Essays

When I challenged Chief E.K. Clark’s assertion that there was ”nothing wrong with placing soldiers on the streets of Lagos” last January during the oil subsidy crisis at a conference of the Political Summit Group in Lagos I knew that I was heading for trouble. I was given the floor to speak just a few […]

Yesterday (4th of Jan. 2012) during a specially convened meeting of the Federal Executive Council of the Goodluck Jonathan administration Mrs. Ngozie Okonjo-Iweala, my former cabinet colleague and good friend, threatened to resign from her position as Finance Minister and de-facto Prime Minister and go back to the World Bank from whence she came if

Like everyone else in the country I was informed about the death of the Waziri of Ilorin, Dr. Olusola Saraki, on the morning that he passed on and the news saddened me immensly. This is because he was one of the greatest, kindest, most compassionate, most generous and most selfless leaders that we have ever

When I heard that Major Hamza Al Mustapha was convicted of murder and sentenced to hanging by a Lagos High Court yesterday afternoon I was utterly shocked, saddened and disgusted. And let me tell you why. I was one of those that opposed the late General Sani Abacha’s government and fought against Al Mustapha and

When President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power we spent 300 billion per year on the fuel subsidy. Under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan it shot up to 1.3 trillion naira in the last one year alone. Can someone please explain to me how it got so high in 4 years and what exactly they

“I can go back to fight a war to keep this country together even at 71”..some people are saying that should anything happen to President Jonathan, forget about Nigeria and so on. I know those who are saying this. Yes, they are supporters of the President. But I know the President is a sensible person

Lord Apsley and I were colleagues at Harrow School in England approximately 36 years ago. I have never forgotten his uncharitable remarks about Nigeria which led to a heated arguement between us. At that time I found it ironic, and I still do, that this quintessential member of the English upper class not only had

The South Africans are an ungrateful lot. After all Nigeria did for them during the struggle against apartheid, white minority rule and the relentless tyranny of the Boers they have done nothing but treat us with disrespect, disdain and contempt. A glaring example of this is their shameful treatment of our Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole

I went through Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s article about Nasir El-Rufai titled ”Sanusi Lamido On El Rufai” with amusement. I am glad that he has reiterated his love for Nasir and expressed his tremendous respect for him. He has also spoken well about Nuhu Ribadu, who is also a mutual friend, and he has said that

i have a word for my Islamist friend. Let me put it to you from the outset that you do not in any way represent the great faith of Islam. As a matter of fact I do not believe that islamists and islamic fundamentalists are Muslims at all, just as I don’t believe that Hitler