Let no one forget this: Abuja is a strategic city. Those who travel there do so with a purpose
Author: Reuben Abati
The average Nigerian politician does not connect with his constituents at the level of ideas. What drives Nigerian politics is the sharing of cheap envelopes, containing a percentage of stolen funds
There is a disconnect between Nigeria’s international human rights obligations and what it does at home, creating conflicts and tensions in the implementation of human rights law
If you like, summon the Holy Ghost. We have never had a Christmas like this one. On Christmas eve in Lagos, come and see people just going about, many of them aimlessly. The kind of shopping that heralds Christmas was absent. For the first time, I could see the real colour of sadness, frustration and regret on the people’s faces
It is left to the Nigerian government not to behave as if these statements do not matter
Earlier this year, I had written a piece titled: “Anything Can Happen In America,” from which the quote above is excerpted, but I had virtually no idea that the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election could be so shocking, unthinkable and unbelievable
Should I become President of Nigeria tomorrow, I will build a new Presidential Villa: a Villa that will be dedicated to the all-conquering Almighty, and where powers and principalities cannot hold sway
This great Nigerian artiste is better experienced in performance. I still watched him on stage in Ibadan about two weeks ago, and characteristically, he remained on stage for hours entertaining guests with dexterous dancing, his mastery of multiple instruments and the infectious joy with which he performs his task. It is hard to believe that the old man is actually 70. He looks today almost exactly the same way he looked more than a decade ago
Readers and fans feel betrayed. The defender of the people’s interest is accused of “joining them” to go and “eat”. This is the dilemma of every Nigerian journalist who has taken up the job of spokesperson in whatever governmental capacity
The way Nigeria is often painted abroad, and in those travel advisories that foreign ministries issue, you would think Nigeria is such an unsafe place where kidnappers are permanently on the prowl. Zuckerberg helped to show the rest of the world that Nigeria is not so bad at all, and that something really exciting is happening here among the country’s young population
He said he was proceeding right-away to buy a dog and name it Reuben Abati and that he would bring that dog to my neighbourhood, with the name inscribed on both sides of the dog and he would in my presence call out the dog: “Reuben Abati, come and eat, Reuben Abati, stop shouting, Reuben, stop being stupid, Reuben, you this idiotic dog!” and he’d like to see my reaction
The police are not investigating this threat, but they seem so excited about dealing with the poor trader called Joe, for having the effrontery to name his dog, Buhari
‘The Americans don’t consider a visit such as this the circus that we think it is. And that is why the Foreign Affairs Ministry must put up its thinking caps in preparing the briefing notes for President Buhari’
He was one of my media officers when I served as President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity and as official spokesperson; after the retirement of another dependable officer, Musa Aduwak, he replaced Aduwak as Director of Information in the department
I have no better illustration of this than the manner in which the critics of the incumbent administration at the centre are beginning to sound exactly the same way they sounded about two years ago under the Jonathan administration
Nothing but gold is good enough – afterall, the Olympics is the biggest showcase of human talent on the planet and a demonstration of man’s capacity to express himself or herself to the limits and excel. In the US for example, there is an obsession with gold at the Olympics, this being an extension of the average America’s patriotism-driven belief that the United States is the centre of the universe
“If he said that, it must have been a case of a slip of the tongue. There are more important issues we should worry about, my friend. But really, what is wrong with Nigeria being a United States of Nigeria? We should actually be a United States, because if there is anything we need in this country it is unity. I take it that the Minister was speaking loud. A case of malapropism, no more no less…”
I assured the fellow that I was not in any way in support of any anti-democratic move, and that the article was not about the Turkish economy but Erdogan’s politics and leadership. I added that while he was perfectly entitled to his admiration of Erdogan, I had no reasons to change my views and that he should beware of Embassy propaganda
The more light-skinned you are, the more acceptable you are in various circumstances, that is. I thought if this was true, then it is a tragedy indeed for the black world. For, once upon a time in the history of the black race, being black was a thing of joy and an instrument of protest. When Jesse Evans gave the black salute at the 1939 Olympics, after winning four gold medals, he was making a racially loaded statement about black pride and achievement. Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Muhammad Ali are key historical figures in the struggle for the black identity in the United States not to talk of various moments and efforts culminating in the Obama phenomenon eight years ago
Majekodunmi said: “We have it on good authority that N75 million has been released by Senator Okuremi Tinubu to Mrs. Kemi Nelson through Mrs. Tinubu’s sister called Funlola. The money is to organise a protest in Abuja on Wednesday against the chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dino Melaye, with 1,000 protesters from Lagos.