Private Affairs

 Politics in Nigeria is the biggest business and a massively corrupt business at that. People who go into politics usually have their eyes on the wealth they dream to make, little wonders politicians who have milked the nation attempt to preserve it for their children or stooges. Politics in Nigeria is a treasury milking entreprise and nothing more. Politicians see taking public office as a do or die affair. I want to talk about Desmond Elliot, the member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Surulere. Desmond Elliot is not new to Nigerians having enjoyed massive exposure from Nollywood. He was an actor, possibly still is but he is now a politician. When Desmond made entry into Nollywood via a Taju Adepetu's TV series, Everyday People, it wasn't difficult to identify that his comely looks, not necessarily his talent would take him far. He struck across as a gentleman, the type who spoke reservedly and politely too. Even in films, a role where he acted as a rash man

 I have never been an admirer of Babatunde Raji Fashola. When he succeeded Lai Mohammed as the Chief of Staff to the erstwhile governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, little was known about him in public space and he had barely come out of obscurity until his principal anointed him as his successor. At that time, I had a preferred candidate and Fashola was not him. Well, Fashola became governor in 2007. I hear he is very brilliant and highly educated. I am told he attended Birch Freeman High School and Igbobi College both in Lagos and graduated with an LL.B from the University of Benin. I also hear he is the first of his Law school class of 1988 to be honoured with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. He is also such an orator that had enjoyed captivating the people with his smooth speeches. He served two terms as governor and transformed Lagos only in superficiality. He planted gardens and flowers all over Lagos and provided water to keep the gardens nurtured

 Nigeria is currently making headlines across the globe and sadly not necessarily for something  great or that we should be happy about. I dare not say it's not for the  right reason. What had begun as a very peaceful protest had turned very violent with wanton destructions of both lives and properties. It is a situation that bleeds the heart especially when considered that what it had culminated into was easily avoidable. While counting the massive losses across the nation, we can only ruefully bite our nails and sigh, if only the president has addressed the protesters as a father just few days into the protest. His silence and aloofness only spoke loudly that he cared less thus, the distrust of the promises by government to address the demands of the protesters.  A major problem of the political class and indeed all sectors of Nigeria is abuse of office and power. Political office holders abuse their office by taking advantage of the people. Civil servants abuse the privilege of

 At a time like this when the Nigerian youths have shut down various parts of the country, it is near impossible to guess what is going on in the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari's mind. Being a man once touted to speak via his body language, the temptation to read his mind by his body language at this time, given the youths' #Endsars protests may just be misleading because what his body cues give cannot be considered humane. However, if his mind is in sync with his body language, then, it is unfortunate because what it readily implies are arrogance, lack of both sympathy and empathy, inconsideration, insensitivity to the plight of the people and sheer wickedness. This inference from Nigerians surely did not start in the wake of the #Endsars protests, it was long coming given the hardship that his enthronement as the head of government had ushered in and the state of utter hopelessnes that has followed and has remained increasing.  I think Buhari is the luckiest presid

 The unrelenting and seemingly unquenchable protests by resilient youths across Nigeria against the rogue police outfit Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS has engulfed the nation and has put government at all level on its toes. There is palpable fear that since the youths have refused to back down, the protests may get to another level that may consume the nation. The beauty of the youth protests is that it is people's driven, completely devoid of political undertone. We saw when people like Yele Sowore tried to sneak into the protests yesterday when it had taken shape in an obvious attempt to hijack the protest and stamp the face of his Revolution Now, the youths resisted and booed him away. This is not a political protest, it is not to score any partisan political goal but to liberate the people and society from the rogue SARS. We have seen desperate attempt to also attack the protests with obviously sponsored counter protests but that had yielded no result. The government has resp

 Nigerian youths seem to be the true catalysts for a true national change. The rise against the rogue police squad created to fight armed robbery and violent crimes called Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS is indicative of my assertion.  SARS shifted its attention from fighting armed robbery to terrorising citizens. Tales of woes abound of how SARS have turned paradoxical by perpetrating the evil they were initially created to fight. Innocent Nigerian youths have been killed by SARS, many have been robbed by SARS. Once, I had given lift to a young man who was stranded around Bariga at night. He said SARS officials picked him up on his street at Onigbongbo, Maryland on his way from work. He was accused of being a yahoo boy. They took him to a lonely street in Maryland, checked his phones and saw nothing incriminating. Rather than release him, they took him to the nearest ATM, withdrew the only forty two thousand naira in his account, then they took him to Bariga and dumped him there, wit

 I listened to the president's independence speech yesterday and I was further convinced that at sixty, Nigeria has no ambition for advancement. In a generation where civilization has become the ambition of every serious nation, Nigeria finds resting comfort in mediocrity and self-delusion. There is no serious move to make Nigeria rise above this abysmal level of fooling herself. I have always associated Nigerian governments with lies. Governance in Nigeria has always thrived on lies but the current government which came on board to change the shameful status quo took lying to a whole new level. If the president is grateful that Nigerians have entrusted their hopes and aspirations to him for a better and greater Nigeria, how has he actualised this in his more than five years at the helms of our affairs? Does he not know that Nigerians are groaning in increasing poverty, insecurity, failing economy, increasing corruption, barefaced nepotism, official robbery and many more? How have

 Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, former governor of Delta State has long dumped the People Democratic Party, PDP for the All Progressive Congress, APC in the buildup to the 2019 elections. At that time, it was an open secret that the medical doctor turned politician had a frosty relationship with his successor. While leaving the PDP, the ex-governor told the world that he was joining the APC because of the good works President Buhari was doing in the Niger-Delta region. He boasted about making APC the party to beat in Delta State following his defection to the national ruling party. Uduaghan moved to APC and he aligned with his former political foes. He vowed to deliver Delta, a staunch PDP state to the APC. To those in the know, this was merely wishful. APC was only quick to reward him for his defection with its ticket for the Delta South senatorial slot. However, that could not change the fact that it was a waste of expectations. It is a usual situation in many states in Nigeria that once a p

 Adams Oshiomhole obviously thought he was larger than life and he mistook his rise to prominence as the result of his smartness. He saw himself as a political lion whose roar sent jitters through all and sundry. He must have become too used to being in power and its corridors to assume he was Hercules or perhaps even Zeus over mere mortals. Coming from an eight year reign as labour leader who stood like an applauded collosus over Nigeria, dictating all labour actions especially against government policies and receiving both ready compliance and obeisance from the Nigerian people, Oshiomhole must have seen himself as a force to reckon with in the polity. His further rise to the government house in Benin City as governor of Edo State turned him into a giant, a usual attribute of shortmen - power makes shortmen very tall that they dwarf Goliath. He took on the godfathers of Edo politics and spared no one. Oshiomhole was fearless and confrontational and took on personalities no less than

 Today, the morning after the Edo Gubernatorial election, the results have begun to come in. From the 16 local government areas declared so far, the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki is bouncing to victory and at this stage, anything that will upturn this expectation will receive a widespread cry of blue murder. Obaseki is waiting for the announcement of his second victory over his now arch-rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Recall that in 2016, Obaseki while in the APC beat Ize-Iyamu, then of the PDP. Yesterday's election saw the two men as major contenders but on swapped platforms. While Ize-Iyamu moved to the APC, Obaseki went the other way. Today, as the results are being announced, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu would be so tensed seeing how Obaseki's rain is drenching him the second time and at a time when he has choosen the broom and his broom cannot cover his head from the downpour of defeat. Do not weep for him because whether you accept it or not, Osagie Ize-Iyamu is a tiger, strong an

  Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, a former tailor in Kaduna who fought his way into unionism and used every machination with his raw brawn and loudness to reach the labour union leadership. He became the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC in 1999 to 2007.  Adams Oshiomhole was labour leader at the time Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the Nigerian President. The labour leader was conspicuous in the Nigerian Polity, mobilizing people to kick against policies by the Obasanjo's government that were inimical to Nigerians. Whenever the government increased pump price of petroleum products, Oshiomhole would surface like an angry bull and strongly condemn the government's action, calling the government to reverse the prices. He would call for industrial action against the government and Nigerians would wholeheartedly heed to his call. He was seen as the man of the people. While Obasanjo was the president of Nigeria, Adams Oshiomhole was the unofficial President of Nigerians. The gove