Tag: Festus Adedayo

KOGI-DANGOTE FACEOFF: Intergotating Adedayo’s Hatchet Job By Abdullahi O. Haruna, HARUSPICE

Emporium Reporters

When providence beckoned on Alhaji Yahaya Bello to become Governor of Kogi State in 2015, on the podium of his inauguration, he made a solemn pledge that reads; “My Administration shall exist for the sole purpose of serving the superseding interests of the people of Kogi State to the very best of its capabilities. We also undertake to never lend our capacities to servicing the avarice of anyone or group–whether from Kogi State or elsewhere”. This was his pledge to the people of Kogi state and stoically, he has stuck…

The ta-ta-ta-ta at Obajana By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, is facing one of its worst disasters ever. Four persons, which included a three-year-old baby, according to press report, were swept away to their deaths last week by a flood which broke its barriers. Ibaji Local Government Area of the state is the worst hit by a flood that broke the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers coursing through Lokoja. Travelers passing through the 196-kilometre-Lokoja-Abuja highway which connects the North and South got stranded and the road literally cut off. The Niger and…

Back to Oyo Agodi Governor’s Office By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity of returning to the Agodi Governor’s Office in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state, where I was tenanted for four years. Like every mortal, nostalgia became my shawl. I remembered my late boss, Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his passion to chisel a new Oyo state out of the dross he had in 2011. Ajimobi was actually one of the species of people who Yoruba call the sanmonri – the elite. He disdained disorder and disobedience to methods. He was finicky and spent his…

Independence, whose independence? By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Yesterday, it was 62 years since Nigeria got her independence from colonial Britain. While some countrymen say the October 1 celebration rituals are worthy of flinging the cymbals, some others say it is a day to drench ourselves in sack clothes and ashes reminiscent of mourning moments for biblical Israelites. For decades, until the October 1 saturnalia began to lose its savour, successive governments made a good job of conflating the frills of the rituals as a representation of our national joy and unity. Children looked forward to the symphony…

Akudaaya: Tinubu, Abacha and Shettima’s theory of ruthless leadership By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

In what seems to affirm that he wears controversies like apparel, vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC), Kashim Shettima, leapt into yet another at the twilight of last week. On Thursday at the 96th-anniversary celebration of the Yoruba Tennis Club in Ikoyi, Lagos state, Shettima was quoted to have said that Nigeria needed the “hospitality” of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s despotic military ruler; Nigeria’s own contribution to the list of infamous rulers who ruled the world with infernal ruthlessness. As the controversy over what he actually said…

Examining Uju Anya’s vitriol on Queen Elizabeth II By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Like a prude confronted with sexually explicit images, the world didn’t hide its shock at Nigerian-born American professor, Uju Anya’s negative comments last week on the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The world had waited with bated breath at manifest indications that Elizabeth’s last hours had come. Amid this apprehension, the associate professor of Applied Linguistics, Critical Sociolinguistics and Critical Discourse at Carnegie Mellon University launched her salvo. It came in the form of a tweet that brimmed with bile and hate. She had tweeted: “I heard the chief…

Where will Tinubu, Atiku, Obi’s multibillion naira campaign funds come from? By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Finally, the month is here. September is Nigeria’s presidential campaign flag-off, preparatory to the February 2023 election. For those who relish colour, panache and flurry of demagogical words, Nigeria’s political campaign offers a variety similar to Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colours. And much more. It is a season when lies are sold for a farthing and purchased amid the frenzy. It is also a period of psychological warfare when the hearts of electors become targets for the Cupid arrows of desperate politicians. More fundamentally, it is a season…

Wike, Ayu and the Lady Justice By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

It may be impossible to love the gruff in his voice and the stridency of his calls. Or even the monotony of his defence of where he stands. On a critical look, however, you cannot fail to notice the presence of the concept of Lady Justice and the advocacy for equity and fairness in his voice. Nyesom Wike is the lone voice in the wilderness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who is relentlessly leading a battalion of advocacy for the return of reggae musician Peter Tosh’s equal rights and…

Encountering Obasanjo, Tshisekedi and the war in Congo Kinshasa By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC’s) presidential villa is a highly fortified palace. Like in many parts of Central Africa, the Congolese have turned their disadvantaged hilly and mountainous topography into aesthetic wonder. At every point in the expansive villa, you confront menacing-looking, gun-toting soldiers who radio authorities before allowing you entry. White-painted effigies of four lions by the villa gate compliment this menacing ambience. The villa itself is an old but well-maintained structure painted white and probably built in the 1970s. The language barrier limited the satisfaction of my…

Time to kill NBC By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

The hypothesis that words, either written or spoken, are the worst enemy of despots and totalitarian regimes has been tested over time. Words are lethal, superior to mortars and armaments of war and penetrate deeper than bullets. Words are equally known to eventually precipitate the collapse of despotic regimes. It then stands to reason that dictators must wage war on words.   Merve Buyuksarac found out the above when it was almost too late. Crowned Miss Turkey in 2006, Merve’s brush with the imperial power of Recep Tayyip Erdogan began…