Tag: Opinion - Page 10 - African News Today

Opinion: Clouds of War Gathering Over Nigeria by Alhaji Bashir Tofa

11Jan

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: Clouds of War Gathering Over Nigeria by Alhaji Bashir Tofa

The clouds of war are gathering with blood sucking gods that follow the perching of vultures. Vultures from Europe, vultures from England, vultures from Asia, yes, vultures from America that deal on arms. With eyes constantly fixed on any trouble spot in the world. They’re are hopefully praying to extend their business from Tripoli to Abuja. This is because, Nigeria is fast ascending to the very path that Freetown took. The path that ruined Congo and Libya. The expressway to Rwanda, that is the path Nigeria is fast speeding into. Yet, this path is not a new path to us. It’s a familar terrain that we have taken before. In 1966, long before even the Rwandan path was paved. We wasted over 3 million people as hundreds of innocent souls were slaughtered before even the war started. Long befo...

Opinion: It’s Amaechi’s Voice but It was Doctored by Olawale Olaleye

7Jan

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: It’s Amaechi’s Voice but It was Doctored by Olawale Olaleye

What you have been listening to is the doctored version of his encounter with the blackmailers, who had been on his case in over five months, asking for money and threatening to release the tape close to the election period. Since my brother and friend, the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi started trending with a supposedly leaked audio, where he was heard crucifying his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, friends and colleagues had sent me different versions, seeking to know if it was his voice. I'm confirming that now. It's his voice. Oh, they also wanted to know if he actually said those things about the president. Again, he did, clearly not in the context of what has been flying around. What you have been listening to is the doctored version of his encounter w...

Opinion: The Elevation of Incompetence – By Shaka Momodu

7Jan

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: The Elevation of Incompetence – By Shaka Momodu

There is a struggle going on in Nigeria. It is a struggle between two evils – one, less so with a touch of human face and the other, extremely so – aloof, insensitive, unfeeling, deeply hypocritical and incompetent on a level never before seen in our country. My dilemma is not so much with choosing between the two, but about some people’s warm embrace of the latter. Ordinarily, one would think that the less dangerous of the two would be more attractive to many people. But I have been shocked by some people’s blind craving for danger masked in superlative adjectives of integrity, character, honesty, etc. I must confess that I have been struggling to understand the rationale and motive of some of these people for their willful blind support for a man whose legendary lack of competence and...

Opinion: INEC’s Troubling Missteps Amid Aso Rock’s Desperation by Farooq A. Kperogi

5Jan

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: INEC’s Troubling Missteps Amid Aso Rock’s Desperation by Farooq A. Kperogi

There is a noticeable whirl of feverish desperation in the Presidential Villa. No perceptive person can miss that. From indiscriminately arresting and detaining political opponents and critics, to squelching dissent in the traditional news media through blackmail and threats, to undisguisedly deploying security forces in the service of overt partisan agendas, it’s now starkly transparent that the Buhari regime is not interested in or prepared for a fair electoral contest. The starker the reality of impending electoral defeat stares the regime in the face, the more extreme the intensity of its desperation becomes. All the institutions that are crucial to a free and transparent election are now compromised. For instance, service chiefs, who are required by law to be apolitical, attended...

Opinion: The Many Contradictions of Muhammadu Buhari by Reno Omokri

5Jan

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: The Many Contradictions of Muhammadu Buhari by Reno Omokri

President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed everybody but himself for his problems and now that he has gotten to the end of his tenure, he has run out of human beings to blame, so he has now been reduced to blaming inanimate objects. I mean, on Christmas Day he told the visiting Federal Capital Territory Christian community that his anti-corruption war had not really taken off because the Nigerian system was slow. Well, he does have a point, because if the Nigerian system had been working, Muhammadu Buhari would have faced imprisonment for overthrowing the democratically elected civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari on New Year’s eve of 1983. But the same Muhammadu Buhari who said he cannot fight corruption effectively because the system is slow appointed Godswill Akpabio a...

Opinion: Northern Sentiment Southern Ointment by Mansur Isah Buhari

26Dec

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Economy, News, Nigeria, Religion, Security

Opinion: Northern Sentiment Southern Ointment by Mansur Isah Buhari

A northern or southern president cannot solve our problems, a Nigerian president can. You can't have excuses and results. Sentiments don't solve problems; they compound them. Every region in Nigeria has its peculiar sentiment issues. I chose to talk about northern sentiment because I can authoritatively do so without the fear of being sentimental. The north is most interested in having a northern President rather than a Nigerian president. The only experience and qualification one needs to have the total support of an average northerner to become a president is "Alhaji" or "Malam" contesting against a "mister". Now that the north is gradually burning, we want the rest of Nigeria to join us in speaking up because Nigeria now belongs to all of us. Most times when they do spea...

Opinion: Buhari, You Don’t Need More Time Sir! By Reuben Abati

20Dec

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: Buhari, You Don’t Need More Time Sir! By Reuben Abati

On the occasion of his 76th birthday, on Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari who is running for a second term in office, was quoted as having said that he needs more time in office. More time in office means: “vote for me for another term of four years.” “Allow me to serve you as your President for four more years.” I congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on the occasion of his 76th birthday. I know him fairly well. I can write a long epistle about him. I can also write on what I know about him and how his path and mine have crossed, but that is one of the many stories in my head that will be told someday. The time for that will come. This piece is meant to congratulate him and advise him. At 76, President Buhari can definitely look back at his life with joy, a measure of contentmen...

Opinion: Can Buhari Still Hold On Beyond 2019?

20Nov

By Akanimo Sampson2 Comments

News, Nigeria

Opinion: Can Buhari Still Hold On Beyond 2019?

The battle for the Presidential power of Nigeria is on. There are the main front runners like President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as well as a number of ‘’lesser’’ power seekers in the race who are equally capable of causing a major upset. The race is on against the backdrop of some core issues in the polity. For instance, prospects for enduring electricity supply in the country are still not appearing very positive. With the current power situation, the obvious implication is that poverty and unemployment will continue to bit harder except government determines to take the bull by the horn. Electricity demand in Nigeria is estimated at 297,900MW by 2030, less than 12 years from this outgoing year. To meet that target, investors in the sector are expec...

Opinion: Portrait of the Tiger Ambode Rode by Yinka Odumakin

11Oct

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: Portrait of the Tiger Ambode Rode by Yinka Odumakin

LOUIS XIV was King of France for 72 years and 110 days and became the most powerful French monarch who consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule that endured until the French Revolution. At the peak of his maniac, he said: “L’Etat c’est moi”(I am the state). I am not aware Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is given to so much reading to have come across Louis’ declaration but I once heard him making the same declaration as he got up from his seat and said “Eko fe lo sun”(Lagos wants to sleep). The embodiment of the current pathetic Lagos by the man who rode to power in 1999 largely on account of his association with NADECO abroad is an interesting study for some of us who are eyewitnesses to recent history. It’s all coming back to me now from 1998 in a rush. Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi and I h...

Opinion: 2019 – The Only Option Available to Buhari is Rigging by Reuben Abati

10Oct

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News, Nigeria

Opinion: 2019 – The Only Option Available to Buhari is Rigging by Reuben Abati

There has been some clarity about Nigeria’s 2019 Presidential election, with the end of the October 7 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of party primaries at all levels. On Saturday, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at its convention held in Abuja, ratified the choice of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari as its flagbearer, with a curious vote tally of 14. 8 million. President Buhari and his supporters have continuously left no one in doubt that they intend to have a second shot at power and office. The number of party members across Nigeria who endorsed the Buhari candidacy has however raised eyebrows. 14. 8 million! In the 2015 elections, that was a little less than the same number of total votes that the incumbent got in ...