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 nurt...

 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 th...

 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 presi...

 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 t...

 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 ...