By Bolanle Bolawole

Except for the calendar which says this is Easter and the Federal Government which declared Friday the 7th and Monday the 10th of April as Easter holiday, there are no celebrations in the air in the real sense of the word. Not many people are celebrating not because they do not want to but because they cannot. As they say, money has decreed that whenever it is not available, no one should make any plan whatsoever. Poverty ravages the land; the majority of the people can barely eke out a living. It is not for fun that Nigeria is today the poverty capital of the world. And poverty in Nigeria is no longer limited to the traditionally poor; poverty has climbed the ladder and now embraces even the hitherto comfortable middle class which, to all intents and purposes, has been virtually wiped out.

By Ugorji O. Ugorji

After three years of working in Hopeville (Imo State), I got permission to attend a security conference and also see my family in the US. This is the longest I have stayed away from Obama Country since the age of 16 when I went there as a student.

By Reuben Abati

THE “Obidients” – supporters of the mission and vision of Mr. Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party in Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential election had it coming. And now they are getting their “comeuppance” served in flagellating doses, from Professor Wole Soyinka, grandmaster in the art of dissent, debate and reasoning who has all it takes to sustain an intellectual fight in the public arena. In two high-profile television interviews in recent weeks – Channels TV and Arise News, and two published commentaries: “Media Responsibility” and “Fascism on Course”, Professor Wole Soyinka has reacted robustly to what he describes as a predilection for fascism on the part of the “Obidients.” Fascism also means dictatorship, tyranny, autocracy, intolerance, the unwillingness to entertain the other view, and the tendency to assume that one’s opinion is supreme and superior and that other human beings do not matter. Remember Hitler. Think Italy’s Benito Mussolini. Fascists simply want to have their way no matter what others think or suggest.

By Azu Ishiekwene

When King Charles, the head of the Church of England, is crowned on May 6, there would be two very unusual non-Protestant special guests at the ceremony, among others: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is Hindu; and the Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and next First Minister of Scotland, Humza Haroon Yousaf, a Muslim.

By Michael Owhoko, Ph.D

Real losers of 2023 Nigerian general elections are not the electorate who were deprived of their rights to freely choose candidates of their choice nor the first-timer youth who were disappointed by the Nigerian state nor the candidates who lost or won as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

By: Godknows Boladei Igali

By Emeka Obasi

He is no Jack of all trade, this one knows his way round leadership and from the military, Jack Keonyemere Lincoln ( LKJ) Ogunewe is gradually settling into political engineering. For a man who enlisted as a teenager, his civility is infectious.

By Jude Ogechi Eze

"Borrowing is the not problem, borrowing for consumption is" — Peter Mbah.

As the outcome of March 18, gubernatorial election in Enugu State kept making headlines for so many reasons, with the opposition threatening legal challenge, the Governor-Elect, Barr. Peter Ndubisi Mbah has been making inroads into the hearts of Ndi Enugu, the same way he did in the build-up to the election.

By Azu Ishiekwene

From Accra to Cape Town images of Nollywood, Nigeria’s popular movie footprint, are a common staple in homes across the continent as are the sights and sounds of its pop icons who are also amongst Africa’s biggest.

By Jude Ogechi Eze

The phrase "Audi alteram partem" is a routine legal maxim which loosely translates to "listen to the other side." This fair hearing advisory is even more pertinent in a country like ours which juridical process operate on the doctrine of "presumption of innocence of the accused, until proven guilty."

By Bola Bolawole

The death, on Sunday, 26th March, 2023, of Gen. Oladipupo Diya, brought memories, fond or otherwise, flooding our memory, chief of which must be the coup, real or concocted, that Diya and other Generals were alleged to have been implicated in, on 21 December, 1997, aimed at toppling the vile dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. In all, 26 civilians and soldiers were accused of treason, the majority of them Yoruba; they faced the death penalty if found guilty. Dragged before a kangaroo military tribunal and deemed guilty even before the trial had begun, six of the accused, including Diya, were handed the death sentence. The condemned persons however later got a reprieve as their death sentence was commuted to 25-year jail-term. With the death of Abacha on 8 June, 1998, Diya and the others were released by Abacha’s successor, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, on March 3, 1999.

By Hassan Gimba

One of the factors that determined the just concluded elections in Nigeria is religion. Oh, agreed, in our politics, religion has always been a factor in determining winners and losers. But never before was it flagrantly flaunted and made to be the driving force than in 2023.