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By   Paul Onomuakpokpo After former President Goodluck Jonathan launched his memoir My Transition Hours on Tuesday, he might have heaved a sigh of relief. It might not be because the ordeal of writing and preparing to present the book to the public was now off his shoulders. Nor because he was now luxuriating in the cathartic effect of dislodging the single narrative that de-privileges his role in nation-building and the 2015 elections. Rather, it could be because of the sweet contemplation of the fresh horizon of possibilities that had opened before him. Now, he realised that it was not all gloom – he might not have been denigrated as an irredeemable villain after all. *Former President Jonathan  For over three years, Jonathan might have been shocked by how his legendary good luck has mutated into a source of personal tragedy as he was weighed down by the thought of his now being eternally identified with a dark role in the crisis of development of the nation. He might have f...

By  Reno  Omokri Has anyone seen Adams Oshiomhole’s pretty face in public? Rather strange that such a handsome man who is not shy of talking to journalists suddenly disappears from public view. I hope all is well? *Oshiomhole  In all my life, I have never met a man suffering from the small man syndrome like Adam Oshiomhole. So eager is he to compensate for his brief stature, that he overreacts to any perceived opposition and ends up destroying the institutions he was meant to build. Former President Goodluck Jonathan is my boss and close personal friend. Together, we traveled to  Edo   State  in 2014 and the former President was very courteous (courtesy is second nature to Dr. Jonathan) to Oshiomhole.  Then President Jonathan did not have any airs around him during the visit to perform the groundbreaking ceremony at the Azura Thermal Power Station. But I remember that day very clearly. One of the Peoples Democratic Party members of the House of Represe...

By Dan Amor Recently, there emerged two very disturbing reports, each dealing with chronic poverty in Africa vis-a-vis Nigeria , that are very unsettling. One is from the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC-based Economic think-tank. Its report titled: "The Start of A New Poverty Narrative" , was specifically based on the work of three experts who are associated with the "World Poverty Clock" , an Economic Study Group launched in 2017, to track trends in poverty reduction across the world.  The kennel of the report is that Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in the world, to be seconded only by the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. What this means is that Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world. The other one is a damning document entitled, "Report Card on World Social Progress". Released also in the United States of America by the International Society for Life Quality Studies, the report...

By  Paul Onomuakpokpo Until humanity blurs the power distinction that privileges the leaders and afflicts the led with misery, the magic for banishing strike would remain eternally elusive. Like in most post-colonial states, the power relations in Nigeria have rendered the majority of the citizens nugatory. The citizens’ input is not sought into how the resources of the nation are shared. Even if it is sought, it is not reckoned with when decisions are made. This is why while the leaders have security, the citizens are left at the mercy of marauders, kidnappers and armed robbers. Again, the leaders can live in plenitude, thanks to the resources of the society, while the other citizens go to bed on empty stomachs. Yet, when the citizens say they are fed up, they are told not to complain. They are told that their complaining would ignite a crisis that could be hijacked by some political foes and that the path they must learn to maintain is that of acquiescence in their miserable st...

By  Anthony Akinola The destination of the presidency will continue to be an issue in Nigerian politics, prompting here another look at the single-term proposal. Erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal of a single, six-year tenure for president and governor is not seminal but significant nevertheless. *Fmr President Jonathan The idea of a single-term enjoys informed opinion and was in fact forcefully presented to the Political Bureau established by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1986.   General Olusegun Obasanjo, one honest critic of the politics of the Second Republic (1979-1983) specifically suggested a single-term of six years to the bureau. The Political Bureau identified with the informed views of many Nigerians regarding the desirability of a single-term presidency in the context of the history and ethnological realities of our nation but the military leadership rejected their recommendations of a single-term of five years in ...

By Obi Nwakanma Since the movers of Boko Haram think of books as “haram,” it is most unlikely that they, being illiterate, can comprehend, and therefore are likely to read this tribute to the young woman whom they have killed, Hauwa Liman. And so, this is not directed at them.  *Hauwa Liman They cannot read. In any case, one must address a community of humans, those who share human traits; who have the natural human, and healthy instinct for empathy. It takes a subhuman freak, and a deadly form of misanthropy, to take another life. Members of the Boko Haram movement are not human.  They do not feel like humans. They are beasts with bilateral capacities. That is where it all ends. They are incapable of comprehending the basic instinct for shame or regret or that basic requirement for intellect – introspection. What is clear is that Boko Haram responds to just one instinct – to kill, and inspire fear. In both instances they have failed. Nigerians are not afraid of them. Nigeria...