Opinion – Rareview News Report

Jun232026 by RareviewNo Comments

GOV. UZODINMA WANTS A CHIEF JUDGE HE CAN OWN

Opinion

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu OPINION SWAMI Kesavananda Bharati was a senior Hindu monk who became an unlikely icon of constitutional law and a provocateur for judicial independence. Better known by the honorific, “His Holiness”, Kesavananda was by 1970 the senior pontiff of a Hindu Monastery in Edneer, Kasaragod District of Kerala State in south-western India. The Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act of 1969, which came into force at the beginning of January 1970, empowered the state government to restrict the management of lands belonging to Kesavananda’s monastery. To the senior Hindu monk, this was not a matter for prayer or fasting. In February 1970, Kesavananda sued. Arguments began on 31 October 1972, ending on 23 March 1973, before a full pan...

Jun122026 by RareviewNo Comments

Insecurity: Fresh Calls For State Police

Opinion, Uncategorized

By Reuben Abati OPINION FOLLOWING the spate of kidnappings – human beings being stolen across the country as if they were mere objects – in Oyo, Borno, Kebbi, Katsina, Kwara, Zamfara, Niger – there has been a renewed agitation for the establishment of state police by lawmakers, Governors and concerned citizens, out of the belief that state police, a decentralized police system in the country would help move the Nigerian government closer to its fundamental responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and property across the country. In a report by Amnesty International, it is estimated that at least 1, 100 persons were abducted in the Northern part of the country alone between January to April 2026. The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) quotes the Comm...

May112026 by RareviewNo Comments

OBI AND THE REBIRTH OF ARISTIDES

Opinion

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem AS far back as we can ply into history, we observe that the pattern of the principled statesman recurs with rhythmic persistence. To observe the life of Mr. Peter Obi, both publicly and privately, is to witness a modern resonance of that ancient stoic harmony once embodied by Aristides. Aristides was an Athenian statesman and general who lived around 530–468 BC and became renowned for his honesty, fairness, and incorruptibility, virtues that earned him the title “the Just.”Have you heard of the book Parallel Lives, commonly called “Plutarch’s Lives?” Written by Plutarch, it explores the character, virtues, leadership, and moral choices of great men from Greek and Roman history by pairing their biographies – Alexander the Great with Julius...

Apr132026 by RareviewNo Comments

FROM TEHRAN TO TINUBU – DID TRUMP JUST SIGNAL A PIVOT?

Opinion

OPINION By Mike Arnold ON the biggest night of his second term — a ceasefire with Iran announced ninety minutes before his own deadline to destroy a civilization — Donald Trump strategically injected Nigeria into the global conversation. In a Truth Social post at 8:01 PM Eastern, seen by millions, he blasted CNN for reporting an Iranian victory statement — calling it a “FRAUD” linked to “a Fake News site (from Nigeria).” One sentence. Maximum audience. Nigeria is now in the room. This is how Trump operates. He doesn’t need a press conference. He plants a seed in the biggest news cycle of the year and lets the world’s gears start turning. Every foreign ministry that read that post now has Nigeria alongside Iran in their head. Every sleazy lobbyist on Tinubu’s payroll ...

Feb162026 by RareviewNo Comments

MERIT, NOT IDENTITY, SHOULD DECIDE NIGERIA’S LEADERSHIP

Opinion

OP-ED By Ali Elias Nigeria’s political conversation was recently stirred by a widely circulated statement reflecting a worldview that places competence above ethnic allegiance and leadership performance above symbolic identity.At its core lies a provocative assertion: support for political leadership should not be determined by where a candidate comes from, but by what that candidate represents. The statement’s defining line captures the philosophical centre of the debate: “Igbos don’t follow a king because he is a king but on what he is.”This idea, while controversial in public discourse, is not new. It echoes a long-recognised feature of Igbo political culture — decentralised authority, negotiated legitimacy and a tradition of evaluative leadership. In historical terms, power in ma...

Feb42026 by RareviewNo Comments

PHANTOM COUPS, SECRET TRIALS? NO, PLEASE

Opinion

OPINION By Suleiman A. Suleiman WHEN I read the news and commentary about an attempted coup in Nigeria since October last year, I have asked myself many times if this is nothing more than a “coup” on the pages of newspapers, and a “trial” of a coup only in the news. Journalism, like the law, and science, is a business of evidence and verifiable facts. But so far, the facts of this case have been inconsistent and contradictory, and the evidence all but evident. It is the responsibility of the media to report the news about anything, including coups. But it is also the responsibility of the media to provide evidence of its reporting, be it a coup or a wedding. This responsibility is not to be taken lightly, and the higher the significance and likely public impact of a s...

Jan82026 by RareviewNo Comments

WHEN CREATIVITY REFUSES VULGARITY

Opinion

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem YESTERDAY, I attended a function in Igbo-ukwu – the 100th birthday celebration of the mother of Fr. Louis Ezeilo. As I was stepping into the venue with my friend, Comrade Celestine Ostende Oguegbu, we noticed Fr. Paulinus Anaedum enthusiastically taking selfies with one of the masters of ceremony. My instinctive reaction was to wonder what could be so special about this MC that warranted such excitement from my old teacher. On closer look, I realized it was Ceelos Media (Oga Uwa). For the first time in my life, I found myself also struggling to take a selfie with him. Ostende did the same. In what felt like a moment of mutual recognition, the three of us simultaneously commended him for the quality of his work. Even his partner, whose face we are y...

Jan82026 by RareviewNo Comments

A REFLECTION ON THE MEETING BETWEEN ATHENIAN ENVOYS AND MELIAN REPRESENTATIVES

Opinion

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem WHENEVER I witness power tussles among nations, I naturally recall the realist who once said that nations weigh words by counting guns. Is this true? At such times, I remember how the Great Ideas, in A Syntopicon, begins its treatise on justice by invoking the encounter between the Athenian envoys and the Melian representatives, when they stood on a sword’s edge. This dialogue, preserved by Thucydides, serves as the ultimate historical collision between the idealism of “right” and the realism of “might.” When the Athenians arrived at the neutral island of Melos, they did not offer a moral justification for their aggression, but instead extended a cold invitation to acknowledge the reality of power. They swept aside the usual diplomatic appeals to just...

Dec302025 by RareviewNo Comments

ARRESTING ABUSE OF POWER IN NIGERIA’S JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS

Opinion

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu OPINION “A Judge who takes advantage of the judicial office for personal gain or for gain by his or her relative or relation abuses power…. such abuse of power profoundly violates the public’s trust in the judiciary.” *Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rule 8:3 (2016)* Eight and a half years ago, in May 2017, a viral audio clip circulated, purportedly featuring a conversation between a male Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a female judge who had presided over an election petition involving the Senator in the preceding year. In the sound clip, both could be heard importuning one another. The female voice asked the Senator to ensure that whatever he delivered, he must “make it in USD (American dollars)...

Dec292025 by RareviewNo Comments

IT’S DANGOTE VS TINUBU, STUPID

Opinion

OPINION By Steve Osuji THE Battle Of Megalomaniacs: Why does everyone seem to miss the point? Why can’t Nigerians see that the ruckus in the Nigerian oil and gas sector is a battle between two sharks who seek total acquisition and complete takeover of the industry as part of their burgeoning personal empires? But Providence is kind to Nigeria and Nigerians. It is Nigeria’s good fortune that Alhaji Aliko Dangote was able to build and complete his mammoth-size refinery against extreme odds. It is also by a divine hand that President Bola Tinubu is the man at the helm in Nigeria today. Were the set up otherwise, if the heavens had not purposed the twain to tango at this crucial juncture, Nigeria’s story of the oil and gas system would have been different and indeed, much ...