Strange despicable things happen daily in Nigeria. And everyone seems to be accustomed to them to the extent that no one is ever shocked any longer whenever an abominable or sacrilegious event takes place anywhere. We are used to horrific and terrific incidents that we are now a people with morality or decency deficit. Apart from politics which brings out the beast in us the get-rich-quick syndrome has become a worrisome feature in our collective miserable lives. About everything is wrong morally with Nigeria! Up north blood flows, like in an abattoir, every now and then, depending on the mood…
Author: Ozodinukwe Okenwa
The business of politics globally involves money, filthy lucre, hubris and dirty tricks. The dirtier you are, especially in Nigeria, the more chances of scoring it big during an electoral contest from the local government level to the presidency. Sometimes, wealthy men used their enormous financial resources to gate-crash into power. Example, the former US President, Donald Trump. And the late Nigerian billionaire business mogul, Bashorun MKO Abiola. The only difference here, perhaps, is that while the combustive Trump trumpeted his way to power by investing heavily he tasted presidential power for four odd scandalous years the late Abiola used…
Fellow Nigerians, This is a special day in the chequered history of our dear nation. I come before you humbly as a servant and not the ‘kabiyesi’. I come before you fully aware of the enormous responsibility I bear as the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). I come before you with a patriotic heart bearing neither malice nor ill-will against anyone, friends or enemies! As a leader, tested and trusted, I know that leadership entails doing good and taking hard decisions. What is paramount, however, ought to be the general interest of the people, the security…
Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and winner by landslide of the Anambra gubernatorial election of late last year, cannot be described here as a professional politician but a technocrat. He would be sworn-in on the 17th of March this year thus ending the 8-year purposeless governance of the out-going Gov. Willie Obiano. Obiano came in as a technocrat and almost messed up governance with allegations of corruption, drunkenness and ineptitude mounting. Like Prof. Soludo Obiano was a retired banker and manager of men and resources. The man from Aguleri parted ways with his benefactor,…
The United States of America is one of the greatest and most powerful (and indeed the richest) nations in the world. Uncle Sam boasts of glittering cities and billionaires. It has made dreams possible and in equal measure she has killed dreams. The land of the Gates, Bezos, Trumps, Zuckerbergs etc has produced megastars and superstars including Rocco Siffredi, the porn champion. America is reputed to be the land of opportunities, a ‘paradise’ on earth where impossibility does not exist as it were. One of my friends who visited New York told me stunningly many years ago that he had…
After many years of colonialism by the French, the English, the Portuguese and the Belgians many African countries gained independence in a blaze of glory in the 60s and 70s. Following the political independence the African factor soon set in, a factor of mismanagement, of incompetence and of man’s inhumanity to man. The elite who took over from the departed white men sought to consolidate power. Internal wranglings and contradictions metamorphosed into disunity of purpose and degenerated into self-annihilation. Military coup after coup the continent (especially the sub-Saharan Africa) saw the Jackboot intervening to try to lord it over the…
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), appeared before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja twice last week. The federal prosecutors had increased the charges to fifteen, the principal of which remains those of treasonable felony and terrorism. As usual the lawless Department of State Services’ agents prevented interested stakeholders, journalists, lawyers and observers, from gaining entrance into the court room. In any democracy anywhere in the world worth its name the freedom to go in and out of court rooms is constitutionally guaranteed. But what was more terrible…
The 2023 presidential poll in Nigeria promises to be an interesting electoral contest featuring giants and lilliputians. Giants like the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and APC’s Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And lilliputians like the Ebonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, ex-Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim and a host of other undeclared candidates. Since President Muhammadu Buhari would not be participating in the poll (having served out his second uneventful tenure) the race would be crowded. Yet, in the end what matters most is our collective ability to use our voters cards to usher in a real change. Not…
On the 18th January this year the incarcerated leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is slated to appear in the Federal high Court, Abuja, before Justice Binta Nyako. It is his third or fourth appearance since he was spectacularly abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, and bundled back to Nigeria in July last year. His audacious mafia-like kidnapping and extra-judicial rendition back to Nigeria following days of sustained torture and abuse had generated a whole lot of controversy worldwide. Mazi Kanu is facing multiple charges bordering on treason, illegal possession of firearms and other sundry crimes…
NIGERIA NEWS TODAY Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan (GCFR) died recently in Lagos at a ripe age of 85. As an Octogenarian it must be said here that he kept a date with the ultimate leveller at an age few Nigerians could only aspire to attain in their lifetime. With the average life expectancy in the country below 50 years it is a glorious thing to belong to the Octogenarian or Nonagenarian club. Shonekan lived a worthy life as a lawyer, politician and elder statesman. The ‘Abese of Egbaland’ was a former Chairman of the famous United Africa Company of…
The African Cup of Nations (AFCON 2021) featuring twenty four national teams started with pomp and pageantry in Yaounde, Cameroun last Sunday. The continental soccer fiesta is in its 33rd edition. Due to COVID-19 invasion of the global village the tournament originally scheduled for last year was postponed to this year. Cameroun is a ‘special’ country in Africa like Canada in the Americas. It is a bi-lingual nation where French and English are simultaneously spoken nationally. Besides, she is a soccer-crazy nation with global exploits to boast of. There are great Camerounian players that have made name and money for…
The presidential poll in Nigeria is scheduled for February next year barring any unforeseen circumstances. Political permutations toward the election have started in earnest. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are preparing strongly to wrest power at the centre from the misruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the PDP serious contenders for the top job abound. If achievements and promises made and kept or broken were to be used as yardsticks for the election of the next President post-Buharism then the PDP stands a good chance of convincingly defeating the APC. The former Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,…
The Yuletide and New Year seasonal festivities had come and gone around the globe with much fun and fanfare. In the South-East region of the country there had been a lot of atrocious tales trailing the annual events. Ordinarily, it ought to be a great season of sharing and sacrifice. The spirit of brotherhood or sisterhood ought to prevail over egoism and egotism. And given that majority of Igbos are Christians it was expected that many folks had returned to the hinterlands to commemorate the yearly feast with friends and families. Even with fears of insecurity and terrorism of the…
President Muhammadu Buhari has a storied career in the military and oil and gas industry. As a military ‘old-school’ General he had seen and fought wars (including the Nigeria/Biafra pogrom). He had treasonably supplanted a democratically-elected Federal Government. He had been Federal Commissioner, Minister and Head of the Petroleum Trust “Fraud” (PTF) during the kleptocracy of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. Presently, apart from occupying the hot seat of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Buhari equally serves as the Minister of Petroleum Resources. While there is no oil well in Buhari’s Katsina state the President is constantly…
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II), was born on the 17th October 1974. He is the 51st traditional ruler of Ife kingdom succeeding the late flamboyant Ooni Okunade Sijuwade in 2015. Oba Ogunwusi is the Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His marital life is fraught with controversies and gossips. Even as a teenager he had had his first child (Adeola Aanuolouwapo Ogunwusi) with another teenager named Omolara Olatubosun in Ibadan. In 2008 King Ogunwusi married Adebukola Bombata from whom he separated in 2016. And from 2016 to 2017 he was married to Zaynab Otiti…
President Muhammadu Buhari marked his 79th birthday in far-away Turkey where he was attending the three-day Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul. Buhari needs Erdogan as the latter needs him. The two Presidents have something in common: they are bloody civilian dictators! They rule their respective countries with little or no legislative or judicial independence. While in the Turkish capital Buhari was reported to be ‘surprised’ when his aides presented him with a rich birthday cake designed in national colours of green and white. As he celebrated good wishes and encomiums expectedly poured in. Asiwaju Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, VP Yemi Osinbajo…
The newly turbaned Talban of Daura, Yusuf Buhari, bears striking resemblance to his father. President Muhammadu Buhari’s look-alike son had been in the news for few scandals. Compared to the sons of Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and the late Sani Abacha Yusuf is world’s apart in terms of abuse of power, corruption or involvement in scandals that tend to damage the image of the presidential family. To the best of our knowledge Yusuf is not given to ostentatious lifestyle. As the only son of the retired General Yusuf Buhari knows that his comportment must match the Buhari persona. Unlike…
Penultimate weekend I had attended a social event downtown. A good friend of mine had sent me an invitation card, days prior, intimating me of a ‘Committee of Friends’ gathering where his Nigerian friends and well-wishers would be told of his plans to travel back to Nigeria to traditionally marry and wed his girlfriend this December. The dude who hails from Nnewi, Anambra state, had told me on telephone that he would like me to deliver a brief speech on marriage and its importance to which I answered in the affirmative. As we ate and drank that night bantering with…
President Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani from Daura in Katsina State. A retired Major-General who coveted democratic power after truncating democracy in the early 80s for the sake of power and its appurtenances. In December 1983, aided and abetted by other professional coup-plotters (‘militricians’ if you like), Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Domkat Bali and the late Joshua Dogonyaro and Sani Abacha, Gen. Buhari had overthrown a democratically-elected President, the late Shehu Shagari, citing corruption and national salvation. Alhaji Shagari led a corrupt inept civilian government, yes, but coup d’etat was not the solution, then and now. When an elected government at…
Cyber crimes are global in nature. Scammers and swindlers abound in the cyber space all around the world. The advent of the Internet has made it relatively easier to reach out to friends and relatives around the world. Cross-fertilisation of ideas has become a global phenomenon involving folks of all ages, gender, religions and nationalities. The world wide web makes life easier in terms of communication and doing business. But it equally makes life hard and hellish in terms of falling victim to the criminal shenanigans of cyber fraudsters. Today, victims abound from one country and continent to another. Be…
When the news came in suddenly online, last week, to the effect that the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was scheduled to re-appear before Justice Binta Nyako at the Federal High Court in Abuja in what was described as abridgement of time application for a fast-forwarding of trial not a few Nigerians had thought that Kanu’s freedom was nigh. Those ‘celebrating’ in advance were given a rude awakening at the end of the day however. Kanu’s leading lawyer, Barr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had approached the Court with an application seeking an order of the…
Italy is often described derogatorily as the “Nigeria of Europe”! This is because of the European country’s mafian lifestyle and high level of social criminality. Yet the country is home to the declined Roman empire and the Vatican, the seat of the Catholic Papacy. Again, it is called ‘Nigeria of Europe’ because of her political disorganization and acrimony akin to that of the giant of Africa. Because Nigeria has a huge complicated crime rate just like Italy. Italy boasts of megalomaniacs and eccentric politicians just like Nigeria. There you have the Silvio Berlusconis, Matteo Salvinis and back home in Nigeria…
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had its fair share of terrible national history post-independence from Belgium in 1960. Extremely rich in natural resources (with abundant deposits of copper, gold, diamonds, cobalt, uranium, coltan and oil) Congo-Kinshasa has had a great history of hopeless leadership much like Nigeria. It had been led by megalomaniacs, dictators and kleptocrats. While the looting of the country continues majority of the Congolese people are living dangerously, a miserable life daily worth less than two dollars income! From the late Mobutu Sese-Seko to Kabila father (late) and son, it has been one hell of…
Last week a high-powered delegation of notable Igbo elder statesmen led by the 93-year old First Republic parliamentarian and Minister of Aviation, Mbazulike Amaechi, visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock, Abuja. The former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Bishop Sunday Onuoha of the Methodist Church, former President of Igbo socio-cultural group, Aka Ikenga, Goddy Uwazurike and Tagbo Amaechi were also part of the group under the aegis of Highly Respected Igbo Greats that visited Aso Villa to plead the cause and case of the detained Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Mazi Kanu and the Biafran statehood…
The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was brought to the Federal High Court in Abuja Thursday, the 21st October, for his trial to continue before Justice Binta Nyako. He faced an amended enlarged seven counts bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony levelled against him by the Federal Government. The amended charges reportedly included subversive activities, calling the President an “idiot” and operating an unregistered international pirate radio. Upon the reading of the amended charges (which suddenly rose from five to seven) to him in the presence of his lawyers (including one from America)…
More than a year ago an unprecedented mini-revolution took place in Nigeria whose minimal success far outweighed its failure. Last year October thousands of young and mobile Nigerians took to the streets (especially in the southern part of the country) protesting peacefully against the storied atrocities of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). SARS, prior to its forced disbandment, had become a killing human machine, torturing, maiming, extorting and brutally executing many Nigerians with impunity. The notorious squad had killed thousands extra-judicially extorting billions of Naira after organized abductions. They became ‘professionals’ involved in settling land disputes and civil frictions.…
The gubernatorial election in Anambra State came to pass last weekend with little or no serious violent incident recorded anywhere. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo predictably won the poll by a landslide. Winning 19 out of the 21 local governments that make up the state is a great electoral feat indeed. Fears of gun battles and criminal activities never materialized during the poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission and the security services did a good job by ensuring a free, fair and credible poll. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in…
The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is a gentleman whose political and evangelical integrity is not in any serious doubt. He is not a paragon; therefore, like every mortal, he has his strenghts and weaknesses. (Saints hardly venture into politics, especially the Nigerian murky one). His strenght lies more in his rich ecclesiastical background as a Pastor prior to his baptism of fire in politics Nigeriana during the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu gubernatorial years in Lagos state. His weakness, however, could be linked to his involvement in the dramatic Buharism and the Buhari factor. Working…
Perhaps it is not out of place to indicate from the outset that this writer is a proud son of Anambra State. The great land of my birth is unique in many ways imaginable. It is about the richest state east of the Niger. It is the only state among the 36 states of the federation where the ruling party is neither the All Progressives Congress (APC) nor the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been ruling the state for many years now. APGA may have made an impact in the state leadership and…
The Nigerian Armed Forces have had some glorious and inglorious past. Glorious history when General Olusegun Obasanjo handed over power to the late Shehu Shagari following a democratic process. Glorious moment when, following the sudden timely demise of the barbaric despot, Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar handed over power to Olusegun Obasanjo ‘elected’ or selected as President of the nation. Besides, our armed forces had intervened gloriously during the Liberian/Sierra Leonean civil wars and the forced exit of Yahya Jammeh from power in Banjul. Again it had taken part gloriously in peace-keeping missions in many countries outside our…
