Author: Chief Editor

I admire Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State for his intellectual abilities and what he has been able to achieve within the public space, but I am not his fan. I have had two rather disturbing encounters with him. The first I would overlook because at the time, I thought he spoke out of plain honesty. But there was a second encounter that I have never been able to get out of my mind. Sometime in 2013, I had taken permission from President Goodluck Jonathan to stay back in London for a few days to sort out some personal…

•Court orders substituted service on caretaker chairman, 11 others •APC petitions judge over suit to disqualify Ize-Iyamu, deputy As part of the efforts to reposition the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-south, the Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee Chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni, yesterday reconciled the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva. Buni, also the governor of Yobe State, brokered a truce between the two leaders of the party at a meeting in Abuja as part of the ongoing efforts to reconcile aggrieved members. The reconciliation came the…

•Southern leaders unhappy with bid Even as tongues have begun to wag over his reported presidential ambition more than two years to the starting block of the race, Sokoto State Governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, is intensifying his efforts to realise his bid for the nation’s top job, laying out an elaborate plan for wider consultations across the country. THISDAY had reported on Monday that Tambuwal had started to consult key political influencers, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo; former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.); and former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, to aid his ambition in…

Eze Onyekpere The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic offered an opportunity for a critical evaluation and rethinking of our investments and management of the health sector. At the initial stage, public officers and private sector executives made the right noise about prioritising health care, enhancing investments and guaranteeing value for money in the sector. Pledges of funds were made by both the public and private sectors and regional and international donors and development banks. National committees involving multiple agencies were created to meet the national health emergency and for the first time, a practical understanding of health as a…

Obadiah Mailafia This is primarily an economics column. But I plead with my gentle readers to forebear with me as I go on a personal detour. There was, uhmm, a storm in a tea cup the other day, involving, shall we say, yours sincerely. Life itself, I hope you would agree me, is a risky venture. Once in a while, you have to wager some big risks. The philosopher Aristotle famously declared that, for you to have absolutely no enemies, you have to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing. I chose to say something. And for that, the…

Tunde Odesola Matthew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo – one man, one name, one destiny; complicated personality. For the Yoruba, names hold special meanings and are categorised into five, namely: Oruko Amutorunwa (predestined names), Oruko Abiso (acquired names), Oruko Oriki (panegyrics), Oruko Abiku (abiku’s names) and Oruko Inagije (aliases). Obasanjo isn’t an abiku for he came, he saw and he stayed. Matthew and Okikiola are acquired names. Matthew means ‘Gift of Yahweh,’ Okikiola means ‘Gloriously Famous’. Aremu, a panegyric name, means ‘Prince Charming’ just as Olusegun means ‘Conqueror’ and Obasanjo means (the king rewards). Powerful names for an all-powerful man. In Yoruba mythology, the ‘egbere’ is the malevolent…

Bayern Munich yesterday in Lisbon capped their impressive season with their sixth triumph in the UEFA Champions League, beating French giants, PSG, 1-0. The final match, tipped to be full of goals, failed t o live up to the pundits’ expectations, but it served a sumptuous 90 minutes of football, decideee only by a solitary goal scored by Kingsley Coman, a Frenchman, in the 60th minute. The winger’s header was also a landmark goal as it marked the 500th time Bayern Munich have scored in the competition, joining Real Madrid and Barcelona in reaching the tally. Coman’s goal arrived via…

Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick hailed the “crazy” development of his treble-winning team in the ten months since he took charge after the German giants won Sunday’s Champions League final. Bayern won the European title for the sixth time in the club’s history with a 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain. The squad celebrated by launching Flick into the air after lifting the trophy which was sealed with a second-half header from winger Kingsley Coman, a product of the PSG academy. At the other end, Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was outstanding to deny a string of chances by PSG stars…

Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel defended his 400 million euro strike force of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe after they were unable to find a way past Bayern Munich in their 1-0 Champions League final loss on Sunday. PSG’s Qatari owners spent a combined 402 million euros ($474m) on the pair in 2017 to win this competition. However, they struggled to impose themselves on the German giants who have now won Europe’s top prize on six occasions. Neymar, the world’s most expensive footballer, ended the night with a yellow card and in floods of tears. “We want Neymar and Kylian to…

It will be remembered as the strangest of Champions League seasons but it has ended with a familiar name on the trophy after Bayern Munich got the better of Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final in Lisbon, with their deserved success the result of the remarkable job done by coach Hansi Flick. There was ticker tape at the trophy ceremony and the usual celebratory songs playing over the loudspeakers at the Estadio da Luz as the Bayern players savoured the moment after Kingsley Coman’s goal saw them defeat PSG 1-0. But it was a bizarre spectacle with the 65,000-seat stadium empty,…