When a republic is held to ransom by an affliction that appears intractable to its government, the populace is left hopeless and helpless. About the viral insecurity now holding Nigeria hostage, the Tinubu government is in consternation and quandary. And the Nigerian public is in total darkness as to...
Chidi Amuta
As we trickled into Yemi Ogunbiyi’s cosy bungalow in the Staff Quarters at Ife, we were greeted by pulsating calypso tunes playing from a real stereo equipment. The trending hit songs of Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow were softly booming in the background. A rich whiff of good food...
In times when our national conversation becomes too heated, fuzzy and bogged in intractable controversy, I prefer to take matters to the barber’s shop at Ikeja Bus Stop. That is my definition of the Public Square. In that place, fact, fiction and faction meet and mix in a noisy...
Democracy and adversity are strange bedfellows. Hungry and deprived people either troop out to vote or look the other way at election time. Deprived people who observe the ritual of elections do so in the forlon hope that perhaps a new political cast could alleviate their condition. But more...
In the countdown to the 1993 presidential election between the National Republic Convention(NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), I served on the think tank of Chief M.K.O Abiola’s campaign. Our search for a unifying national resonant theme came down to one thing: the need to imbue Nigerians with...
I have fallen victim to two sets of phone calls in recent weeks about political developments in Nigeria. Between foreign friends and associates on one hand and my local elite readers and friends on the other. The foreigners have uniformly expressed consternation at recent political developments in Nigeria. They...
Chidi AmutaUnited States President Donald Trump seems intent on fulfilling a self- appointed tragic destiny. Every step he takes to avoid being thought weak is leading him towards the inevitability of a disgraceful end and an apocalyptic legacy. Worse still, every step he has taken to show strength has...
A blistering urgency currently envelopes Nigeria. It is an urgency of war, the clear and present danger of an imminent national meltdown. It is a common truth that Nigeria is desperately embattled on all fronts. It has been so for far too long. Our leadership may not agree that...
Nigerian politicians have once again carried out another successful coup against the people. They have fired up a nationwide frenzy about the 2027 general elections just as the democratic space in which those elections will take place is dying. Those yearning for paradise had better hang their hopes up...
Africa’s latest showcase for world democracy is still unfolding. In yet another landmark of African democracy farce, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazaville has just been re-elected for yet another term. At age 82, the official result of the just concluded presidential election indicated that Nguesso defeated everybody else...
What is popularly referred to as the “turn by turn” syndrome is a very Nigerian political affliction. It just requires that the political baton of leadership and pre-eminence be periodically passed from region to region, ethnicity to ethnicity and perhaps faith to faith. Perhaps it is now time to...
The solution is an urgent subversive engagement. There is no time left. The general election is barely nine months away. And there is as yet no credible opposition in sight. The proposed rival ADC remains a pipe dream weighed down by the gigantic ambitions of its dreamers and proponents....
The occasional temptation to clandestinely steal a kiss here, stroke a breast there or pinch a drooping bum there can lead many healthy males into behaving like unguarded adventurous youngsters. Sexual sin is what happens when female attraction points are left carelessly loose and at the easy disposal of...
In the recent Abuja Municipal Area Council elections, the limping elephant of Nigeria’s democracy gave birth once again to a miserable mouse. This Is not about who won or lost what seats in the much -choreographed election. It is about how many people came out to vote for who...
It was the German playwright Bertolt Brecht who first made this satanic suggestion in his satirical poem, Die Losung. He suggested that since the dictatorial regime in East Germany could not put up with the libertarian noise of the masses, it might be better to dissolve the people so...
At the grand intellectual festival to celebrate him at 80, on the 5th January, his birthday, I was conspicuously absent. I was billed to be a discussant on the anti- colonial aspects of his writings following a public lecture on the subject. But an unavoidable personal emergency took me...
The Defense authorities have confirmed that there was indeed a foiled attempt by elements of the military to oust Mr. Tinubu from power. But the long expected disclosure has not made much impact as news. Our public is preoccupied with more fundamental existential matters to be captivated by stories...
The political army has gradually worked the nation into an election preparation frenzy. You can hear it, feel it and smell it in the very air we breathe. A banker friend jokingly told me the other day that some politically exposed customers are beginning to seek huge loans and...
Under Donald Trump, the United States is fast approaching the dead end of a curious transactional presidency. Even the most treasured items of American nationhood and heritage are up for sale to the highest bidder in an bazaar as governance. This is an era where everything America does is...
Those intent on a head on collision with a moving train must mind their limbs. In Abia State, the 2027 contest for the governorship has mostly been decided. All that is left is the ritual of voting and the ceremony of anointment on 29th May, 2027. If public opinion...