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Opinion

Friday, 06 January 2023 05:46

The Trouble with Obasanjo’s wish - Azu Ishiekwene

I’m sure he expected the firestorm. As is his custom, he primed and released it to explode at his own time and season. If the letter by former President Olusegun Obasanjo endorsing Labour Party’s Peter Obi had gone unnoticed, uncriticised, and un-replied, then it would not have been Obasanjo’s letter. The letter had barely landed when the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and, in fact, the Presidency all pounced, with the mildest of them all from the PDP. Whatever the misgivings of the affected parties, I’m sure most might agree on the central message:…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 05:55

‘To be a disabled Nigerian is a lonely, scary and isolated place’ - Debola Daniel

Debola, one of the sons of ex-governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, has expressed concern over neglect of physically challenged Nigerians. He said being a disabled person in Nigeria is lonely and scary, adding that when planning for major events, people like him are never put into consideration. In a Twitter thread, Debola said even with government infrastructures, the plight of physically challenged persons is never put into consideration. He wrote, “To be a disabled Nigerian is a lonely, scary and isolated place. I have often struggled to articulate my Nigerian experience in a way people could understand. “There’s never…

Thursday, 05 January 2023 05:52

Of Magun, Babalawos and other stories - Seun Kolade

My father told us the poignant story of his mother, my grandmother, giving birth to 14 children and only two of them survived. The gap between him and his only surviving sibling, my late Uncle, was roughly 10 years. In between them were more deceased siblings that could not survive the first few years of their lives. They were deemed “Abikus”. My grandmother died in her early fifties. Poor woman. She bore the brunt fourteen pregnancies. One is exhausting enough, but what about the emotional trauma of losing 12? As it turned out, those 12 deceased children were most likely…

Wednesday, 04 January 2023 05:52

Dying in the petrol queue - Niyi Osundare

I spent this year’s Christmas At a petro stationSome two miles from my NEPA-less* home And immeasurable distance from sanity The manger was dark When the Wise Men arrivedPious Joseph had no fuel To power the idle generator Hood-to-boot ahead of my own Were over a hundred cars in motionless miseryBehind, in a grotesque sprawl round a bend Was a multitude of metal I dared not count The “Subsidy” Saga was in the air again As it did last season and the seasons before“Appropriate Pricing”, “Landing Costs”, “Loading Fees”, and allied jargon Usurped front pages of the national tabloid Government…

Tuesday, 03 January 2023 05:35

Toyin Falola: 70 as the age of reckoning - Olusegun Obasanjo

My dear professor, brother and friend, Toyin Falola, A big congratulation to you on your 70th birthday today. As someone who had gone ahead of you in chronological time-span, let me welcome you to the septuagenarian circle. I sincerely thank God for granting you the grace and favour to get this far. Getting to this biblical age is not an easy journey. Our existential challenges as humans, and more critically as Nigerians, are many, and even all the more so, for someone like you who shoulders many responsibilities as a scholar, a custodian of culture, an elder in your own…

Tuesday, 03 January 2023 05:33

Factoring Nostradamus into our 2023 plans - Bola Bolawole

This is the period of the year when people make their New Year's resolution, which is usually a wish list of what they would like to achieve in the New Year. This may also include a list of bad things they want far away from them in the New Year. Usually, people want blessings, breakthroughs, favours, victory, accomplishments, destiny fulfilment and such other positive things to be their portion. Evils such as death, sickness or illness, disasters, misfortunes, defeat, bad or ill-luck, losses and setbacks are sent "back to sender" and must be wished as the portion of one's enemies.…

Monday, 02 January 2023 05:58

Time to prosecute Gudaji Kazaure - Hassan Gimba

It is no longer news that Gudaji Kazaure, a House of Representatives member representing the Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi constituency of Jigawa State, has been trending over some papers he made public and a story that sounded like a tale by moonlight. The lawmaker is claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him and some other distinguished Nigerians into a secret committee with the mandate to investigate, reconcile and recover all stamp duties, which he said amounted to N89.09 trillion, realised from deductions by banks but was misappropriated. Neither the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the…

Sunday, 01 January 2023 05:04

What is new about the New Year 2023? - Festus Adedayo

So, that mythical Nigerian year, 2023, is here at last? For Nigerians, 2023 is not just a year of newness as all years represent for mankind. It is a year with gross implications, political, economic and social. It is a year that is at once dreaded, expected, venerated and which evokes apprehension, as well as a feeling of de ja vu across board. It is a year of consequence to our existence as a people. A year that has been romanticized as the year of the Nigerian becoming, many analysts have even sacralized 2023 as the year that will determine…

Sunday, 01 January 2023 05:02

Toyin Falola at 70: In praise of a mouth sweeter than salt - Abimbola Adelakun

New years and births are promises of a new beginning, which is why I think of those born on 1st of January as special. My imagination of New Year’s Day babies is that they enter the world with cheeky smiles. I believe that somewhere in the pre-world where humans choose their orí and date of birth, some selected 1st of January just so that the good fortunes we pray the supernatural forces would direct our way in the new year get folded into their arrival. If this myth is true — and who can say otherwise? — then it explains…

Sunday, 01 January 2023 05:01

Repositioning yourself for the Lord’s favour In 2023 - Taiwo Akinola

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come ~ Psalms 102:13. Introduction To God be all the glory! We are alive today and beholding the beauties of a brand new year only by God's special grace. Praise ye the Lord! I also thank all our reading audience for being a part of our lives and ministry in the course of the just ended year, loving us, responding to our love and encouraging us one way or the other. God bless you all. No doubt, the just ended year…

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Sunday, 01 January 2023 04:59

Article of faith: Beware of hypocrites (2) - Femi Aribisala

Jesus did not have a big problem with sinners. He had a big problem with hypocrites. So, He warns us: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Luke 12:1). Religious people are hypocrites. Quoting Isaiah, Jesus says about them: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:8-9). Hypocritical prayers God called me to a healing ministry, so I used to spend days fasting and praying…

Sunday, 01 January 2023 04:58

2023: What are we doing while time is passing? - Kola Oyefeso

It is a new year and the decibel of its roar, the chatter and cacophony is resonating the world over. We deserve to pat each other on the back for being among those fortunate to be part of a new year. Not everyone is as lucky for the renewal of the loan of Life, which we erroneously deem as a Gift. It is indeed a treasured loan; were it a gift we would have it ad-infinitum, but no one has been able to achieve such, because NOTHING survives the ravages of time, beside the Word of God. There is no…

Sunday, 01 January 2023 04:57

Sometime in my 50s, I became invisible to men. Here’s what I didn't expect to feel - Julia Williamson

“I started to have to say ‘Hello?’ at the register to get the cashier’s attention. ‘This is it,’ I thought. ‘I’ve become invisible.’” I didn’t notice at first. It’s hard to sense the lack of a thing, like when you don’t realize your headache is gone until an hour after it starts to recede. It’s not like I’d ever been a head-turner. Reasonably attractive, I’ve never stood out in the ways that make people either excited or uncomfortable. But I was pleasing enough (and pleasant enough) that I’d gather grins and glances. But somewhere in my early 50s, people just…

Friday, 30 December 2022 05:53

What you might expect in 2023 - Azu Ishiekwene

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will be shaken to its foundations, but it will survive. The most problematic question for the party of course is who carries its presidential flag in the 2023 election, when President Muhammadu Buhari will step down…If Tinubu survives the ambush of the wolves in his party, the race is over – My precipitations, December 31, 2021 In the last three years, I have formed the dangerous habit of forecasting what the new year might bring, roughly speaking. The quote above was extracted from the piece I wrote on New Year’s Eve of 2022, six…

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