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Opinion

Friday, 09 December 2022 05:53

A letter to Sam - Azu Ishiekwene

Dear Chairman, It was about this time eight years ago, wasn’t it? I’m talking of course of when you took what was perhaps the most audacious, some may even say, most controversial political decision of your career at the time to run for the Presidency. You had talked and written about what was possible for over 20 years. Now, it was time to just get in there and do it! To show that Big Ideas was not a pipedream but a possibility. I don’t know which was more difficult: the decision to run or the decision – when you finally…

Thursday, 08 December 2022 05:40

Osun lootings and Oyetola’s jejune alibi - Bola Bolawole

When the new Osun State governor, the dancing-Senator now turned dancing-governor, Ademola Adeleke, announced that Osun State Government House and properties, including items such as vehicles, had been looted, I was not surprised. Pictures of how the Deputy Governor’s and other staff quarters were stripped to the bone later surfaced to confirm the allegation. Condemnable as this act of common criminality is, it is, nevertheless, a usual occurrence in Nigeria, especially where the government that is vacating office and the one that is taking over are hostile one to the other. Between Gboyega Oyetola, who was vacating office, and Adeleke,…

Monday, 05 December 2022 05:51

This oasis must bloom the desert - Niyi Osundare

Prelude. It was eight years ago that I delivered the short piece below as my acceptance speech for the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA). As I read it again in the process of readying up the delivery of my NNMA Winner’s Lecture in December 2022, I was forcibly struck by the fact that many of the points and issues raised in the acceptance speech are more poignant and more menacing now than they were in December 2014. A journey down memory lane has ended up as déjà vu, an all too familiar plotline in the narrative of the Nigerian malaise.…

Monday, 05 December 2022 05:50

Should we still pray in Nigeria? - Bola Bolawole

Politics, religion, corruption and crime are the most lucrative business ventures, activities or endeavours in Nigeria today. Whatever order of importance or priority you may assign to them, I do not think there is any other “business” in Nigeria of today that yields higher returns on investment, if we may call it that – sadly! Anyone desirous of cutting corners to get to the “top” must take one or the other of the four routes. If you know anyone who is involved in the present-day Nigerian fad of get-rich quick syndrome, it is either they are in politics, in religion,…

Monday, 05 December 2022 05:49

Still on the issue of love - Hassan Gimba

Now that we’ve found love, what are we gonna do with it? - The O’Jays. While the title of this work might have been spurred by the above verse from The O’Jays R&B group’s 1973 hit, the title of the year 2000 film, Finding Forrester, was an inspiration. Finding Forrester, an American drama written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant, featured a black teenager, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), who was invited to attend a prestigious private high school. By chance, Jamal befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester (Sean Connery), through whom he refined his talent for writing…

Sunday, 04 December 2022 06:02

World War III begins with forgetting - Stephen Wertheim

In March, as President Biden was facing pressure to intensify U.S. involvement in Ukraine, he responded by invoking the specter of World War III four times in one day. “Direct conflict between NATO and Russia is World War III,” he said, “something we must strive to prevent.” He underscored the point hours later: “The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews — just understand, and don’t kid yourself, no matter what you all say, that’s called World War III, OK?” More than any…

Sunday, 04 December 2022 06:00

Why do people sell their votes? - Simon Kolawole

In ‘The Voter’, a short story written by Chinua Achebe in 1965, the legendary novelist narrated the adventure of Rufus Okeke (“Roof for short”), a famous little man in the fictional village of Umuofia. The village’s most illustrious son, Chief The Honourable Marcus Ibe, of the People’s Alliance Party (PAP), was contesting to return to the parliament. He was the minister of culture in the outgoing (and definitely incoming) government. Roof, and the entire village, naturally had to support him. Roof was Marcus’ keyman in the campaign. But villagers had seen how Marcus’ fortune changed within five years of being…

Sunday, 04 December 2022 05:58

Yes, Aisha Buhari eats from Nigerian poor people’s money! - Festus Adedayo

Though wife of the Nigerian president, Aisha Buhari, has discontinued her defamation case against Aminu Adamu, the final year student of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, the court of public opinion cannot afford to throw the issue into the dustbin just yet. In what was the Nigerian First Lady’s most recent controversy, having allegedly ordered the arrest and detention of the university student, massive flaks against her and the futility of continuing the matter in court, it was said, must have necessitated the withdrawal of the apparently dead-on-arrival matter. Aside the above, the concept of the First Lady and…

Sunday, 04 December 2022 05:57

The God that answers by fire (6) - Taiwo Akinola

Repairing The Altar For The Fire To Fall And Elijah …. repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down …. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench ~ 1 Kings 18:30-38. Introduction God wants the Church to be His true Church once again! Hence, He’s making a clarion call for His people to repair their altars and return to the place of fire, so that He can pour out His love, power, revival and…

Thursday, 01 December 2022 06:04

Adeleke: Putting the wrong foot first? - Bola Bolawole

My mother had a saying, to wit: When God is doing good, human beings that cannot differentiate between good and evil will think He is doing evil. Bless my mother’s soul, O God, and continue to grant her sweet soul sweet repose! Saturday, 26 November made the 16th anniversary of her transition. Sweet mother! We are keeping the flag flying, until we, too, hand over the baton to our own children - your grandchildren! Last Sunday was a glorious day for the Adeleke family of Ede in Osun state; it was the day one of them, Ademola Adeleke, was sworn…

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Thursday, 01 December 2022 06:02

Now everyone calls Mrs Buhari ‘fat’ - Abimbola Adelakun

At first, the story of First Lady Aisha Buhari ordering the arrest and detention of a young man who had made fun of her physical appearance seemed improbable. I insisted to the person who shared the story with me that there had to be more to the account. There was no way Mrs Buhari would be so small-minded that she would pay attention to a random guy on Twitter that had snidely remarked that she had grown fat feeding on the masses’ money. Days after the news was initially reported, neither Mrs Buhari nor the Department of State Services that…

Tuesday, 29 November 2022 05:58

Global population hits 8 billion and we need to keep growing. Here's why - Marian L. Tupy

According to the United Nations, the world’s population just surpassed 8 billion on Nov. 15, 2022. This milestone, of course, is being condemned in some quarters as a threat to "sustainable development" and global standards of living. Some neo-Malthusians are using the occasion to raise alarm about the dangers of overpopulation to the global food supply and warn of impending famine. Should we take any of this hand-wringing seriously?Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted, "A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far." He continued, "Far too many people are under the illusion that Earth is overpopulated,…

Monday, 28 November 2022 06:03

Ekiti: Tell Oyebanji, they will come for you! - Bola Bolawole

What goes around comes around First they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me - Martin Niemoller. Ekiti state, a state that prides itself as the country’s “Fountain of Knowledge”, is in the news again –and, unfortunately, for the…

Monday, 28 November 2022 06:02

Of 2023 and our cornucopia of excesses - Hassan Gimba

Cornucopia, a word with Latin origin and Greek history, comes from the Latin cornu copiae, which translates literally to “horn of plenty.” Cornucopia is believed to represent the horn of a goat in Greek mythology. Legend has it that it was from this horn that the god, Zeus, was fed as an infant. Later, the horn was filled with flowers and fruits and given as a present to Zeus. The word first appeared in English in the early 16th century; a century later, it developed the figurative sense of an overflowing supply. And so, cornucopia means abundance, plenty, an inexhaustible…

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