The former Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Michael Usifo Ataga, (50) was recently murdered inside an Airbnb service apartment in the Lekki area of Lagos. A 300 level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu, (21) was said to be behind the murder. Miss Ojukwu, obviously terrified after the commission of crime, had been traced to her father’s house and arrested and paraded by the police. She had owned up to the heinous crime by ‘singing’ and lamenting that she regretted why she killed the ‘loverboy’ and that she was afraid of her life! She said she first strangled the late…
Author: Ozodinukwe Okenwa
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, became the youngest (modern) French leader when he won the presidential poll four years ago. He was 39 years old then! He made history as a brilliant young man who went solo in the race ignoring the established old political parties and the establishment itself to rise to the very top, the pinnacle of power in a great European country. When he began his grassroots mobilisation visiting cities and towns with his “En Marche” movement many French bookmakers had written him off as a rookie, a wannabe President. But he proved naysayers wrong by…
Recently an assemblage of Northern groups (numbering more than three scores and a dozen) under the auspices of the Northern Consensus Movement had disclosed that it would pay a reward of N100 million to persons who could produce the fugitive leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, for the continuation of his prosecution for alleged treason in Nigeria. The group alleged that Kanu and the IPOB security outfit known as the Eastern Security Network (ESN) were behind recent numerous attacks on northerners in the Southeast region. Therefore, they were placing a bounty of N100 million as an…
Last Tuesday, a video had gone viral online showing Ms Chiamaka Udeh displaying a blood-stained Nigerian flag while appearing on stage at the international beauty pageant featuring African damsels in Moscow, Russia. She was representing Nigeria in the event. The Lagos-born model from Anambra state was apparently protesting against the bloody events in her native country and reminding the global audience of the state terrorism which many innocent Nigerians had fallen victim to. While her action had received applause from certain quarters it had attracted outrage from others. In a nation divided on ethnic, religious and regional lines it is…
Divided like never before in its tortured history of nationhood Nigeria is unsafe, wracked by rampant banditry and armed robbery, terrorism, ethnic strife, industrial kidnapping and random violence. The country has never had it so bad, this bad! Yet, despite these challenges sapping the morale of Nigerians our ‘elected’ leaders in Abuja carry on as if nothing is amiss. There is this pernicious politics of security or insecurity in the South-east region of the country. What we see or hear as news online emanating from the oriental part of of the country paint a gloomy present and doomed future. Biafraland…
President Muhammadu Buhari has finally broken his long silence. He broke his silence last Thursday through an exclusive interview on the Abuja-based Arise TV network. He spoke on a number of important national issues. He talked about IPOB, agitation for Oduduwa and Biafra Republics, Fulani herdsmen and their clashes with native farmers and land-owners, #EndSARS protest, insecurity, poverty, unemployment and lopsided national appointments among others. The interview lasted less than an hour and the hard questions and follow-ups appeared to be a taboo. However, that the interview happened at all was a pleasant surprise package ostensibly packaged smartly by the…
The Nigerian popular televangelist, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, popularly known as TB Joshua, the founder of the Lagos-based Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) died over the weekend in Lagos. Prophet Joshua was said to have conducted an evening service in his church and was on his way to the hospital when he died. He was said to have fallen sick two days prior. His 58th birthday was billed for June 12. His megachurch runs the popular Emmanuel TV from Lagos and viewed worldwide. Prophet Joshua was born on June 12, 1963. He hailed from Arigidi Akoko, in Akoko North West Area of…
President Muhammadu Buhari as a “kind bully” (apology to Femi Adesina) has bared his dictatorial fangs recently by banning or suspending indefinitely the operations of the popular global microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria. Nigeria, contrary to what Adesina, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, believes, does not need the combination of General Buhari and President Buhari. Whether as a General or President Buhari has proven himself to be a failure. According to the shocking statement emanating from the office of the Minister of Information and Culture the Federal Government cited “persistent use…
President Muhammadu Buhari’s inept administration clocked six years last May 29. Six years ago in 2015 Buhari as the then opposition All Progressives Congress candidate in the presidential poll trounced soundly the then incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan (GEJ). Four years later in 2019 he ‘won’ re-election in an electoral swindle of the century; he was announced the winner against the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar. The election was allegedly rigged in favour of the incumbent President. Abubakar and the PDP protested vehemently over the organized electoral fraud to no avail. Their case was thrown out at the Electoral Petition Tribunal…
President Muhammadu Buhari recently appointed a new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) following the fatal Beechcraft King Air 350i plane crash in Kaduna that killed Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru who until his tragic demise occupied that post. Major-General Farouk Yahaya was announced as the replacement for the ‘killed’ Gen. Attahiru, the circumstances of whose death are still a subject of controversy. Maj-Gen. Yahaya is from Sokoto State, another northerner found worthy to occupy the top Army job even though better and more qualified candidates from other regions existed. Until his appointment (based more on ethnicity and religion rather than merit) Gen. Yahaya…
When the pioneer investigative journalist in Nigeria, Dele Giwa, was blown to smithereens by a letter-bomb delivered to his residence in Lagos by two Babangida loyalists, ex-SSS Director, Kunle Togun and DMI’s Halilu Akilu one of the national dailies in Nigeria had asked repeatedly the question: “Who Killed Dele Giwa?”. Though the question was never answered everyone had known all along who masterminded the Dele Giwa assassination and why. Between the dictator in power at that time, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and the mysterious Ms Gloria Okon’s narcotics peddling story the truth lies somewhere in-between. If Giwa had not been brutally…
Last week Nigeria was hit by a double tragedy — one good and the other bad and sad. The Boko Haram ‘invincible’ leader, Abubakar Shekau, died either by suicide or was fatally wounded in a titanic battle with a rival splinter terrorist group out for a pound of flesh. That was very good news in all indications! A lifeless Shekau is worth celebrating even though we are not yet out of the terror web for now. Shekau’s international notoriety was not only his cruelty and bloodthirstiness but his reputation as the proverbial cat with nine lives. Days later sad news…
When the fugitive Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, first propounded the unsubstantiated theory of “Jubril from Sudan” few years ago following President Muhammadu Buhari’s storied ailment and constant medical tourism abroad not a few folks believed him. Mazi Kanu had insinuated that the Nigerian President had died abroad and was secretly buried with the cabal replacing him surgically with one ‘Jubril’ from Sudan or Chad! The late President Yar’Adua had suffered similar fate when prior to his ascension to the presidential throne during ‘Babacracy’ he was rumoured to have died in a hospital abroad. This prompted Baba…
Aso Rock is the fortified seat of power in Abuja, Nigeria. Like the White House in Washington DC, 10 Downing Street in London or Elysée Palace in Paris, it is a fortress of safety for the President and other important power figures in Nigeria. The breathtaking edifice built by a foreign construction company could be said to be the safest place in Nigeria. General Ibrahim Babangida, the retired dictator that killed democracy in Nigeria following the June 12, 1993 presidential poll (won convincingly by the late Bashorun Abiola) had fled Dodan Barracks in Lagos in a jiffy for Aso Rock…
The American Microsoft giant, Bill Gates, was once the richest man in the world. Now the fourth richest he is rated by Forbes billionaires rich list as having worth billions of Dollars. He is munificent, gentle and an elder statesman. He speaks softly and looks every inch a handsome rich man, any lady’s dream husband any day anywhere. Gates demonstrates how money cannot change a man to the extent that he plays god or becomes a problem for the society to manage. He comports himself responsibly engaging in charity donations through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment…
The Enugu-based Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, was reported recently to have gone ‘missing’. He later re-emerged to tell the story of his whereabout. The Enugu Catholic Bishop, Callistus Onaga, had ‘arrested’ Mbaka and kept him incommunicado reportedly for some days. And that led to some riot by his followers and rumours of kidnapping and sequestration by security forces. When he was ‘released’ finally by Bishop Onaga Mbaka told the cheering crowd welcoming him back that he had been suspended for a month for blessing IPOB fugitive leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka and the presidency and…
There is war across the River Niger in the east, a war for Biafran nationhood. It is one hell of a war for the soul of Biafra, albeit an undeclared one. Daily the news emanating from the oriental part of Nigeria is frightening if not sickening. The so-called unknown gunmen are terrorizing state institutions and officials. Prisons are being ransacked and burnt down with inmates, including heartless hardened criminals, freed. Police stations are being invaded and officers on duty killed. And arms and ammunitions looted. Most of the police formations attacked were set ablaze afterwards. The major objective of the…
Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka is the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry in the coal city of Enugu. From the testimonies of those that have attended his services he is into deliverance, healing and ministration of the gospel. He is very generous. He employs a horde of folks and helps the needy. He is a successful ‘businessman’ who has investments that generate millions of Naira. Heaven may not count for Mbaka as he values material and non-material things here on earth rather than awaiting to make heaven upon his death. The controversial Catholic cleric had survived assassination attempts. But despite these…
Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami holds a strategic position in the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. He is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. He is young at 48 and brilliant given his impressive academic pedigree. Though he is not a member of the Aso Rock cabal he occupies an ultra-sensitive ministerial position that directly affects daily lives of Nigerians for good or bad. Executively he is in charge of the National Identification Number (NIN) scheme, the mobile telephone network and every IT logistics in Nigeria. He is not doing badly professionally but that is now a lesser concern for Nigerians considering the scandal he is…
The Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, otherwise known as Winners’ Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, is a great man of faith dedicated to serving God and preaching good news to His children. He is one of the richest Pastors in the world. His church is ranked as one of the most populated in Africa while the Church’s headquarters boasts of hosting the largest christian auditorium in the world. He has branches of the dynamic ministry scattered across the lenght and breadth of the universe. Bishop Oyedepo is successful as an evangelical agent of change. In the consciousness of…
The former Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, is an elder statesman whose service to the fatherland is acknowledged in positive and negative manner. Positively, he could be said to have impacted economically in the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo repositioning Nigeria for great economic recovery. During their presidency Nigeria fared better indeed than now. Abubakar understood the need to diversify the economy making money for the government while selling off some government-owned investments. The privatisation and diversification process yielded good money for the government at that time. Negatively, however, because a whole lot of tales bothering on corruption, money laundering and…
Anarchy is upon us, anarchy is upon our land! It has sown tears, sorrow and blood already. From the north to the middle belt, south-west to south-east Nigeria is bleeding profusely. Hardly a day passes without ugly or sad news seizing our consciousness. Either you hear or read about terrorism and Fulani herdsmen exploits up north you are bombarded with banditry, kidnapping or criminal events down south. Nothing shocks any longer, not even when girls get raped and murdered inside the church or when the President abandoned Nigerians for London for medical tourism. It is like doomsday is here with…
Prior to the Easter holiday, President Muhammadu Buhari flew to London to keep a medical date with his British doctors. According to the presidency, it was a 2-week medical check-up. Because of the Corona pandemic, Buhari was forced to stay back home since last year managing his undisclosed ailment to the best of his ability. He had ‘abandoned’ Nigeria to her tumultuous fate refusing to transmit power to the sidelined Vice-President. While a presidential spokesman had declared that the constitution stipulated that he stayed up to three weeks before it became necessary to hand over to his deputy. The Special…
The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, is the official candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the November 6th gubernatorial poll in Anambra State. Soludo, in the event of victory come November, would be succeeding the incumbent APGA Governor, Willie Obiano, whose second four-year tenure is billed constitutionally to end at the end of the year. Soludo remains, in the eye of the bookmakers, the candidate to beat in the forthcoming guber poll. His candidacy is considered solid and favourite given the incumbency factor in his favour and the fact that…
Recently the former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, marked his 69th birthday with pomp and pageantry. From Kaduna to Kano Tinubu was celebrated by political friends and well-wishers. Back home in Lagos, his wife, Oluremi Tinubu, a Senator of the Federal Republic, ensured that guests at Bourdillon were taken good care of. Tinubu remains an enigma, a potentate in politics Nigeriana. Given his political ingenuity and godfatherism he has succeeded in becoming a colossus in Lagos politics, one without whom any guber ambition is dashed. The Asiwaju of…
The Executive Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, is a man playing populist politics. He is a special political breed in the sense that he is inhabited within with both foul and good moods. He could laugh this minute and the next minute he could cry himself hoarse! He could declare a curfew or confinement this moment in a local government area or town or city in the state following the COVID-19 pandemic invasion and the next moment he would have the rash decision annulled citing flimsy excuses. He is magniloquent in his speeches as he is impetuous in…
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria means many things to many people — Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. To the Buharists or Buharideens he is the best thing to happen to Nigeria presidentially. He is a patriot whose integrity is never in doubt; he is incorruptible, morally-strong, a no-nonsense retired General committed to taking Nigeria to the next level. They easily point to the so-called war against graft, the billions of Dollars released to the recently-retired Service Chiefs for the prosecution of the war against terrorism. (Never mind the recent controversy over how the billions were spent). They would readily argue vaguely…
Recently online discomforting news emerged about a Nigerian lady, Ms Itunu Babalola, living in the city of Bondoukou, Ivory Coast. Bondoukou is about eight hours drive from the capital city, Abidjan. Itunu was said to have visited her aged mother back home in Nigeria in 2019 only for her to return to find to her chagrin that her house had been burgled! She reported the matter to the police station as every law-abiding citizen or foreigner would. Upon lodging the complaint of burglary it was later discovered that the suspected burglar, a teenager, was said to be a top police officer’s…
John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was the President of the Republic of Tanzania until last Wednesday when he died officially of “heart complications” at a hospital in Dar-es-Salaam. The son of a peasant farmer who became Tanzania’s President in 2015 died aged 61. He served as Minister of Works, Transport and Communications from 2000 to 2005 and 2010 to 2015. He studied Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. After completing his Masters and Doctorate Degree courses he taught chemistry and mathematics before venturing into politics by being elected a member of parliament. While the government had declared that Magufuli had died of…
The modern American wrestling powered by the McMahon family dynasty for centuries through the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a big thriving business generating billions of Dollars revenue annually. It is often violent and bloody the competition for gold and name and money. Great names like Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Triple H, Edge, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Seth Rollins etc were made by the exhibition of cruelty, ruthlessness, talent and ambition marked by the desire to not only strike gold by wearing the coveted championship belts around waists but by being on top of the mountain as champions.…
