Opinion

By IKECHUKWU AMAECHI No matter how anyone tries to rationalize the obtuse economic reforms of the Tinubu administration, the most searing no confidence vote in their sustainability has been passed by the president himself when the presidency announced that it was no longer sustainable for the Aso Rock Villa to continue paying the yearly N47 billion ‘Band A’ electricity tariff. Aso Rock’s move which jolted many is coming on the heels of increasingly unreliable public power supply, even as the cost soars for both households and government institutions. In 2024, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company which said the Presidential Villa…

By Dare Babarinsa Every ascension of an Alaafin is an important moment in Yoruba history. So is it with the coming of our father, Alaafin Abimbola Akeem Owoade, who began his reign with the symbolic outing in Oyo on Saturday March 29, 2025. The Alaafin traditionally represents Yoruba military power. So potent was his power that one of the panegyrics of Olodumare was Alaafin Ode Orun; the Alaafin of the celestial space. The empire is gone now, but the symbol and the relevance are still there. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Oyo people put up a great show…

By IKECHUKWU AMAECHI Monday, March 24, 2025, was Emeka Ihedioha’s day in the sun. Granted, some will say he had already achieved a lot in six decades. Having been a three-term member of the House of Representatives, where he served as Chief Whip, Deputy Speaker and even Speaker, albeit temporarily, and Governor of Imo State, nothing can be truer. Yet, his 60th birthday marked with a colloquium at the Abuja Continental Hotel, was epochal. It was not only a day of recognition, it was also a day of validation and triumph for a man who suffered, perhaps, the most grievous…

By Justice Malala When a state of emergency was declared in parts of Nigeria in 2013, Bola Tinubu, then a fiery opposition leader, was apoplectic. He condemned the declaration by former President Goodluck Jonathan as a “ploy to subvert constitutional democracy” and warned it was “a potentially destructive path to take.” Now, as president, Tinubu’s words have come back to bite him. Hours after the March 18 explosion on the Trans-Niger Pipeline — imperiling the 245,000 barrels of crude oil and condensates it transports daily — in Rivers State, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the richly endowed “oil…