Reuben ABATI
Features
Iya Kabiru and other stories
“Iya Kabiru must be the luckiest woman in Nigeria today” “Who is that? I don’t know anybody so-called” “You don’t know Iya Kabiru? But you know Baba Kabiru?” “Do they know me?” “This is the problem with you. You only think about you, you, you. Read more
Aig-Imoukhuede and the Initiative for Public Governance
A week ago, I stumbled on an article titled “Africa and the burden of Leadership” (The Guardian, Nov. 7), written by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, banker, investor and entrepreneur, former Managing Director of Access Bank Nigeria, our compatriot. Read more
The “Oshiomhole must go” coalition
Chief John Odigie Oyegun, former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) must be having a good laugh wherever he is. If he is just finishing a meal, he can afford to pick his teeth and belch from the deepest part of his biological Read more
Beyond Fayose: The future of Ekiti
I spent the better part of last Tuesday, October 16, focusing on developments in Ekiti State. It was the day of John Kayode Fayemi’s return to office as Governor of Ekiti State and his inauguration for a second-term, after an interregnum of four Read more
Nigeria’s certificate scandals
The number of persons involved in certificate scandals under the Buhari administration may speak to something far deeper in our society, even beyond the administration, but it is to say the least, disgraceful and embarrassing. Ordinarily considered Read more
Osun: Election as theatre
What is going on in Osun State right now is nothing short of political theatre. It is keeping us all entertained, but it has also turned so many observers into emergency lawyers. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the Osun Read more
Lessons from Adeosungate
Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance (2015-2018), Kemi Adeosun threw in her letter of resignation on Friday, September 14, to bring to a temporary closure, the public outcry and the embarrassment that her possession of a fake National Youth Service Read more
2019: A brief manual of Nigerian politics
For the benefit of any outsider who may never have witnessed Nigeria’s general elections, the type that is ahead, I offer in this brief note, a description of what to expect, what is already happening in the context of the character, content and Read more
Buhari, 2019 elections and the law
President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly declared in China, last Sunday, that he believes in the idea of free and fair elections, and that he is committed to this pillar of the democratic process. I don’t expect him to say anything otherwise. Read more
Rule of Law: The President got it wrong
It is unfortunate that the most important statement made so far at the on-going Annual Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association, an outright derogation of the supremacy of the rule of law, has not yet generated any coherent response from either the Read more
A dry Sallah and other stories
“Baba is back, we thank God” “You have started your mischief again. Baba said he will be back in two weeks, and he is back, so what is special about that?” “You know sometimes when the President goes to London like that, we may then be told that Read more
Dauragate and the shame of a nation
The week that just passed will for long be remembered as perhaps the most momentous week in the history of the Muhammadu Buhari administration since 2015. Exactly a week ago, officers of the Department of State Security Services (DSS), acting under Read more
The Asaba disgrace
Shame on all the local organisers of the just concluded 21st Africa Senior Athletics Championships held in Asaba, Delta State tagged #Asaba2018 for spending N4 billion of the Nigerian taxpayers’ money to procure disgrace, and embarrassment for Read more
Understanding APC and the crisis of defections
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the “factional” leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has reportedly asked Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki to resign his position as Senate President. What exactly does the Comrade want Saraki to Read more
Hadi Sirika and the return of Nigeria Airways
One of the usual features on Nigerian social media is the nostalgic passion with which Nigerians often distribute pictures of the old Nigeria Airways and how that company once considered one of the best in Africa was mismanaged and made to fail. Read more
The Adebayo Adedeji example
Professor Adebayo Adedeji, the towering intellectual, scholar, pan-Africanist, international civil servant and pioneer Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Read more
In defence of the Fulani in our midst
In the last two weeks, over 200 persons in Plateau State were reportedly killed by Fulani herdsmen, 45 villages were ransacked and sacked and those villages we are told have been taken over by Fulanis, and the original owners have had to flee from Read more
Ten years after Lamidi Adedibu
It has been ten years since the self-styled “strong man of Ibadan politics,” Chief Lamidi Ariyibi Akanji Adedibu, died. He died on June 11, 2008. I do not recall seeing many tributes or advertisements in the newspapers or other media commemorating Read more
Super Eagles and Marcus the pig at the World Cup
I think Nigeria probably stands a chance of doing better in this World Cup if all the arm-chair coaches on social media can be blocked and all the fine girls with corruption-laden body parts can be banned from sending Direct Messages to the Super Read more
“Just do good”: A June 12 story
I used to have a friend we called Alhaji Bashy. He was not a Muslim. No. But he called himself Alhaji Bashy, even if that was not his real name. You want to know his real name? It was Theophilus. And his wife was named Ruth. His children? He was yet Read more