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Opinion

Saturday, 29 October 2016 18:27

The conservative intellectual crisis - David Brooks

I feel very lucky to have entered the conservative movement when I did, back in the 1980s and 1990s. I was working at National Review, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. The role models in front of us were people like Bill Buckley, Irving Kristol, James Q. Wilson, Russell Kirk and Midge Decter. These people wrote about politics, but they also wrote about a lot of other things: history, literature, sociology, theology and life in general. There was a sharp distinction then between being conservative, which was admired, and being a Republican, which was considered sort of…

Saturday, 29 October 2016 02:13

Re-evaluating the Boko Haram conflict - Jideofor Adibe

Many political analysts had projected that if Muhammadu Buhari won the March 2015 Nigerian presidential election, it could lead to the deceleration of the Boko Haram conflict because many of the local grievances into which those terrorists tapped would be removed. Unfortunately, despite President Buhari’s victory at the polls, the Boko Haram conflict has persisted. In September 2015 Buhari gave the army a three-month deadline to defeat Boko Haram. That deadline came and went but Boko Haram remains with us though the government continues to argue that it has “technically” defeated the sect. Beyond rhetoric, what are the lessons to…

Friday, 28 October 2016 14:33

Truth, other casualties of war on judicial corruption - Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe Nigeria - or the Department of State Security (DSS), to be precise - starts an ostensible war against corruption in the judicial and said war quickly degenerates into an absurd exercise. First, Nigerians woke up two weeks ago to the startling news that DSS agents had carried out overnight raids on the homes of “corrupt” judges, including two justices of the Supreme Court. For the first day or two, there were insinuations and murmurings, but little concrete information, about the operation. Pundits and partisans seized the vacuum, offering deodorized or damning interpretations of what had transpired. Some praised…

Thursday, 27 October 2016 01:53

Liberty University students: Trump is the antithesis of Christian values

Dustin Wahl, Paige Cutler and Alexander Forbes In January, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed Donald Trump for president of the United States. As Liberty students, we watched as the leader of our school loudly and proudly advocated for a man many of us felt compelled to oppose. Trump’s flagrant dishonesty, consistent misogyny and boastful unrepentance made many of us feel the need to publicly express disagreement with President Falwell’s endorsement. Mark DeMoss, the chair of Liberty’s executive committee, spoke to The Post in March to tactfully do just that. Criticizing Trump’s “politics of personal insult,” DeMoss said: “It’s…

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 15:25

On Mamman Daura’s alleged rulership of Nigeria

Jibrin Ibrahim In the media, texts, WhatsApp, Facebook and at every twist and turn, the conversation is about the excessive power allegedly wielded by one man, Mamman Daura, said to be the man exercising power in the country. On a daily basis, I read stories about how Mamman Daura is ruling the country and how he must be removed from exercising power if confidence in operating our democracy is to be restored. When I talk to my friends in the ruling party, the APC, they complain that they fought for power; won power and Mamman Daura stole it from them.…

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 02:00

Still on the spiritual side of Aso Villa

'Sina Kawonise Since the publication of Reuben Abati's testimonial piece on the "spiritual side of Aso Villa" on October 14, I have taken time to follow the reactions of key personalities to Reuben's article. Quite significantly, a former Minister of the Federal Republic and presidential spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode, a predecessor of his in the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity (Segun Adeniyi), and his successor (Femi Adesina) have taken different positions on the very crucial matter articulated by Reuben. Besides these insiders in the Aso Villa matter, a brilliant and compelling columnist of the…

Monday, 24 October 2016 14:55

Aisha Buhari is the icon of the moment

Edel-Quinn Agbaegbu For over one week, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, Nigeria's reigning First Lady has been dominating the media space in Nigeria. Given the weight of what she said recently, which went viral on the internet, Mrs Buhari words are now a quotable quote in many public statements, articles and commentaries in the country. She must have also made wide impact globally, as the world is now a global village, thanks to online media and innovations in communication technology. By a mere expression of her view, against the modus operandi in the administration of a democratic government where her husband is…

Monday, 24 October 2016 01:27

Is ‘Project Buhari’ falling off?

Simon Kolawole There is a confession I’ve been longing to make: I never expected Candidate Muhammadu Buhari to win the 2015 presidential election. Although I have never hidden my soft spot for him for decades, I somehow expected President Goodluck Jonathan to be returned by any means. I had my reason: I thought no sitting president could be defeated in Nigeria. He has CBN, NNPC, INEC, police, military and even FRSC at his beck and call. How would he lose? We all saw the ridiculous results that returned President Olusegun Obasanjo to office in 2003. That made me conclude that…

Sunday, 23 October 2016 03:19

The unspiritual side of Aso Villa

Femi Adesina Let me begin with two clarifications. Aso Villa is not my home, I am just passing through. Even this world is nobody’s home, we are just birds of passage. So, let nobody turn up his nose in derision, and say; “he’s writing like the landlord of Aso Villa, defending a place where’s he’s just a tenant.” Yes, nobody is landlord in the Villa, not even rational presidents. They can only live there for maximum of eight years, if Nigerians so decide. And for me, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels only need to…

Saturday, 22 October 2016 17:45

Lady in the kitchen: Twitter versus old school

Francis Ojo The issues between our old President and his young lovely wife Aisha would pose no problem in Daura Sharia court before an old Islamic Grand Khadi. Buhari would no doubt have been victorious, been allowed to holler: “ I divorce you, I divorce you and finally for the third time, I divorce you” and all would be over. Then the bitter struggle between prominent Fulani families including royal ones to donate brand new (tear rubber) teenage wives for the prominent citizen would have begun. But alas, Aisha set Baba up royally, real good! She chose the setting, (International)…

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Friday, 21 October 2016 16:42

The decline of the West, and how to stop it

Javier Solana and Strobe Talbott For most of the last 70 years, the United States, Canada and much of Europe have constituted a vast zone of peace, prosperity and democracy. The trans-Atlantic community has grown to over 900 million inhabitants of more than 30 countries. It has set an example for regional cooperation in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, and served as a mainstay of the liberal world order. That achievement is in jeopardy. The bonds within Europe have been fraying for some time, but this year has been the worst yet. Last month, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Union’s…

Friday, 21 October 2016 02:29

Aisha Buhari as a metaphor

Jideofor Adibe Let me start this piece by narrating a story I read somewhere about a certain three- year old boy whose father was the President of their country. Let’s call this boy John. One day the country was celebrating an important anniversary. Many citizens lined up the route through which the President was being driven in an open jeep, at an incredibly low speed. They were waving their country’s flag in the spirit of that celebration while the President acknowledged with the waving of his right hand. John and his mother were among the crowd. His mother had carried…

Thursday, 20 October 2016 16:52

Of Aso Rock demons and ‘the Other Room’

Olusegun Adeniyi I woke up last Friday to find on my handset messages with strange questions: Is it true that people bath with blood in Aso Rock? Are there demons in Aso Rock that make leaders take decisions that are not in the public interest? Did you ever notice anybody walking head to the ground at the villa? Is strange death a common phenomenon for people who work in Aso Rock? Can you still perform your bedroom functions as a husband? The questions, which I considered rather weird and ridiculous, kept coming in torrents; and even when a few made…

Wednesday, 19 October 2016 15:12

Nigeria’s failed promises

Chimamanda Ngozi I was 7 years old the first time I recognized political fear. My parents and their friends were talking about the government, in our living room, in our relatively big house, set on relatively wide grounds at a southeastern Nigerian university, with doors shut and no strangers present. Yet they spoke in whispers. So ingrained was their apprehension that they whispered even when they did not need to. It was 1984 and Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was the military head of state. Governmental controls had mangled the economy. Many imported goods were banned, scarcity was rife, black markets…

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