Alexander Onukwue

YNaija Presents: The 100 most influential people in Nigerian Politics

Editor’s Note: As part of YNaija’s commitment to contributing to the National discussion on politics and its place in furthering Nigeria’s fortunes, we commissioned Alexander Onukwue, who has worked extensively with our organization as political correspondent and commentator to select 100 of the most influential political players operating in 2019’s political landscape. It was important... Read More

Editor's Pick, Lists, Rankings, YNaija Politics 100

A Twitter user reviewed the 2019 budget, calling it a scam and we are still in shock

On April 30, 2019, the Senate passed the 2019 budget of N8.916trn, presented by Senator Danjuma Goje. And although the budget still needs to be completely implemented by the Executive, we are still reeling in shock at a review made by Twitter user @Samuel_biyi. First, a breakdown of the budget estimate reveals that statutory transfer... Read More

2019 budget, Laolu Samuel, review, scam

The wife of Malawi’s vice president rapping to campaign for her husband is all what you need to see today

On May 21, Malawians will head to the polls to vote in the general elections. As such, Mary Nkhamanyachi Chilima, whose husband Saulos Chilima is the incumbent vice president and also contesting to be the next president of the country, recently released a music video to campaign for her husband under the UTM party. She... Read More

Malawian President, Mary Nkhamanyachi Chilima

The 2019 GTBank Food and Drink Festival was a blast – observations from a foodie

I have never attended the GTBank Food and Drink Festival, and maybe because I have always seen the event as a space for the blistering heat, sweaty mass of bodies, and dehydration. It’s like a mini Coachella with food and drinks as the main attraction, and why did I have this blip of an idea... Read More

GTBank Food and Drink Festival, Jeff Mauro

Straight Nigerians are largely to blame for Nigeria’s population hitting 201m. It’s not rocket science

On Monday, the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) in its 2019 state of the world population report, said Nigeria’s population has hit a new high of 201 million. Quickly, the government in the capacity of the National Population Commission (NPC) dismissed the report and said it was a ”mere assumption.” I’m not surprised by the... Read More

201m, overpopulation, straight Nigerians, UNFPA

January 28, 2019

The president’s ambition suffereth violence, the violent take the bench by force

With an executive hammer fashioned by legalistic manipulation, President Muhammadu Buhari has forced his will on Nigeria’s Judiciary. On Friday evening, Buhari announced the suspension of Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, immediately swearing-in the next highest-ranking Justice of the Supreme Court. An order obtained from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) made this possible, per... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Buhari, Onnoghen, Tanko

UNICEF, Nigerian Army

December 21, 2018

Wanted: An Honest, Self-Reflective, Grown-Up Nigerian Army

On one hand, it is difficult to bash the Nigerian Armed Forces. They have been, to put it mildly, undercut in recent times by political calculations. They have often been thin on resources, especially when elections are on the horizon. The case against Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) by the federal government hasn’t progressed quickly enough... Read More

Alexander Onukwue, Buratai, Nigerian Army

December 3, 2018

Opinion: Dino Melaye is the right man for Atiku’s campaign

A spokesperson for a presidential campaign has to have certain qualities: healthy, likeable, articulate. For a country as diverse and politically complex as Nigeria, the three are only basic starting points. A national outlook is necessary, as well as an understanding of what it takes to (and not) push sensitive ethnoreligious buttons. And where the... Read More

Featured, Opinion

atiku abubakar, dino melaye, Osita Chidoka

November 17, 2018

Opinion: The cracks of Igbo youth voting as one in 2019

At an assembly in the Coal City, their grey-haired, red-cap wearing parents and teachers declared for the Umbrella because it now covers one of their popular and best-performing sons, Peter Gregory Obi. So, will the average young Nigerian of Igbo origin simply pay attention, be grateful and obey? History teaches that political influence does not... Read More

2019 Elections, Igbo youth, vote

Atunwa

October 26, 2018

Can the PDP be ruthless and impartial? They have a chance with Atunwa’s NYSC scandal

The People’s Democratic Party have an opportunity to show that they have truly reformed in character by properly addressing the situation with its Kwara state governorship candidate, Razak Atunwa. According to a Premium Times report, Mr Atunwa presented a forged NYSC certificate to the party when he collected his expression of interest form. He also... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Atunwa, PDP, Saraki

Peter obi

October 15, 2018

With Peter Obi involved, 2019 has effectively become a two-horse race

While he was Governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi says he once gave up his apartment for President Olusegun Obasanjo to spend two nights during a state visit. He had refused to build a Presidential Lodge in Awka at a cost of N1 billion and considerable millions for subsequent monthly maintenance. Going on to spend... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Alexander Onukwue

Donald Duke

October 9, 2018

New landlords, ambitious health budget, local policing | Here are five talking points from Donald Duke’s policy document

The Social Democratic Party has chosen Donald Duke to be its candidate in the 2019 presidential elections. The former two-term Governor of Cross River state under the PDP is widely perceived as one of the more likeable characters in Nigerian politics. Back to contesting elective office since leaving the Calabar government house more than a... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Donald Duke, manifesto, SDP

Atiku

October 8, 2018

Now that Atiku has a presidential ticket, how will he rebuild a reformed image and win critics over?

Candidates seeking to be president of Nigeria in about 130 days time will find a very motivated former Vice president playing all his cards in one last shot at attaining a life time ambition. Atiku Abubakar, who turns 72 next month, won the PDP’s convention on Saturday night in Port Harcourt, defeating Governor Aminu Tambuwal... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Atiku, future, PDP

Tinubu

October 2, 2018

Lagos 2019: Ambode vs Sanwo-Olu is a new installment in Tinubu’s scramble for regional power

The air in Lagos is thick with anticipation. Posters of the main men seeking the APC candidature in the 2019 governorship elections have become more invasive on the streets all over the metropolis this past week and more ‘in the face’ of road users with every postponement of the party’s primaries. Incumbent Akinwunmi Ambode is... Read More

Citizenship, Featured, YNaija2019

ambode, Jide Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu

Aisha Buhari

September 27, 2018

Aisha Buhari accused her ADC of stealing 2.5 Billion Naira, but where did she get that kind of money from?

Two years ago when First Lady Aisha Buhari was launching her book on beauty therapy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo warned her, light-heartedly, not to expect a big donation because he and her husband were on half salaries. Prof. Osinbajo was one of many government dignitaries at the event who supported Mrs Buhari’s authorship with undisclosed... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Aisha buhari, Baba-Inna, N2.5 billion

Osun

September 20, 2018

Without a cost for indifference, Governorship debates like Osun’s are a waste of time

For an assessment of the four candidates who debated last Saturday, Journalist Nicolas Ibekwe’s scorecard is quite precise. The quality of the conversation in Osogbo, to put it kindly, fell short of expectations. Low on policy arguments and more a palace-chiefs kerfuffle for and against rotating Governorship to benefit the state’s senatorial zones, those for... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Adeleke, Nicholas Ibekwe, Osun

Rice

September 17, 2018

Ten years after Adenike Grange; will Adeosun face the consequences of her wrongdoing?

Thanks to the intervention of good journalism, Nigeria’s Finance Ministry has been relieved from questionable management. That may sound extreme, or even unfair, after reading Ms Kemi Adeosun’s resignation letter released last Friday. The now ex-Minister chiefly blames unscrupulous “trusted associates” who misguided her into signing for a fraudulent exemption certificate that was not issued... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

Adenike Grange, kemi Adeosun, nysc

Seun Onigbinde, YNaija

September 11, 2018

Seun Onigbinde took on Nigeria’s legislature and made them accountable; and now he’s taking on New York

In the last weeks of August 2012 Seun Onigbinde took on the role of Chief Science and Technology Innovator. In Nigeria, titles like this are amorphous, they only mean what you make of them. What does a twenty-six year old do with an innovative new project with great potential to empower ordinary Nigerians by revealing... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Budgit, new york, Seun Onigbinde, transparency

Trader Moni

September 7, 2018

Is the Trader Moni scheme in Osun a boon for traders or a gamble for the elections?

A few days ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was at Iwo in Osun state to launch Trader Moni, a social investment programme of the Federal Government, even as anticipation builds towards the state’s governorship elections just three weeks away. Osinbajo made the case that Trader Moni was the Government’s way of “ensuring that we give... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

elections, Osinbajo, Trader Moni

primaries

September 6, 2018

Direct or Indirect primaries: How do we know which systems works best for Nigeria

At its last National Executive Committee, the APC announced that it favours direct primaries for elections at the federal and state levels going into the 2019 polls. The recommendation by the party’s leadership in Abuja has divided opinions at the state level as some Governors have expressed unease with the process of a direct primary.... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

adams oshiomole, Indirect Primaries, primaries

Theresa May

August 30, 2018

Theresa May in Africa: How good a deal does she offer Nigeria?

Semi-casual and comfortable in a patterned yellow jacket presumably produced by Emmy Kasbit, a Nigerian designer who recently returned to using Akwete, a traditional fabric made in a weavers’ town in South-Eastern towns in Abia and Delta, Theresa May rounded up a one day visit to Nigeria on Wednesday evening. READ MORE: Ambode orders closure... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick

africa, Theresa May

Drug

August 28, 2018

Complicity or negligence: How will Nigeria respond to its silent drug epidemic?

We will never be sure why the suspect arrested by the Police in Ondo on August 5 took that much tramadol to induce a nine-day spate of sleep, or indeed if it was tramadol that induced the overdose that eventually took his life. There has been no post mortem confirming the dose of the substance... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured

Alexander Onukwue, drug use, epidemic

Owerri112

August 24, 2018

#Owerri112: Where do law and liberty stand in Rochasland

Not so far from the roundabout where the statue of a man in broken chains stands in tribute to freedom, at least a hundred and twelve women were taken captive last Friday by officers of the Nigeria Police for an offence nobody in the Force has proudly announced. Amongst them are mothers and pregnant women.... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, Owerri, Rochas Okorocha

Saraki

August 22, 2018

Igbo Presidency, defending Atiku: These are the talking points from Saraki’s ‘robust’ response

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has responded to the statement released by Bola Tinubu in which the APC leader accused Saraki of leaving the APC for his presidential lusts and unprogressive mindset. Saraki has been the main article in the news over the past 6 weeks, from the Police blockade mounted at his house, to his... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Atiku, igbo presidency, Saraki

Tinubu

August 20, 2018

Tambuwal will dwarf Saraki, No third force | Five talking points from the Tinubu response to APC defections

The APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, has responded to the defections of Bukola Saraki and Sokoto state Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, stating that both men have been motivated to leave the party following their lusts for the presidency. A long statement which reads partly as a campaign memo for re-electing Buhari, Tinubu acknowledges that the... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

APC, defections, Saraki, Tambuwal, Tinubu

SARS

August 15, 2018

SARS reform has begun, but are there any real plans to ensure police accountability?

SARS will… attend to armed robbery, kidnapping, apprehension of offenders linked to the stated offences, and nothing more. That summarizes the directive issued by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday to the leadership of the Nigeria Police on the necessity of reforming its Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit that has become synonymous with everything... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Abayomi Shogunle, Alexander Onukwue, FSARS, SARS

NASS

NASS Invasion: If this doesn’t show our democracy is fragile, nothing else will

In no part of the world are images of masked men wielding guns ever endearing. Yes they are justly employed by the state in some occasions but those are regarded as special circumstances; crime or terrorism, high-level operations or executions and in the case of Nigeria, hijacking the National Assembly (NASS). In Nigeria today, you... Read More

Featured, Thinking Through

Buhari, dino melaye, NASS, national assembly, Osinbajo

Saraki for President is a real possibility now, but will he take the bait?

However long it was going to take, Bukola Saraki’s defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in the making since he emerged as President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly 36 months ago. Last week’s crossover of 15 APC senators could not have been the fitting day for his own announcement, with... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, YNaija2019

2019, Atiku, Presidency, Saraki

Twitter

How the 2015 elections may have led to recent Twitter suspensions

Last week, Twitter users this side of the Niger experienced a display of rare humility by a subset of that group of social media users known as influencers. Promises of follow backs in exchange for likes and retweets were rampant from new handles being recast in the image of their originals after Twitter’s wave of... Read More

Citizenship, Editor's Pick, Featured

Okonjo-Iweala, twitter.

Saraki

Saraki’s second police invitation will finally force his hand on whether he stays in the APC

It is almost certain that Senate President Bukola Saraki will now leave the All Progressives Congress (APC). If there had been any doubt over the past year, the second invitation by the Inspector General Police, Ibrahim Idris, served on him at 8pm Monday must be the decider that makes his defection final. Saraki’s statement reacting... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Thinking Through

APC, Bukola Saraki, Ibrahim Idris, Offa robbery, President Muhammadu Buhari

1 2 … 5 OLDER POSTS

15 49.0138 8.38624 arrow 0 arrow 0 4000 1 0 horizontal https://ynaija.com 300 0 1