Ns-Opinion

Opinion

Thursday, 31 March 2022 05:54

The house many had thought would fall... - Bola Bolawole

Against the expectations of many, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) wobbled and fumbled through into a successful – for so it seems for now – national convention last Saturday! The house many had thought would collapse did not after all! APC managed to cobble together a “Unity list” of aspirants for party offices through consensus. President Muhammadu Buhari’s touted candidate, Abdullahi Adamu, emerged as the APC chairman while Iyiola Omisore emerged as the National Secretary. The first consensus national chairman of APC was Bisi Akande, ex-Governor of Osun State and Bola Tinubu’s right-hand man. Akande was followed by ex-Edo…

Thursday, 31 March 2022 05:52

Kaduna attack: Trains are not the progress Nigeria needed - Abimbola Adelakun

On Monday night, terrorists attacked a Kaduna-bound passenger train that left from Abuja. They ambushed the train by detonating some explosives laid on the railway tracks. The violent implosion that followed not only stopped the train in its tracks but also imploded the myth of the progress Nigeria has made under the present regime. So far, eight people are reportedly dead, an undetermined number abducted and others still missing. Considering that there was also an attack on the Kaduna airport on Saturday and a siege laid on Abuja-Kaduna Road on Tuesday, a lot going on now is deeply depressing. The…

Tuesday, 29 March 2022 06:04

Two Ukraine war scenarios and what they mean for US-China power rivalry - Li Xing

There are two competing scenarios that would come out of the current war. The first is that the war would further push the EU towards the US, which would be against Chinese interests. The argument is that the EU has been attempting to keep a balance between its cultural and security alliance with the US, and its economic and trade partnership with China. Beijing’s support for Russia would break such a balance. However, Chinese elites firmly believe that with or without the Ukraine war, China is without doubt the No 1 “systemic rival” that the US is determined to contain,…

Tuesday, 29 March 2022 06:03

Fellow Nigerians, you deserve the punishment - Dele Sobowale

“I am beginning to wonder how many fools it takes to make the term ‘My Fellow Citizens’” – Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, in LOST ILLUSIONS. If you are a Nigerian, who has not lost hope in Buhari, you must either be a damn fool, a liar or a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, or all of the above. A government based on pure conspiracy, headed by an ill-educated leader and powered by frequently lying to itself and the people can produce no other result than what we are experiencing now. By the time Buhari is finished with…

Monday, 28 March 2022 06:23

Negotiating with Putin Is the only way forward - Oscar Arias

As the crisis in Ukraine becomes more acute, so does the need for negotiations. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that Ukraine is “being decimated before the eyes of the world,” with the only reasonable option being “an immediate cessation of hostilities and serious negotiations based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law.” Though there have been talks between Ukraine and Russia, news reports have emphasized their failure to make progress. But make no mistake: a negotiated settlement is the only way forward. Even in seemingly intractable situations with intransigent actors, the power of reason can…

Sunday, 27 March 2022 06:39

At Ife, commonsense takes the back seat - Bola Bolawole

A comrade, Tony Iyare, asked why I had not yet commented on the show of shame, as many have described it, at my - and his - alma mater, the erstwhile University of Ife (established in 1962 but renamed the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1978 in honour of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, who died on 9th May, 1987). I gave Tony a few reasons. My plate was full. APC/Muhammadu Buhari’s Nigeria, more than at any other time in recent history, is a country where tragedy falls upon tragedy on a daily basis. And as our people would say, when…

Sunday, 27 March 2022 06:34

Inside the whoredom and harlotry of Nigeria’s 2023 election - Festus Adedayo

In Russia’s 1998 St. Petersburg local assembly elections, incumbent Oleg Sergeyev had been a thorn in the flesh of totalitarian governor, Vladimir Yakovlev. Upon Sergeyev’s launch of his bid to replace him, Yakovlev waited till election date to sting him with his amusingly ingenuous strategy. On voting day, voters, majority of whom were illiterate, were at sea when they found two of their adored candidate’s namesakes on the ballot - Oleg Sergeyev and Oleg Sergeyev. The former was a pensioner and the latter, an unemployed man, both of whom had no qualification for the office they sought but were implanted…

Sunday, 27 March 2022 06:32

Crushing the invisible barriers to breakthrough - Taiwo Akinola

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places ~ Isaiah 45:2-3 Introductions: Becoming familiar with the spiritual nature of life’s obstacles to progress is a wise thing to do if we hope to get onto the paths of meaningful breakthroughs. One wise man rightly said: “if stagnation goes unexamined, breakthrough pays the price”. Obstacles naturally litter the pathways to a good life, and it is…

Sunday, 27 March 2022 06:30

Article of faith: Understanding kingdom dynamics - Femi Aribisala

Christians do not love God. We are not interested in the kingdom of God. Instead, we love life. We love this world. We are lovers of pleasure. We do not want to suffer for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the kingdom of God. We love money, worship money, and serve money. We have idols in our hearts. We want to gain this world and the world to come. We want to have our cake and eat it too. Making godly choices But choices must be made. We either choose life and live, or we choose death and die.…

Friday, 25 March 2022 06:00

Russia: Know the truth and let it set you free - Femi Fani-Kayode

If you insist on talking or writing about the war in the Ukraine kindly get your facts right and do not repeat the one-sided, subjective and monotonous clap trap and fairy tales that CNN and the other international media networks are continuously churning out. Any student of modern history will tell you that the Russians were never the villains when it comes to acts of barbarity committed against sovereign nation states and against the oppresed people of the world. That notorious title goes to the Americans, the Western European nations and their allies. More than any other nation on earth…

More...

Friday, 25 March 2022 05:59

Ebele’s diary and other unforgettable First Ladies - Azu Ishiekwene

I thought there was a mistake. The headline said Nigeria’s former ambassador to Spain and wife of Odumegwu Ojukwu, Bianca, slapped the outgoing First Lady of Anambra State, Ebele Obiano. In my head, however, the news read differently. This was not the sort of thing you would associate with Bianca, a former ambassador and beauty queen. In spite of what I was reading as the news broke, I told myself that the reality was the other way round: Ebele Obiano must have slapped Bianca Ojukwu. If you know Ebele, you will know why in spite of the news, it is…

Monday, 21 March 2022 11:17

For Bene Madunagu at 75 - Edwin Madunagu

[This is a revised and updated version of the tribute I paid the subject five years ago, on March 21, 2017 when she became 70 years old. Although she has since then lived largely in retirement and ill-health, she has nonetheless done a number of things - directly and indirectly, alone and in combination with others - that now contribute significantly in defining the essence of her entire adult life. The most significant of these “things” is offered as an Update in the closing paragraphs of this edition.] Our subject is known officially, especially in the academic world, as Professor…

Monday, 21 March 2022 06:29

Which way Nigeria: Restructuring before election or election without restructuring? - Bola Bolawole

The agitation for restructuring has been one of the most important political topics in Nigeria in recent years: To be or not to be? When and how? In what form and to what extent? The arguments for and against restructuring apart, the politics surrounding it has brought out the devils in some of our politicians as they approbate and reprobate at the same time, disowning today what they had affirmed yesterday, knowing and at the same time not knowing! What is restructuring: fiscal, physical, geographical or what-have-you? How, if any, does restructuring differ from self-determination? True federalism, fiscal federalism, confederation…

Sunday, 20 March 2022 06:30

Between Wike’s temper and Anambra’s valedictory slaps - Festus Adedayo

In the final analysis, it will appear that the Nigerian political elite, adept as it is at plundering Nigerian resources and inflicting pain on the people, it has very scant understanding of the psychology of the people it pillages. A very true story that will succinctly demonstrate this happened in Ondo State, about 1990. Olabode Ibiyinka George, Commodore in the Nigerian Navy, had been posted to the state as governor in 1988. As is customary, in tow did he come with his wife, Feyi, a very self-opinionated woman. Unsubstantiated claims alleged that both were on the verge of divorce before…

Page 108 of 149

Opinion

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS