Tag: Opinion

At an online panel discussion on Tobacco Harm Reduction on June 23, 2020, Prof Reuven Zimlichman, Director of the Brunner Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Tel-Aviv University, and Dr Peter Harper, oncologist, and Gizelle Baker, an epidemiologist and PMI’s Director of Scientific Engagement, discussed scientifically-proven harm reduction tools with regards to tobacco. Nowadays, more than one billion people smoke in… Read More

During this lockdown period, I managed to read significant parts of Dr.Goodluck Jonathan’s book, ‘My Transition Hours’. I have been trying to avoid the book like others similar to it, simply because I don’tbelieve in the sincerity of politicians telling their own stories. But, what other ways can you cope under a three-month lockdown? One conclusion I reached was that the former President’s memoir was a tactical expression of his self-convincing feeling that he never lost freely and fairly to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential elections. All other… Read More

Over the years, Nigeria has witnessed huge and seemingly growing insecurity problems, rapid increase in poverty rate, high inequality and concurrent threats of instability. The recent report by National Bureau of Statistics affirmed that forty percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line and more than two million are internally displaced. These and many more challenges posed serious threats to… Read More

On July 4, 2019, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC, rolled out the names of thirty-eight legal practitioners deserving to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. How some despise the rank! Some don’t want it ever mentioned near them at all, for several reasons. I used to be in that class, given my background,… Read More

A year ago, Mele Kolo Kyari was named as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He succeeded Maikanti Baru, now of blessed memory. On July 8, 2019, the then incoming GMD made the following promises: (i) There will be no corruption without discretion. We will work with all shareholders within the NNPC group to… Read More

A person is said to be arrested when he is taken into custody and is temporarily deprived of liberty and free movement. The law forbids excessive restraint of arrested persons. Handcuff is only allowed where there’s resistance or likelihood of escape. The belief or view that arrest is only made when a suspect is handcuffed, manhandled and/or subjected to torture… Read More

“It has been long coming. Expect things to be done differently from now on,” a source in the thick of things told me regarding the ‘’arrest’’ of Ibrahim Magu, Acting EFCC Chairman, by security operatives.  Magu’s fall – even though delayed – preceded him. He walked on molten magma. He had chalked up lots of professional liabilities before he became… Read More

Lance Corporal Martins Idakpein of the Eighth Division, Sokoto, Nigerian Army, criticized the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, and Chief of Defense Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, for not doing enough to end Boko Haram terrorism. Martins lamented the needless and senseless killings of citizens.  Shortly after the video went viral, Martins was arrested on the orders of… Read More

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), was reported to have said that the soldiers indicted in the brutal murder of three policemen, who arrested a suspected kidnap kingpin, Bala Hamisu (alias Wadume), could be tried by a court-martial.  According to the minister, “They are military personnel. First, they are to go through the… Read More

The wife of the Nigerian President, Aisha Buhari, cuts the image of a strong-willed First Lady quite unlike her predecessors in the ‘office’ constitutionally unsanctioned and unrecognized. She is ambitious, bold, outspoken and authoritative; she is soundly educated, sophisticated and overbearing. She is supremely beautiful and audacious. The woman from Adamawa state knows what power is all about and goes… Read More