Opinion

Chioma is having troubles with her mother-in-law. I know because she made it headline news on her social media page. She does not share her concerns with the other party in the nuptial contract or with a trained counsellor, but with aliens on social media who are sweating on the treadmill of their own problems and who have no understanding of the situational context.

I felicitate with our Christian brothers and sisters in particular and all Nigerians in general on this joyous occasion of Christmas 2020, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

That the slain Borno farmers did not get military clearance is an inconvenient truth, but the real error of judgement was taking the government at its word. In his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the military chiefs – the same military chiefs there today – to relocate to the North East, the main theatre in the war on Boko Haram.

Fellow Nigerians, It has become necessary for me to address you having heard from many concerned Nigerians and having concluded a meeting with all the Security Chiefs.

The poem quoted above: “The Second Coming” by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1919) is probably one of the most adapted and quoted poems in world literature, and in politics and culture, to describe moments of anxiety, uncertainty and a seeming “slouching towards” chaos and anarchy in any community.

​Today, we stand on the threshold of history as we formally begin a series of activities commemorating Nigeria’s Diamond Anniversary. The task history has saddled me with today is to proclaim a theme that will keep us united, help us forge ahead and unveil a logo that will form the critical pillars which our 11 month modest commemorative activities would rest on. ​

To state that we live in challenging times is perhaps an understatement and does very little justice in accurately capturing our current realities. Those realities include a world faced with a pandemic the scale of which hasn’t been seen in 100 years. The crisis has crippled economies, destroyed global supply chains and obliterated once productive and viable sectors of the economy.

Not a few Nigerians are amused at the theatre of the absurd playing out at the Niger Delta Development Commission. The whole circus show climaxed last Monday when three dramas took place during the House of Representatives Probe Panel of the 20-year-old interventionist agency.

Speech by His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the signing into law of the Appropriation (Repeal and Amendment) Act, 2020 Presidential Villa, Abuja. Friday, 10TH July, 2019

It came like a bolt out of the blue early this week, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, issued an advertisement, which went in a completely different direction compared to what he had always said of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Global response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Africa has been remarkable, especially following fears that should the virus take hold, its impact on the continent could be catastrophic.

All Progressives Congress (APC) is on the cusp of an implosion. The crisis in the party has reached a frightening crescendo. It has been a gradual but steady plummet for the party since its 2015 unanticipated triumph. I believe, the APC is in the thrall of a curse – the success curse.

It is tough being a Nigerian. Every aspect of the Nigerian life, from the existential to the political is charged with presumptions and assumptions and suspicion. Buying anything on the street attracts deep anxiety; appointing anyone to any position draws deep skepticism. And all these are to be expected in a state whose foundation was laid on historical animosity and current distrust.g

On 17th April, 2020, my world came crashing down and my heart shattered into a billion pieces. Upon receiving the news of my father’s passing, I immediately felt the most excruciating pain – a pain I would not wish on my worst enemy. My biggest fear in the world had materialised.

This is a piece around and about what I have seen about Coronavirus in Nigeria, from a sociological perspective, and not a report of any pathogenic experience. It has been more than a month since the Federal Government placed Lagos and Ogun states, and the Federal Capital Territory on a lockdown on account of the spread of COVID-19 in those three parts of the country.

As a science journalist and following the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus, I always took precautionary measures to ensure I did not contract the dreaded disease.

On Monday, April 27, 2020, British oil and gas giant, BP, became the latest in a growing number of energy firms to declare a massive quarterly loss. Their loss was in the region of $4.4 billion dollars. Bear in mind that this was a conglomerate that posted a $2.6 billion profit in the corresponding quarter of 2019.

Address By H.E. Muhammadu Buhari, President Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria On The Cumulative Lockdown Order Of Lagos And Ogun States As Well As The Federal Capital Territory On Covid-19 Pandemic At The State House, Abuja Monday, 27Th April, 2020

As the inks flow in tributes to Abba Kyari by those who loved and despised him, let us not forget that Abba was much misunderstood and often maligned.

Mallam Abba Kyari died on Friday 17th of April, 2020 at the age of 67 years. The patriot died the way he would have preferred, at the very front line of service, sadly seized by a plague against which he was defending his beloved fatherland, Nigeria.

When I started editing my book, “Doctor Strangelove” in 2005, I had over thirty chapters to work with. But then the Lord said to me: “Femi, this book will have eighteen chapters.” I took that as a prophecy. I kept my eye on it and was excited when, through editorial work, the book finally shrank to eighteen chapters. I had run with the vision and fulfilled it. Or so I thought.

On January 18, 2020, when I first read of the new coronavirus on the BBC website, my heart missed a beat because of what China means to the world. The headline was: “New virus in China ‘will have infected hundreds’.”