Category: Leaders

Nigerians have rated the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari’s five years in office as being “extremely poor”. In a poll conducted by SaharaReporters on social media, over 80 per cent of respondents rated Buhari poor, saying his administration had been marred by ethnicity and corruption allegations. The poll, which was conducted on Facebook and Twitter had 21,200 and 26,643 votes… Read More

American deaths from the COVID-19 raced past the 100,000 mark this week, thanks largely to a famously coy and bungled Federal response. To put this staggering number in perspective, let’s recall that 33,686 Americans perished in the Korean War, another 58,220 in two decades of the Vietnam War, 2996 during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack and 2,354 in nearly two decades of US military… Read More

I often express the hope that one day all those who allegedly committed internationally-recognised crimes in Nigeria, especially during the Biafra-Nigeria Civil War, will be made to face justice.   My hope is buoyed by those popular wordsexpressed by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal after the Second World War: ‘crimes against international law are committed by men, not abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who committed such crimes can the provisions… Read More

While waiting for the police to formally charge or release Mubarak Bala, it is important to critically examine a key proposition in the complaint filed against him at the Kano State Police Command.  This is necessary to understand the intent and motivation of the petitioners as well as implications for religious freedom in the country. The complainants claimed that Mubarak… Read More

This is the weekend of May 30, the date of the official declaration of the former Republic of Biafra: the Land of the Rising Sun! Biafra holds a duality of meaning to the Igbo and other Nigerians. To millions, it was the highest point of their expression of the creative  skills and existential ingenuity of the Igbo, Annang, Ibibio, the… Read More

One of the five cardinal objectives of the United States foreign policy is “promoting and supporting” democracy. The US has fought wars and spent billions of dollars “promoting and supporting” its own genre of democracy in other countries – especially in the developing world. The country touted itself to be the emancipator of the world – against communism — during… Read More

“Looters Equality: My Thief, Your thief, Our Thief”, was to debut with the story of a General’s  generous ghost whose “assets” and not loot according to the Presidency. “Asset” that has continued to grace the hands of public servants and line the pockets of leaders since after his demise. According to his compatriot General Muhammadu Buhari, General Sani Abacha is… Read More

53 years after the Nigerian-Biafran war, old wounds have not healed. The consequences of the violence and hate born during the war between the Easterners and their fellow Nigerians have not died out completely. Many hearts are still hurting. Many souls are still troubled. Many born after the war are looking for answers to their questions. The Nigerian Government has… Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic is another momentous challenge for African countries, albeit one that the continent should use as an opportunity to fast-track the process of development and welcome the chance of becoming self-reliant and autonomous, as the West focuses on its survival and recovery. The epicentre of the pandemic has gradually moved from China to Europe and now the United… Read More

Introduction While there has been much talk on insulting the prophet of Islam, there has not bpeen enough focus on Islam based phobias, that is, strands of hatred that draw from Islamic beliefs and practices, texts, and traditions. In this piece, I use the story of Gandoki and some verses from the Quran to highlight some jihadist narratives and phobias.… Read More