I have always known Yakubu Mohammed by reputation. But we met physically in 2018 when the League of Nigerian Columnists berthed. Initiated by syndicated columnists, Akogun Tola Adeniyi and Professor Anthony Kila, the league paraded industry giants such as Dan Agbese, Ray Ekpu, Reuben Abati, the late Henry Boyo, Ben Lawrence, the late Jimanze Ego-Alowes, Dare […]

One of the absurdities of Nigeria’s pseudo-democracy is the fact that those clamouring for President Bola Tinubu’s second term are not flaunting his achievements. Instead, the battle cry is the need for him to complete his “constitutionally guaranteed” two terms of eight years, not minding that there is no such guarantee in the 1999 Constitution, amended […]

In his seminal offering last Sunday titled, “Whose president is Tinubu, anyway?” TheNiche columnist, Dr. Chidi Amuta, concluded in a rather cautionary note: “Tinubu’s current quandary as to his real national constituency may end in greater confusion unless he is ready to rediscover the source of his original sin and redress it. That original sin is […]

Last week’s protest by retired policeofficers clamouring for exit from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, once again, brought to the fore the knotty issue of police welfare. To be sure, this agitation is not new. It is as old as the scheme itself. So, to the extent that it was about improved welfare for policemen, serving and retired, it was […]

At best, Nigeria’s democracy in this Fourth Republic has been wobbly, standing, as it were, on feet of clay. And a quarter of a century thence, rather than getting better, things have got worse as the politicians are busy dismantling all the guardrails of democracy – civic participation, which undergirds every genuine democratic project; the rule […]

Nigerians are hypocritically sanctimonious, a trait that has become evident since the death of President Muhammadu Buhari in a London hospital on Sunday, July 13. Many, particularly politicians, have lied against the man, literally, by clothing him in borrowed robes in a bid not to speak ill of the dead. All manner of adjectives have been […]

My recent visit to China, which I wrote about in this column two weeks ago (See China and live), opened my eyes as to what it takes to build strong nations. I have been privileged to travel to many countries globally, and in terms of development, China takes the cake. While here in Nigeria we continue […]

Nigeria is in dire straits. What is going on in our country right now is so tragic in its absurdity that all of us should be weeping. Yet, here we are laughing away our sorrows.

These are the times that try men’s souls” was Thomas Paine’s magnum opus in the winter of 1776.

LESS than 48 hours from now, Nigerians will elect a new president. There is, understandably, both excitement and anxiety in the air. Whichever way the election goes, its outcome will be consequential.