It seems the contrived, ill-advised controversy over the ‘ownership’ of Lagos will not go away anytime soon as more and more agent provocateurs are deployed on the worldwide web to drive a wedge between the historically liberal aborigines of Lagos and non-Yoruba residents of the mega city. That development is an unkind payback to the Read More…
It has been seven seasons now since banner headlines, “OAU TO GENERATE 8.03 MW OF ELECTRICITY”, announced to the world that Obafemi Awolowo University was poised to become the first university in Nigeria to generate its own power and, in addition, cater to the needs of its immediate neighbour, the Ile-Ife community. In the beginning Read More…
An ingrate is but a robber in disguise. I am thrilled to celebrate, on the same platform today, two great Nigerians who have impacted greatly on our collective intellectual environment and whose birthdays providentially fall within a few days of each other. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka turned 90 on July 13 while Emeritus Professor Olatunji Read More…
One of the personalities I had expected to pump hands with at the dinner marking the 2024 Democracy Day in commemoration of the June 12 struggle, was the former chairman of the National Electoral Commission, 82-year-old Prof Humphrey Nwosu. His absence filled the State House Banquet Hall as if the pillars holding the rafters of Read More…
“This house must not fall,” I wrote in my January 1, 2014 column published in Daily Trust to mark 100 years of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria. I have always believed that if we run an inclusive system that allows all parts to retain their cultural identity and achieve their Read More…
I believe that every man and woman is entitled to subscribe to whatever religion they fancy. I believe that religion is designed primarily to draw God’s creatures to Him. As someone privileged to have a rich admixture of Muslims, Christians and Ifa devotees within the extended family, I have come to realise that religious bigotry Read More…
Coup-making is not the exclusive preserve of soldiers or the armed forces. Civilians, too, do stage coups. In Nigeria, we have had our fair share of coups and counter-coups and have resolved that our collective aspirations as a people are best served by a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. Read More…
“Baba-Wole! Whether you like it or not, it is my duty to carry your bag onto the plane today”, insisted Aketi, as we threw banters on the queue at the Ibadan Airport en route to Abuja. I yanked my bag from his hands but he promptly reclaimed it. Our mutual friend, Bisi Ogunbadejo, who was Read More…
It is becoming increasingly dangerous to be poor. Don’t believe the yarn that all men are equal. Is the man eking out a living on a tired patch of earth on the desert fringes of Katsina equal to his compatriot luxuriating in the cosy embrace of Abuja without a visible means of livelihood? The law Read More…
In the sweet science of boxing, the quality of the boxer’s corner is virtually as important as the pugilist’s skill itself. There are tricks that the trainer and the cut-man know that could swing the fight one way or the other — a word of caution here on how to better handle the opponent, expert Read More…
