On Wednesday 9th February 2011, the Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers (now re-christened Abuja Continental Hotel) played host to a large gathering of people from diverse backgrounds. Tajudeen Yusuf had won the primary of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) for Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency, and his friends, colleagues and associates organised a fundraiser. Elections and electioneering can be quite expensive in …

Typical of the extremely organised personality that he is, the multiple award-winning poet, Niyi Osundare had already “served notice” of his imminent visit to Nigeria weeks before he came. He had been invited by the organisers of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) to deliver a lecture at the 2022 edition of the “Annual Forum of NNOM Laureates,” in …

Accomplished journalists and writers, lawyers of immense stature, and professionals of all hues are stripping themselves and dancing naked on the altar of political partisanship; even those who pretend at calling them to order are no less guilty of similar offences! May I not fall into the same miry clay! The stakes are high: the presidency of Nigeria is touted …

The shenanigans were always there, but until FIFA president, Infantino Giovanni called them out in his down-to-earth press conference in Qatar, they remained the elephant in the room. The hint of displeasure goes back 12 years ago when Qatar won the bid, defeating Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. That outcome was unexpected. The Persian Gulf is good …

The poetic headline of an anonymous article traveling around WhatsApp attracted my attention on the morning of Wednesday, 21st December 2022. And unlike my attitude to a number of the endless streams of rhetoric in this space, I spent valuable time reading this one. And I must tell you this article was so good I read it twice. The headline …

Let us go back to this enigma whose is boldness is without hubris, whose bravery is without noisy attestations, whose charm and political magnetism have triumphed over a thousand back-biters. As the campaign enters into the home stretch, it is obvious to everyone now save the rabid outliers that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the candidate to beat in the February …

Every trip I make to my home town of Owo brings bitter-sweet memories. Time heals wounds but some broken hearts never mend, like Don Williams crooned”.” Some broken hearts never mend/Some memories never end/Some tears will never dry..” Time may heal wounds – or temper its pains but it never completely erases them; memories may fade but they never completely …

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek – Barack Obama ….it is joke. But so sad that the punch line is not intended to elicit laughter. It is to ponder and do some vigorous thinking. It goes …

President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted as saying in far-away Washington DC, United States that he has done his level best for Nigeria! Can you imagine that! And can you beat it! It would appear that Nigerian leaders always need to japa to far-away countries to make statements that are better told to the Marines! Hear what Buhari was reported to …

There’s hardly any country in the world that you will not find Nigerians, with most of them doing great things in different fields of human endeavour. In Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world, a Nigerian is the leading liver transplant surgeon. What of Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General …