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Opinion

Sunday, 04 September 2022 06:51

Where will Tinubu, Atiku, Obi’s multibillion Naira campaign funds come from? - Festus Adedayo

Finally, the month is here. September is Nigeria’s presidential campaign flag-off, preparatory to the February 2023 election. For those who relish colour, panache and flurry of demagogical words, Nigeria’s political campaign offers a multiple variety similar to Dolly Parton’s coat of many colours. And much more. It is a season when lies are sold for a farthing and purchased amid frenzy. It is also a period of psychological warfare when the hearts of electors become targets for the Cupid arrows of desperate politicians. More fundamentally, it is a season to witness the ascendancy of a massive, multi-billion Naira campaign industry…

Sunday, 04 September 2022 06:48

Maximizing your appointed time - Taiwo Akinola

Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her ~ Luke 1:57-58. Introduction: There is an appointed time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11). Time is set for every event, occasion or accomplishment on earth, and events are forced to be, not as man wishes but as God disposes at His appointed time. When His set-time comes, the music starts. Every enviable destiny is secured by divine timing (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Yes,…

Sunday, 04 September 2022 06:47

Article of faith: The God who wounds us (1) - Femi Aribisala

“You are the Lord that healeth me” is a popular Christian song. However, in singing this song, we omit the vital beginning of God’s healing process. Before the Lord heals us, He wounds us. It is the same God who heals us that wounds us. Therefore, perhaps we need to write another song that says: “You are the Lord that wounds me.” God takes full responsibility for our wounds. He says: “Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there…

Friday, 02 September 2022 06:49

Simpson: Gorbachev was a man of decency but not vision

Mikhail Gorbachev changed the world, without entirely meaning to. He was a younger, different kind of Soviet leader, who hadn't experienced the brutality of Stalin's regime or fought in World War Two. He'd visited Western Europe, so he knew that the propaganda about Soviet living standards being higher than in the West was nonsense. And he never forgot the stories his grandfather had told him about being tortured by Stalin's secret police. Gorbachev realised the Soviet Union had to be changed, but the way he did it ensured it would come crashing down. The Marxist-Leninist system was destroyed, the old…

Friday, 02 September 2022 06:47

Kukah’s stories and broken truths - Azu Ishiekwene

If you haven’t had a good laugh, you have not been with him. And anyone who knows him knows I’m not joking. The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has the rare gift of humour. Not the run-of-the-mill kind that forces a courteous half-smile. It’s the kind that extracts the prey while putting the cat completely at ease; it just cracks your rib. It works in good times and in bad. And just as he has done in the last nearly over two decades of being clergyman and public intellectual, Kukah deployed this gift again in a conversation about…

Thursday, 01 September 2022 06:42

Who actually needs weapons: state or non-state actors? - Rotimi Akeredolu

News concerning the purported award of pipeline contracts to some individuals and private organisations by the Federal Government has been unsettling. More disquieting is the barely disguised hostility displayed against either the idea or the actual establishment of security outfits by some state governments to fill the widening gaps in the scope of the security coverage noticeable nationally. The Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, has been consistent in its refusal to accede to the request of some states of the federation to strengthen the complementary initiatives adopted to protect lives and property. This is done…

Thursday, 01 September 2022 06:32

On the vexed issue of petroleum subsidy... - Bola Bolawole

For an opposition party that said petroleum subsidy was a scam, since it assumed the reins of power the APC/Muhammadu Buhari government has paid more subsidies on petroleum than the government it took over from! Not only that, the way petroleum subsidy has ballooned under Buhari’s watch, year-in, year-out, has left no one in doubt that corruption of the worst order has been the name of the game. According to the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, perhaps the worst Minister of Finance this country has ever had, subsidy on petrol in the 2023 budget under preparation will total N6.7 trillion! Between…

Monday, 29 August 2022 06:41

An agenda for national rebirth (3) - Hassan Gimba

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion - Alexander The Great A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way - John C. Maxwell A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves -Lao Tzu, Laozi A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice- Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as…

Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:56

Encountering Obasanjo, Tshisekedi and the war in Congo Kinshasa - Festus Adedayo

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC’s) Presidential Villa is a highly fortified palace. Like in many parts of Central Africa, the Congolese have turned their disadvantaged hilly and mountainous topography into aesthetic wonder. At every point in the expansive Villa, you confront menacing-looking, gun-toting soldiers who radio authorities before allowing you entry. White-painted effigies of four lions by the Villa gate compliment this menacing ambience. The Villa itself is an old but well maintained structure, painted white and probably built in the 1970s. Language barrier limited the satisfaction of my curiosity as to whether Mobutu Sese-Seko ruled from this same Villa.…

Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:54

Purity, power and covenant progress - Taiwo Akinola

O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever ~ Deuteronomy 5:29! Introduction: Every masterpiece has its proper price. The place of purity in the formation of destiny can never be overemphasized. Purity of heart is so vitally important to our lives and destinies to the extent that all our salient legacies on earth are secured only by it (Proverbs 20:7). Painfully, God laments the dearth of purity in the hearts of men till today (Deuteronomy…

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Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:53

Article of faith: House on the sand - Femi Aribisala

I had always wanted to build my own house. I would buy “House and Garden” magazines and look at so many different house designs. As a child, I wanted to be an architect. As an adult, it was clear the nearest I would get to fulfilling that dream would be by designing and building my own house. I disliked even the best houses I saw. There was always something missing; always something out of place. But I knew that one day; I would build a house that would put all other houses to shame. Mission unaccomplished Finally, one day, my…

Friday, 26 August 2022 06:55

Have the hustlers finally ousted Kenya’s dynasties? - Azu Ishiekwene

One of the ironies of politics is how easily fiction becomes reality, and reality, precedent. Before our eyes, the president-elect of Kenya, William Ruto, who has played all sides of Kenya’s politics for at least three decades, has just won an election by claiming to be an outsider. Ruto’s electoral epic of “hustler vs. dynasty” appears to have wiped off all memory of his 30-year involvement in the good and bad of Kenya’s politics. This legend won him a razor-thin victory over Raila Odinga in the August 9 presidential election. Legends still work. Ruto is proof. It’s a tribute to…

Friday, 26 August 2022 06:51

Obi, Shettima and Atiku at the NBA Conference - Abimbola Adelakun

At the annual Nigerian Bar Association conference, several presidential candidates presented their respective agendas to the public. The Tuesday event was one of the few moments in this electioneering season when we will hear anything close to “issue-based” campaigns. By next month, when electioneering kicks off officially, one can expect to be assailed with a deafening noise of candidates struggling to outdo one another in their pander towards the lowest common denominating instinct of their followers. They will have to shed conviviality and antagonise each other to amuse their followers. In the coming months, they will be on campaign grounds,…

Thursday, 25 August 2022 06:38

Nigeria's slippery political terrain - Bola Bolawole

The convergence of social media and civil society organisations as agenda setters, ombudsman and crusaders all rolled into one comes with opportunities and challenges that many still struggle to grapple with. The new media, as they are called, and their new social critic counterparts struggling to fill the void created by the exit of the Tai Solarins, Ayodele Awojobis, Gani Fawehinmis, Fela and Beko Ransome-Kutis of this world mean different things to different people. No matter how lofty an idea, it is also prone to abuse; social media and CSOs are no exceptions. Calling a dog a bad name to…

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