IT was stunning. If it were a football match, it would have been said to be against the run of play. Nicaraguan youths who had risen against the brutal regime of Anastazio Somoza Debayle, on July 17, 1979, rode into Managua putting an end to the reign of the United States-backed butcher. Somoza was so bestial that even his main backer Read More…
Owei Lakemfa
Scrap the veto and democratise the Security Council
United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as usual, told us what we already know. On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, he announced that: “Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon”. But, sadly, he is behind the news because hell is not breaking, it has already broken loose in the Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, and has merely expanded its occupation into Lebanon. Read More…
The United States politics of dubious peace-making
The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on Monday August 19, made another public claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a peace proposal to end the war in the Palestine. The US christened its latest claim a “bridging proposal”. However, going by previous US announcements, this is maybe another false claim Read More…
Supreme Court weakens federalism, strengthens unitary system
THE Supreme Court on Thursday, July 11, 2024 made landmark judgements on local government areas, LGAs, in the country. First, it gave the salutary order that they must be run by elected persons. Its second order that LGAs be paid directly by the centre, seeks more or less, to de-link them from the states they are located. In other words, it Read More…
Europe at work, please don’t disturb
THE on-going right wing shifts in European parliamentary elections give the impression that there are seismic shifts in the plates of its politics. Please don’t worry yourself. There are no possibilities of earthquakes. These are mere rumblings in the belly of its body politic. It is said that Europe’s far-right gained historic grounds in the elections, but the lesson for us Read More…
After the AU Summit, Africa continues its drift
If a family meets in a room, members give themselves pecks, exchange polite greetings, make flowery speeches and emerge laughing for group photographs, likely, they have not been truthful to themselves. That was my impression following the 37th Summit of the African Union, AU, from February 17–18, 2024, in Addis Ababa. After attending a few Read More…
World Bank and IMF: In the shadow of their talons.
The American World Bank and the European International Monetary Fund, IMF, in the past few weeks, circled Nigeria like vultures waiting for the prey to die. The twin organisations have become more active and quite audacious since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power on May 29, 2023. They are like predators, ready for the Read More…
Diplomatic hostage, Alex Saab, returns in triumph
Venezuelan Special Envoy and Ambassador to the African Union, Alex Nain Saab Morán, who, against the established diplomatic practice of immunity, had been illegally detained in Cape Verde for sixteen months and in the United States for two years, was freed on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. He was exchanged for ten American prisoners in Venezuela who Read More…
Cuba: Where dedication to humanity is like religion
THE Israeli bombs that rained down on Gaza have killed over 200 health workers, with 215 injured. In Havana, Cuba, 10,953 kilometres away, Palestinian youths being trained as medical doctors gathered to mourn the human carnage in their country and vowed to take the next available flight back once they complete their studies to replace Read More…