Like a pack of biscuits on the shelf beyond the expiry date, the country called Nigeria already expired in 2014 — ten years ago! It therefore ought to be baked afresh. That was the view of the convener of the Northern Elders’ Forum and a former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi at Read More…
The rich also cry. I have seen wealthy and successful people break down in tears and despondency. You would think that some people have everything made in their favour; the sun smiles at everything that they do. The gods are queuing to crack the rich man’s kernels lest he bites his tongue while attempting the Read More…
In popular parlance, wherever you turn, you hear: “Naija no dey carry last”. That’s the Nigerian’s way of self-consolation, even self-motivation. In whatever circumstance he finds himself, a Nigerian is supposed to come out tops, whether the playing field is level or not. It is that self-assurance that other Africans mistake for arrogance. It is Read More…
I have never made a secret of my admiration for Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Rtd). Right from the time he broke into public consciousness with his brief stint as Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Housing Authority to the time he came unto his own as governor of old Kaduna State (including the present Katsina Read More…
The quest for fame is a global pandemic. From time immemorial, man has craved recognition and social pre-eminence through various means — even if he has to be anti-social to attain social recognition. In this pursuit, the line between popularity and notoriety thins out. Most people would rather be notorious than be unknown. Every Tamuno, Read More…
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…
