp of 2020, Ridley offers an update: We're finishing the best decade in human history. But it sure doesn't feel like it, does it? In the political realm, we're all angry at one another, convinced some terrible "they" is winning at "our" expense. As we end the decade, our politics is wildly out of sync with the technological, economic and medical events of…

Sunday, 29 December 2019 04:11

Buhari and the fifth columnists - Simon Kolawole

One of the most chilling claims I have ever heard in my life was allegedly made by the chief security officer to a Nigerian military ruler years ago. Nicely confronted by journalists over his suffocating influence on the head of state as well as the spate of bombings and state-sponsored assassinations in the country, he reportedly replied: “I am the CSO to the head of state and commander-in-chief. I have the duty to protect him with everything and anything, including taking out those who pose a threat to him. Whatever I do is to protect him and he knows that…

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Sunday, 29 December 2019 04:09

How Northern Nigeria catches Southern monkeys with the Shettimas - Festus Adedayo

James Hadley Chase’s The Paw in the Bottle is an excellent thriller whose teachings apply to the world of today. Published in 1949, the thrill in the novel lingers, both for its clinically descriptive power and applicability to the concepts of class conflict, loyalty, betrayal, trust, greed and so many others. Set in London with a British character, it is the story of Julie, a young girl working in a West End café, home to the underworld and where thieves, pickpockets and all sorts converge. She is introduced to a robbery and asked to play the role of a maid…

Thursday, 26 December 2019 05:29

Emerging trends: Christians without churches... - Bola Bolawole

Yuletide affords both faithful and critics alike the opportunity not only to exchange the season’s greetings but also to ask probing, even if troublesome, questions about Jesus Christ and Christianity as a whole. For instance, was Christ actually born on the December 25 that Christians all over the world celebrate as his birthday? The Jehovah Witnesses’ sect especially has made an issue of this, insisting, with “proofs”, that Christ could not have been born anywhere in December but that October/November looked more like it. Right or wrong, the important thing is that Christ was born into this world! That we…

Wednesday, 25 December 2019 05:13

IPPIS tango: Oloyede to the rescue? - Bolanle Bolawole

It is important to stress that none of the two extremes i.e. that of the Federal Government or ASUU is the best for University autonomy or will advance University autonomy. The militarization of ASUU has derided it of putting up sound, logical and coherent opposition to the IPPIS as far as the university system is concerned... It is also not right that for every issue, ASUU must threaten to embark on strike action...On the other hand, I am of the view that, eventually, the enrolment of Universities in particular and other tertiary institutions into IPPIS will be counter-productive and injurious…

Wednesday, 25 December 2019 05:12

Is anyone happy anymore? - Niall Williams

We’ve lost our ability to take comfort in small things. Recently I have been forced to think a bit about happiness. It’s not something I’ve done before. I have been too busy living. But when an interview with me appeared in The Sunday Times under the headline “Why ‘This Is Happiness’ Author Niall Williams Is Happily Out of Step,” I began to realize that it was not just me but the idea of happiness itself that was out of step with the times, and that it required some mental adjusting, not to say daring, to say aloud the title of…

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