Opinion

Sir: He was our President and Head of government, the 13th in the count. And for two years, eight months and a half, he commanded the armed forces of Nigeria. He did so with tact, firmness, integrity and trusted sincerity. The news of his death let out to Nigerians and world citizens, at 9.30pm Wednesday…

Sir: As the nation mourns the premature exit of our servant leader Ð the late Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua, it is imperative for me to draw out my personal grief at this loss. Then in 1976, I was just a 10-day old lad when Gen. Obasanjo's predecessor, the then Head of State Ð Gen. Murtala…

Sir: Now the time has comeNow you have done and gone Now history begins to reflectNow Nigerians mournHow come life seems shorterFor them who are humaneBut longer for them whoTread as gods on earth?Yar'Adua, you've partedJust off sight man's eyeBut you live, so long manRecalls your good artsA second old child is dueFor recall Ð…

THE death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is a major loss to the country. Yar'Adua died at about 9 pm on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at his official residence in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He was buried in his home state of Katsina yesterday. Befittingly, the Federal Government declared yesterday a public holiday, and seven…

I HAVE often wondered why few Nigerian women have demonstrated keen interest in political leadership. Why, for example, is the Nigerian political and public space dominated by men? It is a troubling question but it is not one that lends itself to easy answers. On the surface, we celebrate the entrenchment of democracy and official…

African farmers lost millions in Europe's recent Icelandic-volcano flying ban but their greatest threat comes from European environmentalist fears and European Union farm subsidies.Just last week, the chairman of a report by the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering and others said: "We should ask whether it is right to import green beans--or even roses--from a…

SIR: Several years ago, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) reported that about $107 billion of Nigerian money was held in private accounts and assets in the United States and Europe. More recently, the Global Financial Integrity (GFI) think tank showed that Nigeria lost $89.5 billion in illegal outflows to developed nations, between 1970…

THE announcement of the death of Nigeria's former President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has brought a closure to months of shoddy politicking, barefaced lying, odious vocabulary of illness and dying imposed on Nigeria and Nigerians by persons around the man who turned his illness and his continued presence in office into their own vehicle of survival…

THE angry reaction of the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III to a recent documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) portraying the city of Lagos as a slum and the abode of human scavengers is understandable and patriotic. The Sultan expresses a position that is shared by many Nigerians who also consider the…

IN line with his responsibility, the national security adviser admonished not only the president this time but the entire Nigerian people who cared to hear about how the actions of the CBN is constituting real threats to national – economic, social, political -  security. As the man with the ultimate responsibility for coordinating strategic intelligence…

I wish, in this brief intervention, to present a summary reconstruction of the historical circumstances leading up to one of the worst massacres of the Second World War (1939-1945). I will also touch on the massacre itself, the reasons provided for the massacre, the reactions of the major world powers to the massacre, and the…

SIR: A nation, they say, gets the kind of leadership she deserves. That means a truthful nation gets truthful leaders, and a corrupt nation gets corrupt leaders. The leadership of a nation is a reflection of her character, because the nation usually elects leaders whose moral fibres are the same as the people. Many of…