Over 20 years and counting, what an auspicious time to tell this story! It was in the early days of mobile telephone services in Nigeria when Ericsson, Nokia 3310, and Samsung were trendy phones. The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card cost over N50,000!!! I had the privilege of owning a contract package courtesy of a leading mobile services provider. My abode …

At a meeting in the palace of His Imperial Majesty, Owa Obokun Adimula and Paramount Ruler of Ijesaland, Oba (Dr.) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran II, on Friday, 6th March 2020, Dame Olusola Agbeja-Obada, said; “Baba Kabiyesi, you will recollect that about four years ago, when you proposed Mr. Yinka Fasuyi, as he was then, as the Asiwaju of Ijesaland, I was …

I had looked forward to Chief Chris Ogunbanjo’s centenary birthday with relish. And history had much to do with that. I had been so privileged, in 1983 to represent the then Vice-President Dr. Alex Ekwueme at the 60th birthday celebration of the legal luminary, boardroom icon, and business leader, when the VP had to travel in place of President Shehu …

Early on the fourth Saturday of last month, we made some great minds to converge on air via the signals of Top Radio 90.9 FM, on our weekly radio programme, The Vintage TalkShow…with the FAJ. It was a special episode dedicated to honour the sudden and painful absence of a colossus of technical art and a design maestro… an intensely …

I was pleasantly surprised when I met her a year ago in Accra, Ghana because she wasn’t what I had imagined she would be. The relentless smear campaign against her had left me with a false image. I had expected a young woman in her 40s, a ‘gold digger’ so to say, who had married Kalabari High chief and statesman, …

He died on Monday, 11th September 2023. He was aged 104 years. Two weeks after his 90th birthday, I called him to ask for a profile interview. I was editor at The Sun newspapers. He agreed – reluctantly. It was to mark his birthday, I’d told him. He gave me time, 10am, and the venue, his residence. I knew his …

This article was written and published seven years ago in Gateway Mail, based in Toronto, Canada when the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo III visited the the Egba in that Canadaian city. It is being reproduced to commemorate the 80th birthday of the revered monarch How many of us know much about our royal father, the Alake and Paramount ruler …

If there is anyone who is not undaunted by difficult assignments – someone society can bank on to take on an existential problem and find a lasting solution to it – that must be Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd). If you put the country’s biggest problem on the table and ask Nigerians for suggestions of trusted hands capable of …

Sylvanus Ukafia, a medical doctor and a pastor, has fun memories of his first encounter with Ray Ekpu. His father, the late Owen Ukafia, an accomplished journalist in his own right, worked at the once bubbling Nigerian Chronicle in Calabar, where Ekpu started his journalism career. The senior Ukafia kept feeding his son daily with juicy stories of excellent journalism exemplified …

The globally recognised measurement for distance is either mile or kilometre, depending on the country. It is logical that the farther the distance, the greater the mileage. This universal truism was tested Monday 10th July 2023 when I found out that the distance between Ikeja and Victoria Island, both in Lagos State, was “farther” than driving to my village in …