Opinion

In a unanimous judgment delivered on February 14, 2020, the Supreme Court of Nigeria sacked the Bayelsa State Governor-elect, David Lyon and his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo who had run on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

As I said in a column in June 2019, security is everybody’s business. No individual, group, institution or organisation is nugatory in matters of security. All efforts are needed and all hands must be forged into one fist in the pursuit of peace. In fact, it imperils security if any stakeholder to the peace is “quarantined” and stereotyped.

During an outing at 6:30 am last Friday to assess public institutions in Borno State, the Governor, Professor Babagana Umar Zulum, met Mrs Mazi Obiageli already at Shehu Sanda Kyarimi 2 Primary school under Jere local government education authority, waiting for her pupils.

Two weeks ago, the federal government announced the appointment of a new Football Ambassador for Nigeria. It did not come as a complete surprise because, somehow, I knew it was coming.

The supreme court of Nigeria has again awarded the governorship election in Bayelsa to the PDP. The APC won the governorship election but the supreme court nullified the candidacy of the APC on Thursday because the running mate of the APC governorship candidate presented forged certificate for the election.

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, presented her new book to the public in Abuja on Tuesday. I was privileged to have reviewed the book at the occasion.

Homily of His Lordship Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah at the Funeral Mass of Seminarian Michael Nnadi at Good Shepherd Seminary Kaduna (11th February 2020)

A study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) put the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to 13.5 million – as of 2018. An unimpressive mass of this number comes from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, and other northern states.

Nigerians everywhere, those of belief and those of none, are mourning the death of pastor Lawan Andimi, taken from us by Boko Haram for his refusal to denounce his Christian faith.

“Amotekun. This issue has dominated recent discourse and media headlines. Distilled to its basics, it concerns how best state governments can assist with the safety and security of their residents.

The United Kingdom’s exit of the European Union is now all but certain. Only the passage of time will reveal what their new relationship shall be. But with this new arrangement, I – like many other Commonwealth leaders – also seek a new settlement: not only of closer relations between the UK and my own nation, but of unleashing trade within the club in which we together shall remain.

For many years, week after week, Shaka Momodu opens the sewers, and pours vitriol on President Muhammadu Buhari on the back page of Thisday Newspapers. We ignore him, reasoning that when a mind is diseased, there is hardly much you can do to point such soul to decency. It remains impervious to anything not from the very nether region of hell.

Today marks a new decade. It is a time of hope, optimism and fresh possibilities. We look forward as a nation to the 2020s as the opportunity to build on the foundations we have laid together on security, diversification of our economy and taking on the curse of corruption. These are the pledges on which I have been twice elected President and remain the framework for a stable, sustainable and more prosperous future.

In the last couple of weeks, the economic and political news coming out of Nigeria has not been positive. It has been about doing things the wrong way, lack of due process, desecration of the rule of law, outright impunity for violators of rights and economic policies that have attracted negative ratings

As rare as impeachments may be, today’s impeachment of Donald Trump, president of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors was pretty much inevitable.

John Quincy Adams once said “there are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” He may have very well been referring to Nigeria of the last three years.

I boarded a commercial airliner heading to Lagos from Abuja. I was already seated, and strapping my seat belt, when a young man approached me. He must have been in his late 20s, or at most, early 30s. I shook hands, greeted him warmly, and he slipped something in my palm. He went back to his seat.

The reported new editorial policy of the Punch Newspapers to address President Muhammadu Buhari as Major General in his official title and refer to his government as a regime instead of administration, comes to us as totally curious and utterly incredible.