Last Sunday in St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo Town, Ondo State, pure terrorism was on full display as unknown gunmen invaded the church during service shooting sporadically and indiscrimately and killing scores of worshippers including women and children. Many more were wounded as the temple was violated. It was a scene of horror and bestiality of man. It is not that we are not used to terrorism or horrendous occurences but this particular massacre presented another image of our descent into barbarism. Nigeria is becoming more and more terrorized entity with people living dangerously. Since democracy was restored after decades…
Author: Ozodinukwe Okenwa
The executive Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, is embattled lately faced with gruesome murders, arson, terrorism and kidnappings by the so-called unknown gunmen. Ever since his inauguration months ago the Governor has shown some intrepid leadership qualities. He is working round the clock to give ‘Ndi-Anambra’ the dividends of democracy. He has not shied away from taking bold and impressive decisions bordering on many socio-economic aspects of lives of our people. He had dutifully toured some parts of the state, visiting prisons and hospitals and proffering reforms that would be beneficial in the long run. He had…
Perhaps it is important we begin this piece by indicating clearly that the former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is eminently qualified to preside over our national chaotic affairs as President. The big man from Adamawa State has certain quality and positives trailing his political career spanning decades in Nigeria. Yet it goes without saying that there exist some negatives in his public service years. In the course of this treatise we shall dwell on both (positives and negatives) in order to be able to draw an objective constructive conclusion. Last weekend in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja the opposition…
Fellow Nigerians, It has given me great delight to address you all today as our convention aimed at choosing our party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential poll in February takes place this weekend. I am quite aware of the present challenges besetting our dear nation but my administration is resolutely determined to meet them and make life better for our people. For the past seven years we have endeavoured to impose order, improve the economy, reduce corruption and frontally fight terrorism and insurgency. Thus far we have not done badly given the state of the nation prior to our election…
Stephanie Otobo, the Nigerian-born singer based in Canada is in the news yet again for all the wrong reasons. She is still interested in exposing her international sexual exploits. While some notable musicians, Nollywood actors and actresses are winning international laurels like the Grammy Awards, making the country proud and making name and money for themselves Ms Otobo is content narrating how she saw Apostle Suleman’s nudity, how his manhood looked like and the scars he bore in his sensitive body parts. And above all, why she was back to round two of their storied sexcapade. Stephanie is still locked…
The presidential poll in Nigeria, slated for early next year, is getting more and more interesting. Interesting in the sense that dozens of eminent and ‘non-eminent’ Nigerians are indicating wilful interest in succeeding the underwhelming incument President, Muhammadu Buhari. Interesting because Nigerians in the diaspora are also making their intentions known and heard. More and more candidates are coming out to declare their interest in the top job. Ordinarily, the multiplication of candidates is a good omen; that is, knowing that Nigeria is not short of presidential talents or materials. The 2023 presidential election possesses the quality and hope for…
Nigeria is ranked the richest country in Africa over and above the industrial giants like South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. The Gross Domestic Product of the most populous black country in the world is said to be above four hundred billion Dollars! Besides, the richest man in Africa and the black world is Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote. Again, in the Forbes billionaires rich list as it concerns Africa Nigerians register some good number including Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu etc. But paradoxically Nigeria is ranked the ‘poorest’ country in the whole world! It has ingloriously overtaken India as the poverty…
Abubakar Malami is the Nigerian Minister of (in)Justice and Attorney-General of the federation. By the combination of these two powerful offices Malami could be said to be an important member of the Buhari administration. To be sure the AGF has Buhari’s number; he knows his strenghts and weaknesses! The embattled President has absolute confidence in him, trusts him blindly and listens to his legal advices. As an intellectually-challenged President Buhari cannot afford not to have Malami by his side as he treats certain complicated national issues that he neither comprehends nor controls. Given this presidential incompetence Malami exploits the presidential…
The presidential poll in Nigeria is gathering momentum. It is scheduled to hold early next year in the month of February all things being equal. Barring any unforeseen circumstances because of the generalized galloping insecurity, killings and kidnappings going on around the country. Besides, when you add increasing poverty level, lethargy of governance at the centre and COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine war then the possibility exists that the poll could be marred. But we all want it to happen if only to say a thunderous enthusiastic ‘goodbye’ to Buharism! Of course, the President is better off marooned by his cows…
Twitter, Instagram and Facebook facilitate our daily digital interactions among friends and relatives, far and near. Cross-fertilisation of ideas remains a democratic imperative in a free world. The Internet, without any iota of doubt, has dramatically changed our communal or individual conversations among ourselves in the whole world. With the advent of the Internet freedom of expression has been given another profound meaning lifting same from the puritanical shackles of state censorship and dictatorship. Dictators may not be happy with its unlimited reach and impact but it has come to stay for good. The Internet had helped to organize revolutions…
Dear Nigerians, It is with great delight that I address you all today. In the name of Jesus the Christ to whom we owe our lives as Christians I come before you as a humble servant determined to change the course of our nation’s history for good. In the name of the great Man born in Nazareth whose glorious resurrection we had just celebrated as Christians I speak to you today convinced that the future of our nation is bright despite the present challenges. No one can deny the fact that we have experienced a lot of challenges and difficulties…
Dear compatriots, It is important that I begin this presidential declaration address of mine by declaring emphatically that Nigeria, our great country, is at crossroads. The (mis)ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has effortfully plunged the nation into monumental indebtedness, misery, economic decline and social tension in almost every region. Nowhere is safe or secure anymore — not even Abuja, Daura or Damaturu! Nowhere is spared of the organized terrorism of both the state and non-state actors. We have never had it so bad post-independence in 1960. We grieve for thousands of our compatriots thus far assassinated or killed by state…
By Ozodinukwe Okenwa The popular gospel singer and minister, Osinachi Nwachukwu, died recently in Abuja following alleged domestic violence. Sister Osinachi whose hit song, ‘Ekwueme’, made melodic headlines around the christian world died untimely at 42 as a direct or indirect result of the bestiality and brutality of the husband. Osinachi died a sad agonizing death after suffering bouts of domestic conjugal abuse and violence for years. She was a lead singer at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre. Peter Nwachukwu remains a beast of a man who never appreciated the fact that his late wife was a wonderful musical…
By Ozodinukwe Okenwa The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, formally declared his intention to succeed his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, last Monday. By so doing he had put speculations to that effect to rest. The diminutive number two citizen sounded coherent, patriotic, bold and convincing in his declaration speech. He sought to be seen as his own man. Before coming out openly to inform Nigerians of his readiness to compete and serve presidentially Osinbajo must have consulted widely. And above all, he must have sought and obtained the blessing and endorsement of the President himself. Buhari and the Fulani cabal…
Fellow Nigerians, It has given me great delight to address you all today. Ordinarily this presidential declaration of intent ought to be a great event eliciting jubilation and joy since ours is just rendering deserved service to our fatherland. But sadly, we continue to mourn and grieve for our compatriots daily killed or kidnapped in a nation without national leadership. So let everyone keep the silence like that obtained in a graveyard since the situation is dire enough. Nigeria is almost dead awaiting resurrection or resuscitation. Our beloved nation is passing through hell lately in terms of deteriorating security situation,…
The Chelsea Football Club is based in London. Stamford Bridge is their ‘den’. The team is a household international soccer brand. It has won many national and international trophies — Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield, Europa League, UEFA Champions League etc. Chelsea was owned by one Russian benevolent billionaire named Roman Abramovich. The club has many foreigners, players and the coaching crew, including Africans. Many black Africans had made name and big money for themselves playing for the club in different epochs. Founded in May 19, 1905, Chelsea Football Club has asserted itself a force to reckon with in…
The National Assembly in Nigeria (NASS) comprises the upper and lower legislative Chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Drawing heavy incomparable salaries that are not compatible with their legislative output the current NASS led by Ahmed Lawan (Senate) and Femi Gbajabiamila (House of Reps.) happen to be the most inefficient since democracy was restored in Nigeria in 1999. Senator Lawan and Honourable Gbajabiamila are establishment legislative rookies swimming in unmitigated mediocrity. Yet the NASS they led, despite their poor parliamentary stewardship, must be ‘praised’ here for one or two radical legislative interventions aimed at ameliorating our chaotic electoral…
The broom is an essential traditional domestic instrument used to clean our homes and surroundings. There are of course other modernized tools which could equally serve as instruments of domestic or environmental sanitation. The broom is still popular in many African homes, especially in the hinterlands. Every other morning the broom is useful in rendering our immediate environment agreeably clean to our visual senses. In Africa sweeping in the night is often associated superstitiously with bad omen. But scientifically nothing has yet been proven to render such stone-age superstition credible. Therefore, domestic or environmental sanitation is a natural duty imposed…
The Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the able Chairmanship of the youthful Abdulrasheed Bawa is apparently doing a great job of tracking down, arresting and prosecuting the so-called Yahoo-Yahoo boys and girls (Internet scammers) in Nigeria. In many cities across the federation, up North and down South, the EFCC agents are dutifully executing their mandate, determined to nip digital fraud in the bud. No nation makes any headway when crooks are allowed to prevail. Sometimes though they abuse their brief and powers by invading homes of upright Nigerians at wee hours of the night but in the course…
Enugu State holds a certain significant feature in the South-eastern region of the Nigerian federation. For one, it is the heartbeat of Igboland. For another, it was the regional capital of the defunct Eastern region from the 1st Republic until the late General Murtala Mohammed altered the regional political system of government by creating states to bring governance closer to the people. And above all, forge national unity and social cohesion post-Nigeria/Biafra war. The coal-city State had played some vital roles in the geo-politics of the political engineering and re-engineering of Nigeria. Before Enugu was carved out of old Anambra…
Professor Farooq Kperogi is a Nigerian-born Journalism and Emerging Media lecturer at the Kennesaw State University in Atlanta Georgia, the United States. He is one of the writers I read religiously week in, week out. Few others are Azu Ishiekwene, Olatunji Dare and Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo. He is insightful, intrepid and patriotic. His profundity of thoughts, analysis and delivery marks him out as a great mind worth giving attention to. Prof. Farooq knows the inner workings of power in Nigeria that sometimes his predictions or submissions turned out to be true turning him into a glorified oracle with authoritative takes…
Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the elected Anambra State Governor, took his oath of office in Awka last Wednesday (March 17th). It was a low-key event according to online reports. The out-gone Governor, Willie Obiano, his wife, Ebelechukwu ‘Osodieme’, and many other dignitaries graced the occasion. Governor Soludo is expected to usher in a change in Anambra State given his sterling character, administrative qualities and sound understanding and management of economic issues. As a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Soludo has distinguished himself as a technocrat with glorious antecedents. He has already hit the ground running having prepared…
General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) needs no introduction in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world. As a professional coup-plotter who overthrew another coup-plotter (now President, Muhammadu Buhari) he had ruled the most populous black nation for close to a decade culminating in a chaotic transition that saw an epilogue on June 12, 1993 when a new President (the late Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola) was elected. But a controversial annulment of the popular mandate followed suit leading to deaths and destruction of properties. Gen. Babangida and his military gang (including the late Gen. Sani Abacha and others) conspired to deny…
Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko (62) popularly known as Ned Nwoko is a Nigerian lawyer, politician and philanthropist. He was a member of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 representing Aniocha North-South and Oshimili North-South of Delta State. Nwoko is said to be rich, a billionaire. But when a Nigerian politician boasts of millions and billions (in Naira and Dollars) then interrogating his past becomes imperative lest he saw himself as a god. In a nation where corruption walks on four leprous legs Ned Nwokos of this world can afford to be happy knowing fully well that they are…
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, had thought that his invasion master plan of neighbouring Ukraine would be an easy task given the Russian military power. Now, the Kremlin dictator has been forced by unforeseen circumstances of mass resistance by Ukrainians to re-strategise and move on to plan B. Putin and his war Generals had thought invading Ukraine would not take up to 48 hours but now two weeks down the gory line the Russian forces are encountering stiff resistance spurred by remarkable patriotism and intrepidity seldom seen elsewhere. Putin is a bloody tyrant and he wants to bring back the…
The prosecuted (detained) leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has a date with justice yet again on the 18th day of April this year. Kanu is not yet convicted of any crime even though he had pleaded not guilty to the many charges preferred against him by the Federal Government. The charges included terrorism and illegal formation of a paramilitary force named the Eastern Security Network (ESN). Of course the establishment of the ESN seemed to be a turning point in the violent agitation for the Biafran sovereign nationhood. Justice Binta Nyako of the…
Perhaps it is not of order to begin this piece by pointing out clearly that this writer has nothing personal against the personality of the former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar or the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Indeed we believe strongly in their administrative capacity and patriotism. That was why we had openly preferred Atiku to the waffling and bumbling incumbent President when the two clashed electorally for Aso Rock presidential residency way back in 2015 and 2019. Asiwaju Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku remain two good presidential materials despite baggages of corruption trailing their political career. And the issue…
The Russian President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on the 7th October 1952. He studied law at Leningrad State University, graduating in 1975. He worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer based in Germany for 16 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before resigning to join politics. He briefly served as Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Secretary of the Security Council, before being appointed as Prime Minister in August 1999 by the ex-President Boris Yeltsin. After the resignation of Boris Yeltsin as President, Putin became acting President. And months later…
Liberia, a West African Americanized country, is unique in a couple of ways. It is about the oldest African Republic. It happened to be the global medical battleground against the deadly Ebola virus that swept through the country and the neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone, killing thousands of people, mainly in Liberia. She made history by electing the first female President in Africa, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. From the late Presidents Joseph Jenkins Roberts, William Tubman and William R. Tolbert to the incumbent George Oppong Weah it has been centuries and decades of political implosion and explosion; a cocktail of war, famine, disease, rebellion and coup…
Whoever doubted the determination of retired Brig-Gen. Mohammad Buba Marwa, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Chairman to rid Nigeria of narcotics business and drug consumption must have had a rethink following the recent revelation of the scandal of the century involving the disgraced and suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the hitherto Commander of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police Force. The anti-drug agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, was all business firing from all cylinders as he addressed a press conference recently. He sounded coherent, aggressive and undiplomatic in…
