Frank Talk

RE: OUR NASCENT DEMOCRACY I wrote a piece in 2009 titled: “Our Nascent Democracy” when Nigeria just had ten years of unbroken democracy after returning to civil rule in 1999. Today, as we voyage beyond 25 unbroken years (I don’t know if our democracy is still nascent), some of the indices of societal decadence I wrote about 15 years ago …

Dollar-Centric: The Trouble with Nigeria As the war within Africa against colonialism moved towards neocolonialism, Blackman Eurocentric imitation of the white is still a matter of concern among Nigerians, particularly as we see as inferior, anything without foreign touch. It has got so bad that names are now fashioned in foreign manner such as Honiphade instead of Onifade, Hayor instead …

NLC: Setting Priority in Oshiomhole’s Way Comrade Adams Oshiomhole or if you like, Senator Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (just make sure comrade is included) made my day on May day 1 or you call it workers’ day, when he said on a national television that “the mind of labour should not just be about wages. They must engage government on appropriate …

Not too Young to Run-Yahaya Bello on the Run The current mêlée between the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, brings to remembrance, a piece early this month titled: “Youth in Governance: Africa in Senegal’s Story.” In the piece, I discussed how young leaders who took over power in African countries after …

Bobrisky and Emefiele: The Judgment Between.   Tongues have really been wagging since the incarceration of the cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye Olarewaju, popularly known as Bobrisky, after pleading guilty of the offences leveled against him before Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos and the release on bail of Nigeria’s former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele. Because the …

This Thing Called “Palliative” The latest avoidable death in the house of the Senator representing Sokoto North in the National Assembly, Aliyu Wamakko during the distribution of palliatives for the just concluded Muslim festival, has not only given leadership in Nigeria reasons to bow their heads in shame but also bigger reasons to question the justification of the continuation of …

Youth in Governance: Africa in Senegal’s Story The emergence of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a 44 years old writer and tax collector, as the 5th democratically elected President of the Republic of Senegal, has again brought up a vital subject about African leadership, particularly at a time when the continent grapples with serious challenge of development in the hand of some …

As Adolf Joffe wrote Leon Trotsky shortly before his death by suicide, that human life has meaning only to that degree and as long it is lived in the service of humanity, it is side-splitting that many leaders in Africa award meaning to human life in reverse order and live in opulence rather than urbane life where everything is gained …

Budget Padding and Matter Arising – Constituency Project As the word “padding” has gradually instituted its way into our democratic lexicon, it is ironical that after two decades of unbroken democracy and repetition of cases regarding “budget padding”, many Nigerians including our distinguished lawmakers are yet to grasp its full meaning. Budget padding is an accounting strategy that entails making …

@ Wigwe’s Burial: Akpabio and His Diatribe against the Dead The African proverb that “one who has children never dies” has raised many debates among scholars about the mortality and immortality of man, particularly on what it takes for a man to live forever. As the conviction of some people concerning this proverb is unadulterated, some others believe it takes …