When President Buhari returns… By Jideofor Adibe

President Muhammadu Buhari

 

By Jideofor Adibe @pcjadibe@yahoo.com (07058078841 SMS only)

People who believe that Nigerians asking questions about when Buhari should come back to the country are ‘busy bodies’ who should leave the President alone to recuperate and return to the country at his convenience, do not get it. There is something called ‘suspense’ - one of the hallmarks of a good story. An ‘exciting’ story is driven by suspense: it leads us down a path of expectations and builds tensions as the plot unwinds. Suspense helps to capture and sustain interest in a story.

Buhari’s medical vacation in the UK has been turned into a suspense-packed story. The

The naked gods by Jideofor Adibe

Charles Oputa (Charle Boy) and Sahara Reporters publisher Sowore Omoyel during One Voice Nigeria rally at the Premises of National Theater, Iganmu in Lagos. February 6, 2017.

By Jideofor Adibe pcjadibe@yahoo.com (07058078841 SMS only)

The past few days will probably be a turning point in the relationship between President Buhari and some of the most ardent supporters of his candidacy in the 2015 elections in the country. At least five key supporters from this group - Eniola Bello of ThisDay, syndicated columnist Sonala Olumhense, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and Sahara Reporters publisher Sowore Omoyele - indicated that their romance with the retired General was over.

In a very critical article published in ThisDay of February 5 2017, Eniola Bello threw well targeted and

Why Ekweremadu is wrong on the Gambian Crisis by Jideofor Adibe

             EMAIL: @JideoforAdibe The recent warning by the Deputy Senate President, Dr Ike Ekweremadu, that any use of military might to force Jammeh out office in The Gambia could have dire consequences for the country and the West African sub-region was a well- intentioned intervention. However it is a classic case of where the unintended consequences of a good intention could be far more damaging than what the good intention was meant to avert. Yahya Jammeh has vowed not to step down after initially conceding defeat in the 2016 presidential election in The Gambia. 

In a statement issued through his media adviser Uche Anichukwu, Ike Ekweremadu was quoted as saying: “We must all acknowledge the fact that Gambia is

Who is a ‘Patriotic Nigerian’? by Jideofor Adibe

By Jideofor Adibe @JideoforAdibe pcadibe@yahoo.com (07058078841 SMS only)

In garden talks and beer parlour political conversations, one

 often constantly hears one side charging the other: “Please

 let’s put sentiments aside and be patriotic here”. Such

 admonitions are fairly common when Nigerians of different

 political, ethnic and religious persuasions engage in political

 conversations. Over time, I have come to believe that the 

concept of ‘patriotism’ is not neutral in such conversations but 

often a veneer used by the contending groups to gain mileage

 during arguments.

In this reflection therefore, I will interrogate the notion of ‘patriotic Nigerian’, and how the identity of the ‘patriotic Nigerian’ interfaces with other identities that such a Nigerian bears.

Patriotism is often defined as an emotional