Olaniran News Network ONN

  Kassim Afegbua: “With the abysmal performance of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of age, incompetence and lack of capacity and political will to take deliberate and sustained action to bail out the country from all manner of challenges, it will be immoral for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to continue to express interest in seeking election in the 2023 Presidential election having attained the retirement age”. A former spokesman to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Kassim Afegbua has warned Atiku to stay away from the next presidential contest. Afegbua who was short of calling Atiku a serial loser in a message titled 2023: Atiku and the age of Methuselah Politcs calls on Atiku to give younger generation a chance. Here’s his full statement: “With the abysmal performance of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of age, incompetence and lack of capacity and political will to take deliberate and sustained action to bail out the country from all manner of challenges, it will be immoral for Alhaji At

  Ojudu I have seen a statement made by me, many years ago, to celebrate the 60th birthday anniversary of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu making the rounds. Yes I did make that statement. And more of such will come in my autobiography. We, together, have seen good days and bad days.  I and Bola Tinubu have come a long way and we have been there for each other. So let no one use my acknowledgment of his good deeds and my refusal not to support him in his bid for Nigeria presidency to portray me as a betrayer.  Tinubu remains my leader and I will forever cherish him and the contributions he made to my Organisation during our fight against the military.  He however knows I don’t follow the herd. I make my choices based on very rigid parameters . He will tell you I am very Independent in my actions and ways.  As a third year university student my dad chose to be in NPN. I never considered the fact that he fed me and paid my school fees to join him in a party I despised.  I went to UPN and became

  Reno Omokri: One of the biggest myths existing in Nigeria today is that the current system of government that we have, which is a false federation, that is, in fact, a unitary system, is a creation of Northern Nigeria to dominate other parts of Nigeria.   Yes, Northern Nigeria is heavily benefiting from it. Northern Nigeria is sustaining it. However, Northern Nigeria did not create it. And when oil runs its course as a commercially viable commodity, it is even possible that Northern Nigeria itself may come to a position where it does not even find it as attractive as it once did. And this myth that our present faux federalism is a Northern construct has persisted for the simple reason that Nigerians hardly read about or study their history. As a people, we are, with a few exceptions, focused on the here and now, without much thought to how we got to where we are. The recent public tiff between two very famous letter-writers (the revered Chief Obasanjo, and Chief EK Clark), has again

Dr Akin Adesina  Some young Nigerians through their forum: Prudent Youth Association of Nigeria (PYAN) have called on the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina to throw his hat into the ring for the 2023 presidential election. In a statement released by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Haruna Awode, the group notes that Dr Adesina’s degrees and pedigree and his wealth of experience can lift Nigeria out of the current security, economic and political challenges confronting the country. “At the moment, Nigeria does not just need people with political exposure to lead as president;  the exalted office should be occupied by a young, vibrant, intellectual with experienced and focused mind. “Academically,  Adesina has a track records of brilliancy. He was the first to  graduate with a First Class Honours, bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics, from the Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria, in 1981.   “He holds a master’s degree and a  PhD in Agricultural

  Festus Adedayo I was at the Alausa Governor’s Office in Lagos. Accessing the governor was like seeking a needle in a haystack. His Press Secretary had sent word up that an irritant interloper had come to ferret a response to a news magazine’s damming exposé on the governor. After hours of waiting, a commissioner (name withheld) sauntered in and met me where I sat immovably like Mount Kilimanjaro. “You can’t write that story,” he began in a steely voice laced with a veiled threat. “Go back to Ibadan. We will talk to your boss.” That was how the story never saw the light of the day. The Nigerian Tribune, of which I was the Features Editor during this period, had sent me in pursuit of the facts or fiction surrounding the news magazine’s report. The principal of that ancient school, Government College Ibadan (GCI), had suddenly gone AWOL then, becoming as incommunicado and inaccessible as the proverbial excrement of the masquerade. Through the grapevine, there was an allegation that Alha

  Dr Reuben Abati  I want to thank the organizers of this 60th Birthday Anniversary event in honour of Balogun Akin Osuntokun for inviting me to say a few words about the themes of consistency, in relation to public intellectual advocacy and to focus on a Nigerian Case Study. In doing so, I join others in congratulating the celebrant and subject on his attainment of the diamond jubilee. I cannot think of another case study as the departure point for my commentary than Akin Osuntokun himself, although an inquiry into the nature of the ideas industry in Nigeria with specific emphasis on public intellectual advocacy would be incomplete without additional illustrations of the role of others in that nexus between culture, politics and society which is the province of the operation of the public intellectual as opposed to the strict academic intellectual and writer, who is burdened by the demands of  specificity and disciplinarity. I make no clear cut distinction in this regard, however, and

  Simon Kolawole  Pardon me: I used the title of this article as a bait. Sensationalism is not in my character, pardon me again, but discussing who should be the next president always excites us in Nigeria. We were created for elections and permutations. I decided to trick you by making it look like I wanted to appraise the aspirants in the 2023 presidential election, after which you would expect me to sing the praises of one of them as the Moses to lead Nigerians out of Egypt. We have been doing the permutation business for decades but what have we achieved with it? Most Nigerians are still as poor as the ancient church rat and the Federal Republic of Nigeria is still importing petrol and engine oil. If you are like me, you would be less excited about electioneering in Nigeria. Seasonally, our hopes are raised with promises of heaven and earth. Our eardrums always boom with campaign rhetoric. The posters are ever so beautiful.  The violence on Twitter is always next to none. Campaign

  Late Ernest Shonekan  The Chairman of the interim National Government from August 26 to November 17 1993 Chief Ernest Adegunle Shonekan is dead. Details later…..