Will Ogebe And His Crew Fire Yar' Adua. By Anthony Okosun

It is my sincere belief, that because of the fact that we have all had a taste of the military. Nobody is desirous of a throw back to the Abacha years . All the fighting is been done in a highly civilise manner. The Election Tribunals and the Superior Courts have been the theatre of conflict resolution. INEC and the Presidency must respect all rulings, judgments and orders. Details

 

The Undue Censure of Prof Iwu. By Tochukwu Ezukanma

Prof. Maurice Iwu, the present chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), once lived in the Washington, DC area. In my earlier, periodic meetings with him, I observed that he is a very brilliant man. Subsequently, as I became the General Secretary of Nwannedinamba Association in the Americas, I met him more frequently at the association’s meetings and other events. Then, I realized that he is also a confident and eloquent speaker and an equable man who can remain cool under heat. Details

 

Yar’Adua and the Nigerian Police Reform. By Tochukwu Ezukanma

While the British assistance to Germany and the Soviet aid to China may have succeeded, the British help in transforming the Nigerian police will fail. Neither the British, nor any foreign influence can significantly improve the Nigerian police.  Details

 

Development Strategy for Bayelsa State. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

If you didn’t know, you would think Yenagoa is Bayelsa and Bayelsa is Yenagoa. The State Capital is littered with half-hearted projects, inflated contracts, and dubious undertakings. There is no method to the pandemonium.Details

 

Leadership and the Question of Higher Education. By Abbas A. Dikko

Obasanjo wasted his first four years chasing and witch hunting the family of late Sani Abacha without recording any meaningful development close to that of Abacha and, last four years fighting his No.2 who stood afoot in the 2003 PDP convention to returned him as the party’s Presidential flag bearer and President of the country for the 2nd term in that year’s general election. Details

 

To Be Or Not To Be?: The Dilemma For Justice. By Wilson Iyke

The Ogegbe led tribunal is still ruminating over the barrage of documents, evidence and witnesses that assailed and inundated it during its sittings, while the nation itself waits in suspense. The burden of justice has become weighty on the shoulders of the learned men of the bench as the decide whether to annul or uphold the last year’s presidential election.  Details

 

ASSU’s Reputation at Stake. By Dr Bako Sule

Today, I feel ashamed of telling people that I am an ASSU member because of the activities of some ASSU members. Some years back, despite the fact that ASSU members are not rich, it was a profession of honour. Today, the reverse is the case. Details

 

Are These ATM Charges Approved By The Central Bank Of Nigeria? By Ikechukwu A. Ogu, Esq.

I now go to the main issue in this write-up. Few years ago, my younger sister opened a savings account with one of the Nigerian new generation banks, at a branch near the University of Nigeria Nsukka. While opening the account, she wrote down my mobile number for contact as she had none then. Ever since, once any transaction occurs on that account, the bank sends a text message to my mobile phone. I will not name the bank, but there are two particular text messages from it which worry me. One of them reads: “Pls use our ATMs as often as u wish coz we have improved our services to serve u better. Every ATM withdrawal is free except the N100 monthly charge. Stay Happy”. Details

 

Sakkwatawa Await Appeal Court Verdict. By Dr. Shamsuddeen Tanko

Ever since October 2007 when the Sokoto election tribunal delivered its judgement on the state gubernatorial case, many a Nigerian keeps on anxiously waiting to a day when the Appeal Court would make its pronouncement on the case. Details

 

Just Let It Go! By Bala Muhammad

So off to my Doctor I went (he of the Take-Up-Golf advice), and matter-of-factly asked for typhoid and malaria drugs. He took one look at me and said: ‘Yes, you have Combined Honours, but not Nigeria’s of Typhoid and Malaria, but Life’s Combined Honours called Stress and Burnout. You are just stressed. Just let it go. Details

 

Maurice Iwu And The 2007 Elections: My Case Against Nullifications. By Prince Femi Omoyole

After Maurice Iwu’s telling and credible responses to the interrogatories propounded by Atiku, I wonder why anybody would still be calling for nullification of the 2007 polls. All those still complaining, including the complainer-in-chief, Atiku should pause for once to recall the events in the period before the elections, and they would as soon agree that their defeat at the polls had absolutely nothing to do with Maurice Iwu or any rigging. Details

 

419 Senators: Beyond Aliyu’s Apology. By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

It is most unfortunate that right now, the issue of the alleged fraudsters in the House is fast becoming stale and even obsolete, and has since been effectively overshadowed by the inane debates and wrangling that have been flourishing around and over Aliyu’s apology. Details

 

Nigeria Media Under Siege: Award Ceremonies, Music Jamboree And Fashion Shows Replaces Investigative Journalism. By Jack Shafer

There is a new way of doing business, especially if you are a newspaper proprietor in Nigeria and it will make you rich, I mean “stinking rich,” and you don’t have to employ a journalist to run your newspaper anymore. The new deals can be called Award Ceremonies, Pop music concerts and Fashion Show Extravaganza. Details

 

Israel And Nigeria: The Kidnap Of Umaru Dikko (Conclusion). By Max Siollun

The plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team.  It involved making arrangements to capture, anaesthetise, and then transport Dikko out of the UK to Nigeria to face trial.  Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43 year old Israeli national, a consultant and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon hospital in Tel Aviv.  “Lou” Shapiro was also a reserve Major in the Israeli army.  Shapiro was recruited into the plot by a 27 year old Mossad field officer named Alexander Barak who gave him money to purchase anaesthetics which would be used to stupefy Dikko.  Barak was from the Israeli coastal town of Netanya and came from a family of diamond dealers.  Another Mossad field officer named Felix Abithol (31 years old) arrived in London on July 2, 1984 and checked into the Russell Square hotel.  Meanwhile Major Yusufu hired a van which would be used to convey Dikko once he had been captured.  Strangely, Yusufu’s men opted to hire a bright conspicuous canary yellow van. Details

 

Nigerianism: Towards a National Identity in Nigeria (I). By Zulfikar Aliyu Adamu

The last time we knew real Agriculture in Nigeria, our farmers from Kano made the Egyptians look dumb because we were making pyramids out of food; out of ordinary groundnuts! Oh yes, we were that prolific with the hoe - check out the old 50 kobo note for evidence, in case NEPA has ‘taken light’ in your memory. Details

 

Nigeria’s Anti Corruption War: Would a New Approach Works? By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Whichever way one looks at it, it is apparent that EFCC is in a tied situation, because it appears that, it’s past; especially its pre-2007 elections actions are hunting the Commission. But how would the EFCC and its new helmsman confront these thorny challenges facing them? In order to sustain the goodwill it is enjoying from international community; and cleans the stains on its face that is making some Nigerians critical of it. Details

 

President Yar’adua And The Sixth State For The Southeast Zone. By Benedict Okereke

President Umar Yar’adua was on his first official visit to Imo state as president of Nigeria when leaders of thought in the state renewed their demand for another state in the Southeast zone. Throughout his visit, one watched the president speaking extempore on a range of issues. He berated operatives of governments over what many have tagged the greatest obstacle to Nigeria’s development – the fiscal sin of governments at the various levels abandoning meaningful projects started by their predecessors. The president’s response to the demand for another state in the Southeast was that the issue was a matter to be resolved by the National Assembly. Details

 

Cultism and Abuse of Freedom on Campus. By Segun Imohiosen

There is no doubt about the fact that cultism on the campuses of the Nigerian higher institutions of learning is very old.  The institutions that were designed as centre of excellence to showcase eruditism and scholarship through the calibre of graduates that are to be produced in order to take over the reins of leadership of the country some day have tuned out to be a sort of concentration camp, which is totally in pariah and at variance with laudable aim of establishing these institutions. Details

 

The Unavoidable Sharia And The Continued Tolerance. By Babandi Gumel

When former Governor Sani  of Zamfara State decided to introduce Sharia he was roundly condemned saying it would not work as mere politician and what he introduced would fizzle out. Since he reintroduced the system in 1999 nearly ten more other States have introduced the same system. There a lot of misconception regarding the interpretation of Sharia which subtly either directly or indirectly dealing with more than 90% of civil cases as pointed out by one commentator. Details

 

Preposterous Nigerian Space Development Program. By Adewumi Rowland

Technically, what Nigeria needs is flexibility of utilizing a satellite system that can acquire useful images, and the freedom to acquire images for almost all West African and Central African countries at any time. A system that can also supply all ministries of the country with satellite images needed for all mapping, environmental, mineral exploration projects.  NIGERIASAT-1 covers the world, but of what use will an image over Kent in the UK be to Nigeria? And of what use is NIGERIASAT-1 if it was not useful in the search of the missing Boeing 747 Bellview airplane that crashes in October 2005? Details

 

Educational Reforms In Nigeria: Successive Years Of Inconsistencies And Confusions. By Bello Umar Gusau, Ph.D.

Crisis in education started manifesting itself when government went all out to implement 6-3-3-4 system without adequate planning put in place. By planning, according to Segun Adesina(1980), as the process of applying scientific or rational procedures to the process of educational growth and development so as to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the educational system. The lower education specifically primary education was the first to suffer the effect of inadequate planning. Details

 

Immunity from Prosecution for Executive Heads of Governments Under Section 308 of the Republican Constitution of Nigeria 1999: To Stay or Not to Stay? By Prof. Jim Akhere

Before we consider whether or not the immunity makes sense and should be retained or scrapped, it is important to note that it is time limited. It is restricted only to the period in office of the person covered therein. Besides, in law the statute of limitation is relevant only in civil matters, for as we say in legal parlance, time does not run against the state A crime can be prosecuted no matter when the alleged criminal is apprehended Details

 

Immunity Clause: To Stay Or Not To Stay. By Akintokunbo A Adejumo

The debate about “expunging, excising, removing, repealing the immunity clause in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” has been going for a long time,  well before President Yar’Adua went to Switzerland and stood up to be counted as an opponent of this expansive immunity clause. Details

 

Think About These. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

White Elephant projects, sometimes called iconic or mega projects, are projects whose financial costs exceed their utility. In most case, they are expensive to maintain, have limited or non-egalitarian purpose, and are prone to failure or breakdown due to lack of maintenance culture. Such projects are ostentatious and plenteous in most African nations, especially in Nigeria. In Bayelsa State for example, there is not a single high school with first rate science laboratory, has a ghetto-university, no water/sewage treatment plants, and without a viable public or private transportation system, yet the government is thinking of building a seaport, a airport, a five star hotel, and an American- style shopping mall. Details

 

Before They Destroy This Nigerian. By Hakeem Babalola

The video clip in which a Nigerian living in Hungary showered Adolf Hitler, a German leader who killed millions of people and remained a totalitarian ruler until his suicide in 1945 with praise, has generated a lot of controversy. Oludayo Olapite known as Fekete Pákó may get 3 years imprisonment if found guilty. Our brother either because of foolhardiness or ignorance or fame or greed or bullying, also saluted Szálasi Ference, a Hungarian who killed many people in Hungary in 1944. He even cast aspersions on Jews and the Hungarian minority known as Gypsy. What is Fekete Pákó up to? Details

 

Anti-Graft Probe: Between Yar’adua And Obasanjo’s Tarnishing Glories. By Ifeanyi Izeze

Recent revelations have shown that the real import of Obasanjo’s political volatility lies not in who he was able to destroy politically or promote, but in the volatility which characterised his long imperial reign over Nigeria especially as pertains to fiscal irresponsibility or rather rascality. Details

 

Between Obasanjo and Gbenga, Who is Insane? By Alhaji Abdallah Mailafia Sha’ibu

When the sex scandal of Obasanjo broke out, two things came to my mind. One, some people are going to say that is a family affair which must be settled at Otta. Two, others are going to label Gbenga as insane who must be taken to Aro Mental Hospital for immediate treatment. True to my prediction, those things came to pass. The PDP Garrison Commander depicted the mess as a family affair. General Adeyinka Adebayo (retd) captured my thoughts in his reaction to the scandal rocking the Obasanjo family. He concluded that it is Obasanjo, and not Gbenga who should be asking for a DNA test to determine Gbenga’s paternity. Details

 

Executive Criminals. By Usman Falalu Funtua

Senator Nuhu Aliyu ascertion that there are "419ers" and con-men in the halls of the Assembly has been well known to many Nigerians for a long time. Crooks are in power in many sectors in Nigeria today Let us face it, the law enforcement agencies lack the know-how to uncover what is happening under their nose. Details

 

Niger Delta, Oil Companies and Banks. By Maxwell James

That the Niger Delta region, over the past four decades has caused increasing national and international concern can not be overemphasised. The region is seen globally as one of the numerous sad sides of the Nigerian state. The huge paradox of the region is also evident as the vast revenues being generated by the region have barely impacted positively on the local populace – a clear case of baboon dey work, monkey dey chop in local parlance. Details

 

NNPC And Foreign Multinationals: Joint Ventures Of Fraud. By Ifeanyi Izeze

The termination of all agreements on fiscal incentives given to operating foreign multinational oil companies of the NNPC joint ventures for the purpose of increasing oil and gas exploration would ordinarily have been a very welcomed development but for the often familiar gulf between good concepts and their implementations in Nigeria, the initiative has been greeted with cautious jubilations. Details

 

Charge-And-Bail Lawyers: Symphony Of A Perfunctory Theatrics Legal Education. By Nasiru Nash Haruna Esq.

My heart goes to those struggling young Nigerian professionals who are branded charge-and-bail (CAB) for patronizing magistrate courts. This practice is across the board of the profession in various forms. If CAB is soliciting clients at magistrate courts, it is akin to lawyers soliciting corporations for clientele as external solicitors. Details

 

Tribute to Late General Murtala Ramat Muhammd. By Mohammed Habib

General Murtala indeed came, saw, conquered and laid a concrete foundation upon which the post Sardauna Political Institution that saw the emergence of Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari in 1979 was built. It was during his era that the political awareness among the citizenry became solidified as provided for by the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC). Details

 

OBJ Sex Scandal: Suppose Dr. Gbenga Obasanjo Was Right. By Zents Kunle Sowunmi

Last December, I traveled to Nigeria and stayed at Sango Ota in Ogun State there was nothing to justify that the city ever produced a two-termed presidency, the roads were not tired, and the famous Federal Idi-Iroko road remained what it was since 1996. A former governor in one of the western States was reported to have confessed that he had canal knowledge of his daughter in a spiritual camp on Lagos Ibadan Express Road for him to win re-election. Details

 

Nigerian Students' Movement in Perspective. By Ibrahim Kolawole

Without mincing words, the state of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is nothing to write home about. The Nigerian students’ movement has lost all the radical fibres it was formerly recognized for. Details

 

Kidnapping: Lesson from Bayelsa. By Maxwell James

Another ugly scenario associated with the ill – trade especially in Bayelsa state is the constant attack on the elderly whose only fault is the fact that, they have their children in high political offices. Recently, a friend argued that such negative act will spur the government to put in more effort towards developing their communities. While we welcome development by all means, hostage taking in any guise must be discouraged pronto because experience has shown that hostage takers are mere agents of peeved politicians. Details

 

Kenya’s Crisis and Imperialism: For a Working Class Alliance. By Kola Ibrahim

No sane being will see tens if lives being roosted in Kenya daily by frenzied youth who are being intoxicated by the poisonous gin of ethnicity produced from the brewery of Kibaki/Odinga; a brewery ably licensed by imperialism after satisfying the neo-liberal structural adjustment standards. As at last count over 900 persons have been wasted by the post-election crisis in Kenya. Details

 

Who Cares If Kenya Bleeds To Death? By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

At least, more than 800 persons (some reports put the figure at 1000) have so far lost their lives in the Kenyan crises, while 350,000 others have become refugees in their own country. Although living in very poor sanitary conditions in over-crowded camps, it is understandable that most of the displaced families have refused to heed the call of the MPs to return to their homes. Details

 

Africa: Five Hundred Years to Progress. By Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

Africans themselves don’t think much of themselves, their peoples and their land, and have, for the most part, contributed to the continuing underdevelopment, chaos and anarchy that have come to characterize the continent. Long before the Trans-Atlantic and the Indian Ocean slave trade, Africans have been trading and dehumanizing their own peoples. Details

 

The New Song of The Sun Newspaper  on April Elections. By Bright Adeola Coker

When the 2007 General Elections were conducted, eminent Nigerians rose to the task of condemning the charade called election. Foreign observers, domestic monitors and civil society groups all spoke with one voice in condemning the election. The print media did not disappoint us either. Several editorials were churned out by this sector of the media and everyone was pleased that the press rose, once again, to the arduous task of defending our young democracy. If I am not mistaken, the only voice that was up for the election was that of Professor Maurice Iwu, INEC and the beneficiaries of the flawed elections. Their position could be understood. Details

 

When the Ogun State Polytechnic was renamed after the philantrophist, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, not a few thought that the polytechnic will manifest people's yearnings for better educational system that is accessible to all upon which they massively voted the late politicians, but the body movement of the Ogun State government and the authorities of the polytechnic have thrown to the Atlantic ocean any illusion that the polytechnic was established for the commoners in the society. Details

 

Once Upon a Vision. By Abdulhafiz Musa Abdullah

One fundamental thing that has continued to baffle my mind is the manner and confidence in which our leaders talk, shout and sing of the vision 2020, and the preparedness they show towards the glorious year 2020 which we all eagerly await. At least to see our very own country standing high and "rubbing shoulders with great economies like that of China, US, Germany, France, England or even our sister in independence, Malaysia so to say. Details

 

Odumegwu Ojukwu: A General Reminiscences. By Adejare Adejare

Like him or hate him, Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu would forever remain an enigma in the Nigerian political horizon. One easily forgets that this great Nigerian was a career Civil Servant starting out as an administrative Officer in the then Eastern Region and transferring to the Nigerian Army after only about one year. He was one of the few Nigerians who joined the military with college education around Nigeria's Independence in 1960. Details

 

The Men Around Namadi Sambo. By Ishaq Alhassan Qauranmata

In view of this, it becomes imperative to draw the attention of his Excellency, the governor of Kaduna state to some of his close lieutenants who, by their antecedents are most likely to be operating at cross purposes with him and thus capable of distracting him from the task of fulfilling his campaign promises to the people. Details

 

Omokhodion and the Plot Against Consolidation. By Okpo oduogu

I never really felt too strongly about the write-up until Sunday, January 27, 2008, when I read a front page cover story of the Sunday Tribune with the title “Fresh plot against bank consolidation”. In this lead news item, which is yet to be denied by anyone from Abuja, the paper says that some group coordinated by the chief economic adviser to the President, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, is bent on reversing the consolidation reforms which are being alleged to have been against the interest of Northerners. It further revealed that the group had “almost concluded work on a proposal to be presented to President Umaru Yar’Adua” on the issue. Details

 

Of the Public Space, Cancer-related Deaths and Nigeria's Public Health Policy. By Ademowo Adeyemi Johnson

Need I remind anyone that Coach Tella died after a protracted battle with cancer? So, if, according to Amselm, 20 of 40 patients diagnosed in a clinic daily is suffering from cancer-related problems, and Beko Ransome Kuti, Tyna Onwudiwe (African Oyinbo), Tella and many non-public Nigerians have died of cancer-related complications, what further issues ought to dominate a well-ordered public space? Of course, it ought to be how the populace will be educated on the menace of the disease. Details

 

Ameachi: A Governor with Mercurial Affluence. By Abbas A, Dikko

Be that as it became, there were misconception and misunderstanding and more like controversy by the people of the bench and learnered, every of them, interpreting the verdict according to his judicial understanding without recourse to what it may begets in the new future.  Details

 

Between Bafarawa and University Education. By Dahiru Maishan

It was a breezy June afternoon in the City of London. The year was 2005 and I had just finished giving a lecture to a group of teenage black children in Peckham which I do every Saturday in a supplementary school that catered for ethnic minority children. My mission was to visit the visiting Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa to intimate him of an application I had earlier submitted to the State Scholarship Board for the government to pay part of my MBA tuition fees to The Hague University of Professional Education, my then immediate Alma Mata. Details

 

Time To Purge John Odah From The Electoral Reform Committee. By Aloy Ejimakor

Vanguard of January 28, 2008 reported a certain Comrade John Odah of the Nigerian Labour Congress as calling for the resignation of Maurice Iwu as the Chair of INEC. Fine, Mr. Odah is a Nigerian and therefore entitled to public airing of his opinion on any national issue. But when such national issue involves the ongoing debate on the reform of Nigeria’s electoral systems and institutions, Mr Odah is no longer entitled to an unfettered expression of his opinion, and even so publicly. Details