Column

By SHEDDY OZOENE Barely two weeks ago, on December 7, 2025, President Emmanuel Macron of France made a statement that confirmed what many Nigerians had long feared: that his personal closeness to President Bola Tinubu may have started shaping Nigeria’s foreign policy. The fear, too, is that it may be shaped to serve French interests to the long-term detriment of Nigeria. Both men have displayed a certain warmth in their relationship since Tinubu became President and literally picked Paris as his second home. On many occasions, we have seen both men in warm embrace and smile heartily into the cameras.…

By OREVA GODWIN I know the women association will sharpen their cutlass to behead me for this. But hold on, my honourable gender. The earlier we admit this truth, the better for us all. If truth had a gender, manipulation would wear a wig, lashes, and carry a handbag. Men, naturally, are not manipulators. They learn it over time until it became part of them. But women? Manipulation flows through us effortlessly. We do it without training, without intention, sometimes without even knowing we’re doing it. Men, on the other hand, are natural gaslighters. They gaslight for a living. They…

By SHEDDY OZOENE When the United States named Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern and hinted at possible military action to counter perceived genocide against the country's Christians, many Nigerians were angry. Some saw it as interference; others felt it was an insult to our independence. But behind all the reactions is an uncomfortable truth: the warning pushed our leaders to act. In that sense, it has turned out, it would seem, a blessing in disguise. For years, Nigerians of all backgrounds have lived with the fear of terrorism. Communities have been attacked, people displaced, and whole areas left unsafe…

As Tinubu continues to insult Nigerians: Tinubu’s political appointments mirror who he is and his abiding political philosophy. As someone poignantly asked, if he didn’t appoint the likes of Prof Mahmoud, Reno Omokri and Femi Fani-Kayode, people who reflect him in character, attitude, political conduct, and the elasticity of principles, who else? In all Tinubu does, politics trumps governance. What matters is how to strengthen his hold on power, and not the promotion of common good. And even if that translates to insulting Nigerians, so be it. Or how else can it be explained that a congenital liar like Reno…

By OREVA GODWIN A man of God once told someone, “Oreva can’t be a born-again Christian and write the way she does. She’s influenced by a familiar spirit. That’s where she gets her inspiration, and that’s why she talks so boldly about sex. She doesn’t have the Holy Spirit in her.” It’s sad that we still have Stone Age Christians who haven’t come to the realization that Christ doesn’t limit us from speaking the truth or discussing deep matters. We’ve replaced spirituality with religion, and called it holiness. Having the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean you lose your sense or individuality.…

Boko Haram on a gravy train under Tinubu’s watch: What the Tinubu government did is a shameful abdication of governance. If, as Onanuga claimed, the security agents not only know all the bandits, but also where they operate from, what is being flaunted as achievement is a gross advertisement of cluelessness, which in other countries will elicit a mass protest and call for resignation. Tinubu does not know what it means to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces… With hunger and poverty ravaging the land, violence is bound to spike. With increased violence and mass abduction of school children, more…

With Tinubu, it will only get worse: It is no hyperbole to say that all the indices of human development have gone south under Tinubu’s watch. Life in Tinubu’s Nigeria typifies the Hobbesian state of nature – “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” But scarier still is the fact that when you think you have seen the worst, it gets even messier. With Tinubu, nothing is sacred. All that matters is raw power and the exercise of same. Every institution has been compromised… Tinubu’s presidency is turning into an unmitigated disaster before our very eyes… And what do we get…

By OREVA GODWIN It's scary when someone you once loved with all your heart, someone you thought you knew change into a monster right before you. I remembered when I ended things with my ex before my unidays, he couldn't take the break up. He threatened me that if he couldn't have me, no one would. He literally showed up anytime I was with another man, just to threaten and warn him to stay off me. With his intimidating height and popularity, he was a menace. Guys were in fear once they saw him. The men exclaimed that they didn't…

BY ABRAHAM OGBODO It is not right to say that Nyesom Wike is in the news again. He is, always. The big deal is when the Minister, who was also Governor of Rivers State for eight years, manages to stop boiling over and strike a comportment that does not attract news hunters. Last Tuesday, Wike as FCT Minister, went to recover a swath of land which acquisition did not, according to him, follow the due process laid down by the authorities of the FCT. There are ways to own land in Nigeria. The Supreme Court said so in Idundun V…