Making sense of Psquare’s second fight in the market square

Will JAMB’S new admissions system put a cap on admissions fraud?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Central Admissions Processing System, a new initiative of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), promises to be an effective way of ensuring schools will have autonomy in their admissions process, according to PREMIUM TIMES. Commenting on the occurrence of the offer of admissions by tertiary institutions with the complicity... Read More

JAMB, nigeria, Story of the day, Tertiary education

September 22, 2017

Jamb’s plan to block backdoor admissions

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Registrar of JAMB, Prof Is-haq Oloyede is determined to stop the system of providing regularization to students admitted through a “backdoor” by Nigerian Universities. Speaking at a training forum in Abuja, Prof Oloyede admitted that the organisation had yielded to the demands of Universities in the past at the cost... Read More

Backdoor, JAMB, nigeria, Story of the day

The next step in fashioning the narrative of IPOB as terrorists

by Alexander O. Onukwue By naming certain countries as being complicit in the prosperity of IPOB, the Nigerian Government wishes to follow-up on the signal it has began sending on IPOB being a terrorist organisation. Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, made headlines Thursday, by naming the UK and France as being partly responsible for... Read More

IPOB, narrative, terrorists

The country Lai Mohammed should be complaining about instead of France

More often than not, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, appears in the news for something he has said which he probably should not have said, or for not saying something he should have said well. The Minister’s comments on the links connecting the Indigenous People of Biafra with France and the UK have evoked... Read More

country, France, IPOB, lai mohammed

What has Lai Mohammed done to Buhari’s UNGA brilliance?

President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly this Tuesday was well received by international observers as one of the more pro-active addresses by any leader of the 193 nations. Calling for the Security Council to engage North Korea in a dialogue, against the “fire and fury” of the United States’ President Trump... Read More

Brilliance, IPOB, lai mohammed, President Muhammadu Buhari, UNGA

Throwback Thursday: Blaming France for IPOB is so 1960s

You may not have witnessed it but history books and the tales of the elders record that France was one of the nations who had sympathies with Colonel Odimegwu Ojukwu’s Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War. De-classified cables and diplomatic correspondence now available in the public domain show the particular interest of the then French... Read More

1960, blame, France, IPOB, lai mohammed

Lai Mohammed’s grouse with the UK on Radio Biafra

by Alexander O. Injury’s France and the United Kingdom have been accused of having links with IPOB, according to news reports. Various media quote the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as stating that “the financial headquarters” of the separatist group “is in France”. The Minister says this is a “fact”, while faulting the UK... Read More

biafra, France, IPOB, lai mohammed, nigeria, Radio Biafra, uk

What’s next for IPOB now that a court has ‘officially’ declared it “terrorist”?

by Alexander O. Onukwue By the suit filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Federal High Court in Abuja has declared the activities of IPOB as “acts of terrorism and illegality”. According to Sahara Reporters, the Court’s order “proscribed the existence of IPOB throughout Nigeria, with particular attention paid to the South-East... Read More

boko haram, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, Story of the day, terrorism

Is Nnamdi Kanu retreating or retiring?

by Alexander O. Onukwue Apparently, the leader of the Indigenous Group of Biafra has been away without leave for nearly a week. His lawyer, Mr Ifeanyi Ejiofor says he last spoke with him on the 14th of September and suspects that his client may have been taken away or killed by the Nigerian Army. There... Read More

IPOB, nigeria, Nnamdi Kanu, secession, southeast, Story of the day

The Army must not fall for the IPOB bait

by Alexander O. Onukwue In the intervening period between the exchanges that took place in Umuahia over the past two weeks, much has been made about congratulating IPOB for not falling for a trap set for it by the Nigerian Army to invite genocide. The report of 22 persons being killed during the skirmish remains... Read More

national security, Nigerian Army, Nnamdi Kanu, Operation Python Dance

Will the Army request the re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Nigerian Army declared IPOB a terrorist organisation last week and was criticized by virtually everybody. The move to proscribe a group as terrorist is usually the duty of the Executive, through a legal and transparent process. It has been reported that President Muhammdu Buhari has signed a document to the... Read More

arrest, Bail conditions, Nigerian Army, Nnamdi Kanu, Story of the day

Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer is either irresponsible or plain daft

by Alexander O. Onukwue There is more than an acceptable dose of cynicism in the suggestion made by Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lawyer representing Nnamdi Kanu, that the IPOB leader may have been killed by the Nigerian Army. Mr Kanu was last seen in public on September 10, after his supporters clashed with soldiers. Mr Ejiofor... Read More

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, nigeria, Nnamdi Kanu, secession, Story of the day

September 19, 2017

WHAT about SSANU, NAAT and NASU?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The good news of the day is that ASUU has called its strike off, but they were not the only University staff union that had downed tools. Both the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities embarked on... Read More

Deveopment, education, nigeria, Story of the day, strike actions

September 19, 2017

ASUU strike: It ended as soon as was possible

by Alexander O. Onukwue After 36 days of strike action, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked her members to resume duty. Academic activities in the nation’s tertiary institutions have been on a halt since the 13th of August when the union proceeded on an indefinite strike. The famed 2009 agreement was once... Read More

ADamu Adamu, ASUU strike is over, nigeria, Story of the day, Tertiary education, undergraduates

Should Buhari have travelled while Nigeria is in chaos?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The United Nations General Assembly is a meeting which Buhari, as Nigeria’s President, is required to attend, but it seems to have come at a time when the nation could have done with the President staying at home. Buhari is now in New York and will give his speech to world... Read More

Buhari, Politics, Python Dance II, Story of the day, terrorism, UN

“Transit through London”: PMB, is this another medical vacation?

by Alexander O. Onukwue From the experience of the year 2017, it cannot be interpreted as malice that the mention of President Buhari and the city of London in the same sentence should elicit strong suspicions about his health. The state house statement of 17th September on Buhari’s departure to New York for the United... Read More

72nd UN General Assembly, Buhari, Story of the day

#NGAinUNGA: Which nations will Buhari court to help fight Boko Haram?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Nigerian delegation at the United Nations General Assembly hopes to reaffirm its “commitment to global peace, security and development and where necessary, the need for increased international cooperation in the fight against corruption”. President Buhari is in New York with all of his cabinet members and the subject of continuing... Read More

boko haram, Buhari, Story of the day, United Nations General Assembly

2017 UN General Assembly: What roles will the Governors and Ministers play?

by Alexander O. Onukwue Three state Governors and the cabinet Ministers are with President Buhari in New York for the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly. Governors Abdulaziz Yari, Rotimi Akeredolu and Dave Umahi of Zamfara, Ondo and Ebonyi were chosen to go with the President to his first and only international event... Read More

development, nigeria, peace, Politics, UN General Assembly

This is what President Buhari is doing at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly

by Alexander O. Onukwue President Muhammadu Buhari is now in New York, attending the United Nations General Assembly. According to a state house statement signed by the President’s special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, “the high point of the President’s visit will be his participation in the General Debate during which he will... Read More

nigeria, Peace and Development, president buhari, Story of the day, The 72nd UNGA, UN General Assembly

Operation Python Dance II: PMB, should we fear for the week ahead?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The week ahead is going to be crucial for Nigeria. The President, Muhammadu Buhari, will be away at the United Nations General Assembly, the Senate has proceeded on recess, and the military operation Python Dance II will proceed. IPOB, according to the military will be treated like a militant terrorist organisation.... Read More

Buhari, IPOB, nigeria, Nigerian Army, security, Story of the day

Dealing with IPOB: Ban the game or steal the audience?

by Alexander O. Onukwue Besides restoring the economy from recession, the biggest challenge of the Nigerian Government, under Muhammadu Buhari has undoubtedly been about dealing with Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. From October 2015, when Kanu was arrested and jailed, IPOB became vivid in everyone’s consciousness. The demonstrations began from all quarters, the cries of illegality... Read More

Abia State, Buhari, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, Story of the day

EGWU EKE II: ‘Python Dance’ or ‘Fear the Police’?

by Alexander O. Onukwue Contrary to the interpretation given to the statement by the Abia state Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, to imply that Python Dance has ended, the Nigerian Army announced that the operation will go on as scheduled. General Kukasheka, the Army’s head of Public Relations, said in a statement that soldiers being withdrawn from... Read More

national security, nigeria, Operation Dance, Story of the day

Terror-risk; Terrorist: Is there a difference?

by Alexander O. Onukwue Boko Haram was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2013. The process involved legal procedures which relied, as evidence, on the universally condemned spate of bombings and killings perpetrated by the organisation. The United Nations building in Abuja, Christmas day bombing at Madala Niger State and... Read More

IPOB, national security, nigeria, Nnamdi Kanu, Story of the day, terrorism

What makes IPOB a terrorist organisation?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Nigerian Army has reportedly designated the controversial group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as a terrorist organisation. IPOB will now be treated as a militant terrorist group by the army after a statement by the Major-general John Enenche, Director Defence Information (DDI) which restated the commitment of the Armed Forces... Read More

IPOB, Legality, national security, Nigerian military, Story of the day, terrorism

United Aishas: Why the First Lady and Alhassan can find common ground

by Alexander O. Onukwue In the midst of all the attention that has been expended on Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, over her comments on Buhari and Atiku, little has been considered of what the First Lady, the nation’s first Aisha, would be making of it all. On one hand, Mrs Buhari had called... Read More

Aisha Alhassan, Aisha buhari, Buhari gang-up, nigeria, Politics, Pro-Atiku, Story of the day

From Chibok to Yola: Is Atiku now working with Buhari?

by Alexander O. Onukwue As announced by the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Jummai Alhassan, the eight months psychological rehabilitation of the 106 freed Chibok school girls under the Federal Government came to an end on the 14th of September. The 82 girls who returned to the country on the 7th of May, 2017 joined... Read More

Aisha Alhassan, Atiku and Buhari's friendship, Chibok girls, nigeria, Politics, Story of the day

Can the APC trust Aisha Alhassan?

by Alexander O. Onukwue The official account from the meeting between Aisha Alhassan and some members of the APC state that the discussions were free of any fracas and that she has accepted that her “indiscretion” was inappropriate. Some other unofficial accounts suggest that there was a bit of raging within the meeting room, with... Read More

Aisha Alhassan, APC, Atiku 2019, Buhari, nigeria, party politics, Story of the day

Alhassan: The APC deserves some praise for handling this

by Alexander O. Onukwue While the jury remains divided on whether Mrs Alhassan’s open admission of support to Atiku Abubakar was ethical or not, there has been no doubt as to the impact her remarks have had on the image of the APC. Since its formation at 2014, the ruling party has appeared to be... Read More

Aisha Alhassan, APC, Atiku, nigeria, Politics, Story of the day

Alhassan on the grill: Sorry, bad timing

by Alexander O. Onukwue The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Aisha Jummai Alhassan, was debriefed by the authority of the APC, after more than two hours of questioning at the party headquarters on Thursday, 14th September. Mrs Alhassan raised eyebrows over the past two weeks when a video of her emerged in which she pledged... Read More