Guest Columnists

Members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are incensed by the de-recognition of the leadership of their party by Nigeria’s electoral umpire, INEC, relying on a March 12, 2026 judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja (Appeal No. CA/ABJ/145/2026) viz: Senator David Mark v. Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe & Ors. This move by the […]

Ahead of the 2023 elections, I described a vote for the ruling All Progressives Congress as an act of self-betrayal.   “Unless you truly hate yourself or you are a masochist, it is obvious that the same treatment that was applied to PDP in 2015 must now apply to APC,” I said.   I described […]

The release of Mallam Nasir el-Rufai from the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), on temporary, compassionate grounds, on Friday, March 27, following the death of his mother, Hajiya Ummar El-Rufai in Cairo, Egypt, raises legal, philosophical and communal belief issues that are at once controversial and discernable. The release is wrong. It […]

    A recent occupant of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has been convicted.  His offence: diverting N868.46 million in public funds.   Anamekwe Nwabuoku received 72 years in jail.  On paper, at least.   Typically, top Nigerian officials accused of massive financial crimes do not receive negative verdicts. They are taken […]

In the long annals of Nigerian public administration, few appointments have seemed as improbable, or as quietly transformative, as that of Dr Tunji Alausa, the nephrologist who now presides over the nation’s sprawling education ministry. Nigeria, a country where the education sector has often been treated as a ceremonial appendage to politics, has found in […]

Last week, as President Bola Tinubu prepared for his state visit to the United Kingdom, insurgents again slaughtered dozens in Maiduguri, Nigeria.  Social media videos suggest that the death toll may be considerably higher.   “I mourn those who lost their lives, sympathise with the injured and stand in solidarity with the people of Borno,” […]

It is extremely challenging to practise journalism in Nigeria. I am not even going into the issue of safety—where those who are uncomfortable with journalists’ work declare them persona non grata, throw them into prison, or go after their lives.   For the purpose of this piece, I am restricting myself to situations where authorities […]

“Bros, looks like President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury in Iran is beginning to look like an Operation Epic Mistake. Three weeks after, Iran is still standing strong, and threatening not to negotiate. The country’s Defence Minister, Abbas Araqchi insists they are ready to keep fighting for as long as it takes. The new Supreme Leader, […]

I have spent time on the Third Floor of the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where the press corps works. It is not a gentle place. The journalists there are seasoned professionals drawn from every region of the world: people who have reported wars, corruption scandals, and the fall of governments. They are interested […]

  When governments lose faith in their own promises, they do not issue press statements. They install solar panels. The decision by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to migrate the Presidential Villa from Nigeria’s creaking, decrepit national grid to a bespoke solar mini-grid is more than an energy choice. It is a confession. A confession […]

Muhammadu Buhari’s 100-million pledge was made in a country that had already demonstrated its ability to spend trillions on poverty rhetoric while poverty deepened.  Halfway through Buhari’s promise, Nigeria’s own government confirmed that the situation had become worse: 133 million Nigerians living in poverty, 86 million of them in the North. President Bola Tinubu has […]

On Saturday morning, February 28, the world woke up to learn of “Operation Roaring Lion” by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and “Operation Epic Fury” by the American military forces -a joint operation against the state of Iran that has turned out to be the most aggressive military operation, and deployment of sophisticated military arsenal […]