African News Today

Opinion: The Vindication of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra Question – P. Omonua

24Mar

By Guest ContributorNo Comments

Biafra, Elections, News, Nigeria

Opinion: The Vindication of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the Biafra Question – P. Omonua

"The trio of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) and Professor Banji Akintoye, all of whom have advocated for the creation of separate independent Nations are not eccentric nor delusional." Someone forwarded an audio recording to me few days ago which must have been preserved for more than 57 years. It was the voice of Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (SLA), the last Premier of the Western Region and the 13th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland The voice was unmistakable, in his distinctive Ogbomosho accent. The summary of what he said, which I have transcribed from Yoruba to English as best as I could was: “…. Let us the Yorubas come together. Let the Ibos not ‘disorganize’ us with this election. We must not allow them to use this election to destroy our land, take over ...

Outrage as Buhari Approves N1.14 billion donation to Niger Republic

4Aug

By Osaretin BalogbanNo Comments

News, Nigeria

Outrage as Buhari Approves N1.14 billion donation to Niger Republic

Nigerians on social media have expressed anger over the news that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the donation of N1.14 billion to the Republic of Niger. Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning confirmed the reports to newsmen briefly after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday. The Minister said the donation is to aid Niger in acquiring operational vehicles, she said although Nigerians possess the right to question the donation approved by Buhari, he also has the right to take such decisions based on his assessment. See Also: Buhari’s Impeachment Seven Years Late – Kachikwu Despite the statement from the Minister, Nigerians have expressed disappointment over the decision of the President with some airing their views and opinio...

Opinion: Attrition of Southern Nigeria Professionals and the Aftermath by P Omonua

25Oct

By Guest ContributorNo Comments

African Development, Justice, News, Nigeria

Opinion: Attrition of Southern Nigeria Professionals and the Aftermath by P Omonua

It is no longer news that there is an unprecedented upsurge in the migration of southern Nigeria professionals over the last 5 years. The best brains in the Southern Nigeria are leaving in droves. Many of those that have not left are making all necessary arrangements; they are making enquiries about the process involved from those that have succeeded in leaving. Some people may argue this is not uniquely Nigerian, that universally, people have always migrated around the world. A friend of mine once compared our experience to the Biblical era. He said even Moses led the children of Israel during their migration from Egypt to the promise land, which is incontrovertible. The difference, (which I did not bother to tell him due to his obstinacy) is that the children of Israel were migra...

Lessons to be Learnt from the Recent Attack on IrokoTV

21Jun

By adminNo Comments

African Development, Biafra, News, Nigeria

Lessons to be Learnt from the Recent Attack on IrokoTV

So I just learnt that there was an attack on IrokoTv App in the form of attempts to have it delisted on both Google Playstore and iOS store. This move by some in the North was in "retaliation" for the delisting of Adamu Garba's Crowwe from Google Play Store. Last I checked, retaliation meant "to hurt someone or do something harmful to someone because they have done or said something harmful to you". Based on the definition above, I fail to see how a mass action by the North to have IrokoTV app delisted by Google and Apple because Crowwe was delisted can be called retaliation. Was it Jason Njoku (owner of IrokoTV) that delisted Crowwe? Interestingly, it was the people he made fun of some years ago that came to his rescue. Ndi Igbo and the rest of Southern Nigeria galvanized into a...

ICYMI: Adesina hails Kumuyi, lambasts Preachers making Negative Prophecies

30Apr

By Chinedu IbeakanmaNo Comments

News, Nigeria, Religion

ICYMI: Adesina hails Kumuyi, lambasts Preachers making Negative Prophecies

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Thursday night, lambasted preachers making negative prophecies about Nigeria. He urged such clerics to rather emulate the Founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, in his optimism that Nigeria will fly again, despite the multifarious challenges confronting the nation at the moment. The presidential spokesman made this known in a piece titled, ‘Nigeria Will Fly Again: We Can Believe Kumuyi’. He wrote, “To Kumuyi and the state of the nation. Nigeria can fly again. There will be a turnaround. But that’s not what we hear from most preachers today. They talk of doomsday, encourage their members to hate the country and its leadership, give negative prophecies ...

The Endless Martyrdom Of Youth, By Wole Soyinka

25Apr

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

News, Nigeria

The Endless Martyrdom Of Youth, By Wole Soyinka

Abubakar Atiku has summed up the nation’s feeling – this most recent savagery against our youth is heartbreaking. More than the heart is broken, however, more than millions of individual hearts still lay claim to bonds in a common humanity. The already over-stretched sinews of moral restraint have been snapped off the casing of nation being, and nothing is left but the collective wails of impotence. Not for the first time, what many hoped was a Natural Law of Limitations has been contemptuously, defiantly breached. We need to remind ourselves of hideous precedents. We must remember Chibok. And Dapchi. And numerous antecedents and after, unpublicized, or soon relegated to the sump of collective amnesia. The wages of impunity never diminish, on the contrary, they distend. One’s greatest ...

Nigeria: Before Our Glory Departs – Bishop Kukah

5Apr

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

News, Nigeria, Religion

Nigeria: Before Our Glory Departs – Bishop Kukah

Day by day, Nigeria drifts irreversibly into a dark tunnel. Things are falling apart with unnerving rapidity because those who govern have only a pact to protect their interests. Politics is merely its conveyor belt of ambition. Nigeria has a date with destiny. If we do not turn around, The axe is already laid to the roots of the tree (Matthew 3:10). If a religious leader is afraid to say what is right, what else can his silence mean but that he has taken flight? Hiding behind a wall of silence is like taking flight at the approach of the wolf. – Pope St. Gregory the Great (540–604 AD) Easter Sunday is here again. But first, let us step back to Friday. Good Friday was a Kairos moment for the beleaguered followers of Jesus, a defining moment that separated truth from falsehood and lig...

19Mar

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

News, Nigeria

We Are All Together – Femi Adesina

Those who are younger than 55 or thereabouts may not easily get the joke in the expression, ‘We are all together,’ which I’ve chosen as the headline of this piece today. The event happened 45 years ago in the country. A drunken military officer, Lt Col Buka Suka Dimka, led a military coup in which the then head of state, Gen Murtala Ramat Muhammed, was killed. He then proceeded to Radio Nigeria, made a rambling broadcast, which he concluded thus: “Everyone should be calm. Please stay by your radio for further announcements. All borders, air and seaports are closed until further notice. Curfew is imposed from 6 am to 6 pm. Thank you. We are all together.” Dimka was so uncoordinated, possibly tipsy and inebriated, that he declared a curfew from 6 am to 6 pm, instead of the other way...

My $1.9 Billion in Minnesota Bank – Femi Adesina

26Feb

By Obiajulu Joel NwoluNo Comments

Corruption, News, Nigeria

My $1.9 Billion in Minnesota Bank – Femi Adesina

Let’s have a comic diversion today from weightier matters of our national life. Because what I want to discuss can only be comic, if not also idiotic and otiose. Yes, you read the headline right. The money I allegedly stashed at a bank in Minnesota, United States of America. Not millions of dollars. But billions. $1.9 billion. Holy Moses! This misinformation, disinformation and hate speech first came out in 2016, about one year into my stint in government. Before then, I had been enjoying my work as a journalist and newspaper manager, in what I considered a comfort zone, never sparing a thought for service in government. And then, the offer to serve President Muhammadu Buhari came. Of course, I would follow him from Cape to Cairo, from Sambisa to anywhere. So I accepted. Goodbye anon...

Nigeria 1999 Constitution Deceit: Lawyers, Pastors and Priests – Unmute Yourselves!

18Nov

By Ndidi Uwechue1 Comment

Human Rights, Justice, News, Nigeria, United Nations

Nigeria 1999 Constitution Deceit: Lawyers, Pastors and Priests – Unmute Yourselves!

18th November 2020 As the end of 2020 approaches, needless to say Africa, and notably Nigeria will not achieve the African Union (AU) pledge set in 2013, “not to bequeath the burden of conflict to the next generation of Africans and undertake to end all wars by 2020.” Silencing the Guns in Africa is a chief initiative of the AU’s Agenda 2063, but it seems that Nigeria has chosen to go in the opposite direction for conflicts escalate, weapons proliferate, injustice increases. Whether one is a Unionist or a Non-Unionist* it is becoming clear that Nigeria is going to be reconfigured through the Union being reviewed. The reason being found in the defective social contract that Nigeria operates. Its 1999 Constitution was not only imposed upon the people, but is a prove...