De Patriot

  By Suyi Ayodele As you drive on our roads, spare a moment to look at the people standing by the roadsides. Also check out the faces of those in your neighbourhoods. What do you see? You will see frustration written all over them. Husbands, wives, children; the old; the young, the able-bodied and the physically challenged, they are all united in frustration and despair. Things that we would have overlooked before are what people fight over these days. A sudden screeching of the brakes attracts hisses. A little splash of water from puddles on the road gets you the bitter "are you blind" question from bystanders, who are ready to leap on you. This is the moment to be extra careful; to be extra vigilant. The streets are not smiling, as they say in our street lingo. The rumbling of an impending volcano is deafening enough. But our leaders appear to be deaf to it or pretend as if nothing is amiss. Yet, a lot is wrong with us; the tension in the cities, towns, villages...

  AFTER DARKNESS COMES THE GLORIOUS DAWN My fellow citizens,  I want to talk to you about our economy. It is important that you understand the reasons for the policy measures I have taken to combat the serious economic challenges this nation has long faced.  2. I am not going to talk in difficult terms by dwelling on economic jargon and concepts. I will speak in plain, clear language so that you know where I stand. More importantly, so that you see and hopefully will share my vision regarding the journey to a better, more productive economy for our beloved country.  3. For several years, I have consistently maintained the position that the fuel subsidy had to go. This once beneficial measure had outlived its usefulness. The subsidy cost us trillions of Naira yearly. Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets a...

By Lasisi Olagunju  Six contiguous states across Africa, from Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean to Sudan on the Red Sea, have suffered eight military coups since 2020. The United States Institute for Peace (USIP) noted and wrote the above in relation to last week's coup in Niger Republic. It described the situation as depressing. It is. Depressing means upsetting and distressing, painful. It also means disheartening, heartbreaking and heart-rending. Each of those words will fit an experience of betrayal where trust is invested. Ousted President Mohamed Bazoum would use those words too, especially when it was announced that the head of his guards was the one who sacked him. The violent process is called coup d'etat; Napoleon Bonaparte did it after his Egyptian military campaign in October 1799; it crowned him emperor, a virtual dictator in 1804. Coups are sometimes redemptive and corrective; they are many times ruinous. The December 1, 1983 issue of the Nigerian Tribune c...

By Rosemary Okoduwa  Engr. Abraham Osezuah has received the prestigious honour of Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE). The Fellowship which is the highest honour in the engineering profession in Nigeria, was conferred on Engr. Abraham Osezuah (FNSE) at the Quarterly Dinner/Award of Fellowship of the society held last Wednesday, 26 July in Abuja. Engr Abraham Osezuah (FNSE, FNICE, FIMC, KSM) who hails from Ebhoijie, Ewoiyi, Uromi in present day Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, attended the prestigious University of Benin, Benin City where he graduated in fly colours in Civil Engineering in 1995. After serving the compulsory National Youth Service (NYSC) in Enugu State, he had a stint with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. As a result of his engineering ingenuity, he was sought after by the telecommunications giant, Globacom, where he had a brilliant career and gave a good account of himself like the cerebral engineer that he i...

  By Suyi Ayodele Kindly open your Bible and join me to read Isaiah 29:15. It reads: “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, who seeth us? And who knoweth us.” May the Lord bless the reading of his words in our hearts (Amen). The psalmist says in Psalm 119:89 that the word of the Lord is sure and forever settled in heaven. Nothing can change that. No matter how long a lie thrives, the truth catches up with it and overtakes it. Daylight has a way of revealing the secrets of the dark. It has been like that from the beginning of creation; it remains so, even now, and so shall it be till the second coming of our Lord. Having read the Scriptures, let us see what our forebears taught us about secrets and the fullness of time.   There is a folklore derived from one of the Odu Ifa (Ifa Corpus). I heard the story told several times, while growing up, and its imports are parts of my guiding principles ...

It was rain of encomiums as the Safi Boys Club, a gathering of old friends and colleagues, recently held a retirement party for Professor Tony Esijolomi Afejuku, who recently retired as a lecturer from the services of University of Benin (UNIBEN). The glamorous event which was attended also by royalties, top notch politicians, academia, business moguls, and legal luminaries took place in Sapele, Delta State. Friends and former colleagues of the Professor took turns to eulogise him, as many described him as a seasoned and distinguished lecturer who had impacted the society effectively overtime. Reading the citation of Professor Afejuku, Professor Nyerhovwo Tonukari, highlighted Afejuku's significant contributions to the field of academia as well as his invaluable impact on the lives of his students and colleagues.  He acknowledged the celebrant's dedication, exemplary leadership, and commitment to excellence while in service. Also paying tributes were old friends an...

By Lasisi Olagunju  Given today's state of the nation, it is likely that both Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi are thanking their stars that they were not the ones declared as our elected president on March 1, 2023. If they were, each of them would have done what Bola Tinubu did with petrol subsidy with consequences beyond their capacity. They would have done it – they all promised to do it. But, if it was Obi in particular who withdrew fuel subsidy, the North and the West would have exploded in flames of protests. His ethnic base would have defended him with very solid silence. That is the character and structure of protests in Nigeria. Today, everyone is in pain but there is calm everywhere, and that is because the traditional protesters are the ones in government – officially and unofficially. You notice that your neighbourhood is very quiet throughout the night. NEPA keeps doing its best, transmitting darkness. Super-expensive petrol has choked generators into...

The membership of the Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Edo state council, has passed a unanimous vote of confidence on its chairperson, Mrs Nefisetu Yakubu. The motion which was moved by Comrade Abdullahi Bello of Daily Trust and seconded by Titus Akhigbe, a former State Secretary of the State Council, of Daily Times Newspaper was adopted as a resolution by the chapel. The Correspondent Chapel is made up of journalists in various national newspapers, magazines and broadcast stations, with headquarters at the nation's capital, Abuja or Lagos. The vote of confidence followed a resolution of the chapel at an emergency meeting held at the weekend and attended by the Correspondents from Nation, Vanguard, Sun, This Day, Daily Trust and Daily Times. Others who attended the meeting were New Telegraph, Business Day, Bayelsa Times, Nigeria Tribune, News Agency of Nigeria, Blueprint, West African Business, Al Jazeerah and Galaxy Television.

  By Suyi Ayodele President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Muslim. His wife is not just a Christian, but a pastor of one of the biggest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. I encourage Pastor Mrs. Remi Tinubu to impress on the president the implications of King Saul’s consultation of the witch of Endor as contained in 1 Samuel 28:7. Whoever sold the idea of the N8,000 palliative to the president is a “familiar spirit”. Saul lost the kingship after taking counsel from a familiar spirit at Endor. If Tinubu goes ahead to implement this scam called palliative, he will lose more than his ‘goodwill’, he will just confirm the ‘cynicism’ of many Nigerians who never trusted him to make a break from our shoddy past. There should indeed be a difference between the mother dog and its puppies!   Tinubu wants to give N8,000 per month to twelve million households for the next six months. How many poor people are in Nigeria? How many are we as Nigerians? Nobody knows. Nobody cares to know. An...

By Lasisi Olagunju  Ile Ife and Oyo Ile were at the very core of the cultural and political essence of the Yoruba. While the whole of the Yoruba have managed to preserve Ile-Ife as home for all, Oyo Ile, some 200 plus years ago, was lost to the pillage of the Fulani and to its own internal political sins and crimes. Ile-Ife and (New) Oyo have remained polar powers; sometimes they compete bitterly with their leaders playing captains for opposing forces. In good times, they ‘giraffe’ and do copy-and-paste. I was present when the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, crowned his senior chiefs and Baales in February 2009. I was the spokesman of the Olagunsoye Oyinlola government in Osun State which approved the crowning of those chiefs and Baale from one end of the ancient kingdom to the other. The Ooni today, in his majesty and glory, wears his crown; his top chiefs wear their own crowns with the understanding that Cat will remain Cat and Tiger will remain Tig...