Browsing: Column

I don’t know why a few state governors are running around, dragging President Muhammadu Buhari by the hem of his agbada to save them from the misery of inconclusive election in their states. Their conduct reminds me of the days when lazy neighbourhood kids used to run home to Big Daddy to save them from the street bully.

Potential entrepreneurs must be grounded in human relations, which involves the need to know how to relate with all categories of stakeholders in the business that could be achieved by studying people and understanding them so as to accommodate their weaknesses and appreciate their strengths

Here is yet another account of what I saw in the politics of Ogun State and Nigeria. One of my early teachable moments was the realization that you are required to dress like the people whose votes you are looking for, and operate at that level, be like them, connect with them. When the 2019 political struggle began, I used to attend meetings wearing suits. Party members looked at me suspiciously. I couldn’t miss the glances, the whispers, the murmurs but I couldn’t quite figure out what was amiss until one Sunday afternoon, I arrived at a scheduled meeting all suited up. As soon as I stepped in, I thought I overheard someone saying quietly: “Even on Sunday evening!” I didn’t think that comment was meant for me. Whoever said that was probably talking to someone else. The pieces soon fell in place when one of our apex leaders accosted me:

This is not just about Chukwuemeka. But yes, Chukwuemeka indeed. You may ask: what’s in a name? Chukwuemeka connotes gratitude. Gratitude to God for his intervention using Imolites as instruments to empower that which is pleasing to all (Ihediohamma) to begin the process of regenerating a state that had been mindlessly raped by the greed of a man whose sense of superiority imprisoned with a primitive mindset that was last seen in the medieval ages. Contemporary history threw up the likes of Mobutu Sese-Seko, Emperor Bedel Jean Bokassa, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos as best compare in his blind quest to satisfy an insatiable desire to acquire and to own even plates and spoons not needed. But again, Chukwuemeka!

The peaceful conduct of the 2019 elections in Abia State from the Presidential/National Assembly to the Governorship/State House of Assembly polls without any rancour or loss of any human life is a testimony to quality leadership and has shown the character, courage and competence of Okezie Ikpeazu, not just as a governor, but also as a leader who cares so much about the lives and property of the people

It’s incredible how eight years have ended as a two-word parable: constituted authority. That’s what Governor Abiola Isiaka Ajimobi would be mostly remembered for – the epigram from his encounter with students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. That episode was perhaps one of the most catastrophic PR disasters of Ajimobi’s eight-year tenure.

Most fair-minded Nigerians are shocked at the outcome of the much-talked about 2019 elections. It was an election as no other and as the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the presumed loser, a winner, the election result has entered the history books as a fraud like no other.

The 2019 presidential elections may have come and gone, but the effects will be felt in Nigeria for a very long time. Apart from the 2007 general elections, the 2019 presidential elections is presently regarded as the worst in the nation’s history by a lot of Nigerians. The question on the mind of majority of Nigerians is, how can an electoral process that witnessed the highest amount of voter registration with over 80 million registered voters, voters card collection with nearly 73 million eligible voters and an election that was predicted to be the biggest in Africa’s history witness the lowest turnout in our nation’s electoral history according to data from the Independent National Electoral Commission. Turnout was just above 35 per cent of eligible voters.

As the central bank and apex monetary authority of the country, the major regulatory objectives of the Central Bank of Nigeria as mirrored in the institution’s enabling Act are to maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability, a sound financial environment and to act as a banker of last resort.

For Lagosians, this Saturday’s governorship election promises to be decisive. It will put many issues finally to bed. One of the issues that must be put to rest is the chasm that some are trying to create and exploit between Yoruba and Igbo people in Lagos. Even among brothers within the same family who love and care for each other, differences arise at times.