Reuben ABATI
Features
Kachikwu, Baru and the NNPC debacle
The current NNPC debacle is probably the most embarrassing, even if mercifully, eye-opening crisis in the history of that nationally strategic institution since its creation in 1977. I seek in the following commentary to offer a number of more
10 Oct 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Ambazonia, Biya’s intolerance and internet democracy
A Biafra-like agitation for independence has been unfolding in neighbouring Republic of Cameroon since November 2016. The people of Northern and Southern Cameroons under the umbrella of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front more
3 Oct 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Letter to Nnamdi Kanu
You had boasted that you will deal with any invading force from Abuja. You also said it would be “Biafra or Death”. But when death came calling in the shape of Operation Python Dance II, your enemies insisted that you should have waited. Don’t mind more
26 Sep 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
The Python does not dance…
The Nigerian military has messed up Operation Python Dance II in the South East conceptually and operationally, and the attendant arrogance does not serve the Nigerian state well. more
19 Sep 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Mama Taraba and the APC crisis
Mama Taraba - Senator Aisha Alhassan did something shocking and unusual in Nigerian politics during the last Eid-el-Kabir holidays. Members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have been on a war-path with her since then. more
12 Sep 2017 17:41 Reuben ABATI
Akwa Ibom churches as parastatals
The decision by the Akwa Ibom State Government to build a new Governor’s Lodge in Lagos, worth N9.1 billion or N2.1 billion, in order to have a befitting, presentational house for receiving foreign investors and diplomats at the country’s commercial more
5 Sep 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
JAMB and the politics of cut-off marks
I have followed with keen interest the controversy over the announcement of cut-off marks for Nigeria’s admission processes for the 2017/2018 session, with many commentators and the general public insisting that it is unwise, insensitive and more
29 Aug 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Aso Villa and the audacity of rats
I have just joined a group of concerned Nigerians who are planning to go to the Presidential Villa in Abuja to help sort out this issue of rats that invaded the President’s office and chased him out of his office as the BBC reported.” more
24 Aug 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Presidential broadcast and other stories
“If you are this excited about President Buhari’s return, then why didn’t you go to Abuja to welcome him when he arrived from England on Saturday.” “I didn’t have to.” “After 104 days on medical vacation in London. You should have been there to more
22 Aug 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Buhari’s reunion with his media team
I was really excited on Saturday when I received news of the eventual visit of President Muhammadu Buhari’s media team to him in London. I had always felt that the exclusion of the media team from the London medical vacation and the various visits more
15 Aug 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Of herbal healing, spirituality and public health
I was the reviewer of an important book on herbal healing. Herbal healing is often dismissed as a form of sorcery and in these days of obsession with Pentecostalism, many Africans still consider traditional medicine a taboo. To disprove this, a more
2 Aug 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Lunch in London, anxiety in Nigeria
“You are a foolish man. You want photos of the President and his wife, sitting together in za ozza room? Candidly, tell me you are asking for photographs from the Presidential ozza room? You are sick. No President takes pictures in that other room.” more
25 Jul 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Chi Onwurah MP: “British, not Nigerian”
Chi Onwurah, the Member of Parliament representing Newcastle Central in the UK House of Commons and my former colleague at the State House, Molara Wood, met recently at the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing award ceremony. When Molara informed Chi more
11 Jul 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
The Nnamdi Kanu phenomenon
The most discussed subject in Nigeria today is what is called “restructuring” and indeed so popular is this subject that it has attracted the attention of roadside commentators, the bright, the not-so-bright, the mischievous and the outrightly more
4 Jul 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Buhari and the Hausa Language
“My friend, the fasting season has ended. Stop fasting after Ramadan. I am saying something serious. Was it right for the President of Nigeria to address the Nigerian people in Hausa? “ “Hausa? Me no hear am oh. Have they changed the country’s more
27 Jun 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
JAMB 2017: Matters Arising
I attended a meeting recently at the headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in Bwari, Abuja: the post-2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination review meeting chaired by the JAMB Registrar, Professor Ish-aq Oloyede. more
20 Jun 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Igbo-haters, the Arewa ultimatum and our nation
Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the Federation called Nigeria. The sad part is that this belief is shared not just by the generation that witnessed the war and its deadly more
13 Jun 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Democracy, Biafra and a sense of history
It is sad that many Nigerians today talk glibly about the possibility of a coup or of military intervention in politics. They make it seem as if this democracy is something we can exchange for something else. We need to be reminded, as we celebrate more
30 May 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI
Buhari and the Marabouts
“She spits fire, particularly if the person involved is in any way related to either the People’s Democratic Party or former President Goodluck Jonathan.” “I have just read a piece she wrote saying some politicians are now hiring marabouts, pastors more
23 May 2017 00:00 Reuben ABATI