Opinion

OPINION Tunde Akanni “Like play…”, as they say, Dangote emerges the Man of the Year 2025!  A consumerist perspective, you may say. But who could have imagined that the 2024 Gen Zs’ “no gree for anybody” slogan would get a lease of life from the least likely quarter? Dangote volunteered. He tore through the muscles of powerful oil sectors’ big men. Only one was in sight but big ones fell! And even a third. Dangote no gree for anybody.   He has come to reaffirm his conquest of the sector. May the conquest signal better future for citizens. Yeah, unlike POTUS Trump, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, ran an unusual race and breasted the tape. By all means, Trump, strangely, sought the Nobel Peace Prize this year, 2025 but it all ended in praise.  For the judges, as you k...

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem I often write about religion, and by its very nature it is a subject on which I am frequently and deliberately  misunderstood. Any serious engagement with religion, especially one that questions its social consequences, almost inevitably provokes hostility. I recall an interview granted by Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu in which he spoke about religious war. He said he would never wish such a war on Nigeria because, once people begin to fight in the name of religion, they take leave of their reasons. That observation has stayed with me. This, indeed, is the kind of reaction one encounters when writing critically about religion. No matter how rational or carefully argued one’s position may be, the responses often come in torrents of abuse rather ...

Photo courtesy: X RNR EDITORIAL The Federal Government’s announcement that it collected ₦360.29 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) between January and October 2025 should be welcome news. It signals a country embracing digital payments, expanding its tax net, and reducing reliance on oil revenues. But for millions of Nigerians, the numbers ring hollow. At a time when citizens endure punishing inflation, epileptic electricity, dilapidated roads, failing schools, and overstretched hospitals, the question is simple: Where is the impact of all this revenue? Nigerians are not blind to the irony. Every electronic transfer above ₦10,000 attracts the ₦50 levy. Yet the same citizens who fund this revenue struggle to charge their phones because the power grid c...

OPINION By Ambassador Lilian Onoh EVERY single Nigerian should take a look at the emblem of the Nigerian Army and try to read its motto – the banner under which every single soldier must fight.  The vast majority of Nigerians will fail, not because they are illiterate, but because it is written in Arabic  – a language known only to those whose recite passages from the Islamic Koran, many of whom are only able to recite passages by rote and not by ability to read or write Arabic.  Thus, more than 70% of Nigerians do not actually know what the Arabic writing on the Nigerian Army emblem says. In regular English script, the Arabic writing on the Nigerian Army Emblem is, “Nasrun Min Allah”, or, “Victory is from Allah alone.“ From my research, it is actually the war...

OPINION By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan  WHEN a man of God opens his mouth in a bleeding country, people expect comfort, clarity, and courage. Not cold statistics that sound like they were drafted in a government PR office. Bishop Matthew Kukah allegedly said:  “There’s no genocide or persecution of Christians in Nigeria. You can kill 10 million people and it still won’t amount to genocide…If you are a Christian in Nigeria and you say you are persecuted, my question is: how? At least 80% of educated Nigerians are Christians, and up to 85% of the Nigerian economy is controlled by Christians. With such figures, how can anyone say Christians are being persecuted?” Let’s dismantle this 1. Genocide Is Not Cancelled Because Some Christians Are Rich Genocide is not def...

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem ELECTIONS, in a sane democracy, ought to be moments of sober reflection –  times when citizens pause to weigh their choices, guided by conscience and conviction. Yet, in our political culture, every election seems to leave behind recrimination rather than reflection. The just-concluded Anambra election is no exception. Now that the dust has settled, one would expect thoughtful discussions on how the state might move forward – how the winner could be held accountable, how institutions could be strengthened, and how public welfare could be advanced. Unfortunately, what we see instead is the familiar pettiness of misplaced blame. Some voices, rather than addressing the moral and institutional lapses that plagued the process, have chosen to chase sha...

OPINION By Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko  WITH the exit of the Khaki boys from the political governance in 1999,  like-minded politicians from as far back as the second Republic led by Chiefs Alex Ekwueme who was Vice President to Shehu Shagari in the late 70s to early 80s, Solomon Lar of the famed Nigerian Peoples party formed by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the blessed memory, set up the Peoples Democratic Party.   Although other political parties such as the Alliance for Democracy that grew out of Afenifere the Yoruba socio-cultural group, All Nigeria Party, were in existence and in control of few states in Nigeria without any open attempt by the ruling party to poach them, but the PDP won the election of 1999 and set up the federal government not until 2015 when the ...

OPINION By Bunmi Makinwa IT was difficult to miss the trending videos, photos and reports of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike and Naval Officer Lieutenant A. M. Yerima staring each other down at a property site in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, recently. The full picture may never be known, but there are many versions of the narratives, which may or may not be from Wike’s office or the military establishment. There are numerous write-ups and analyses on whether Wike or the officer was right or wrong. Perhaps, one day, an opportunity will present itself for various sides to tell their own versions of the event. In this digital age, there are many possibilities to colour stories, or even mislead the public. But what happened between Wike and the nav...

OPINION By Stacey Ukaobasi  THERE is a dangerous combination destroying families from the inside: narcissism fueled by addiction. On their own, each one is destructive. But when they meet in one person, the result is a silent war that breaks homes, destroys confidence, damages children, and drains the life out of anyone tied to them. Narcissists do not care who they hurt as long as they get validation from outsiders. They are masters of image. To the world, they are saints , kind, generous, supportive, charming. At home, behind closed doors, they become something else entirely. cold, cruel, dismissive, manipulative, abusive, and emotionally monstrous. They can give an outsider their last breath just to be praised. They can cry on command, cook up stories, and twist r...

OPINION By Valentine Obienyem WE began preparing for the conference over a year ago, and it finally came to a rewarding close yesterday. I am referring to the 6th African Philosophy World Conference, held from 22–24 September 2025 at the University of Douala, Cameroon, with the theme: “Decoloniality and Transcoloniality in African Philosophy.” Together with Prof. Charles Nweke, I presented a paper titled “Decolonization of Democracy: Rethinking African Governance Models.” Having long reached the zenith of lecturing, Prof. Nweke graciously asked me to make the presentation. One can only imagine how many conferences he has spoken at over the years. His decision was clearly an act of mentorship, and I deeply appreciated it. It made me wonder: do conference presentations still exci...