TheCable

I have a distant acquaintanceship with Seun Onigbinde, meaning, if I wanted to, I could have privately congratulated him on his appointment as Technical Adviser (Budget & Planning) to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning. My congratulations to Onigbinde will be public, via this critical piece. If he accepts it in good faith, he would have successfully [...]

For the first time ever, Nigeria-based Nigerians gave a violent response to the killing and maiming of their countrymen in South Africa. South African enterprises, the most unfortunate being food retailer Shoprite and telco MTN, were targeted, leading to the destruction of property and obstruction of trade. In some instances, innocent Nigerian shoppers and business owners were affected. The attacks [...]

On Tuesday, the United States announced a hike in the cost of visa application for Nigerians. The US Consulate in Nigeria didn’t mince words in explaining the move: The total cost for a US citizen to obtain a visa to Nigeria was higher than the total cost for a Nigerian to obtain a comparable visa to the United States. The [...]

The last 10 days have been very damaging for Nigeria’s already-battered international image. The spark was Obinwanne Okeke, once remembered for his listing by Forbes among the 100 Most Influential Young Africans 2018 but now an emblem of dirty wealth, following his arrest by the FBI over an $11 million advanced internet scam traced to him. This was followed by [...]

If we didn’t know better, we would have thought the subject of such effusive praise on his 78th birthday is a leader in the mould of the great Nelson Mandela. Abubakar Bello, Governor of Niger State, described him as “the legend of our time… not only an exceptional and exemplary leader but also as a peacemaker of international repute”. Ifeanyi [...]

If you believe the Army’s explanations about the killing of three policemen and a civilian in Taraba last week, please lend me your innocence. It probably means you have enough to go round the country! I have written about it before: when the Army writes, it cannot be trusted. Simple. At best the Army’s statements are half-truths; other times they’re [...]

It’s the scheduled day for the 21-state #RevolutionNow protests championed by activist Omoyele Sowore who, as he must have expected, is currently in Department of State Services (DSS) detention. Ordinarily, talks at the moment should be centred around the possibility of the protests to achieve its long list of targets, which, it must be emphasised, excludes a regime overthrow. But [...]

When youth corps member Precious Owolabi and Deputy Commissioner of Police Usman Umar were felled by protest-ground bullets, we thought we had seen the anticlimax to last week’s clashes between the Islamic Movement of Nigerian (IMN) and security agents. Speaking in tangible terms, we were probably right.A budding journalist still trying to make sense of his profession and a [...]

When President Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in on Wednesday for a second consecutive democratic term in office, it will be a low-key affair: no pomp or pageantry, no retinue of world leaders.In practice, this is due to Buhari’s admittedly smart decision to officially recognise June 12 — rather than May 29 — as Nigeria’s Democracy Day in honour of [...]

Had everything gone to plan, a new or recycled Nigerian President would have emerged by now. But it wasn’t to be. Roughly five hours to the scheduled commencement of voting on Saturday morning, Mahmood Yakubu, a Professor and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced a one-week postponement, citing sabotage, bad weather and other logistical challenges. But the [...]

There is something baffling about the fascination of Nigerians with the lesser of two figurative evils. In fact, the twin-devil concept is popular in Nigeria beyond politics, as exemplified by the widely-applied saying: “The devil you know is better than the angel you don’t.”In 2015, Nigerians went to the polls torn between the devil and the deep blue sea: Goodluck [...]

Was anyone worried last week when reality television show Big Brother Naija kicked off the auditions for its 2019 edition? In each of the eight audition centres —Edo, Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, Delta and Cross River states, plus the Federal Capital territory (FCT) — youth assembled in their tens of thousands to jostle for just 12 house spots (or maybe [...]

Until President Muhammadu Buhari infamously showed up on Friday to ‘remove’ Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) through the backdoor, an alternate party was on the verge of providing us the biggest talking point of an entire week — for the first time in a long time Onnoghen’s suspension has no place in any democracy. Let’s not lie about [...]

Oby Ezekwesili, Kingsley Moghalu and Fela Durotoye must have woken up on Sunday morning feeling a measure of resentment towards Nigerians. Quite thanklessly for them, these are the same Nigerians whose votes they seek.At Saturday night’s presidential debate, Ezekwesili spoke about her determination to lift 80 million Nigerians out of poverty. She talked about removing barriers in the way of [...]

There is nothing heartwarming about the expected arraignment, later today, of Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on a six-count charge bordering on fraudulent asset declaration. It is not good for Onnoghen, it is not good for his profession, it is not good for the country, it is not good for [...]

Those who believe in God know that there are times He uses the unworthy vessel to work wonders. One was Moses the stammerer, who considered himself unqualified but was nevertheless picked to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Another was Saul, the man who went about arresting believers of Jesus but then not only turned one himself but also [...]