By MUHAMMAD ABDUL AZEEZ Between Data and Politics: Africa’s Economic Confidence Debate Okonjo-Iweala’s Numbers and Their Political Echoes A recent assertion by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stirred more than economic reflection—it has triggered political undertones. By stating that Africa sends only 6% of its exports to the United States and sources just 4% of its imports from […]
Democracy and the Push for Energy Reform NIGERIA’S transition to civilian rule in 1999 brought renewed focus on infrastructure, particularly electricity. In Lagos, Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu positioned power reform as a central pillar of his administration’s agenda. A key component of this strategy was a partnership with Enron, designed to deliver stable electricity supply […]
A Signature That Changed Everything ON 29 April 1998, in the final days of military rule, a man sat behind a heavy desk in Abuja and signed a document that would echo across decades. That man was Dan Etete, then Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources. With a single stroke of the pen, Etete allocated the […]
A Career Forged in Nigeria’s Military Turning Point COLONEL Ibrahim Taiwo, who died on 13 February 1976 during a failed coup attempt in Lagos, belonged to a generation of Nigerian officers whose careers were deeply intertwined with the country’s turbulent post-independence politics. His trajectory—from logistics officer to state administrator—mirrors the transformation of the military from […]
By ONOVUGHE IGWE Tracing the Ethnic and Political Patterns in IGP Appointments SINCE Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, the appointment of Inspectors-General of Police (IGPs) has reflected a complex interplay of politics, regional considerations, and security priorities. Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, three consecutive IGPs—Musiliu Smith, Mustafa Adebayo Balogun, and Sunday Ehindero—were all from the […]
A Monarch Caught in Political Crossfire THE deposition and eventual reinstatement of Erejuwa II remains one of the most striking examples of how Nigeria’s early post-independence politics reshaped traditional institutions. Born Wilson Gbesimi Emiko around 1908, Erejuwa II ascended the throne of the Olu of Warri in 1951. Before becoming monarch, he had built a […]
A Crime That Captivated Colonial Lagos IN 1953, a young Nigerian woman, Ada Ocha Ntu—widely known as Esther Johnson—became the centre of one of colonial Nigeria’s most controversial murder trials. At just 22, she was accused of killing her British partner, Maurice Hall, a railway engineer, in Lagos. The case quickly transcended the courtroom, evolving […]
Revisiting a Defining Moment in Delta’s History THE creation of Warri South-West Local Government Area in 1996 under Sani Abacha was intended as part of a broader effort to decentralise governance across Nigeria. Instead, it triggered one of the most contentious disputes in Delta State’s history—one centred on the location of the local government headquarters. […]
A Symbolic Encounter at a Defining Summit A striking photograph from the 1973 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Ottawa captures a moment that has since taken on historical resonance: a young Justin Trudeau, then a toddler, shaking hands with Nigeria’s Head of State, Yakubu Gowon. The child, son of Canada’s then Prime Minister […]
Gowon’s Return to Politics IN the build-up to Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule in the early 1990s, Yakubu Gowon sought to reinvent himself as a democratic leader. Encouraged by political allies and segments of the elite, Gowon entered the race for the presidency under the National Republican Convention. His entry was widely interpreted as a […]