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Bandit rats in our big budget By Lasisi Olagunju

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 On 9 June, 2026, the Presidency announced that “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of ₦10 billion as emergency intervention funding.” You remember that statement? Today is 20 July. Thank God there has been no Ebola outbreak. But where is the ₦10 billion? Spent? Unspent? Where is it? A voice told me that the President and his Presidency are very straightforward in money matters. They will explain. We should not be too much in a hurry. I watched a guest and his host discuss the scandal of the PFIPC, the popular 'fictitious' federal agency, on an Arise Television programme two Tuesdays ago. They agreed that there might be more than the PFIPC ghost in the Government of Nigeria. “When you see one rat in your house, begin a thorough search,” the guest said while answering a question. “That is true. Rats do not live alone; they ...
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Removal Of Mudashiru Obasa: Matters Arising by Dr Muiz Banire

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  As the new year commences, every human being had wished himself a happy year, so also is Honourable Mudashiru Obasa.  With the unfolding development at the Lagos State House of Assembly. However, one is not too sure that the supplication of Mudasiru Obasa in this regard had been answered. Up till the 12th of January, 2025, barely two weeks into the year, Mudasiru Obasa was the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. By the next day, however, 13th January 2025, he had suddenly become one-time Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. This was consequent upon his removal in what seemed to be a coup. This event is certainly not new to the Lagos State House of Assembly as at a point in time, we had witnessed the removal of also a sitting Speaker in the names of Hon. Jokotola Pelumi. As at the time of his removal, nothing concrete in my view was the allegation. As a member of the cabinet then, I can unequivocally state that not so much fund was accessible to the House u...
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Obasa’s Impeachment: A Lesson In The Perils Of Perpetual Power by Isaac Asabor

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  Mudashiru Obasa In the labyrinth of Nigerian politics, power is often perceived as an infinite resource, wielded by those who can hold onto it for as long as possible. Yet, history has repeatedly shown that the longer one clings to power, the more vulnerable they become to the political tides that eventually wash them away. The recent impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa, the erstwhile Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, is yet another testament to this reality. Although the specifics of Obasa’s impeachment remain murky, the circumstances leading to his political downfall allow for informed speculation. His story is one of a man who rose to prominence, commanded authority, and, some might say, overstayed his welcome. While it is too early to dissect the entire saga with absolute clarity, one thing is certain: his impeachment serves as a stark reminder to politicians of the perils of holding on to power for too long. Mudashiru Obasa, a seasoned politician, enjoyed a meteo...
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Former President Jimmy Carter Dies At 100

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  The 39th President of the United States, Mr Jimmy Carter who had been in hospice care since February 2023 at his home in Plains, Georgia is dead.  Carter, the first US president to reach his 100th birthday died on Sunday December 29, 2024. Born in October 1, 1924, the longest-lived President  served as the 76th Governor of Georgia and later served as President from 1977 to January 1981. Carter, according to Wikipedia was “born and raised in Plains, Georgia, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and joined the U.S. Navy's submarine service. He returned home after his military service and revived his family's peanut-growing business. Opposing racial segregation, Carter supported the growing civil rights movement, and became an activist within the Democratic Party. Carter served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967.” President Carter was defeated by a wide margin in the 1980 presidential election by President Ronald Reagan and since leaving office, Carter ...
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Jimmy Carter's Legacy: The Lessons For Africans - Richard Odusanya

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  Odusanya Let's begin on a personal experience with my meeting one-on-one with President Jimmy Carter. I was invited to a private dinner alongside 'Waziri' Abubakar Olusola Saraki, of the blessed memory, a Nigerian politician, who was the Senate leader in the Nigerian Second Republic, Nasir El-Rufai, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and others at residence of the Ambassador by my friend, the then Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States of American Embassy, Mr. Tim Andrews in the early part of 2002.   From my personal experience and observation at the dinner, I saw in Jimmy Carter, a former President at about age 78 who provided Americans with an ideal model of post-presidential life. In fact, I personally consider him to be America's greatest former President. He emerged as the champion of good governance, human rights and worked for several charitable causes - of course, funded by the Carter Presidential Center at Emory University in Atla...
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Kemi Badenoch And Her Father’s ‘Voice Of Reason’ by Jide Oluwajuyitan

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  Kemi Badenoch Kemi Badenoch, Britain’s Leader of Conservative Party and the Leader of Opposition, has gone through severe stress and strain since she first described Nigeria as a country plagued by “fear, insecurity, and corruption”, while reflecting on challenges of growing up in Lagos. She was accused of the denigrating the country of her parents.  Not even David Cameron who back in 2016 described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt country” received the type of criticism that trailed what some considered as an unpatriotic assault on Nigeria. But if Badenoch, whose brand of ‘saying it like it is’ and promises to tell ‘hard truths about her country’ does not feel intimidated by a section of the British press who described her as “ever-out-raged Kemi” and a “passionate defender of free speech – apart from any criticism of her” (John Crace Feb 19), she is not going to be cowed by some self-proclaiming patriots, Nigerian journalists whose tantrums include describing her as one “...
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Like Donald Trump, Former Ghanaian President John Mahama Wins Election

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  President John Mahama They share the same name; John and they share the same triumphant fate.  Like President Donald Trump of the US, former Ghanaian President John Mahama has staged a come back from defeats he suffered in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. A former communication minister under President Jerry Rawlings, Mr Mahama later became Vice President under the late President Atta Miller from January 7, 2009 to July 24, 2012. He later rose to become president following the death of Mr Miller the first Ghanaian president to die in office. Mr Mahama was sworn in as President on July 24, 2012 and served till January 7, 2017. He lost his bid to win in the 2016 presidential election and suffered another defeat in 2020. He did not give up.  Mr Mahama later contested in the 2024 election and was fielded as candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He won 56.3% of the votes against Mr Mahamudu Bawumia, candidate of the New Patriotic Party who polled 41.3...
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