We have looked at various forms of government in the first part of this treatise. We ended with the posers, “Can we continue this way? Is it the fault of the system or the operators of the system? Should we scout for a better system or better operators? Should we look inwards? Will a system in tandem with our inner being be the answer to our multifaceted and ever-growing problems as a nation?” We signed off with this thought: “Perhaps we have been imposing on ourselves systems that are alien to us, to our culture, to our souls.” Some think…
Author: TheStories
The encomiums and the tributes are pouring down like the cool rain on Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, as in indeed they should. He turned 70 on August 31. At 70, the countdown begins for all men and women born of women. He can rightly stand on that promontory of three score and ten years and survey his wonderous but challenging journey in his 46 years of tending the flock and finding and guiding the lost sheep back home. Kukah is an exceptional Nigerian. He is an exceptional religious leader; an exceptional patriot, and…
On Monday, ASUU declared to extend the strike it commenced on 14th February, 2022 because: “the demands of the Union had not been satisfactorily addressed. Consequently, NEC resolved to transmute the roll-over strike to a comprehensive, total and indefinite strike action beginning from 12.01am on Monday, 29th August, 2022.” This action is in keeping with the tradition of long strikes to seek redress to ASUU grievances against the federal government. It is phenomenal that in spite of all the changes that have occurred in the last forty years, ASUU has been able to retain its radical engagement for over four…
Fr. Dominic called my phone with a sense of panic. From his tone, you would assume that he had seen a ghost. “Bishop Kukah just called me. He said he is coming to baptize your daughter in my parish. You should have told me earlier. This is Bishop Kukah we are talking about”. Fr. Dominic, my Parish Priest in Galadima, Gwarinpa Abuja was obviously unhappy. This was not the kind of surprise any young priest wants to get early in the morning. Bishop Kukah had called the priest for permission to perform the rite of baptism for my daughter in…
If you haven’t had a good laugh, you have not been with him. And anyone who knows him knows I’m not joking. The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has the rare gift of humour. Not the run-of-the-mill kind that forces a courteous half-smile. It’s the kind that extracts the prey while putting the cat completely at ease; it just cracks your rib. It works in good times and in bad. And just as he has done in the last nearly over two decades of being clergyman and public intellectual, Kukah deployed this gift again in a conversation about…
The Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that no fewer than 100 households were affected by flood in Makurdi, the state capital, following recent rainfalls. Dr Emmanuel Shior, the Executive Secretary of the Agency disclosed this in an interview on Monday in Makurdi. He said that the agency had over time, advised people residing on floodplains to relocate in order to avert disaster. Flood had become a yearly routine in Makurdi in the last decade, destroying property worth millions and loss of lives in some cases. The affects areas were among the worst hit in the 2017 flood…
A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, refused to grant the extradition application filed by the Federal Government for permission to extradite the suspended DCP Abba Kyari to the United States (US). Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, described the extradition request as “an abuse of court process,” on the grounds that Kyari was already standing a criminal trial before another court. The federal government, through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), had filed the extradition suit, praying the court to grant the plea for Kyari to face a criminal charge leveled against him by the U.S.…
In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a report calling for a halt to oil and gas exploration around the globe at the end of the year African countries are hardly alone in their refusal to accept global pressure to rush their transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydrogen power. In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a report, “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector ,” calling for a halt to oil and gas exploration around the globe at the end of the year. That…
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion – Alexander The Great A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way – John C. Maxwell A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves – Lao Tzu, Laozi A kingdom (nation) can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice – Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio Alexander III of Macedon, commonly…
…To face civil prosecution The Nigerian Army (NA) says it has dismissed the two soldiers, Lance Corporal John Gabriel and Lance Corporal Adamu Gideon from service over their alleged involvement in the killing of Sheikh Goni Gashua Aisami in Yobe state. A statement by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwavhukwu on Saturday, said the dismissal followed their indictment by a Board of Inquiry. According to the statement, the Board also found the two soldiers guilty and awarded reduction of rank from Lance Corporal to Private and Dismissed Regiments. “The soldiers were dismissed after facing trial at the…