Browsing: Column

At about 3pm on this day, we were driving at about 70km per hour through Ozumba Mbadiwe road in Victoria Island, a freeway – there was no traffic. Suddenly we saw a Volkswagen Tiguan car reversing out of the Department of Petroleum Resources office with a security man directing the car to come out. At the speed level we were, our driver had to apply his brakes suddenly as the Tiguan car’s rear was already sticking out to the highway

For supporters of the two main and major contestants, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, and All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, you are a saint if you support their candidate or a devil if you dare raise a voice against their beloved choice

In saner climes, the admission by no less a person than the nation’s number one citizen would be greeted with sober reflection that will galvanize the entire nation into a solution seeking mode particular to figure out what went wrong and also decide how to end the circle of failure

I am almost certain that Oby Ezekwesili’s name would pop up when the time comes to fill sensitive ministerial post in a Muhammadu Buhari presidency given her closeness to Nasir el-Rufai, the next governor of Kaduna State, and his closeness to a potential Presidential Buhari. The slim chance that the woman, Japheth Omojuwa, once proclaimed as the ‘Mother of the Nation’ – for her lead role in the noble BBOG movement – leading a sensitive Ministry as the Petroleum or Education Ministry inspires hope

Rivers State was a political time-bomb waiting to explode on account of injustice, until the simple, humble and charismatic Dakuku Peterside emerged on the scene

My message to those silent elites today is that whilst they are sitting on the fence, people are being killed like flies in some parts of the country on a daily basis; whilst we are on that fence, our foreign reserves are going down, corruption is growing like cancer, poverty is growing even in the face of dubious economic theories and figures, and we continue to live without adequate power supply

This is a problem that has lasted for more than 100 years in one form or the other. Buhari is from the North and he surely knows better than what is currently being paraded or trumpeted as one of his landmark achievements

Not even the merger of the so-called legacy opposition parties and the subsequent merger of this emergent entity with the New Peoples Democratic Party to create a viable, national single opposition party was enough to convince me otherwise

This was barely some few minutes after eight in the evening, and right in front of Barrack Bus stop, where we ran into a heavy traffic that began to ease out slowly

It is very important to understand and assimilate this principle because a lot of people fail at this point. They know the target, they fast and pray and even sometimes get directives on what to do, but unfortunately, they don’t take the steps to actualize the goal or vision

Otunba and Mrs. Komolafe met at the shop of a photographer who was a tenant to Mrs. Aduke Komolafe’s father and they took a photograph together on the very day they met

The cleric said Nigerians should not forget that on May 14, 2013, while declaring a state of emergency in three states, President Goodluck Jonathan said of the activities of terrorists: “These actions amount to a declaration of war and a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the Nigerian state and threaten its territorial integrity. As a responsible government, we will not tolerate this

What is different however is the amount of garbage oozing out of the throat of some principal elements in the campaigns. And the unprecedented level of mud slinging and character assassination

3. Next, I would like to recognise Asiwaju Bola Tinubu whose sacrifices, organisational skills and extensive political network did much to straighten and cement the blocks of the merger and then take APC to unprecedented heights of acceptance in important areas of the country

Until Gen. Buhari picked Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate, I was not certain about my decision. In my opinion the choice of Professor Osinbajo wasn’t just a choice made by man, I believe it was God who handpicked him as Buhari’s running mate

With a professional background steeped in highly efficient private sector audit, Tinubu was quick to realize the need to depend less on federal allocation by shoring up the revenue profile of the state. This feat was achieved through a systematic re-engineering of the internally generated revenue regimes by plugging loopholes and leakages and keeping within existing financial guidelines in a way that does not impose an additional burden on the people

Initially, many pundits in spite of the ongoing insurgency in the North East and unending daily bashing of whatever is left of President Goodluck Jonathan’s goodwill by the press and the opposition, believe the President may pull this battle through and we were right in making such calls as at then. Looking at the factors that determine electoral victory, President Jonathan as at November 2014 was still doing well in the race

My friend, don’t be bothered about the criticisms of others keep up the good work. The truth is that it is natural for people to talk. Either good or bad. They must talk therefore please note that the very day they stop talking about you that means the person has no more relevance

The weather was becoming dangerous for long voyages by then because it was so late in the fall

Reports said it was Nigeria which made the difference in the resolution failing to pass, as it had been expected. Our country had resolved to vote in favour but then decided a few hours to the vote to abstain