Author: Fredrick Nwabufo

Did you know Ifeanyi Okowa is running for president in 2023? Well, yes, he is. I was surprised when I learnt the governor of Delta state had been putting coal in the fire in preparations for his presidential bid. 2023 elections will come with thunderbolts and whammies. Okowa could be the dark horse of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He does not come off as someone with an expansive courage to dip into the turbulence of Nigeria’s presidency. But we are in a time of shockers – the unexpected should be expected. The presidential hopeful on the PDP side who…

Read More

Idumuje-Ugboko is a sleepy, rustic but peaceful and idyllic town nestled in a heap of lush vegetation in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta state. The town is home to prominent Nigerians, and notable among them is Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko, popularly known as Ned Nwoko, a businessman and politician. The quietude and sacrality of Idumuje-Ugboko was assaulted on May 25, 2017. In the dead of night, a group of violent men belched from the bowels of hades unleashed destruction and death on the elders and members of the community. By the time the hoodlums were done, they left…

Read More

President Muhammadu Buhari can be inscrutable. Difficult to predict and divine. You cannot tell what he is thinking. And like the old general that he is, he has perfected the art of not telling it all and choosing his words carefully like a cat on tightropes. In an interview with Channels Television in January 2022, the old fox kept his mystery and had everyone guessing. When asked who his preferred 2023 presidential candidate was, the artful general said: “I don’t have any favourite for 2023 and if I do, I won’t reveal his identity because if I do, he may…

Read More

Second chances. Not everyone deserves them. What will former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) do differently if by the contrivance of fate, he runs for presidential office and gets elected in 2023? I think the tragedies of the past are better left as legends and not reprised. The past should stay in the past. There is no nostalgia from a time corruption ruled irrepressibly in the land, infrastructure decrepit, the national treasury pillaged and impunity triumphed over the rule of law. On Tuesday, a federal high court in Plateau state convicted Sarah Ochekpe, former minister of water resources under Jonathan,…

Read More

Killing, killing, killing in the name of Biafra! When did murder become typical of the Igbo stock? When did taking innocent lives become classic in Igbo land? In Igbo cosmology, murder, ‘Igbu oshu’ is a cardinal sin deserving of banishment. A murderer is banished from the community and the land is cleansed of the abomination. Have the Igbo settled for this governing abomination? Have the elders been functionally vasectomised? How can murder, anarchy, and fear reign in the land uncontested? Have we become a people given to bloodletting, beheading and cannibalism? Have we gone backwards in our evolution as a…

Read More

To ‘japa’ or not to ‘japa’, that is not the question. The question is; if not Naija, where else? If it is not Naija, e no go fit be like Naija. The song by Korede Bello, ‘I love Naija’, plays in my head. ‘’I love my country, I love Naija; I no go run cause I believe e go better, Naija will be sweeter; we can make it together, cause now and forever Naija is my home.’’ Riddim…!!! Have you caught the ‘japa’ bug? If you have, all well and good. Godspeed to you in your sojourn. Naija will always…

Read More

In Nigeria’s politics, the north is indispensable – and it has always been. By the contrivance of kismet, the north has always held all the aces as the repository of political power since independence. And I say it is divine. In the 1959 general election, the north showed its strength. The Northern People’s Congress (NPC) won 134 seats in parliament (the highest number of seats). Although it polled 1,922,179 votes, it entered into an entente with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) which won 81 parliamentary seats and polled 2,594,577 votes. Owing to the alliance, Tafawa Balewa…

Read More

‘Why always Obi Cubana?’ The businessman has become a news staple. Every week Obi Cubana is in the news – but sometimes for controversial reasons. The light, including coyotes, now trail Cubana wherever he goes. ‘Why always Obi Cubana?’ Obinna Iyiegbu, better known as Obi Cubana, is not a spin-off of chance. His business roots are public knowledge in Abuja. From a modest but popular restaurant and bar in Garki, the business, which defined nightlife in Abuja in the early 2000s, mushroomed into more successful lifestyle brands. Obi Cubana operated his businesses in the shadows until recently when he decided…

Read More

Has Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, lost his trenchant voice to the serpentine politics of Aso Rock? Has the fabled Lion of Ubima been emasculated and magicked into a wimpy cat? Has Chibuike Nwaamaechi, who defied a sitting president; survived lethal political machinations in his former party — the PDP — and fought against titans and celestials to deracinate an incumbent president, taken an oath of silence? Amaechi, known to be vivacious, vociferous and blunt, has suddenly retreated into a concrete shell. He rarely grants interviews and appears to be public shy – uncharacteristic of him. He also now speaks…

Read More