Few lawyers have affected the Nigerian legal space as Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, OFR, MFR, FCIArb, FNIALS. Perhaps, the multiple award-winning guiding light of the legal profession, seasoned litigation and commercial lawyer, altruist and founder/principal partner of J-K Gadzama LLP, wins our hearts with his unparalleled contribution to the improvement of the legal profession and empowerment of its practitioners. Or, maybe he has won our hearts by being a self-made individual whose contribution to the empowerment of disadvantaged individuals and communities knows no bound. Still, maybe Chief Gadzama, a hard-nosed arbitrator surprises us by his extraordinary humility as well as…
Author: Abdulrazaq Magaji
Like other Africans, Igbo people are ingenious when it comes to christening newborn babies. Among the Igbo, children are christened to reference an event surrounding the birth. From Amaechi (who knows tomorrow!) to Zinachidinma (show the world that the Lord is good!), there is no Igbo name that does not signify happenstance in the family. Igbo compendiums even list Yoruba, which means Peace, as a feminine name. Whether the Igbo give the name, Yoruba, to their daughters is a matter for another day. No matter. Of the lot, however, one name sticks out. Ozoemena (may another bad event or situation never recur!) is a prayer as well as a cry to God…
The last time Nigerians celebrated a police officer was in the late 1980’s. That was when a policeman called Alozie Ogugbuaja, a superintendent of Police, ruffled the composure of his superiors by attributing coup plotting to boredom in army barracks. For Ogugbuaja, it was boredom among idle soldiers that pushed them into trooping into mammy-market joints to plot coups over bottles of beer and pepper-soup. That was years before Abba Kyari appeared on the stage. Kyari, 46, needs little introduction. Until his suspension, he was the highly-visible and much-decorated commander of the Intelligence Response Team, a special unit put together to…
<234-803-697-9133> Smart Adeyemi is not a clown and does not even behave like one. Unlike the man he replaced at the Senate, Smart is educated enough to know what it means to be a Senator. He is not given to histrionics. He is not a spook, he does not dress like one and he does not behave like a spook. That he rose to become president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a mark of how serious and clearheaded Smart is. In a society where trust has become scarce commodity, Smart is one Nigerian you want to have…
<234-803-697-9133> “You are a true leader and, like all true leaders, you have the confidence to stand alone, you have the courage to make tough decisions, and you have the compassion to listen to the needs and aspirations of others. You did not set out to be a leader, but you have become one by the equality of your actions and the integrity of your intent.” This is one chapter in a flowery citation on Mohammed Umar Bago, member representing Chanchaga Federal Constituency in Niger state when he was named Lawmaker of The Year by the North Central Elders and…
After years of being left in the lurch, divine intervention came for Nigeria’s State of Harmony, Kwara when, in 2019, the people elected what came close to their idea of a people’s government. The election of His Excellency Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq lifted people’s moral and the governor, aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders, literally hit the ground running when he assumed office. He has not buckled under the burden since then. It is seventeen months into the journey and, already, dirty politics is threatening to buckle him. From all indications, some passengers in the jalopy the governor is have…
Finally, the end is here for Donald J. Trump. After weeks of stonewalling, Trump has quit office in a blaze of ingloriousness. Trump has been in desperate shape since he lost his reelection bid last November, but that desperation gets more ominous as Trump limps out of the White House, lonely and naked, into a cold hostile world at noon on Wednesday, January 20. For one, Trump has been undergoing a series of political, financial, and legal setbacks long before the cataclysm that came with November 6. His business empire has been crashing as scared and bewildered partners who barely…
January 15 is here! It is the date on the nation’s official calendar that never fails to intrigue. As if you have forgotten, January 15 is Armed Forces Remembrance Day, a special date set aside to salute Nigerian soldiers who died in the two world wars of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 as well as those who died during the preventable civil war of May, 1967 to January, 1970. As the name indicates, emphasis is on members of the Armed Forces, not non-military Nigerian heroes and heroines the country has produced. Though the country has produced many non-military…
The race has begun, unofficially though, and from all indications, the campaign ahead of the next presidential election will not be without its fair share of excitement. Over the past several weeks, nocturnal meetings have intensified greatly and, as to be expected, politicians are crisscrossing the country to cement old ties and seek new alliances. In politics, as with all human endeavours, time is of great essence. Welcome to 2023! When the whistle is blown and, barring any major twist, Senator Ahmad Rufa’i Sani, first elected governor of Zamfara state will, again, seek the mandate of the APC party to…
Things are beginning to look up for Kwara state. The state is beginning to live up to its alias of a State of Harmony and governance is assuming its real meaning. Yes, the state is lucky not to have another stooge to hold down the cow for a few to milk and the word of one man is no longer law. What is more, the till is no longer plundered to drive the false lifestyle of an imperious few and their hangers-on. From all indications, the electorate in Kwara state did not make a wrong choice last March when they…
In about six weeks from now, precisely on January 15, 2020, Nigeria will be celebrating another Armed Forces Remembrance Day. As if you have forgotten, January 15 is the date set aside to salute Nigeria’s fallen heroes. Those fallen heroes are soldiers who died in the two world wars of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 and those who died during the 30 month long Nigerian civil war. Emphasis here is on members of the Armed Forces, not the millions of non-combatant casualties, especially civilians who died during needless Nigerian civil war. The civilian victims will have to wait…
This is not the best of times for the Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service. As things stand, several factors have combined to dampen the morale of many hardworking career civil servants who, for no fault of theirs, may never reach the pinnacle of their career. At issue is the suspension (some call it abrogation!) of the tenure limitation policy by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Last month, the president indicated that he was not about to lift the suspension when he extended the tenure of seven ‘’lucky’’ federal permanent secretaries by one year with effect from October 1, 2019. The…
In his first coming as military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari foresaw the possibility of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians who ‘check out’ in search of the Golden Fleece. That fear must have prompted the government to create the award-winning television jingle, ‘Andrew’ which featured late actor Enebeli Elebuwa. The popular ‘Andrew’ jingle underlined the administration’s campaign to discourage Nigerians from ‘checking out’. Aside ‘Andrew’, the then Buhari/Idiagbon administration embarked on a re-orientation programme with its WAI or War Against Indiscipline campaign. The administration also proceeded to erect formidable socio-economic structures meant to lay a solid foundation for economic…
Like other societal ills, examination malpractice has wreaked a lot of havoc on the nation. If truth be told, most cases of collapsed buildings, death through medical negligence, drug trafficking, armed robbery, drug adulteration, separatist agitation, kidnapping, insurgency, low quality political leadership as well as other vices bedevilling the society are direct consequences of examination malpractice. It was for this reason, as well as the need to open a second window for school leavers that government came out with the National Examination Council (NECO). What this means is that the minimum of four weeks between NECO examination and its competitor…
Dateline: December 15, 1991. The prospect of ethnic cleansing was palpable and war drums sounded unusually loud in East and Central Europe when we landed at Ferigehy International Airport in Budapest, capital of Hungary, that freezing afternoon. One hour earlier, my heart literally sank when we boarded Malev, Hungary’s national carrier in Frankfurt, Germany, because of what appeared to me to be poor visibility. It was ten clear years away from 9/11 but as the aircraft taxied, preparatory to takeoff for the one-hour flight to Budapest, I started wondering if the Hungarian crew was on a suicide mission! The pilot must…
Throughout his sojourn at the National Assembly, former senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki never saw anything immoral in expending one-quarter of the federal budget on fuelling the false lifestyle of lawmakers and their hangers-on. In fact, when he executed the presidency of the Senate, Dr, Saraki consistently defended the misnomer and serially gibed at whoever questioned the expenditure of the National Assembly. That is as it should be! Then, Dr. Saraki suddenly ’saw the light’, or so it seemed, after he failed to secure re-election! In a typical about-face, made even more remarkable by its quirkiness, the former senate president…
It was an auspicious beginning for the people of Offa in their quest to transform their community, Offa, the second town in Kwara state has just concluded an epochal 3-day economic summit, the first of its kind in this part of the world. Reading through the carefully-worded summit communiqué, there is every reason to believe that the people of Offa have a compass to guide them to transform their community into a ‘Little London’, the alias by which indigenes proudly refer to their community. By all standards, the summit was a brilliant initiative for a community that is begging to…
One of the ignominious narratives told by implacable fifth columnists in Nigeria revolves round the possibility of the breakup of their country along ethnic or religious lines. What this means, in the opinion of irredeemable segregationists, is that Nigeria is unwieldy and, therefore, should dissolve into several self-governing nation-states to replace the one, united Nigeria clumsily woven by Frederick Lugard in 1914. Five years after Nigerians celebrated the centenary of their country, it appears the hot air over the country’s ill-advertised break up is gradually coming to grief. And the reason for this is not far fetched. It is taken…
It is still early in the day, but from the look of things, the newly inaugurated ninth National Assembly will be different from the defective one it succeeded. One major reason for this is the seamlessness by which the leaders of the Assembly emerged. Get this clear! Nobody expects the ninth National Assembly to be an appendage of the Executive arm, but again, nobody expects a proactive legislature to operate at cross-purposes with the executive. Clearly, the Buhari/Osinbajo administration began the journey in 2015 with a National Assembly leadership whose aim was anything but noble. At a point, discerning Nigerians…
The long-suffering people of Kwara state had every reason to be jubilant. For most part of the day, car horns blared endlessly as gaily dressed people trooped out to dance in the streets in Ilorin, the state capital and many towns in the state. Not even an early morning heavy downpour threatened the carnival atmosphere that gripped Kwara state. Day was May 29, the day His Excellency, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the first unencumbered governor of Kwara state, was inaugurated. Even those who still thought they were in dreamland soon realized this was for real: the rampaging dynasty they served for…
From June, governance will never be the same in Kwara state. There will be a clear demarcation between state and personal bank accounts, competence will replace ass-licking in crucial appointments and the issue of who gets what will no longer be at the whim of one man. These are part of the expected outcome of the battle of wits between agents of democratic and anti-democratic forces which was won and lost on March 9. On that day, all that the democratic forces in the state needed to do was to muster all effort to throw a sucker punch. The punch…
The pilfering cabal in Kwara state, so daring and ever devious over the past decade and half, has never been this desperate. Since the March 9 election that halted the growing despondency in the state, desperate efforts by agents of the outgoing administration and their main patron are cleaning up their dirty act. The act that provoked the desperation was the univocal statement made by Kwara voters on March 9: blood is not always thicker than water! Still, the cleaning up act is a tall order for an establishment that thrived on impunity. The outgoing and sinking establishment can only…
