While tribal jingoists and religious bigots like Femi Fani-Kayode as well as anarchists and clowns like Dokubo Asari are busy fanning the embers of disunity and hatred among Nigerians, it is very gladdening to read and hear voices of reason and moderation from the same south at this most critical of times. I am referring…

Since I started writing this column, I have always avoided writing on the Arab–Israeli conflict. This is because I consider them “bloody cousins” from their Abraham lineage, as Gen. Murtala Muhammed once described them. Secondly, although over 75 per cent of the total population of Arabs in the world are in Africa, apart from Nasser…

Adamawa is a unique state in Nigeria. Anyone looking for a practical expression of unity in diversity should go to Adamawa. Here is a state where there are over 80 ethnic groups yet there is peace and harmony. Virtually everyone is related directly or indirectly to the other because the integration process has been on…

President Goodluck Jonathan’s eye is firmly set on the 2015 race. As a person, Jonathan is a nice fellow but his administration has been hijacked by some vested interests so much so that many have come to the conclusion that President Jonathan is well-meaning but incompetent and ineffective. Regardless of his good intentions, the Jonathan…

In the coming week, America’s president Barrack Obama will be hosting African heads of state and leaders in Washington, DC. Obama is the first African-American to be elected president of the United States. This is his second and final term in office and he has been able to visit only about four countries in Africa…

This is the period of Ramadan, an auspicious time to ponder, to reflect on the current situation of the only nation we can call ours as well as the anxieties, fears and ambitions of us citizens and inhabitants. For the Muslims, this is the time to rededicate towards practising the true teachings of Islam and…

Below are excerpts from an interesting article by Mr Femi Orebe which appeared on page 16 of The Nation on Sunday newspaper of June 29, 2014. If Olatunji Dare, up there in a class of his own, could get it wrong, who the hell am I to dare proffer another reason for the APC “shellacking”…

On Tuesday July 1, 2014, Nigeria lost one of its greatest patriots, Dr Umaru AbdurRahman Dikko, who died in a London hospital that day. Born on December 31, 1936, he was the third son of Alhaji Abdur Rahman Dikko, Turaki Babba of Zazzau Emirate, who was the great grandson of Sultan of Sokoto Aliyu Babba,…

It is a little over a century since the British conquered the sultanate, emirates, kingdoms and chiefdoms of what became the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria which later became the Northern Region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which in Hausa Language is called Arewa. In terms of land mass, the area is 72 per cent…

When one drinks alcohol, one loses focus and becomes temporarily insane for between seven and 12 hours. If a person is a perpetual drunkard, you can see, cumulatively, how much precious time that person loses and that person cannot be compared to one who is always sober. But anyone who was once insane hardly comes…