By Reuben AbatiEssential elements of intelligence and the intelligence cycle in overseas relations include what is better described as “the cover story”. It is an old conundrum referring to the story that is put out to the public and sustained as a narrative to mask far more strategic interests in government-to- government relations. It is […]
Continue ReadingBy Reuben AbatiOne other outcome of our democratic experience since 1999 is how demanding and insatiable the Nigerian voter has become, and because political office holders and the professional political class are yet to fully decipher and understand the implications of this, they continue to make similar mistakes and draw the same responses from the […]
Continue Reading“ I hear we are no longer Nigeria, but the United States of Nigeria” “You didn’t hear anything. Stop being hypocritical, my friend.” “But the incumbent Minister of Sports is on record as having said something like that” “I know. That dumb Minister who wears the red cap that looks like something taken and approved […]
Continue ReadingBy Reuben Abati If there was any hope that Donald Trump would change tactics and be more restrained after winning the Republican party Presidential nomination for the November 8 US election, that hope is now lost. The fellow has remained aggressive, incorrigibly brash and completely negative. Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson has asked: “Is Donald […]
Continue ReadingIn interview with Stephen Sackur, on BBC’s HardTalk, Nigeria’s minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, says corruption is a symptom of lack of law and order, stating that he would focus on these rather than corruption.Mr. Fashola emphasised that there is no corruption-free country in the world, but lack of law enforcement makes […]
Continue ReadingBy Reuben Abati I was shocked by the trenchant reaction to my piece on the July 15 attempted coup in Turkey from at least two persons. The piece titled “Nigerians and the Failed Coup in Turkey” (The Guardian, Sunday, July 17) had fetched a mail and direct messages from a concerned Nigerian who objected to my […]
Continue ReadingSimon Kolawole If you were a lover of reggae music in the 1970s, you would certainly know “Time Hard”, a hit song by The Pioneers, the Jamaican three-man band. “Everyday,” they sang, sonorously, “things are getting worse.” That song was released in 1972. At the time, Nigeria was producing two million barrels of crude oil […]
Continue ReadingNigerians love events and ceremonies. The engine of governance in fact runs on this special fuel, which in many ways has become an occasional excuse for waste and idleness. I have in the course of work attended and compered many of such events; one thing that I find curious is the obsession with acknowledgements. If […]
Continue ReadingBy Reuben Abati Turkey is about five hours away from Nigeria by air, about 2, 634 miles from here, but the night there was a coup attempt in Turkey, July 15, with soldiers shutting down parts of Ankara and Istanbul, you’d think Ankara is a city somewhere in Nigeria and Istanbul is an extension of […]
Continue ReadingReuben Abati “You call it innuendo? You try. From the look of things, male members of this National Assembly are convinced that women are sex objects. Is this not the same National Assembly where male chauvinists resisted a Gender Equality Bill? Is it not in this same parliament that supposedly distinguished men stood up to […]
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