Offices of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the country are still littered with broken bones, bloodied faces and shredded tallies from the party’s ward congresses last weekend.In virtually all the states, the ward congresses were marred by violence, with special drama in Anambra where the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, and a former governorship candidate of the [...]
Azu Ishiekwene
ON THE GO
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have a rough ride this week, over a matter that is, in the strict sense, not its business.After weeks of investigation, this could be the week when the Commission finally releases its findings into allegations that the Kano State Local Government election, conducted by the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) using INEC’s register, [...]
Legislative rascality has a long, chequered history. Perhaps one of the most dramatic in the Senate in the last 18 years happened on the watch of Chuba Okadigbo, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried by means fair and foul to remove Okadigbo as president of the Senate.After several attempts to remove him, including the executive offering bribes to senators, the [...]
Afeez Baruwa could be on his last mile to jail. Or he could be going home a free man.Three years ago, the former lecturer in the department of Accounting at the University of Lagos cornered an 18-year-old girl.The girl’s father, a friend of Baruwa’s, had sent her to the lecturer for help to gain admission. Baruwa apparently had other plans: [...]
Governor Yahaya Bello does not need to jump into the fire, yet. The Kogi State governor who had, in fact, sprained an ankle in what might have been a practice match for the big leap, was saved the trouble after President Muhammadu Buhari finally gave the hint that he would run for a second term in office. The governor had said [...]
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has no one but itself to blame for the back-and-forth with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the "lists of looters" it released last week.After the bazaar of the Jonathan era, that there’s any argument at all about who was named or omitted in the lists of who-stole-what, is a sign of how badly President [...]
For a government that has swallowed more than it can digest, last week’s extra portion from Bill Gates and TY Danjuma worsened its constipation.If Aso Rock knew in advance what Gates was going to say, it’s doubtful if the government would have organised an extraordinary meeting of the National Economic Council to hear it, however delicately expressed.Almost one year today [...]
It’s like a tale from fish-wifery told by moonlight: how Boko Haram entered a Nigerian town as villains, kidnapped dozens of schoolgirls, and 32 days later returned them to the same town as heroes with flags waving and crowds cheering and not a single Nigerian soldier in sight.Amend the last part. The soldiers who were in sight were present to [...]
The exit of Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson from office in January at the end of her second term as Liberian president left Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as the last African woman president standing.In a world where women have to prove themselves even for what comes to men naturally, whatever reduces the number of women in power preserves the glass ceiling.After Sirleaf-Johnson’s exit, I feared [...]
It was the other way round. Just three years ago, my friend and publisher of the Ghanaian Chronicle, Kofi Coomson, had almost given up on Ghana. He wanted to move.After only one term, John Mahama’s government had brought the country to the brink and Ghana was, once again, near its second major wave of emigration after the first in [...]
CNN anchor, Isha Sesay, is right about what she said on her Twitter handle. The kidnap of the 110 girls of Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, is not a national disaster as President Muhammadu Buhari had described it; it’s a national disgrace.The only thing worse than the disgrace is the incompetent response of Buhari’s government and the buck-passing in [...]
I had almost overcome my fear of flying when the news broke that the door of a Dana Airline flight from Lagos to Abuja fell off on touchdown.In a pathetic back-and-forth with passengers who had shared their experiences on social media, the airline’s management did not deny that the door fell off. Instead, it absolved its crew of responsibility and [...]
We’re back where we used to be many moons ago. Shortages and long petrol queues have resurfaced and there’s no sign that things would get better any time soon.If, however, promises could fill the supply gap, we would be drowning in petrol. The first clear sign of shortage started in December 2017, nearly three months ago.After the Federal Executive Council [...]
What was meant to be an assessment of the three-year-old government of President Muhammadu Buhari turned on its head before the ink dried up on the press statement.Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, said he meant to advise Buhari not to run again in 2019, but to make way for younger politicians.That might have been what he told his media [...]
The 30th summit of African Union leaders in Addis Ababa on Monday came at a moment when the continent is struggling to find its bearings.And we didn’t need Donald Trump’s slur to remind us of the work that still needs to be done.After years of violent conflicts, Liberia just had a peaceful transfer of power, which ushered in former world [...]
The decision of First Lady, Aisha Buhari, to retweet criticisms of the Buhari administration caused quite a stir last week. Not a few had hoped she would disclaim the handle or moan that it was hacked. But she didn’t.In a week when her husband was under the most severe attack in recent times for fiddling as widespread killings brought the country to its knees, [...]
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