Opinion

By TUNDE OLUSUNLE For his famous zeal, stamina, energy and verve, Nigeria's former President, Olusegun Obasanjo had to learn when to draw the brakes. There were those times his spirit was willing, but his body weak. He had to succumb to the body clockwork to catch some rest. If he still desired to drag his body, he was tactfully restrained by his aides. I know a bit about Obasanjo. I served as his campaign media officer, a job I was enlisted into, even before his formal declaration to contest for the nation's top job. He threw his hat in the…

EXPRESSO 》》》By Steve Osuji It may be uncharitable to call the mission dead on arrival, but the campaign is already as wonky as it can get. Call him Icarus man, rich in hubris and ambition, daring to fly even through the sun. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, BAT, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may well be described as the Icarus candidate. Remember Icarus in Greek mythology whose father makes him a contraption of wings using beewax to beat an escape. Father warns him never to fly too low nor too high lest he comes to a certain…

By TUNDE OLUSUNLE By the time the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari winds up on Monday May 29, 2023, it would have taken our country through every conceivable insanity and ridiculousness. Beyond the time-worn, tripodal possibilities of "the good, the bad and the ugly," Nigerians have gone through what the iconic afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, described as experiences in "craze world." Just name it: record-breaking killings in peace time; freestyle abductions even under the daylight nostrils of security forces; unabated insurgency, unceasing terrorism. Festering banditry, bestial butchery of hapless and innocent folks by psychopathic marauders, mindless arson, deliberate violence…

No matter how hard this government tries to rationalize Buhari’s unforced leadership gaffes, the president’s illicit dalliance with Niger Republic at the expense of Nigerians is the stuff quislings are made of. By Ikechukwu Amaechi Constitutionally, Nigeria has 36 states and a Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. But under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, the country seems to have added one more state – Niger Republic – making it 37. The 37th state, ironically enjoys more federal attention and presence than some of the country’s bona-fide states. Nigeriens in their country enjoy more dividends of democracy, courtesy of the munificence of…

By Victor Anazonwu In a proper democracy, the APC would not be contesting Nigeria's Presidential Elections in 2023. Not in any real sense. It would, quite rightly, consider 2023 a lost cause. It would be content to take a few seats in the Senate and House of Representatives. And maybe a few governorship stools also. The party would be in deep anguish and sorrow, begging for forgiveness, groveling to rebuild its tattered image and depleted human stock. It would be hoping to groom some decent candidates with whom to make a fresh bid, perhaps in 2027 or 2031. By which…