Author: Chief Editor

Pendulum: By Dele Momodu Fellow Nigerians, if you are a regular follower and frequent reader of my column, you would, in the past few weeks, have encountered the serialisation of the great lessons’ life has taught me in the last 59 years of inhabiting this planet. But I have decided to take a break from my biographical narration in deference to the recent June 12 celebration as a national holiday and our new Democracy Day in Nigeria replacing May 29 which is now effectively merely Inauguration Day. It is right that June 12 should be Democracy Day given the utmost import…

The World Health Organization emergency committee will decide Friday whether to declare a raging Ebola epidemic an international threat, after an outbreak that began in Democratic Republic of Congo crossed into Uganda. The WHO panel, which was formed in 2005, has used the label “public health emergency of international concern” for only four previous epidemics. Those emergencies included the H1N1, or swine flu, pandemic of 2009, the spread of poliovirus in 2014, the Ebola epidemic that devastated parts of West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and the surge of the Zika virus in 2016. The current Ebola crisis, which began…

A cheating husband cannot divorce his wife despite having a years-long affair, a South Korean court ruled Friday, insisting only the injured party in a marriage could initiate a legal separation. Movie director Hong Sang-soo, 58, a Cannes film festival regular, filed for divorce in 2016, shortly after his relationship with actress Kim Min-hee became public. But Hong’s wife, whom he wed in 1985, refused to play along — leading to a drawn-out legal battle that has lasted for years. Seoul Family Court on Friday dismissed Hong’s petition, and awarded costs against him. South Korea remains a conservative society, where…

At the downtown Toronto intersection of Front Street and University Avenue, a young man named Ali joined a handful of fans celebrating the Toronto Raptors NBA championship victory over the Golden State Warriors by shimmying up one of  traffic light polls. Asked why he was up there, he simply replied “We’re the six!’ The victory was certainly a celebration for ‘The 6ix’ — a nickname popularized by hometown Raptors fan and superstar rapper Drake. But the Raptors have become more than just a Toronto team, with people across the country celebrating the first Canadian team to win an NBA championship. Dozens of cities across Ontario also held packed viewing events, as did many…

The Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission has described the claim by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, that he was not the accounting officer of the Kano Emirate Council as a misrepresentation of facts. This is contained in a preliminary report of the Commission on the investigation being carried out in respect of the alleged misappropriation of over N3.4 billion by the Kano Emirate Council between 2014 and 2017. The report was signed by the commission’s Chairman, Mr Muhuyi Magaji, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano…

• ‘NFF battling to see Falcons through Women World Cup’ With less than eight days to the kick off of the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is still battling to secure the funding it needs to push the Super Eagles’ campaign in the competition. The Egypt 2019 African Cup of Nations will hold from June 25 to July 21, 2019 with Nigeria among the countries tipped to win the competition. Feelers from the Super Eagles’ camp say Nigeria’s ambition of winning its fourth title is being hampered by paucity of funds, as the…

By Olusegun Adeniyi As a reporter who keenly followed what transpired in Nigeria before, during and after the annulled 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief M.K.O Abiola, it was an act of courage and statesmanship for President Muhammadu Buhari to accord June 12 a pride of place as a national Democracy Day. But then, if we will be honest, only a Buhari could have taken such decision without any backlash from the North. It is even more remarkable that two presidents from the south had failed to redress that injustice in the manner Buhari did when they had…

•Restates commitment to security, economy •It’s not enough to fight corruption, says Kagame •Magu seeks new approach to fight graft President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday restated his determination to focus on tackling the worsening security challenges in the country, improve the economy and give more bite to efforts at fighting corruption during his second term. He reeled out measures his administration would adopt in its second term in office to give muscles to the war against corruption. He spoke at the “National Democracy Day Anti-Corruption Summit,” organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in Abuja. Buhari’s Rwandan counterpart, President…

By Guardian Editorial Most citizens who are old enough to remember the significance of June 12, 26 years ago had last year hailed the decision of the current administration to recognise the June 12, 1993 as a monument. On our part, we had then noted that whether it was an obligatory atonement emanating from genuine contrition, or an expedient after-thought contrived for political reasons, President Muhammadu Buhari’s conferment of the national honour, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on, and his public apology to the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election…

Lekan Sote Those who argue that marking June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day is inappropriate, and should be left to the Yoruba of the South-West Nigeria alone, quite forget that the presidential mandate given to Bashorun MKO Abiola was pan-Nigerian. An Op-ed article in The Guardian newspaper, written by the late businessman, Onwuka Kalu, during the heat of the agitation, was the first attempt to identify the actualisation of the June 12 mandate as a Yoruba cause, despite Abiola winning even in the ward of Bashir Tofa, his opponent, in Kano. That was disgraceful. Yet, the unifying effect of celebrating June 12…