RiverNaija

Captain Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma came into prominence when he led a group of soldiers to abduct the former head of state, Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and his host, the military governor of Western region, Lieutenant Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, from government house Ibadan on the night of July 29, 1966. Under Danjuma’s orders, Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi was spat on, slapped, kicked and punched. With Ironsi’s hands tied behind his back with telephone cord, Danjuma’s soldiers crushed his testicles with their military boots. Ironsi was then dragged on the ground from a moving military Range Rover, skin torn by gravels on the road, blood oozed from his mouth, face swelled, bones cracked and body parts dismembered. And finally he was shot several times and his bullet-ridden, mangled body was dumped in a forest near Iwo road. And so saw his host, Fajuyi. It would be absolutely unfair not to present Danjuma’s foolproof defense: he refused to break Ironsi’s crocodile swagger stick as demanded by the ...

Before the end of this year, first-time visitors from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Pakistan and India may be expected to secure a £3,000 cash bond before they can enter the United Kingdom. According to the Times of London which broke the story, such visitors will forfeit the money if they stay beyond the expiration of their visa. “This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain,” Home Secretary Theresa May was quoted as saying. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, on Tuesday summoned the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Pocock, to express displeasure over the proposed policy, which he described not only as discriminatory but also capable of undermining the spirit of the Commonwealth family. While I commend Ambassador Ashiru for the highly professional manner h...

I have known him for two years. He is one of those distant neighbours who had through casual interactions become a friend.  In the months that we lived together in the same neighbourhood and when we occasionally ran into one another, our conversation never went beyond the usual inquiry about the weather or the offhand question: “How is your family?”  As a casual friend and neighbour, I had observed him from a distance. He was introverted and easy-going, almost self-effacing. I knew him as someone who minded his business. He never got into trouble with anyone. That was as far as our friendship went until a year ago when I began to see him with a lady. Once, he timidly introduced her to me as his fiancée. He re-appeared in the neighbourhood again after a month only to apologise for not inviting me to his wedding. I got him a small gift and wished him a happy married life. He had at the time informed me that he would quit his self-contained apartment to a more comfortable one ...

Inherent Parochial perspectives existing among Nigerian citizens has made their approach to self liberation an infected methodology, opening weak links for dishonest members of the country to hijack their struggle, misdirect their focus and hence invalidate the legitimacy of their advocacy. The misplaced priority has always resulted in high level barbarism, hypocrisy and high level corruption . This is one reason why those who are well informed about these ills will not be caught with surprise whenever the populace display ineffective reactions to the bad governance in Nigeria.

The world is a funny place. Some say it is weird. Philosophers and kings have sought to understand how the world runs, all to no avail. It is full of contradictions and gaffes. There is an unseen force, beyond the management or manipulation of mankind, which apportions to every man or woman, a share of fortune or misfortune in a life time. That force is called fate. Theologians and present day preachers interpret it as God. But I don’t quite think it is God. Fate can be cruel, unfair and even punitive. Are those the attributes of God? I will cite some instances that show the helplessness of man in the hands of fate. How many choices is man able to really make concerning himself or herself? The more defining issues of life are governed by the almighty sleight of fate. Beside the claims of science and the so-called breakthroughs of research findings, there are many issues that are beyond us. Take the few cases like our sex. How many of us chose to be men or women at birth? How many of...

A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do

Did you sell the SAP idea to the Babangida’s government? I was then the Managing Director of Nigerian Merchant Bank. I retired from the civil service, five years earlier as permanent secretary. On January 29, 1986, six weeks after that broadcast, President Babangida appointed me as Secretary to the Federal Government. These clarifications are very necessary because many people thought SAP was brought into the government by me, No! It was introduced and announced by Babangida on December 18, 1985 when I was not even in government. I came into government six weeks later. However, being an economist, a banker and a former director of economic planning for Nigeria and as the SFG, it was often my duty after cabinet meetings, to announce the decisions taken and to explain, where necessary and defend the decisions taken. That was how people saw me as the author of SAP. But because it was in consonance with what me, as a professional economist and banker. I had no difficulty in supporting i...