Browsing: Azu Ishiekwene

Turai stayed in her place. Things began to get complicated when Yar’Adua took ill months into his presidency. Out of the “maternal” instinct to save her husband from those she thought were taking advantage of his illness, Turai grabbed power one lever at a time until she transformed into the single most formidable powerhouse in and outside government

Among other presents he brought to me on that day was the digital version of a grandfather wall clock. I was thrilled by the gift but my excitement was soon mixed with confusion by Lekan’s parting words on his way out. “What are you planning to do next year?,” he asked with a concern and sincerity that left me perplexed

While he was still speaking, social media was aflame. The more charitable critics told him to get over his old-fashioned ideas. Not a few said they considered his comment harmful and irresponsible. Doesn’t he know that he is a role model

At a time when the government is rationing foreign exchange for manufacturers and parents have to go to the “black” market to find foreign exchange for their children’s fees or essential medical care, why should religion get preferential treatment?

News from some of the states these days is so extraordinary you don’t know whether to laugh, cry or get mad. Six weeks after Benue first broached the subject, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, announced that workers in the state will now have a three-day working week

The point, really, is that he believed that a free press plays a very important role in keeping government honest, without which tyranny takes hold. It is not just for the purpose of professional gratification that the press is also esteemed the fourth estate of the realm – the other realms being the executive, the legislature and the judiciary

He would be laughing now. At the heart of the anger that triggered the “Leave” vote last week is the futile attempt, even after many decades, by the British to see themselves as Europeans. Immigration is probably the next big issue. A flood of immigration, especially from EU countries, saw 185,000 net EU citizens move into the UK in 2015 alone, with over 40 per cent of them citing jobs as the main reason.

That was not what the visit was meant to achieve. The IVLP is a five-star programme of the State Department designed to expose carefully selected participants to the US system of government, to help them understand how the system works in the hope that they would use the experience when they return home

In the early stages of the resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta – around the 1990s – the romantic tale was that the country’s dominant rulers, mostly northerners, had plundered the region’s oil to develop “their country”, with its capital in Abuja. It didn’t matter that in most elections held in the country for decades – credible or not – most of the core Niger Delta states had voted massively for the same conservative, “northern oppressors

We knew him for his books on getting rich and making it big on property. Whether it was The Art Of The Deal; Think Like A Billionaire: Everything You Need To Know About Success, or The America We Deserve, you didn’t read Trump and fail to be touched by his fearlessness and love of adventure

And as if to confirm that the Armageddon of subsidy was finally at hand, Wabba issued a follow-up statement the day after the notice, advising members of the public to stock up: it was either the government would return to the original price of N86.50 or nothing

‘The government announced N145 as the new pump price. Are we hurting? Yes. The hardship in the country today confronts you wherever you go. Do we need a private army to recruit us into its own private war? No’

‘Azu, wouldn’t you as a father entrust your legacies in the hands of a child, who in your estimation, appears better prepared to bring more glory to the family to sustain the family tradition? Does exercise of his right now amount to godfatherism? ‘

Between Lucky Igbinedion and Oserheimen Osunbor, two Peoples Democratic Party governors who were in office between 1999 and 2008, Edo received over N1 trillion from the federation account. Whatever was not used from the treasury to keep Igbinedion flying from one exotic destination to another or to service his libido with regular supply of undergraduates from the University of Benin, was used to maintain Godfather Anenih and a few party faithful

The message, in between the lines, is that the all-controlling Hausa Fulani who have now been forced to confront Boko Haram which they created as a tool to seize political power from a southern, christian president, have created another dangerous franchise to extend and consolidate control on other parts of the country

In an explosive interview in the March edition of The Interview magazine, Sani said: “It would be counter-productive for the Governor to start thinking of evicting Buhari in 2019 to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. El-Rufai should do his job and stop putting his eyes on the Presidency”